Category: Essays

The many philosophies of minimalism.

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The healing power of sunlight and fresh air

IMG_1021As long as the sunlight shines upon your face, know that God loves you.

There is nothing like sunlight on your face, and fresh air in your lungs to remind you how insignificant your problems are. That all the best fruits life has to offer are the ones you already have. That in the larger scheme of things, there is no reason to hold on to your anger, frustration, or any negative feelings.

We all go through tough times in life. Times when we feel worthless, lonely, hurt, useless. When this happens I recommend that we go outside for some fresh air and sunlight, and spend a good amount of time clearing our heads while we let the sunlight and wind wash over us. The benefits:

  1.  It reassures us that no matter what we have going on in our lives, we’ve still got the fresh air and sun; and that’s wonderful. We still have the sunrise and sunset on our side. And for those of us who believe, that is a sign that God still loves us. Furthermore, it reminds us that all the wonderful gifts in life are the ones we already have.
  2. It serves as a reminder that no matter what problems we have in life, these problems are insignificant compared to the vastness of our reality. Knowing that makes us that much less concerned over these “problems” in the first place. There is even the likelihood that these problems are solved just by this realization. I.E, the problem was just in our heads. One way or the other, our problems are made small.
  3. It allows us to step outside of ourselves for a moment or two. To cool down and re-focus. To elaborate on 2, by being reminded of how insignificant our problems are next to the vastness of our reality, we can then look at our problems from a more objective point of view. Solutions tend to me more clear when we can do that.

 

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A minimalist’s views on sex

SexCountless times before have I mentioned that developing and maintaining strong healthy relationships is the real spice of life. Having more time and freedom to focus on our relationships and passions is the reason why we minimize in the first place.

Having a strong healthy sex life is part of that focus. A very important part. Making love with ones partner joins them together emotionally and spiritually to form a bond that can not be formed any other way. It’s actually quite amazing. This is all part of the human experience. Sex and sexuality are a perfectly natural part of life. They are one of the greatest gifts life has to offer. They’re certainly not shameful, nor should they be considered taboo.

Just like anything else though, sex must be done responsibly. That is, it must be done with the proper precautions. It must be done in moderation. Anything done in excess is bad; even the things that are considered healthy activities. Eating too much food leads to obesity. Too much working leads to burnout. Too much exercise leads to strained muscles, and potential physical incidentals. Too much rest also leads to obesity. So then too much sex leads to an unhealthy dependency, and increased risk of disease. I’m not going to go into a rant about safe sex. We all know how to be safe.

With all the precautionary stuff out of the way, I would like to say that I believe that sex/sexuality is much too taboo in our society. Sex should be taught to our children in a way that would educate them about the joy, responsibility, and risks of it. This education should come from their parents. Instead they are getting misinformation from their friends and media, then going out in the world irresponsibly experimenting.

Why is it that full frontal nudity cannot be seen on daytime television, but horrific violence is displayed openly any time of day? The human body is beautiful, natural, fruitful, a symbol of natures divine power. Violence is ugly, destructive, and evil. Yet we have chosen to expose our children to the glorified evil of violence, but shelter them from the beautiful bounty of the human body.  This makes no sense to me. Sex and sexual expression was all part of natures plan. “Brother kill brother” was not.

Furthermore, I am appalled at the stigmas of sex/sexuality between the sexes. Why is it that men can go topless in outdoor festive venues, but women can not? If a man is sexually promiscuous, he is a stud (positive connotation). If a woman is promiscuous, she’s a slut (negative one). Men can do whatever they want while a women must be a lady.

Everyone assumes that when a women has a lot of sex with a lot of different partners, she must be trying to fill some void created by some traumatic event in her childhood. Huh?? Why can’t she just be a women who really loves men, and has a strong sexual appetite for them? We seem to be fine using that reason for men. We men expect women to be available to satisfy our sexual appetite, but then also expect women to be demure and repress any sexual appetite of their own. Excuse my language, but that’s bullshit.

In summation, sex and sexuality should be open and free in our world. Open, and freely expressed by both men and women. By that I mean that sex itself should remain private (behind closed doors), but sex as a topic should be able to be discussed openly. Nudity should be open as well.

So go and have sex, have lots of sex. It’s does good for relationships, and is amazing for our health (I didn’t get into the numerous health benefits of having a healthy sex life, but I don’t think I have to).

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Living better small

Open-ArmsWow, it took me this long to have a self titled post.

Minimalism for me personally, is not just about having fewer possessions; not just about cutting out all the excess baggage.  It is not just about “living smaller” in the sense of having fewer things, but it also means “living smaller” in a much more literal sense too. It means for me, a much more fulfilling life, if the actual physical things are smaller. This does not stem from an obsessive interest in tiny things (though tiny things do fascinate me), but rather a strong sense of efficiency.

We live in a world where we still weigh our successes on how BIG our lives are. More specifically, how big our home is, how big our property is, even how big our vehicle is. Sometimes this need for bigness extends to some ridiculous areas like: Big hair, big hat, big heels (high heels actually), big body, big lips, big breasts (I am actually quite fond of this one). We have been conditioned to believe that all this bigness makes us more successful and more attractive.

Unfortunately most of this is just an illusion. That is, it’s all image and no substance. We have all this bigness for the appearance of success to the masses. More specifically, we have been conditioned to believe that bigness=success, and we seek the approval/admiration from our neighbors of our bigness because we need that validation. We need that validation because it’s a bitch to keep and maintain all this bigness. THIS is the ridiculous game we play. The truth is, success itself is measured by our happiness; by our passion/s and relationships (but the details of this are in another essay).

I can see that this is just a game. I have chosen not to take part in it. It’s counterproductive and inefficient. Efficiency lies in having possessions just big enough to suit our needs. It saves time, space, and money. Here are some examples.

I own:

  1. A tiny Hyundai Accent as my vehicle. Big enough for me, my wife, my daughter, and if necessary some cargo as it is also a hatch back. Having a compact car saves money as it is incredibly fuel-efficient. It’s size also makes it very maneuverable and easier to clean/maintain. When I need to transport my bicycle, I keep the bike rack in the trunk and strap it on the back when I need it.
  2. A two bedroom 825 square foot condo for my home. Again, just big enough  for me, my wife, and my daughter. On house cleaning day, it takes two hours to clean the entire condo. We pay less in land/school tax due to the small size (not to mention mortgage), and it takes less than an hour for one wall mounted air conditioning unit to cool the entire condo.
  3. A laptop computer as my only computer. It is mobile so I can use it anywhere in the home.
  4. I also take a lot of joy in using my back deck. It’s only 5’X10′, but that is big enough for a BBQ grill, cooler, table and two chairs. Everything I need, nothing I don’t. It’s my little slice of paradise at home. I just recently repainted it for the season; it took about an hour to do two coats.

Living small means living efficiently. Let’s choose not to play the game of bigness. It is really just a socially accepted “penis size” contest anyway. Women don’t need to wear high heels. Men who work desk jobs and have un-calloused hands don’t need to own a pickup truck.