Samuel Newell - The Minimalist and Decluttering Lifestyle: Use Minimalism to Declutter Your Home, Mindset, Digital Presence, And Families Life Today For Living a More Fulfilling Minimalistic Lifestyle With Less Worry

The Minimalist And Decluttering Lifestyle

Use Minimalism to Declutter Your Home, Mindset, Digital Presence, And Families Life Today For Living a More Fulfilling Minimalistic Lifestyle With Less Worry!

By Samuel Newell

is Minimalism?

Introduction

C ongratulations on acquiring The Minimalist And Decluttering Lifestyle and thank you for doing so.

The following chapters will discuss many areas of this topic, starting with the definition. We will dive into a brief history of this movement and its core concepts. This book will also show you why decluttering is so beneficial to emotional and mental well-being and why you should adopt it into your own life.

After reading this book, you will also begin to understand the larger culture of consumerism in which we live and why it has left so many of us unhappy. You will learn how minimalism can be an antidote to this shallow, hyper-consumeristic society. Once weve dived into the philosophy underlying this idea, we will begin to introduce practical guidance on how you can declutter your home room by room.

Not only will you learn to declutter your physical spaces, but you will learn to declutter your mental spaces as well. As a society, we fill our minds with ceaseless chatter that take up valuable real estate in our brains and prevent us from being fully present in each moment. Once youve learned to declutter your mind, this work will show you how to go one step farther and declutter your life. Decluttering your life allows you to make space for those things that truly matter.

The final part of this book will walk you through how not to fall off the wagon and ensure that you can translate this philosophy into a sustainable, long-term lifestyle.

There are plenty of books on this subject on the market. Thanks again for choosing this one! Every effort was made to ensure it is full of as much useful information as possible. Please enjoy!

Chapter 1: What is Minimalism?

T he best place to start is at the beginning. This chapter is going to provide you with a basic outline of what minimalism is all about. First, were going to spend some time defining the term and also going into a brief history of the word as it has been used across music, lifestyle, and art. We will trace the origins of this method through ancient Greek philosophers and millennia-old spiritual traditions. We will learn about how minimalism is used today and why people are turning to the movement.

The minimalist lifestyle is defined as living with fewer possessions. However, contrary to popular misconceptions, its not about living in an empty apartment with one chair and a single coffee mug. Quite to the contrary: its about eliminating things from your life that you dont actually need, which gives you the ability to base your life around experiences rather than possessions.

The word minimalism comes with a lot of baggage. People hear it and immediately think that you cant own a car or house, must travel the world and live out of a backpack and that you must deprive yourself of things that you love. Minimalism isnt about getting rid of things that you love. Its about getting rid of extraneous stuff that just clutters up our lives. In the space you then create, you are more fully able to appreciate the belongings that genuinely ignite joy in you. This philosophy, at its core, is about valuekeeping the things we truly value and getting rid of the things we dont.

The term minimalism was indirectly coined by Robert Wollheim, an art critic who was attempting to come up with a way to describe a new aesthetic that was sweeping through the art world at the time. The actual word he used was minimal art-content, though, eventually, this clunky phrase was streamlined into the -ism we know and use today.

The movement has some of its most ancient roots in the writings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, who wrote that a happy life was an untroubled life and that an untroubled life was obtained through careful consideration regarding where one spent ones time and energy. Epicuruss main thesis on this point stated that the challenges of maintaining a lifestyle of extravagance largely outweighed the joy one receives from that lifestyle in the first place. Henry David Thoreau was another famous minimalist who wrote about his experiences with simple and sustainable living in his book Walden. Thoreaus time on the shores of Walden Pond permeates the American literary consciousness when scholars ponder the ideas of simplicity and mindful living.

Minimalism is also the name of an artistic movement that swept through the scene of the 1950s and 1960s. This movement was characterized by its streamlined, usually massive, and extremely simplistic forms. The goal of the art medium was to allow the mind to find purchase on the essential nature of the piece by removing all frills, bells, and whistles.

Famous minimalist artists included Donald Judd, Frank Stella, Sol Lewitt, Carl Andre, and Eva Hesse. One well-known modern minimalist is Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese artist who was renowned for her unique polka-dot painting style. All of these artists used the pared-down viewpoint of this philosophy to create unique, stunning works of art.

While the art form may seem unrelated to the lifestyle, in essence, they both capture the same spirit: allowing the human mind to peer deeply into the nature of something (be it a piece of art or ones own life) to find its true value and meaning.

Perhaps, the most ancient roots of minimalism, though, go back to the worlds religious traditions. It was a tenant of some of the earliest documented religious traditions such as the Sramana sect of Indias Iron Age as early as 1200 BCE. Ancient figures such as the Buddha and the Nazarites of the Bible also espoused a belief that fewer belongings, and therefore, fewer attachments to the material world allowed space in ones mind for spiritual contemplation. For these spiritual leaders and founders, making physical space in their lives made metaphorical space for spiritual connection.

One of the most profound influences on the modern Minimalist movement has been the teachings of the Zen Buddhist tradition. The very foundations of the Zen Buddhist tradition and Buddhism in general, lead minimalism to be a natural outgrowing of their spiritual philosophy. At its core, this set of spiritual traditions demands that adherents let go of attachments and increase the mindfulness in their everyday lives.