Someone says something kind about you, and before they’ve even finished, you feel yourself reaching to bat it away. “Oh, this old thing.” “It was nothing, really.” “No, no, you’re the clever one.” The compliment barely lands before you’ve deflected it, downplayed it, or handed it straight back. It feels like modesty, and it’s almost…
You know the moment: the conversation is clearly over, and neither of you can work out how to leave. So you reach for the polite exit — an excuse, a glance at your phone, a vague “we should do this again.” And that, it turns out, is the part that makes it awkward. The moves…
You shake someone’s hand, they tell you their name, and about four seconds later it’s completely gone. It’s one of the most common small panics in any conversation. And it usually has nothing to do with rudeness or a poor memory. In the moment you’re introduced, most of your attention goes to the handshake, the…
What is minimalism? The quick answer is that it’s all about simplifying everything in your life until the point you can handle everything on your plate. It’s about not dumping copious amounts of activities, ‘things’ and commitments on your table until it looks like a Christmas dinner for twenty. If you can only eat one…
2013 was undeniably my best year so far. In the last twelve months, I have lived in three different cities, ran a marathon, graduated, moved to Japan, and got my dream job. 13 really is my lucky number. If only I had more to remember it by… Well, I’m not going to make the same mistake…
This is what practising minimalism has taught us from the beginning, that life is not about impressing others with your fancy clothes. Your net worth isn’t your life worth. Sure, it’s easy enough to agree in principle, but many of us dedicate our lives to doing exactly this—getting into debt or working long hours at jobs…
…at least, not in the way that most people think of it. There isn’t some cosmic accountant who keeps track of all the good and bad things that you do, then deals out rewards and punishment in accordance. You can’t ‘build up good karma’ for doing something nice, and you can’t call karma a bitch because something…