5 Powerful Ways To Practice Minimalism In Life

Are you willing to practice minimalism in life? Here are a few ways to declutter your mind and your surroundings, for embracing a simpler life.

“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” – Socrates.

Although the concept of ‘minimalism’ has gained enough importance in the last decade, the idea has been there for centuries.

As humankind walked into a more hectic and complex world, the urge to accept a simple (read: minimalistic) lifestyle has become important.

What do we mean by ‘practice minimalism’ in life?

To put it simply, minimalism is all about living with less. The goal of a minimalistic life is to reduce and do away with the unnecessary aspects of life, to live a simpler and more essential existence.

In today’s date, when the world is dominated by a wave of consumerism, people are slowly shifting their focus on mindful purchasing rather than just accumulating.

I personally believe that the philosophy of minimalism is about living life based on experiences rather than worldly possessions.

The reasons for practicing minimalism differs from person to person. Some might say they do it for peace, or happiness, or in an effort to make things easy in their everyday life.

If you’re also keen to get on board and practice the art of minimalistic living, then here a few simple ways to start with:

Ways To Practice Minimalism in Life are:

1. Minimalism is Owning Fewer Possessions.

Or I would rather say, it’s more about knowing what you possess. Sometimes, we tend to have so many clothes or bags, or maybe shoes, that we often forget about the ones purchased long back, that are hidden in some corner of our home!

If you don’t know what you own, then I think it’s safe to say you own more than you need.

Minimalism is intentionally living with only the things that you’d really need – those items that support our purpose and existence.

Take 10 minutes in a day, and try sorting out the things that you haven’t used in the last six months. Also, think about why you purchased them, or what you had initially thought while buying.

Do this for a week and you’ll find that you have got a pile of things that you’ve never even bothered to look back at.

Give them away to people who you think might need them – and you’ll feel satisfaction that can’t be put to words.

I’d also suggest you to watch a series on Netflix, called Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. You can thank me later because it’ll definitely help you to understand your possessions.

2. Minimalism Is About Meditating and Practising Gratitude.

Let me be honest with you, minimalism isn’t about getting rid of the unwanted around us, but also about the unnecessary within us.

Yes, you got me right – I’m talking about letting go of the thoughts that keep bothering us and lead us to live a stressful life.

And the best way to achieve this is through meditation. The practice of meditation will help you to strip away the unnecessary thought patterns and beliefs that are weighing you down when you want to make important decisions or focus on something important.

Similarly, to embrace a simpler life, we need to be grateful for all that we have. As meditation will help us in decluttering our unwanted thoughts, the sense of gratitude will channelize our senses towards appreciating the little things in life, that we otherwise failed to notice.

Related:

30 Mindfulness practices to become more productive

3. Minimalism Is Freedom from Duplicity.

Although nobody intentionally chooses it, most people live in duplicity. Especially in the times when social media has become such an important part of our daily lives, we are often brainwashed and influenced to follow the trends.

If you spot someone donning a nice shade of lipstick, we wish to own it too, not knowing if that color will suit or not!

Thus, we keep signing up for duplicity in order to maintain a certain image of ourselves for the world, which sometimes alienates us from ourselves. Sounds complicated?

Let me put it straight for you. For example, you saw a very nice stiletto that someone was wearing and bought one for yourself.

Maybe you’re not comfortable wearing it, or perhaps it hurts your feet badly – and you’d end up not using it!

Once you start walking on the trails of minimalism, you’ll slowly cut all your ties from following the trend and live a more consistent life.

There would be no fluctuations, no stress, and complete transparency. You’ll also feel more confident, being in your own skin.

4. Minimalism Is More About Digital Detox.

By now, you must have understood the fact that I’m essentially emphasizing on keeping a safe distance from social media.

I know it isn’t something that we can possible achieve overnight, but it’s important to cut down on whatever we are consuming from the internet, and rather, focus on our inner selves in that extra time.

As you wake up every morning, choose not to scroll through the Instagram feed, but feel grateful for yet another beautiful day when you’re breathing.

Instead of spending hours over chatting with friends, sit down, and pour your thoughts into your journal.

Read also: How to start your gratitude journal?

Once you start practicing digital detox, you’ll automatically have more time for other things in life – such as cooking or reading, or maybe indulge in a hobby that nurtures your creativity.

5. Minimalism Is More About Living Life to the Fullest.

It’s important to understand that living with less isn’t in any way related to living less! In fact, on the contrary, practicing minimalism will make you live more and better. As you start owning less, you’ll have lesser things to worry about.

Once you stop spending money on gathering unnecessary possessions, you’ll have enough to travel and explore the world, meet people of other cultures, and learn more about their lives.

You’ll slowly understand that experiences are more valuable than material goods, and they are intangible. The lessons you’ll learn from your experiences have no expiry date – and they’ll last as long as you will.

Final Thoughts

“Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” -Lao Tzu.

Simple living isn’t rocket science, and it’s completely achievable by each one of you out there, reading this.

Once you’ve gone through the process of decluttering your life – or at least taking inventory of what you have – then you can find the space and clarity to consider what adds richness to your life, and enjoy mindful living.