Minimalism
There is a deep fear in our country about Minimalism. We associate this word with poverty, hippies, the Great Depression, weakness, not doing so well, not living the American Dream, not keeping up with the Joneses, not living up to the status quo, and the list goes on. When you're working a corporate job, you have to be top notch because what they think of you matters! In fact, that's true almost everywhere we go.
If our job isn't judging us with these social standards, maybe our future 'love of our life' is or current partner is. Maybe our children are whining that all the other teenagers get three game systems every single Christmas so why does Santa hate them?
Even worse is the fear that is created through insurance and medical companies that we have to live a certain way to be safe and secure. What about the children? What about their futures? What about MY future?
And then there is advertising. Western culture advertising is running a non-stop idea that sells us on a reality that 'more is better.' We buy more clothes because they are "such a great deal!" We buy bigger meals because "it's such a great deal!" We are sold on the idea that bigger is better because we are supposedly saving money when we do to this. But in reality, a lot of this 'more is better' is causing severe health issues, financial crisis with people that cannot control their spending, and it's creating this idea that we need to fill ourselves up from the outside because that's what will make us happy. This is not true. In fact the opposite is true.
Most corporations and marketing companies will sell you until you're a spiritually broken person and your life is in shambles.
They will play on your emotional weaknesses until you're hooked on their products, ideas for life. Everything in Western culture is built on the idea of getting you hooked on a system that will keep you from being free and independent, and instead stuck believing that your life is out of your control or that you need someone else to make these decisions for you. They tell you who God is, they tell you how to see the world, they tell you what they want you to see, and much of it is only parts of the truth. You many not be able to know the truth on everything going on in the world, simply because you aren't there. But other than that, the whole truth comes from inside of you. You are always in control. You search deep and hard enough you will find God on your own terms. Everything starts to make sense when you pursue yourself and define yourself, rather than letting the media and corporations do it for you through subconscious programming.
Minimalism is about breaking out of the bonds you are stuck in whether they are spiritual, mental, physical or all three. Minimalism is not being poor, it's having less responsibility in a system that overworks you. You just need to learn to reframe this in your mind. I once asked myself, what is the difference between a poor person and light-weight backpacker? We can definitely say money. It is much easier to go out of the city and have the right gear. But much harder to be stuck poor and only given what other people think you need. But then, how much different is that switch to working for other people? Most people have money, but they're stuck doing what other people think they need, and therefore living a spiritual poverty under the guise of money. But what if you could have both, instead of sacrificing one for the other? By finding a balance between the two, you can. You don't need to have millions of dollars and nor do you need gigantic amounts of crap. You can live an awesome life and have more job freedom by learning to live with less material things. With less material things you don't have to work so hard, always missing out on the use of those material things.
These are the things you have to start mentally working yourself out of. Your life is all about reframing the negatives and positives in such a way that is practical and realistic for you. My conclusion was, why not just live with a hell of a lot less in my life? I can't be a hippy at a commune or a homeless person because that doesn't allow me to still pursue my passions and dreams which exist in the city. I also have a teenager that has passions and dreams that are in the city. That type of lifestyle doesn't fit with all of my beliefs. I couldn't see myself living off the grid just yet, but I also couldn't see myself continuing to live as I had once before. Tons of junk I didn't need, and tons of responsibility to go with it.
So I began to find my own ways of becoming a minimalist. It first started with the fact that I had to move to Oregon. Financially, the best way I could work it out was to get rid of everything that would not fit into a mid-sized 4 door sedan. I lived in Oregon with my daughter for a few months with no furniture, save a couple of stools and some foam to sleep on. The amazing thing was, we didn't die. We also had little housework to do. It was actually really nice. Although we had too little of stuff and eventually acquired more, it was an eye-opening experience to see how much stuff cluttered my life. Also, how much money I was wasting on that stuff all the time because of mindless buying.
We now have furniture, plants and decor, but much of it came to us as gifts or reused. I literally furnished my bedroom for about $50 by going to thrift stores, garage sales, and buying some really cool paint that is easy to apply to wood furniture. I love my room more now than I ever did when I had money. Because it's mine. It has my personality in it. Not some machine made, cookie cutter furniture that "the Joneses" have, but me. My energy. My thoughts. My personality, individuality. My love. It's all over my home and when I come here, I love being here. It feels good to me because it's mine and my energy is in it. It's my creation. And that is the essence of living a Minimalist Lifestyle.
You are creating your life according to you right now. You hold your own spiritual beliefs (possibly drawn from many religions and belief systems from around the world). You hold your own thoughts. You decide what to believe and stop buying up ideas that keep you stuck in a system that has been created to suck people dry emotionally. You are a powerful person and your voice and opinion matter. With enough research, the immense amount of crap being sold as ideas in this country becomes blatantly obvious! And then it becomes easy to walk away.
Once you start working on the feelings and ideas that are coursing through your magnificent body, you start to change your behavior. Naturally. It's as easy as realizing there is no longer a Santa Claus. It hurts and is sad at first. But eventually you get over it and stop trying to go to the fake sources to get your needs met. You start realizing that the real power lies in you. And when you realize that, you start to see you don't need that much stuff in life. You don't need a lot of thoughts to keep you distracted. You will rather work on things that make you feel passionate! Things that make you feel alive. Minimalism is about feeling FREE, independent, interdependent, confident, ALIVE, and connected to other people who are like you! It is the most amazing lifestyle available. You don't have to live like a poor person. Just stop trying to live like other people who aren't like you. Stop chasing the fake stuff on TV and in other media. Stop buying up the idea that you're not a whole person if you don't own mansions, the best organic food in the world, the best most newest vehicles, have the most gorgeous partner. It's all lies. You can be happy NOT having those things.
What you truly want is to feel free and powerful. And as long as you're giving your power to all these things outside of you, you will never, EVER feel free.
Another big reason I live this way is because Minimalism helps other issues going on in our country as well. I'm not keen on corporations because they are greedy and exploit humans and the environment. The system they run on is being globalized and causing havoc around the world. When I buy stuff from corporations, I feel that I am contributing to this system. It bothers me a great deal when I know that other humans in other countries are sick or dying because of my overconsumption.
On the other hand, I live in a country where it is impossible for me to NOT be a hypocrite. There are so many corporations that surround me that I am not unable to live every day without depending on one corporation or another.
My solution is to live as minimally as possible, realizing that there is no perfect way to change this. In fact, just as much as I dislike others telling me how to live my life, I also dislike people telling me that I'm a good environmentalist, "If I am doing it this way or that way,..." The truth is, Green consumerism has been taken hostage by greed just as much as conventional living methods have. Green consumerism is being exploited and people are buying into that idea and still pollution is a problem because no one is addressing recycling and reusing within the Green consumerism culture. That is to say, Green corporations are often run by conventional parent companies that are just looking to drive another profit! Since all these companies are run on supply and demand, I try to remove my participation to that system as much as I can without putting my own daily living in jeopardy. It may not seem that effective, but if you're working on these things in other areas of your life, it will balance you out. That is, getting other people interested in doing the same.
One ant at a picnic is no big deal. Get enough ants to join and the picnic is ruined.
Our reduced participation in the greed of corporations also helps us to curb the problems in other countries where human rights are constantly being violated to make a profit. Sweatshop factories are rampant across the globe. The conditions are extreme and unbearable but the workers stay because they are starving and trying to feed their families. It is a very desperate situation that can be resolved with more action on the part of Western culture. Living with less can help change these problems. Especially if these corporations are made aware that our decision to stop buying is because of their decisions to exploit humans for the sake of greed.
How many of us really want to live wealthy at the expense of another's health and well-being? Right now, whether we like it or not, every American is riding on the backs of exploited humans, animals, and environment. But together we can change this.
If our job isn't judging us with these social standards, maybe our future 'love of our life' is or current partner is. Maybe our children are whining that all the other teenagers get three game systems every single Christmas so why does Santa hate them?
Even worse is the fear that is created through insurance and medical companies that we have to live a certain way to be safe and secure. What about the children? What about their futures? What about MY future?
And then there is advertising. Western culture advertising is running a non-stop idea that sells us on a reality that 'more is better.' We buy more clothes because they are "such a great deal!" We buy bigger meals because "it's such a great deal!" We are sold on the idea that bigger is better because we are supposedly saving money when we do to this. But in reality, a lot of this 'more is better' is causing severe health issues, financial crisis with people that cannot control their spending, and it's creating this idea that we need to fill ourselves up from the outside because that's what will make us happy. This is not true. In fact the opposite is true.
Most corporations and marketing companies will sell you until you're a spiritually broken person and your life is in shambles.
They will play on your emotional weaknesses until you're hooked on their products, ideas for life. Everything in Western culture is built on the idea of getting you hooked on a system that will keep you from being free and independent, and instead stuck believing that your life is out of your control or that you need someone else to make these decisions for you. They tell you who God is, they tell you how to see the world, they tell you what they want you to see, and much of it is only parts of the truth. You many not be able to know the truth on everything going on in the world, simply because you aren't there. But other than that, the whole truth comes from inside of you. You are always in control. You search deep and hard enough you will find God on your own terms. Everything starts to make sense when you pursue yourself and define yourself, rather than letting the media and corporations do it for you through subconscious programming.
Minimalism is about breaking out of the bonds you are stuck in whether they are spiritual, mental, physical or all three. Minimalism is not being poor, it's having less responsibility in a system that overworks you. You just need to learn to reframe this in your mind. I once asked myself, what is the difference between a poor person and light-weight backpacker? We can definitely say money. It is much easier to go out of the city and have the right gear. But much harder to be stuck poor and only given what other people think you need. But then, how much different is that switch to working for other people? Most people have money, but they're stuck doing what other people think they need, and therefore living a spiritual poverty under the guise of money. But what if you could have both, instead of sacrificing one for the other? By finding a balance between the two, you can. You don't need to have millions of dollars and nor do you need gigantic amounts of crap. You can live an awesome life and have more job freedom by learning to live with less material things. With less material things you don't have to work so hard, always missing out on the use of those material things.
These are the things you have to start mentally working yourself out of. Your life is all about reframing the negatives and positives in such a way that is practical and realistic for you. My conclusion was, why not just live with a hell of a lot less in my life? I can't be a hippy at a commune or a homeless person because that doesn't allow me to still pursue my passions and dreams which exist in the city. I also have a teenager that has passions and dreams that are in the city. That type of lifestyle doesn't fit with all of my beliefs. I couldn't see myself living off the grid just yet, but I also couldn't see myself continuing to live as I had once before. Tons of junk I didn't need, and tons of responsibility to go with it.
So I began to find my own ways of becoming a minimalist. It first started with the fact that I had to move to Oregon. Financially, the best way I could work it out was to get rid of everything that would not fit into a mid-sized 4 door sedan. I lived in Oregon with my daughter for a few months with no furniture, save a couple of stools and some foam to sleep on. The amazing thing was, we didn't die. We also had little housework to do. It was actually really nice. Although we had too little of stuff and eventually acquired more, it was an eye-opening experience to see how much stuff cluttered my life. Also, how much money I was wasting on that stuff all the time because of mindless buying.
We now have furniture, plants and decor, but much of it came to us as gifts or reused. I literally furnished my bedroom for about $50 by going to thrift stores, garage sales, and buying some really cool paint that is easy to apply to wood furniture. I love my room more now than I ever did when I had money. Because it's mine. It has my personality in it. Not some machine made, cookie cutter furniture that "the Joneses" have, but me. My energy. My thoughts. My personality, individuality. My love. It's all over my home and when I come here, I love being here. It feels good to me because it's mine and my energy is in it. It's my creation. And that is the essence of living a Minimalist Lifestyle.
You are creating your life according to you right now. You hold your own spiritual beliefs (possibly drawn from many religions and belief systems from around the world). You hold your own thoughts. You decide what to believe and stop buying up ideas that keep you stuck in a system that has been created to suck people dry emotionally. You are a powerful person and your voice and opinion matter. With enough research, the immense amount of crap being sold as ideas in this country becomes blatantly obvious! And then it becomes easy to walk away.
Once you start working on the feelings and ideas that are coursing through your magnificent body, you start to change your behavior. Naturally. It's as easy as realizing there is no longer a Santa Claus. It hurts and is sad at first. But eventually you get over it and stop trying to go to the fake sources to get your needs met. You start realizing that the real power lies in you. And when you realize that, you start to see you don't need that much stuff in life. You don't need a lot of thoughts to keep you distracted. You will rather work on things that make you feel passionate! Things that make you feel alive. Minimalism is about feeling FREE, independent, interdependent, confident, ALIVE, and connected to other people who are like you! It is the most amazing lifestyle available. You don't have to live like a poor person. Just stop trying to live like other people who aren't like you. Stop chasing the fake stuff on TV and in other media. Stop buying up the idea that you're not a whole person if you don't own mansions, the best organic food in the world, the best most newest vehicles, have the most gorgeous partner. It's all lies. You can be happy NOT having those things.
What you truly want is to feel free and powerful. And as long as you're giving your power to all these things outside of you, you will never, EVER feel free.
Another big reason I live this way is because Minimalism helps other issues going on in our country as well. I'm not keen on corporations because they are greedy and exploit humans and the environment. The system they run on is being globalized and causing havoc around the world. When I buy stuff from corporations, I feel that I am contributing to this system. It bothers me a great deal when I know that other humans in other countries are sick or dying because of my overconsumption.
On the other hand, I live in a country where it is impossible for me to NOT be a hypocrite. There are so many corporations that surround me that I am not unable to live every day without depending on one corporation or another.
My solution is to live as minimally as possible, realizing that there is no perfect way to change this. In fact, just as much as I dislike others telling me how to live my life, I also dislike people telling me that I'm a good environmentalist, "If I am doing it this way or that way,..." The truth is, Green consumerism has been taken hostage by greed just as much as conventional living methods have. Green consumerism is being exploited and people are buying into that idea and still pollution is a problem because no one is addressing recycling and reusing within the Green consumerism culture. That is to say, Green corporations are often run by conventional parent companies that are just looking to drive another profit! Since all these companies are run on supply and demand, I try to remove my participation to that system as much as I can without putting my own daily living in jeopardy. It may not seem that effective, but if you're working on these things in other areas of your life, it will balance you out. That is, getting other people interested in doing the same.
One ant at a picnic is no big deal. Get enough ants to join and the picnic is ruined.
Our reduced participation in the greed of corporations also helps us to curb the problems in other countries where human rights are constantly being violated to make a profit. Sweatshop factories are rampant across the globe. The conditions are extreme and unbearable but the workers stay because they are starving and trying to feed their families. It is a very desperate situation that can be resolved with more action on the part of Western culture. Living with less can help change these problems. Especially if these corporations are made aware that our decision to stop buying is because of their decisions to exploit humans for the sake of greed.
How many of us really want to live wealthy at the expense of another's health and well-being? Right now, whether we like it or not, every American is riding on the backs of exploited humans, animals, and environment. But together we can change this.
Copyright © 2014 Soul Our Power
