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Inside Minimalism
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Minimalism Is Not an Empty Shelf
Words by Carl Phillips
That’s not the point.
Neither is only having five items of clothing or living without a TV.
Minimalism itself isn’t the end point. It’s just a tool we leverage. It’s the start of a more intentional framing of our lives.
We use it to live more mindfully.
We use it to reduce friction, not create more.
We use it to simplify, not create barriers and rules of what we can and cannot do.
We are all ‘minimalist enough’ if we decide to be. What that even means is anyone’s guess.
Minimalism should help, not hinder. It’s about choosing to focus on what matters to us. It’s about searching for signal amongst the noise.
There is no uniform we need to wear. No colors we need shun. No shops we need to stop consuming from. We get to choose what our brand of minimalism looks like. We can call it minimalism, we call it intentionality, we can call it living simply, or we can call it nothing at all.
Utilize minimalist principles but stop short of seeing them as the curer of all ills. More than this, do not be shackled by the idea of what minimalism should be. That is entirely for us to decide.
Yes, there can be power in minimalism but only if we are intentional with our application of it.
Online Congruency
Words by Joshua Fields Millburn
I am seated at a booth in a diner outside Birmingham, Alabama, the smell of freshly ground, over-roasted coffee beans wafting around me, sifting through emails from friends. One in particular stands out.
A close friend is amid the tedious med-school application process, and she’s worried about her Facebook account being used against her by the folks who review applications. I don’t even have an undergraduate degree, so I’m likely an unfit advisor for grad-school matters; but, then again, I don’t really see this as a collegiate affair—rather, it’s a matter of congruency.
For the longest time, I, myself, led two separate lives: professional JFM and personal JFM. There was Corporate Me—prim and proper, ostensibly flawless. And there was Creative Me—flawed but beautiful (beautiful because of the flaws, perhaps?). For obvious reasons, the two mixed about as well as glass rubbing against concrete. So I kept them segregated: Corporate Me didn’t talk about his love for writing, and Creative Me loathed himself for hiding his creativity from the world. It was almost as though both sides were ashamed of each other.
Over time, this internal tug of war took its toll, until eventually I realized that living two separate lives was exhausting, and even disingenuous. So instead of hiding one half from the other, I decided to change my activity to align both halves.
In my friend’s case, she wanted to go as far as changing her name on social media. My advice: Do you do anything online you’re not proud of in real life? If so, I wouldn’t change my name—I’d change my online activity. Your online persona should be a mirror of you, and nothing to be ashamed of.
For me, there isn’t an online self and a real-life self these days—just myself. Whether I write a blog post, speak to a crowd, or converse with a friend, my life is congruent.
Don’t get me wrong, I still have a private life. Like most people, I enjoy having sex, sending tarty text messages, and walking around the house naked—I just don’t share those details publicly. Not because I’m ashamed, but because they are private (and because they don’t contribute to the greater good). There’s a big difference between a public online profile (an extension of one’s self) and a private intimate conversation (personal interactions not meant for public consumption).
Deciding what’s private and what’s public is a personal matter; share whatever you’d like. Just don’t be ashamed of who you are: shame is ugly, and you’re far too beautiful for that.
A Little More of Less
A few other articles we think you might enjoy…
→ A Guide to Being in Action by Leo Babauta
→ Reprogramming the Twitch by The Minimalists
→ Why Do I Have This? by Joshua Becker
Are any of your friends interested in minimalism or living simply?
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Mindful Moments
Return my money from my account