Minimalism. The word has so many ‘new-age’ connotations attached to it that when people outside what I like to call the ‘minimalism/simplicity sphere’ hear it they immediately think of somebody living in a hut in a forest without a phone, computer or television. Or they think of bare and boring houses with cheap furniture and everything hidden away.

I’ve found from what little experience I have that when I say ‘no thanks’ to buying more clothes or carrying more luggage on trips in front of people I tend to get puzzled looks.

‘But it’s so cheap! Why not buy it?’
‘Don’t you want to take that with you just in case?’
‘Don’t get rid of that! What if you need it one day?’

When people walk into my bedroom they’re a little shocked by the simple lack of stuff. My wardrobe is only half full, I don’t have papers all over my desk or knick-knacks on my bedside table. All I own is just my guitar, laptop, some clothes and a few books. Everything else, including my furniture and bike, is rented. Some would say that my room looks cold and impersonal . Actually, I think it’s the very opposite.

Minimalists only buy what is essential. This means that almost everything they DO have was subjected to intense scrutiny before purchase. Each item has to pass all of the questions: ‘Do I need it or do I just want it? How often will I use it? Is it worth it?’ With a little perspective and willpower, not very many items pass the minimalist tests.

So, you see, instead of being another ‘throw-away’ or ‘why not’ purchase, each item is actually carefully chosen by minimalists, to make sure that they have enough love and time to care for it. Believe it or not, for every item you own, you pay for it in some way, whether it is by the bigger house you rent to store it, or the time you spend cleaning, maintaining or fixing it. If you have fewer things, you have fewer costs. If you have fewer costs, you have more freedom.

It’s so simple and seems to obvious, and yet too many people clutter up their lives with unnecessary things. Think about the millions of home with basements, attics, lofts and sheds full of boxes, crates and tubs of things that they haven’t touched in years. If these people had a fire, most of that stuff wouldn’t be worth grabbing. If they wanted to move house, or start an adventure, the only way they could do it is by dropping everything that they don’t need and hit the road. If they don’t need something that much, then why not ditch it now?

I’m not saying that everyone should be ready to go backpacking in Australia tomorrow. What I’m saying is that minimalism allows a person to not be weighed down by all of the material things they own, or want to own. Instead of spending one’s life earning more money so that they can buy more stuff why not just buy what they need and use the money to help other people. Instead of working eight hours a day to pay for the second car or a larger house to store all their stuff, they could use that time to nurture meaningful relationships with their partners, getting closer with family or making life long friends. They can pursue their passions, broaden their horizons or just spend time sitting back, relaxing and enjoying life.

So, those people that thought minimalism is living away in a hut, they got it half right. Perhaps not the hut part, but definitely the part where you can get away from the stresses and expectations of life. Minimalism is about living life how you want, to the fullest, because, after all, the person with the most toys isn’t the winner, it’s the person who has the most fun with them that wins.

In my last post, I talked about what it means to be part of the digital generation.

When I was growing up, I never had much technology, until at least my late teen years. I did all of the ‘childhood things’ – played outside, went to the park, learned to ride a bike. My toy box contained things like dolls, cards, marbles and lego bricks.

My little brother, over a decade younger than me, is growing up with handheld consoles, computer games and internet TV.

the digital revolution

In my opinion, one of the most exciting times to live is on the edge of a revolution – whether it be religious, scientific or any new and radical way of living or thinking. Right now, we’re on the border of the digital generation. I grew up without knowing the what the word ‘gadget’ even meant, and yet today I’m blogging on my laptop connected wirelessly anywhere I go, with my iPhone in my pocket and my Kindle in my bag.

We are the transitioning generation. We are the ones that are on the border, the frontier.

We lived behind the border, and now we’re living after it. We have a bit of both worlds – when I was little, I handwrote my journals, now I type them into the cloud. When I was a teen, I used to listen to CD’s on a stereo player, now I stream music wherever I go. When I was younger, I read paper novels, now I read digital ones.

My little brother never knew the days when handheld consoles only had two colors, or when cell phones were bigger than his head. And I’ll soon forget about those days too.

the minimalist revolution

Now, again, I’ve realized we are in the midst of another revolution – the one of minimalism. Our parents worked long hard hours at the office to get the nice houses we grew up in, or to fund those piano lessons or those expensive clothes we thought we needed to be popular when we were teenagers.

And now, things are changing with us. As much as we are grateful for everything our parents have given us, we realize that that’s exactly all that they have been doing – giving. My parents gave me so so much that I wonder, when did they have time for their own lives?

We are the generation that is changing. We’re not becoming selfish or self-centered, we just don’t want to see the good things that were done for us go to waste in creating another ‘just-ordinary’ life. I honestly don’t want to see my parents set up such a great life for me, so that I could get a good education and so on just for me to become another working zombie.

We’re taking life by the horns and living a life worth living. We’re taking it upon ourselves to help others, not waiting for somebody else to do it.

And soon there will be the next generation. Just like what happened with technology, perhaps in a few decades they won’t know any different. They won’t know that there were so many people that slaved away at jobs they hated, put ‘work’ before others, or that people gave up on their dreams so easily.

The internet and everything it can do seemed impossible just two decades ago. Let’s see what ‘impossible’ things minimalism can bring to the world two decades from now.

Minimalism is building momentum. This isn’t the end, it’s just the beginning.

In the last couple of posts, I’ve mentioned a few times that I will be going abroad this September. I’ve been keeping it pretty quiet so far, but now I feel I am ready to finally reveal where I will be going, and what I will be doing.

Firstly, I get a lot of people asking me what I study. I’ve been reluctant to reveal this previously because I wanted Minimal Student to apply to everyone studying anything. I feel that I’ve accomplished this by not focussing on a particular subject, and by giving tips, tricks and hacks that anyone can incorporate into their lives as they wish.

But many of you have been so supportive of me that I no longer feel I have to hold back. So here it is, drumroll please…

what I study

I am currently studying Japanese and Management at the University of Leeds, UK.

The reason why I talk about happiness so much is probably because of my awesome degree. It gets me up in the morning to go to uni and I love every minute of it. I love learning the language, reaching new levels and finding out new things about myself, my own language and my country that I’ve previously taken for granted. I love being able to communicate with people from the other side of the world. I love sharing ideas, opinions and cultural views on universal subjects. And most of all, I love the challenge of taking on a completely foreign language and building it up completely from scratch.

Thus far, I’ve been holding back this piece of me because I know that not everybody would share a love for Japan as I do. I think it’s an absolutely fascinating country, and many things from Japan has manifested itself onto this blog, such as Zen Buddhism and what makes an  ideal minimalist diet.

year abroad

On September 6th 2010 I will be flying from London Heathrow to Kansai International Airport (with a stop in Rome).

I will spend the year studying at Konan University in Kobe, Japan.

“What I propose is a spiritual revolution”
~ Dalai Lama

As political freedom spreads to more people and technology integrates into our lives, one would think that man’s quest for happiness is more obtainable than ever. And yet, there is still so much suffering in the world. There is still discrimination, war and violence. People are still hungry or ill when it can be prevented. Even those that seem like they have everything have their own stresses and worries.

Contrary to popular belief, money isn’t the answer to everything. We can try hard to fix the economy, invent new stuff to make our lives easier, even make environmental or political advances, these aren’t bad, but they’re not enough. What the world needs is a spiritual revolution.

By ‘spiritual’ I don’t mean in a religious way, rather that change needs to come to the hearts of people. We can try to fix external factors as much we like, but unless real positive change is made on an individual level, things will be different, but they won’t be better.

People need to want suffering to end. And they can start by trying to not create it for others. Even just doing a few little things can make a big difference.

Similarly, you can talk all day about how great minimalism is but without changing how you fundamentally think you’ll still be unhappy. Switching from consumerism to minimalism isn’t just a superficial act where you just get rid of stuff. It’s more than that. You have to be willing to change some of the most fundamental things you’ve been taught and really believe that the changes you have made were for the better.

Everybody has the power to change the world, even if for now it’s just their own.

Happy New Year everyone, may 2012 bring you the happiness and joy you deserve.

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Live simply so others may simply live
~ HH Dalai Lama

Six billion people live on this planet. Each and every one is worth just as much as the next. But many of them have to struggle to obtain basic human needs such as water whilst others are wasting it washing their cars.

According to the BBC:

The world distribution of wealth and income is highly unequal. The richest 10% of households in the world have as much yearly income as the bottom 90%.

Wealth – total assets rather than yearly income – is even more unequal. The rich are concentrated in the US, Europe and Japan, with the richest 1% alone owning 40% of the world’s wealth.

Individually, we may not be able to do much about this problem on a global scale, but we can do the best we can to be content with what we have, so that we may give some to others that may not be as lucky as we are.

We don’t even have to physically give. If we live a little more simply and just stop consuming as much, perhaps we can stop taking from the poor and giving it to the rich. Perhaps we can stop cutting down trees in undeveloped countries to make cheap furniture and paper we’ll end up throwing away anyway. Perhaps if we didn’t desire so many cheap electronics every Christmas, we’ll reduce the amount of stuff we end up dumping into Asia.

Perhaps if we lived with a little less, others can live a little more.

simple act

Grab a bag and fill it with things you don’t need: clothes, shoes, books, toys and anything else that’s gathering dust. Give it away to a charity that will sell it to make money for a poor country or better yet, will take your stuff and send there for real people just like you and me to get some real use out of it.

Simple Philosophies is a series of short posts about small things we can do to live a happier life. Please let me know what you think in the comments!

Two shoe makers go to a remote village.

One of them immediately gives up and goes home, declaring, “It’s hopeless! Nobody here wears shoes.”

The other, smiling, declares “What a glorious business opportunity! Nobody here wears shoes”.

Opportunity is something that you discover, not something that you wait for

Whether it’s new business idea, a new career direction, a new journey, or a new friend or lover, however you define it, the opportunities in life are endless. They surround you like air.

You don’t have to have an expensive education, or special training to see them. You don’t even have to go looking for them.

You just have to keep your eyes and mind open.

Right now, there are countless problems that needs to be solved, people who need help, places to go, people to meet, and so many things to learn and discover about the world.

Most people trundle through life, blindly, on auto-pilot. Like the first shoe maker, they may see a glass, but they can’t help but think it’s half empty.

It’s not complicated. If you’re waiting for a new opportunity to come to you, you should know, it’s already there.

Can you see it?

This is the final part of a five part series on Seneca’s On the Shortness of Life.

Read Part I – Finiteness, Part II – Protecting time and living in the present, Part III – Desire and life goals, Part IV – Learning.

A typical person living in the Western world is expected to live until about 70-80 years old. There are other factors that come into play, such as income, lifestyle, and access to healthcare, but all that aside, the average life span of a healthy adult is about 70 or so years – if you’re lucky.

Do you know how many days that is? Answer: it’s about 25,000.

That’s about 25,000 sunrises, and 25,000 sunsets for you to enjoy during your one and only time on Earth.

Sounds like a lot, right? But there’s a small catch. If you’re like me, in your mid-20’s, you’ve actually already used up about 9,000 of them.

Okay… so that leaves about 16,000 – still, not bad right? But that’s supposing you really are going to live until your mid-70’s… which, of course, isn’t a guarantee.

What if you only lived until you were 60, or 50, or even 40? (If you’re roughly my age and you only live until 40, that’s less than 6,000 days left). Sh*t.

Now consider how quickly, say, the last 7 days went by. Hm, pretty quick right? It seems like it was just a day or two ago that I was in spin class, but I only go once a week, so that was a whole week ago… Now that I think about it, the last month went by quickly as well… I can’t believe we’re halfway through the year already… and it seemed like it was just a few weeks ago I was living in Japan, but that was an entire year ago now… wow, where did those 365 days even go? 365 is a sizeable chunk out of 6,000! Sh*t. Sh*t.

… and so on. So far, I’ve realised two things:

1. That we all have a set number of days left, and,
2. They’re going by stupidly fast.

If this is a depressing subject to you, then you might be thinking about it in the wrong way. It’s only when you realise that your time is finite that you can start to do something about it.

Knowing this, what are you going to do in the next 7, 30, or 100 days? Would you live your life differently?

Well, if you are already making the most out of your life, then the answer would be, ‘Nope! Everything is perfect!’ and that’s fantastic. But if you’re unhappy because you’re putting up with a life/job/relationship you hate, then Seneca has something to say to that:

“How late it is to begin to really live just when life must end! How stupid to forget our mortality, and put off sensible plans to our fiftieth and sixtieth years, aiming to begin life from a point at which few have arrived!”

How do we know we’re going to live until we grow old? We don’t! Nobody does. So I can’t help but think – why do so many people waste their precious time being unhappy? Why do people put up with jobs they hate for 40 years, just to save up holiday time for when (or if) they reach 65?

I’m no exception to this kind of thinking. We can’t always do the things we want to, and we’ve got to make a living somehow, but if we’ve really only got a few thousand days to live, why spend them doing things that our heart isn’t into?

I’m not advocating a hedonistic lifestyle in a ‘let’s-spend-every-penny-and-destroy-everything-because-tomorrow-might-never-come’ way, but even Seneca realised it thousands of years ago, when he said that,

“[Only when life] is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realise that it has passed away before we knew it was passing.”

The saddest thing is that most people don’t realise how much of their lives they had wasted until they reach the end of it. Usually, these are the same people who don’t like thinking about death at all, because they’re living in a deluded world where if they don’t think about it, it won’t happen to them. But by then, it’s too late to do anything about it.

all their labours were but for the sake of an epitaph

At the end of your life, if everything you did could be summarised into an epitaph, what would it say? What would you want it to say?

You might not get an actual epitaph, but no matter what, you will have a legacy.

Your legacy could be celebrated by millions, or remembered by no one. At the end of your life, it wouldn’t matter to you which one of those it is. You won’t be bringing it with you anyway, wherever you’re going.

All that will matter is how you feel about it. After all, how you feel about your legacy is how you feel about the life you lived. Seneca also wrote,

“Learning how to live takes a whole life, and, which may surprise you more, it takes a whole life to learn how to die.”

Which is true. But it doesn’t have to take your whole life – you could wait until you’re on your deathbed to lament on the time you could have spent on the people and things that mattered. Or you can start now, while you can.

Choose to spend today wisely, as if it was a single precious gold coin that you could never get back.

While we’re at it, we can do the same for tomorrow as well. And the day after, and the day after, until we reach the end, whenever that may be.

You could be happy from right now. Start today. Who needs a lifetime to learn how to live?

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