The story is told of an American tourist who made arrangements to visit with the 19th century Polish rabbi, Hofetz Chaim. Astonished to see that the rabbi’s home was only a simple room filled with books plus a table and bench, the tourist asked, “Rabbi, where is your furniture?”
“Where is yours?” replied the rabbi.”Mine?” asked the puzzled American. “But I’m a visitor here. I’m only passing through.”
“So am I,” said Hofetz Chaim. “So am I.”
If you ask what is minimalism,i would say it means believing in or seeking a minimal state;finding freedom from the materialistic possessions.A person who follows minimalism is called a minimalist.
But it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong to have material possessions. There are minimalists living all around the world,some live with their family,own a house,drive a car,while some like to travel around with bare minimal luggage. Some enjoy their jobs,but still choose to live in a tiny house.
So what is the correct way of minimalist living. Well,in a simple way it’s about living a life of freedom,doing things which makes us happier.
” Because the best things in life aren’t things”
Today’s consumerism-driven world has led to a stage where we are so much obsessed with our phones,computers and the virtual world on the internet that we don’t have (actually we have it’s just we don’t see it clearly) time for our family and friends.
Most of the people are working day and night as a brainwashed slave to consumerism.
People are busy in focusing a large part of time in making more and more money,so that they can acquire more and more things and fulfill the dream of having a lifestyle of luxury. A lucrative dream shown by the advertisement company.(yes,minimalism is counter-cultural)
” Advertisement has us chasing cars and clothes,working jobs we hate,so we can buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.
We’re consumers. We are the byproducts of a lifestyle obsession.Murder, crime, poverty, these things don’t concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy’s name on my underwear. “-chuck palahniuk,fight club
I do believe money can bring in temporary happiness,but unhealthy preoccupation with money and materialism is not the way of living.
I started being a minimalist 4 years from now,the reason might be because i saw my mom and dad making money in a hard way,and spending that money in buying more and more things. We were always in debt,and never had happiness even when we had all materialistic assets flowing through the house.
I learnt to cut back on these things once i shifted here for my studies,my friends use to doubt how i’m able to live my life with just few things in my room. Without a bed,just my mat at one side of the room,with the stationary items beside it,a fan on the other side,while i had just one suitcase of clothes and some utensils to cook my food.
I owned a basic cell phone while my friends kept updating to the latest technology.
I just believed to own things which i need in everyday terms of basic lifestyle,because the more things i had,the more worried i used to be.
I had a chance to talk to my dying grandfather,who was 92 years old,and had lived his life to full.
If you get a chance of talking to a old person who has just few minutes of his/her life left,they’ll tell you the money and the things he owned doesn’t mean anything,what matters is the time spent with the loved ones.
And that is what minimalism is all about,never get so busy in making a living that you forget to make a life.
“You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you’re satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you’ve got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you’re trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you.”― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
Now how to start a life of minimalism there are no fast rules or guide. Just remember you need to cut the excess,not what you love. The first step is sometimes the hardest part. Because the first step is to change the way you think about life,and change brings fear. It can be scary and doubtful. But you need to fight the fear.
Think of all the best moments of your life,how many of them were connected to materialistic assets? How many of them are just moments spend with your family,friends or your lover?
Collect moments,not things.
So now that you have the answer,you can proceed here.
You need to sit back quietly and look around your room/house and revaluate your life. Think of all the things you own,do you really need them all !!
Male a list of all the things,and cross out the ones you don’t need,if you are confused just think is it really necessary in terms of hunter-gatherer sense of word.
Donate the things to the poor or the ones who need them. If you are having trouble in that,there is a much more simpler way. Every one or two days pick up a thing that you don’t need in your house,and while you are going out take it with you and donate it. Sacrifice and endurance are the fundamentals of minimalism.
Once you declutter your room with unnecessary things you’ll feel very happy.
Once you have the first step done you are ready to make your own rules of minimalism. Once you own less,you’ll find more freedom,less stress and worries.
You’ll also see that it brings a financial change too.
And again,remember i didn’t just wake up one day in the morning to be a minimalist,it took a lot of time,patience,realizations which gave itls way to a lot of sacrifices to change my mindset and lead a happy life.
Some tips for a minimalist way of living
- declutter your room/house.
-stop buying things that you won’t need.
- get a review before wasting your time and money on a movie.
-instead of spending time infront of tv, read a book,or learn something new.
-save money and travel to new places,it will bring new visions of life.
-stop worrying about keeping up with lifestyle norms.
At the end,remember it doesn’t matter if i had a bicycle and you had a car,we are all part of the same compost heap.
