What Is The Minimalist Lifestyle?

The architect and writer John Pawson says that ” minimalism, more than architecture, is a lifestyle. ” This is how a group of families seem to have understood it, since they have created a platform from which they teach what the minimalist lifestyle is.

The platform in question is called The Minimalists, and in it they try to give meaning to life. How? Well, for example, generating alternatives for that material need that arises from advertising and that society itself empowers by acting as a mirror.

What is a minimalist lifestyle?

According to minimalists, today we live in an environment that is too stimulating. In addition, many of these stimuli are interested advertisements that are focused on motivating consumption; This produces that every day we think that there are more objects that are essential for our well-being.

Following minimalist thinking, with each new purchase  we get heavier. That is, our emotional plane becomes overloaded, ending up by leaving aside essential parts of the human being, such as freedom.

For this reason, the creators of the minimalist lifestyle, Ryan Nicodemus and Fields Millburn, define this way of living as the tool that serves as a catalyst to get rid of excesses. So that? So that we can focus on what is really important, and that leads us to happiness, freedom and fulfillment.

If you are interested in the minimalist way of life, there are a series of characteristics that define it based on a single idea that supports and inspires them:  eliminating material needs, and artificial in the background, and focusing on the personal.

Minimalist lifestyle: eliminate the accessory or unnecessary

Basically they advocate that we eliminate everything that is not strictly necessary. If during your life you have been storing useless objects, it is about doing an exercise in order to empty these spaces, so that they can be freed or filled with elements that do meet real needs.

The most traditional wisdom reminds us that the attachment to the material makes us in some way slaves. The accumulation causes us to waste time cleaning, ordering or maintaining, supposing an obstacle to use our resources in those matters that are really important. In this way, minimalists

Eliminate attachment to objects

Sometimes we get attached to objects, that’s why we don’t throw them away. It is true that they can be things full of memories for us. However, the minimalist reminds us that, in reality, these memories are in the person, not the object.

Minimalists claim that we have to project ourselves into the future, not into the past. Thus, the attachment has to be towards people, starting with oneself, and not towards material possessions.

Order and simplicity at home

They also advocate having an orderly home, where simplicity is the dominant tonic. Each thing that we keep will be because it has a specific use and for that purpose it must have a space. Also if we are systematic and we always give the same, it will be easier to find it.

Consumer control

Another important aspect that vital minimalism values ​​is the control of consumption. We have to be careful with purchases, since, on many occasions, we acquire possessions that are really useless.

They also advocate another maxim, and that is to change everything that enters a home for another that leaves. So if any of your possessions have lost their useful life, sell or donate them, but don’t hoard.

Digitization

Another option that minimalists opt for is digitization. They advocate ending photo albums, bills, letters, tickets, and more. First a photo is taken or scanned, then it is saved digitized and then the material part is thrown away.

Other minimalist lifestyle options

There are other options that minimalists opt for. As you can imagine, they are all committed to simplifying life and depriving it of material possessions:

• Simplify technology. That is, not having a mobile phone, iPod, MP3, laptop, desktop computer … They bet on trying to bring everything together in the smallest number of devices possible.
• They also invite you to control the consumption of information. Since we are exposed to many stimuli, we ultimately lose focus and valuable time without being truly well informed in many cases.
• Selecting commitments is another maxim. Do not waste your time on dates that are not really going to bring you anything. We have to be more productive, and for that, sometimes, we have to say no.
• The accumulation of experiences instead of objects is also another of its characteristics.

• Finally, they bet on controlling the mind, focusing on what is truly important, seeking emotional balance.

In short, this is the minimalist lifestyle. Learn to live in the present, heading towards the future, enjoying the little experiences and acquiring only the possessions necessary to live. For them this represents the highest degree of development and freedom. Does it attract you?