A Minimalist Life
Have you heard the statement ‘less
is more’ being used out there?
The Book of Proverbs describes a
minimalist life as follows. Proverbs 15:16-17 ‘Better is a little with the fear
of the Lord than great treasure with trouble. Better is a dinner of herbs where
love is than a fatted calf with hatred.’
A minimalist lifestyle believes
less is more. It is a lifestyle that steers clear of unnecessary excess. The
truth is that a lot of the things we think we need in life are just baggage
that doesn’t add much value to us nor enrich our experience in life.
A minimalist life is one where you
have become clear what you need to function in life, acquire it and forget
about the rest. It is not chosen because of poverty or lack. When you are poor,
you cannot say you are living a minimalist life. For you it is not a choice. It
is your reality. But when a wealthy individual chooses to cut out excess from
his life, then that becomes a minimalist lifestyle.
Billionaires are some of the
people you will find picking up this practice because they have had opportunity
to live that other life and concluded it is not worth it. Talk about Warren
Buffet who has lived in the same house he bought in the 1960’s. Many of us
cannot imagine living in the same place we were before we became millionaires
and then billionaires. There are some who still do their own laundry like Mark
Cuban. Others cannot imagine buying an expensive coffee. It is not about their
ability to afford these things but a choice to live without needing them.
Many of the things we acquire in
life end up possessing us instead of it being the other way. If your
acquisitions keep you in a rat race trying to maintain them then it is time to
ask whether you need those acquisitions. If you are spending more money keeping
things running than you initially thought was going to be the case, it is time
to consider a minimalist approach.
Minimalism is about reducing your
needs to the bare minimum. I hear the Japanese are very good at this kind of
thing. They keep their houses small in size deliberately. They also drive the
simplest cars you can imagine though they manufacture big guzzlers for export.
This keeps their country free of excessive pollution and protects their
environment a great deal.
The excesses in our lives are
purely a matter of ego. The bigger our ego the more the things we want to
acquire to feel fulfilled. Our ego makes us compare ourselves to those around
us and we constantly seek to go one better than them. Keeping up with the
Joneses has cost us to lose our lives in the process. When we come to terms
with the truth that more does not necessarily guarantee a better quality of
life, then we learn to stick with what makes us happy and ignore the rest.
What do you think about embracing
a minimalist life? How would a minimalist lifestyle improve your ability to be
a blessing to others? What else would you be able to accomplish in terms of
serving others if you embraced a minimalist lifestyle.
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Photo Adapted from www.moneyunder30.com
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