What is the minimalist lifestyle?

It’s one that is stripped of the unnecessary, to
make room for that which gives you joy.

It’s a removal of clutter in all its forms,
leaving you with peace and freedom and
lightness.

A minimalist eschews the mindset of more, of
acquiring and consuming and shopping, of
bigger is better, of the burden of stuff.

A minimalist instead embraces the beauty of
less, the aesthetic of spareness, a life of
contentedness in what we need and what
makes us truly happy.

A minimalist realizes that acquiring stuff
doesn’t make us happy. That earning more
and having more are meaningless. That
filling your life with busy-ness and
freneticism isn’t desirable, but something to
be avoided.

A minimalist values quality, not quantity, in
all forms.

At the end of my life what would my children and their children find as they searched through my belongings? Boxes upon boxes of useless crap, once trendy and exciting, now just a burden to be thrown out? Or a few heart-felt belongings to be passed down through generations? Not things by which to be held captive, but meaningful items to be used, enjoyed and eventually passed on to someone else.

And so I begin going through each room of my house, searching for one item to toss or give away. It won't be life-changing, but it will be a start. With each room I begin to realize that many of the things I had purchased with such anticipation and fanfare had quickly been relegated to a dark corner of the closet as their novelty wore off, never to be touched again. I know that possessions don’t equal happiness, but it is apparent that I keep learning this lesson over and over again for the past several years. Each small step towards a life of less feels  like a powerful blow to what has become a vicious cycle.

So, you ask, is throwing away a few old books or t-shirts every once in a while all it means to be a minimalist? Hardly. While decluttering your life is a great place to start, minimalism is about changing one’s whole approach to life and opting out of the race to accumulate more. Advertising convinces us of needs we didn’t know existed and exploits our emptiness by promising fulfillment for a few easy payments of $19.99. The shopping mall has become our temple, the credit card our burnt offering…yet, the sacrifice is never sufficient for salvation. Being a minimalist means one simply quits buying in. The following are the principles of living the minimalist life as laid out by Babauta:

Leo’s Principles of Living the Minimalist Life

1. Omit needless things. Notice this doesn’t say to omit everything. Just needless things.

2. Identify the essential. What’s most important to you? What makes you happy? What will have the highest impact on your life, your career?

3. Make everything count. Whatever you do or keep in your life, make it worthy of keeping. Make it really count.

4. Fill your life with joy. Don’t just empty your life. Put something wonderful in it.

5. Edit, edit. Minimalism isn’t an end point. It’s a constant process of editing, revisiting, editing some more.

I would add the following:

6. Hold on loosely. Even to your prized possessions. At the end of the day its relationships, not possessions, that make life worth living.

It’s simple, not easy. But the rewards of digging into the minimalist life are there for anyone willing to take a few small steps each day. Of course, most will choose to continue their present habits, but as for me and my house, we’ve chosen a life of less…and in doing so will surely gain so much more.