This is a subject that particularly relevant to students. How much time does social networking suck out of your life? An hour a day? A week? You already know you should cut down, here’s how. 1. Turn off notifications. One of the biggest disturbances to work is getting notifications via email or instant messenger. Most…
Just because I’m a minimalist, doesn’t mean I’m an early riser. Are you surprised? I used to be a strong supporter of the idea of waking early (I still am) but I have discovered over the years that I have so many reasons not to (even though I very much admire people that do). For…
This is the fourth 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. Of all the things that we spend time on, learning is arguably one of the most important. It contributes to our knowledge…
Take a good look at yourself. What do you see? Would you think that you are a wonder of the universe? If you’re living and breathing, you already are a miracle. Why would you seek to be anything else? Look up at the sky. Watch how the clouds float contently by. A cloud is happy…
This is the third 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. What do we want in life? How do we balance what we want to have and what we want to do in life? Are desires and…
Life is what goes by as your waiting for it to happen. It’s too easy to mistake ‘life’ as the moments when we’re having a good time. When we’re doing something amazing like travelling, lying on the beach, sailing on a cruise boat or only when the weather is nice and sunny. It’s also easily…
Minimalism is often misunderstood. On the surface, it looks like it’s just about decluttering your house, but that’s not what it’s all about. Yes, having fewer things can improve your life. That’s not the end of the story. A minimalist lifestyle is not just about having fewer things, it’s about having more control in your life. Think about it. What’s…
1. A beautiful lotus flower blooms from a muddy pond. 2. A gardener who wants to grow flowers must also tend to weeds. These are lessons we can learn about cycles of suffering and happiness in our lives. 1. We usually think of mud and weeds as something to be discarded, dirty, a waste. But…
Part of being minimalist is being frugal. But not frugal in the way that you don’t spend money on anything. On the contrary, a lot of minimalist spend a lot of money. Some love minimalist design, and would splash out on modern minimalist furniture. But there’s also a different kind of minimalist, one that likes…
In life, there are a lot of things that matter. For example, your work, your relationships, and your health. But there is something at the root of all these areas in our lives that connects them, which we can easily neglect – like tending to flowers in the garden but not looking after the roots….