Blick über den Tellerrand #12
As minimalists, we often talk about paring down possessions, and sometimes paring down what we do. But what about what we think? (…) When we start out with something, we usually will try everything. But as we learn, we can pare down ideas that we find out don’t matter. We’re left with the essentials.
For every aspiring minimalist, the golden grail is One Bag Living. (…) Essentially, it means reducing your stuff down to a level that’s right for you, which all depends on what you do for a living, how much you can handle, where you want to go and what you need for your interests or job and so on – as long as you get everything down to only. what. you. need. (…) Remember that minimalism isn’t about depriving yourself of things that you want, it’s about freeing yourself from the clutches of consumerism so that you can get what you want.
(Jessica Dang: A beginner’s guide to one bag living)
In my opinion, the value of minimalism is dependent upon the context of the individual. For that reason I don’t think the absence of things necessarily constitutes a minimalist way of life; instead, the ability to understand the value of what is and is not important to you and your life will ultimately (hopefully) lead to a more “free” way of life. In other words, I don’t think a minimalist way of life is determine by the absence of “things” or “stuff” – instead, I think it depends on understanding them and their personal value – and then getting rid things that don’t have as much value or purpose.
(Jessica Dang: Can Minimalism be Measured?)
A lot of people in my field write about how to be successful, but I try to avoid it. It’s just not something I believe is important. Now, that might seem weird: what kind of loser doesn’t want to be successful? Me. I’m that loser.
(Leo Babauta: Why I don’t care about success)
Everybody’s ideas seem obvious to them. So maybe what’s obvious to me is amazing to someone else? Are you holding back something that seems too obvious to share?
(Derek Sivers: Obvious to you. Amazing to others.)
The more I focus on living, the less it seems I need. What does it mean to focus on living? It’s a shift from caring about possessions and status and goals and beautiful things to caring about actual life. (…) When I focus on living, all those other fake needs become less important. Why do I need television when I can go outside and explore, or get active, or take a walk with a friend?
(Leo Babauta: Live more, need less)
Sometimes people think that living more simply and becoming a minimalist means giving everything away and living with nothing. What it really means is living with what is most important to you.
(Courtney Carver: Less Is Not Nothing)
If a certain person in your life is making you feel more negative than positive, more cynical than open, more of a worse person than the day before, you need to let this person go, for your sake and probably his/her’s too.
(Nina Yau: How to Know When It’s Time To Move On)
The act of acquiring more and more material possessions to be happy became a constant cycle – so much so that I couldn’t help but notice something was amiss. It felt strange to me – if these material possessions would supposedly make me happier, why did I have to continually get more of them to keep myself happy?
(Celestine Chua: Materialism Breeds Unhappiness)
Earlier this year I made the conscious decision to remove all internet service from my apartment. It ended up being the best decision I ever made with respect to productivity. (…) I was not content with my productivity. I felt I could do more meaningful things than spend time on the internet—meaningful things like write, exercise, contribute to others, establish connections with new people, and strengthen existing relationships.
(Anmerkung: Ein guter Artikel, der den Nagel auf den Kopf trifft, allerdings bin ich nicht einverstanden mit dem Vorschlag, das Internet stattdessen aufs Handy zu verlagern. Wo soll der Sinn sein? Wenn man sein Handy als Internetzugang nutzt, trägt man es dauernd mit sich rum und hat noch mehr Gelegenheit, seine Zeit damit zu vergeuden und ist noch nicht einmal außerhalb des Hauses/Büros wirklich gegenwärtig. Abgesehen davon, dass das Lesen und Schreiben auf diesen Geräten viel länger dauert. Einer meiner Mitschüler meinte, dass ihn an seinem iPhone stört, dass er durch die Internetanbindung dauernd in Versuchung gerät, sich ablenken zu lassen, statt sinnvolle Dinge zu tun.)
(Joshua Millburn: Killing the Internet at Home Is the Most Productive Thing I’ve Ever Done)
Es kamen einmal ein paar Suchende zu einem alten Zen-Meister. “Herr”, fragten sie, “was tust du, um glücklich und zufrieden zu sein? Wir wären auch gerne so glücklich wie du.” Der Alte antwortete mit mildem Lächeln: “Wenn ich liege, dann liege ich. Wenn ich aufstehe, dann stehe ich auf. Wenn ich gehe, dann gehe ich und wenn ich esse, dann esse ich.”
(Jan Karbowiak: Eine Zen-Meister-Geschichte — offline)