Blick über den Tellerrand #2
Do you find that there is just not enough time to get everything done? (…) I think that staying busy has become one of the social norms in modern world. Many people enter a race of “Who can be the busiest today?” (…) A lot of times we stay busy because of fear. We are afraid of down time because we are afraid to discover who we are. Instead of really getting to know ourselves, discovering our passions, developing our potential we hide behind a busy schedule. Sometimes we stay busy to cover up some painful memories or emotions that we feel we can’t deal with. This no-conflict strategy is emptying your inner well; it drains your energy and robs you of happy and joyful living. Schedule some time for yourself: meditate, pray, write in a journal or just dive deeply into your thoughts.
(Think Simple Now: Not Enough Time? How to Stop The Illusion)
A minimalist is one who retains what is essential and removes the non-essential. For Leo, owning a bicycle is essential. For me, it is not. For me, owning a television is essential. For Leo, it is not. The essential part is person relative. I can only speak for myself, but I regularly edit my lifestyle to remove the non-essential. I find my life is easier and smoother with fewer things in it.
(Charlie’s Blog: Leo Babauta on Criticism of Minimalism)
I often hear that I cannot practice minimalism in San Francisco — it’s a city, it’s expensive, people are busy, etc. I’m confused by that because it makes me wonder what people think minimalism must be. There’s no one way to practice minimalism — you can do it living out of an RV, backpacking around the world, living in a tiny house, living on a large farm, living anywhere. For me, it means enjoying a simple life with my wife and kids, learning to be content and not needing to buy things all the time, living with fewer possessions but more time to do the things I love, living with space in my life. I can do that anywhere. Sure, many people in cities (including S.F.) are busy. That doesn’t mean I have to be.
(mnmlist: city vs. country minimalism)
So when my dad approached me the other day about building him a website and teaching him to blog, I was a bit hesitant. Was he doing it because he wanted to learn something new, or because he was caving into the pressure to keep moving forward with technology? (…) Technology is just a tool. And like any other tool, we don’t have to use it if we don’t want to. If you like mowing the lawn with a push mower, why upgrade to a rider? If you like the feel of a hardback book in your hands, why buy a Kindle?
(The Art of Minimalism: You don’t need a blog, Dad)
Bike commuting creates a time that is fully my own, a space in the day for meditation, re-connection, and release. I start and end the work day feeling present in the world and in myself, and in turn I am both more focused and more relaxed during those hours in between.
(Tiny Buddha: 6 Tips to Start Bicycling and Enjoy the Ride)
Anxiety comes with some great treasures hidden inside, and they can be yours if you know how to get to them. First, you have to stop fighting and listen to the anxiety for clues.
(Tiny Buddha: The Gift of Anxiety: 7 Ways to Get the Message and Find Peace)
We need to simplify to the minimum that we personally need, use and feel comfortable with. It’s fine to have an entire collection of power tools in the garage (even though they are used only once a year) as long as it is organized and everything is working. It’s not fine to have 5 power tools that are broken (and have been broken for the last 5 years) and that you are planning to fix one day (that, realistically, will never come.)
(Balance In Me: The Secret of Simplifying Your Life)
It’s not what we do that attracts friends, it’s how we think. If we change how we think about others, we can become a magnet for new friends. (…) If you want to be a friend to someone, make sure you let them know all the wonderful things you can see in them.
(Tiny Buddha: How to Become a Magnet for Friends)
One recent rainy night, I curled up on my couch with popcorn and Netflix Instant, ready to spend a quiet night at home. The peace was sweet — while it lasted. Soon, my iPhone began flashing with notifications from a handful of social networking sites, each a beacon of information about what my friends were doing. As the alerts came in, my mind began to race.
(New York Times: Feel Like a Wallflower? Maybe It’s Your Facebook Wall)
Wir suchen vielleicht deshalb etwas an das wir glauben können, weil wir das Vertrauen in uns verloren haben. Wenn man das Vertrauen an sich selber wieder hat, dann kann man wahrscheinlich in diesem Leben wunderbar glücklich werden. Aber da das Leben nicht leicht ist, verliert man als aller erstes das Vertrauen an sich selber.
(Christoph Schlingensief: Sich nicht trauen — offline)
Blick über den Tellerrand #1
Wie viel ist genug? Genügsamkeit bedeutet nicht selbstauferlegte Armut – sie erlaubt dir zu entdecken, wer du wirklich bist.
(52 Wege: Wie viel ist genug?)
Fernsehen ist böse, macht dumm und du vergeudest wertvolle Lebenszeit – heißt es immer wieder. Ja, auch Everett Bogue schrie herum, dass man seinen Fernseher vom Dach seines Hauses werfen soll. Einfach so, um sich vom Bann der bewegten Bilder zu lösen. Und dann sind alle immer so wahnsinnig stolz keinen Fernseher mehr zu besitzen, gucken aber ab und zu via Netflix Filme und Serien und hängen den halben Tag bei Facebook und Twitter rum. Getauscht wurde nur der Bildschirm.
(Frau Ding Dong: Fernsehen und Minimalismus)
Erstaunlich viele Menschen leiden darunter, dass sie schüchtern sind. Sie haben vielleicht manchmal das Gefühl, Sie wären der Einzige, aber das stimmt nicht. Je nachdem, welche Studie Sie bemühen, leiden ca. 2–10 % aller Menschen in Deutschland irgendwann in ihrem Leben unter sozialen Ängsten. Das sind bei einer Bevölkerung von 80 Millionen in Deutschland mindestens 1,6 Millionen Leute. Sie sind also ganz sicher nicht alleine. Es geht vielen Menschen so. Schüchternheit ist anstrengend und bringt Nachteile mit sich. Aber Sie sind deswegen kein schlechter oder minderwertiger Mensch, auch wenn Ihnen Ihr Gefühl manchmal eine andere Geschichte erzählt.
(Zeit zu leben: Was tun, wenn ich schüchtern bin?)
One of the troubles with consumerism in our lives, as best as I can tell, is that it leads us to a place of being too comfortable. (…) Don’t get too comfortable people. It ain’t right.
(A Guy Named Dave: The Case Against Comfort)
Simple but bold: Only use your computer for work. Real work. The work of making something. Have a second device, perhaps an iPad, and use it for games, web commenting, online shopping, networking… anything that doesn’t directly create valued output. Now, when you pick up the iPad, you can say to yourself, “break time.” And if you find yourself taking a lot of that break time, you’ve just learned something important. Go, make something. We need it!
(Seth’s Blog: Are you making something?)
One guy asked me, “Do you party?” I had no idea that it wasn’t meant literally. I thought he was asking if I went to parties, which I further assumed to mean big teen drinking parties. I didn’t want to admit that I had never been to one in my life, so I bullshat slightly. “Not really,” I said, “I’m just not that into it.” Looking back on this, knowing what he really meant, this probably made me sound a lot cooler than I intended. “You do your own thing, huh? That’s cool, man.” And that was it. Nobody looked down on me or thought I was a nerd for doing my own thing because I seemed perfectly content doing it. I wasn’t truly comfortable doing my own thing until years later, but I remembered that night. A stoned guy’s idle conversation became the goal for my life outlook. No other statement or occurrence has been more fundamental in making me stop worrying about what other people think and do, which in turn makes it true.
(Marco.org: Do your own thing)
Vergangenheit, Gegenwart, Zukunft – jeder Mensch hat seine eigene Zeitperspektive. Und dieser Zeittyp bestimmt, wie wir handeln und welche Entscheidungen wir treffen. Doch jede Perspektive ist – wie alle Sichtweisen – begrenzt. Wir können unser Leben verbessern, wenn wir unsere Wahrnehmung der Zeit erweitern. So geht’s.
(Heike Thormann: Welcher Zeittyp sind Sie?)