Where I grocery shop, every now and again I see a homeless or poor man with a cardboard sign that reads “Homeless. Need food”, “Got no place to live, looking for someplace to stay for the night”, “A couple dollars would be appreciated”, “Looking for work, anything will do”, or “Have no money and no home, need clothes for the winter.” A couple of times, I have even seen whole families like this.

When this happens my wife and I try to help out with a few bucks here, and there. We have even given some of our unused winter clothes and some blankets to a family. But is wasn’t until recently that we saw a seemingly homeless man holding up a sign that read “Have you thanked God for today?” Wow …… I never thought a poor homeless man would have something to offer me. Insight. Wisdom. My own personal Mr. Wendell (an old song by Arrested Development ….. never mind). I wish had taken a picture of him for this post, but I didn’t think of it at the time.

How about that, a poor homeless man in a state of gratitude for still being alive. There was even a smile on his face.

We can choose to be happy people. We can continue to sulk, stress, and worry about all the riches we don’t have. OR, we can be embrace and be grateful for the basic riches we DO have. The best riches: Sunshine, fresh air, life/health, clean food, loved ones, ……. that’s it. If we have those, we have everything.

What else is there? sports cars, large real estate, pool, Armani suits, a summer place near the beach?

TOYS. All of them. These are all just toys. The real riches life has to offer are the ones most of us already have.

 

So …. when I am feeling “down and out”:

• I think about the poor man with that sign.
• I think about a friend of mine who used to be homeless, who saw 9/11 happen from the city rooftop on which he slept. He now works in my building, and is overjoyed with his small life. He also happens to be one of the wisest people I know.
• I think of Monks, Peace Corps volunteers, and all the people who have taken a simple life in the service of others that don’t concern themselves over the unnecessary stresses that middle class America covet.
• I think of children. How they are perfectly happy with the simplest joys in life. How they get joy from giving love freely, and do not judge.
• I think of the prison inmate that just got out of prison after 5+ years who hasn’t felt the sunlight and the wind on his face in all that time. He is grateful, and will never take it for granted again.

 

If we have our health and sunshine, we are rich. But if we also have family, then we have everything.

 

Have you thanked God for today?

It took until now for me to really be able to articulate the true core “Why”, “Why Minimalism?”

Most people just think it’s all about downsizing ones physical life to few possessions, thereby freeing themselves up to do what they want to do.

Those of us who are more educated in the concept know it’s all about de-cluttering our life of all elements (physical and otherwise) that add little or no value to our lives. This frees up our time, mental concentration, space, and money to be able to focus on only the elements that add value to our lives.

Both these descriptions are correct, but I don’t believe they really capture the “why.” Not fully. This is because all of this is predicated on the concept of “value.” It’s all about the things we “value” in life. Unfortunately “value” is subjective, and a very poorly defined word. After all, one could claim that they greatly value their 100 acre property, Porsche collection, 1.5 million dollar home, extensive wardrobe, and entourage. One can claim this with a strait face because these are the THEY value.

(Side Note: Just on general principal, one can not possibly value something they don’t personally make use of. Anything kept and left in storage is unvalued property)

The truth is this: At it’s core, minimalism is about having an awareness of the elements in life that have “true value”, and true value is not subjective. It is in fact, completely objective. And the only thing in this entire reality that truly has any value, is life. Human life ranked highest (if we have to rank species).

All the things in our lives, from the material possessions, to the activities, are supposed to function to facilitate flourishing life. Not our own life alone, but others (in case that was unclear).

This is the true lifestyle of a minimalist.

Those of us that live by this principal ….. are already minimalists; whether we realize it or not.

 

Believe that most people hold people higher than things?? Really??

Then why do I see:

• Men say “I love my car”, but “I like my friends?”
• Consumers trampling over each other on Black Friday for the latest and greatest tech.
• Consumers waiting on line Thanksgiving Day night for that tech instead of spending the time with their families.
• Parents too busy adding an extension on to their home to spend any time with their little children.

NO, most people DON’T put people, put humanity higher than things. They put their own selfish material wants first. This is the world we live in.

 

Minimalism is having a strong sense of humanity. Where people are the primary focus, our own personal needs come second, and there is no third. Having a life of little or no clutter, is just a result of this mentality.

 

Why Minimalism?

Because only people matter.

As I have stated before, a minimalist life is a life of intention. A life where every moment of every day is a moment that adds value to our life.

Let this not suggest however that every minute of every day must be dedicated toward some goal. That we must be constantly working to meet some ends that we have defined as success. Nothing can be further from the truth.

What it means is that we should be planning out our time, and not end up being incidentally idle. It means that we analyzed our wants and needs, and have determined the things and activities we require in our lives to satisfy those wants/needs. It means that we have scheduled our time and space according to this determination.

This may include TV time with the family (building relationships), video game time (entertainment and mental exercise), or social media time (information). It is up to the individual and the individual alone to determine what adds value to their life and what is just time “filler.” I would ask only that we be honest with ourselves in determining this.

In a grand effort to live this life of intention, we could book our selves solid. Every minute of every day booked with more events and activities. So much so that we are in a rush to make it to everything. We pack as much “value” in one day as possible. To this, I say “Wooooh woooooh, slow down!” In the effort to get as much value out of our day as possible, we actually risk losing a whole bunch of value.

 

How do we lose value?:

1. We are in such a rush, we can’t live in the moment.
2. We are so focused on the day “plan”, that we miss other opportunities for value in our peripheral scope.
3. We don’t learn anything. Knowledge rushed, knowledge forced, is not knowledge retained.
4. We are likely to miss some planned events anyway. We simply can’t book events/activities back to back. Some will go into overtime, thereby making us late for others. A nice comfortable time buffer is necessary.

“The more we tighten our grip, the more will slip through our fingers”

 

So we must slow down, allow for some time buffer between our valuable activities and events. It is a good effort to pack as much “valued” activities in a day as possible, but we aren’t going to get any value from these activities if we don’t quiet the body and mind.