Minimalism, a keyword to Mindfulness

Minimalism gave me a new zeal of life. It helped me discover peace, freedom and space on several levels, and a life that I truly seeked.

In the increasingly complex dynamics of the world that revers power, wealth and designations, there exists a little forgotten oasis deep within the human subconscious. That we came with nothing, and we go back with nothing.

Everything else in between are frills.

Frills are not bad. Yet, is every frill that tickles us necessary to pay attention to? I think not.

In the rat-race of life, some of us have stopped living. We are driven by the external stimuli and are enslaved to our senses. Thanks to social media introducing us to a shiny new ‘inspiration’ each day, reducing those of us with poor self-control to unconscious chasers of mindless consumption.

If we go into the depth of satisfaction, we realise that satisfaction is inversely proportional to acquiring something that has come from the need to satiate an external stimulus. This kind of satisfaction is momentary; it creates a vacuum soon after, like a bag of chips, leaving us craving for the next shiny new thing.

Where does all of this lead to?

Dissatisfaction, boredom, frustration, wastage of money, time and resources, fatigue, depression; the list goes on.

On the other hand, we have minimalism.

Minimalism is satiating. Owning less means more peace, more freedom and more space; a dire need in today’s crammed existence in the physical, mental or emotional realms.

Minimalism is psychological. It is a mindset towards adopting a mindful living in every sphere of life. How you make it practical is upto you.

Through this blog I attempt to share 3 key areas of life, where I adopted a minimalist lifestyle. If you are craving for something similar, this blog is for you.

1.????? Wardrobe Minimalism:

There was a time I owned endless number of clothes, shoes, bags etc. but every time I had to go out, I found myself cribbing that I had nothing to wear! As a result, more clothes were bought, and the number of new clothes that I never wore, kept increasing.

Eventually they were given away.

Here’s what I did:

Adopting minimalist fashion:

Over 3 years ago, I discovered minimalist fashion and a concept called Capsule Wardrobe- that is having clothes that can be put together in different mix and match styles to add depth to your wardrobe, whilst owning a limited selection of quality pieces, that is your personal style and not trend-based.

You may for example want to have a total of 30 garments and shoes. Activewear, sportswear, loungewear etc. are not included in the count.

I really liked this blog and followed a similar approach on minimalizing my wardrobe. I hope it helps you too.

Being an outfit repeater:

Me not wanting to repeat an outfit came from various sources- social media, following wrong influencers and chasing trends, promoting self esteem in silly ways, peer pressure etc.

By freeing myself from these alluring bondages, I welcomed more time and energy for pursuing priorities.

By buying less we are promoting sustainability and reducing waste and environmental impact. It is our social responsibility to leave back something for the coming generations, and one easy way of doing that is adopting mindfulness in what we wear.

Today, I have a smaller wardrobe and only one-third of it is occupied. I love it this way.

2.?????Digital Minimalism:

If you’ve read Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World and A World Without Email, you’d agree when he says that, “Digital Minimalism refers not to a temporal withdraw from our generation-wide addiction to technology but a gradual shift in our daily habits and ultimately, lifestyle”

My digital minimalism began rather unconsciously when I gave up television forever in 2019. And no, it was not against the wishes of the family, nor was it replaced with binge watching on OTT ??

I was also out of social media for a span of time and discovered an insane level of peace; an oxymoron I welcomed gladly! I discovered how free I felt not having to give away my agency to external stimulants.

Another change happened. With Covid, my love for watching movies disappeared. Certain incidents in the movie industry at that time were possible triggers, nevertheless it worked for me in a way that in the last 5 years, I watched only 1 movie at the theatre called Missing- at the request of my son.

Balance is important however. We can choose to stay intentional with our use of technology.

Here’s what I did.

1.????? Back to Paper and Pen

In an apparent way to make daily life simple, today we have an app for almost everything, such as for to-do lists, budgeting, menu organisation or grocery stock management, dream recording, monitoring sleep patterns!... the works.

I loved these new apps; however, they began complicating my life endlessly.? I needed another list to remember which list is on which app. Time was further wasted in connecting data from different apps to create a superlative hi-tech experience, as all the apps promised.

One day I decided enough is enough. I deleted all the apps and went back to pen and paper- the most seamless, time-efficient experience I know of, for at-least certain regular tasks.

2.????? Delete unused apps:

As an extension to point 1, I started following this rule. If I don’t use an app in 2 months, it doesn’t need to be on my phone.

3.????? Unsubscribe:

I unsubscribed from a host of emails that came as offers, newsletters, retail updates, junk that I never read. Now I have no unnecessary emails flooding my account.

I also blocked some service providers that didn’t pay attention to my un-subscription requests.

4.????? Switch-off notifications

Post returning to social media for work, I switched off all the unnecessary notifications from social media platforms.

The only notification-on feature I have is for phone calls.

5.????? Create a Meaningful feed:

From following all and sundry and mindlessly consuming everything on my feed, I was drawn to follow those that helped me change for the better and helped me grow, apart from people I know personally.

6.????? Time-block:

Finally, it’s about discipline. I have designated few hours for social media activities. I do most of my tasks at that time and don’t come back to social media until next day. Sometimes I fail, I’m working on it.

Today, I have time for higher priorities, and sometimes that means sitting by my plants embracing quiet time, doing nothing.

3.?????Minimalism in Relationships:

There was a time when I believed that being surrounded by a large number of people was the way to go; be it friends, family or work acquaintances. I liked the idea of having many friends and different groups- family, school, college, tuitions, workplace, travel etc.

Life taught me that’s not how relationships work. Over a period of time, many of these relationships became silent, few evolved, many disappeared.

Experience made me understand the nuances of relationships and what it truly means to have a meaningful bond with another person.? Today I love spending time with myself, as much as spending time with those that matter. I operate beyond labels of ‘how we met’ and focus more on ‘how we bond’.

Also, there’s a sense of liberation in accepting that you are responsible for your own happiness and problems. If certain important relationships are not thriving even after you have given everything to it, consider going minimal.

Minimalism in relationships is not about cutting out people. Though it is definitely about re-evaluating what bond means to you and re-imagining your relationship goals.

Check within regularly- evaluate who you are, where you are in your life and what’s important to you going forward. Choose what is meaningful to you. Most importantly, be the person you wish to have in your life as a friend, mentor, partner, or any other role.

Growth comes in accepting who we are, as we are, with forgiveness and humility with a focus on what we can do to get better. It’s never about the other person, but always about self.

Finally, to me minimalism is about avoiding wastage of resources; time, energy and money. It’s a work in progress; a journey that I’ve begun 3 years ago. I become wiser at it with each passing day.

My final thoughts if you’re serious about adopting minimalism.

Choose Convenience Wisely:

Powerful advertisements have made us believe that ‘convenience’ is the way to go. Hence a large number of us are swayed towards making life ‘convenient’ which to me are discipline-ruining, habit-spoiling mechanisms that we also foolishly pay for.

Certain technology has been a boon to us- washing machine for example. But a lot of it is unnecessary. For example, I find the food-ordering platforms a sheer waste of money. Not only are we ordering over-priced and many a times stale- thus health-ruining food, but there are also many additional components we pay for apart from what we order.

Why? Because we apparently have a variety to choose from. Basically, many options to waste your valuable money.

When we were young, we were taken out for dinner once a month. There was no concept of ordering in, whatever was cooked at home was eaten, no questions asked. When we grew up, we began ordering in from restaurants, which today, I feel is better than ordering from food-ordering platforms. If we must order in, by ordering directly from a restaurant we save money, however little may it be, and we can spend that in buying some extra food for the needy, instead of wasting it on an app.

Convenience should be energy, money, and time-saving in the long run without ruining one’s habits. If it comes in the way of self-discipline inducing couch-potatoism then it is definitely Not convenient. It’s ruining you in the long run.

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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