How to live a simple life: "Simplicity is extremely important for happiness".
Hey Champ,
“If one’s life is simple, contentment has to come. Simplicity is extremely important for happiness. Having few desires, feeling satisfied with what you have, is very vital: satisfaction with just enough food, clothing, and shelter to protect yourself from the elements.” -The Dalai Lama, 1935.
This quote is so true, I follow it as best as I can. I have always been an advocate of living a simple life. I have never really owned very many things. I once lived in a cottage with nothing - not even curtains. I used to cook my food in the oven and then sleep next to it, just to keep warm at night. I loved it.
So, as part of this, I just spent the weekend cleaning out my flat. Why? Because clutter and meaningless, material things aren’t that important to me. Clutter and an abundance of items is the opposite of simplicity - its complexity.
Years ago, I stumbled across the idea of minimalism. Minimalism helps me to create and maintain my simplicity.
Minimalism is a lifestyle that helps people question what things add value to their lives. By clearing the clutter, we can all make room for the most important aspects of life: health, relationships, passion, growth, and contribution.
The world is full of excess - I suppose that's part of living in a capitalist, consumer society. When you’re old enough, look around and you’ll see how much excess stuff there is in just your house alone! (Your mum loves a bit of clutter, lol). The world is full of over stimulation, clutter, distractions, noise. So, I've always enjoyed the feeling it has given me when I remove all these.
Put simply, minimalism is literally getting rid of the stuff you don’t need or use. This then leaves us with an uncluttered, simple environment and a simple life. It is about being able to live without needing the next material thing - e.g. phone, car, bigger house. It's about having the most simple way of life. This way of living means that I am able to leave wherever I'm living really quickly; that I can travel and live light. It means I have just enough food (always something I'm working on as I love eating), clothing, and shelter to protect myself from the elements.
What have I done that’s minimalist?
- I don’t keep physical photos on my walls or on my phone. I literally save everything to the cloud, and then I delete them. Im not an overly sentimental guy and I don’t need the stimulation of photos.
- I only have two forks, spoons, bowls, plates, cups.
- I have the minimal amount of training clothes and casual clothes needed.
- I don’t have pillows.
- One deodorant, one body cleanse.
- One bottle to drink from.
- A box full of things I collect for you.
- When your mother first met me, I only a bed and two empty bedside cabinets in my bedroom. In the living room, there was only on sofa, no TV, and a simple bookcase.
- My smart phone has the least amount of apps necessary; the screen is black and white; and, my phone has no notifications.
- I have no social media - do you really care what Dorothy was doing last Wednesday? I don’t.
This helps me in so many ways:
- It’s lower in stress.
- It’s less expensive and less debt.
- It’s less cleaning and maintaining.
- It’s more enjoyable.
- Less stimulating.
- More peaceful
- It’s more sustainable.
- It’s easier to organise.
As part of minimalism, I have also started experimenting with being financially frugal. Frugality is simply a way of not spending on unnecessary things — sticking to the essentials. Honestly, I’ve been crap at this, but I'm trying to be better all the time.
It's about a way of buying, or spending time on something that you know will add value to your life. This doesn’t mean you can’t own anything nice, it means that you should examine your relationship with physical things, with products, and see if it’s really what you want.
What can you learn from this?
- The best life is the simplest life.
- Take time to think about whether what you have is something you need. Does it add any value to your life?
- Question your relationship to things, you’ll find sentimentality holds so many people back.
- Keep life as simple as it can be.
- Only buy what you need.
