I am a huge fan of “The Minimalists” and all their work on minimalism. I first stumbled upon their documentary in 2018, and I distinctly remember feeling so uncomfortable watching it. That’s how I knew it really spoke to some part of me that I needed to work on.
I kept going back to it, like a curious kid willing to explore something that could be equal parts exciting and dangerous. The more I read about Minimalism, the more ready I felt to dip my toes into these waters.
And so I did. I started small, making little changes here and there. Changes that seemed harmless at the moment, but soon started to impact many different aspects of my life. Today, I would like to share some of them, and how this journey has changed my life.
The connection between the mind and the material world
Growing up in a middle class family meant not always having access to things we wants or think we want. Your formative years can have a big effect on your relationship with money and material things. It did on me.
The moment I started to earn my own paycheck, I kinda went beserk with my spending. I was the ideal consumer of the modern world. I consumed all sorts of things and accumulated a wardrobe of clothes, accessories, and all other kinds of junk.
I thought happiness lies in the freedom of being able to buy whatever I want whenever I want. It took me a while to realize the cost of what I was doing to my physical and mental space. You see, material things can make you happy for a few seconds, until you want something better, something bigger. There is no end to it.
Not just that, my awareness about minimalism made me notice how my physical space impacts my mental space, and understand the strain I have been putting my mind through by accumulating a whole bunch of things I did not need in the first place.
My first learning with Minimalism was that the psychological cost of keeping the clutter was exponentially more than the material cost of buying new stuff.
Starting the minimalism journey
I started small. I understood my consumption patterns are deep rooted, and will not change overnight. I became aware of my buying behaviour. I noticed I buy when I feel a certain surge of emotions that I am trying to avoid, or deflect. I buy when I am insecure or anxious about an upcoming event or occasion. I buy when I feel self critical, and cruel to myself in ways I would never treat another person.
Sounds terrible, isn’t it? So many negative feelings. The truth is most of us go through this and have different kinds of coping mechanisms we have developed to survive. Yes, survive because we were never taught to identify or deal with such emotions. Society taught us those negative emotions needed to be brushed away or replaced with happier moments however superficially.
Taking the focus away from things can help us bring the focus back on our minds and our bodies. Moving away from materialism helped me, actually forced me, to find newer avenues to express my feelings. It made space for activities, experiences, routines that focused on the overall well-being of my body and mind.
It is difficult to say for sure, but I believe a certain rewiring happened in my brain when I got exposed to the concept of minimalism. It was around the same time I started my journey with yoga and took to writing as a form of expression. It could be purely coincidental, but nothing is coincidental in the world of spirituality—just saying! : )
In the next blog, I am hoping to share some practical measures I took as part of my minimalism journey.
As always, I would love to hear about your experiences with minimalism. : )
I simply loved your journey to minimalism and the inner thought that came before it. Absolutely hold your hands in this. Would like to go ghe journey too, dear
Thank you aunty. Let’s take small steps together.
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