Minimalist Living: Decluttering for Joy, Health, and Creativity Read Online Free Page B
Author: Genevieve Parker Hill
there. I wasn't going back to the corporate world so I would not need them. I had shoes, clothing, blankets, etc., all of which would help someone else. So I offered anything and everything she could fit in her truck.
[...] It was a very rewarding and uplifting experience. To rid oneself of miscellaneous stuff feels very good. You feel light and clean and good.
For Cheri, giving away a truckload of belongings was an incredible way to start a beautiful new relationship, one that makes her feel like “the lucki est woman alive.” Decluttering not only provided her love life with a fresh start, it also enabled her to improve the lives of those less fortunate. This gave her a sense of joy and fulfillment.
Designing a Joyful Life
Minimalist living applies not just to your belongings, but to your time. Do you find yourself feeling like you spend your days putting out metaphorical fires and responding to crises from every corner? Do you feel out of control of your days and wonder where the hours go? If so, you may want to declutter your schedule. Take control of your time so that you can spend your days enjoying relationships, connecting to your spirit, and pursuing purposeful goals. If you aren’t sure where the time goes, you may want to use a computer tool like Toggl to track your time for a week and see how you spent it. Being an anchorless boat tossed about by the oceans of TV-watching, web-surfing, over-commitment, or other people’s expectations can mar your joy just as much as overstuffed closets.
How do we let go of the extra activities in our schedule so that we can enjoy freedom of time? It’s not always easy. If you’ve committed to something, backing out can feel like a blow to your integrity. Yet your own joy is most important, because your happiness spreads. If you're doing something with stress or resentment, you may as well not be doing it. You aren’t doing anyone any favors by doing something with a negative attitude.
The home or work environment you create with your belongings can also directly affect how you spend your time. For example, have you ever wished you could watch less TV and paint or (insert activity of choice here) more? Where is your television? Does it have pride of place as the focal point of your living room? What if, instead of your television, that was the spot where your easel and painting supplies were?
I ask these questions to illustrate what a strong impact our home environment has on us. The average American watches almost three hours of television per day. [8] For someone born now who will live to age eighty, that’s a total of eight years of television watching – straight, not including time for sleeping. Said another way, TV-watching for the average American is like having a full-time, 40-hour-per-week job for over more than thirty years. If someone replaced this television time with growth activities, say, attending medical school or learning to compose music, he or she could become an expert in seven different fields according to Dr. K. Anders Ericsson’s theory of 10,000 hours. [9]
I’d argue that our excessive television watching is at least partly due to the fact that it’s so common to own a TV; it’s odd not to have one. As humans, we are very good at responding and interacting with our environment. Evolutionarily, to survive and thrive in cave-person world, we needed to investigate, understand, play with, cultivate, and interact with our surroundings. Humans live all over the globe in all kinds of climates. We are excellent adapters. What is around us is what we will place our attention on. We can use this understanding of the way our brain naturally works to help us do the things that we’ve always wanted to do, or know we should do for increased vitality, contribution, and joy, but that aren’t habits for us yet. If we don’t use this knowledge, we may fall victim to our surroundings, such as the TV in our living room that steals so many years
[...] It was a very rewarding and uplifting experience. To rid oneself of miscellaneous stuff feels very good. You feel light and clean and good.
For Cheri, giving away a truckload of belongings was an incredible way to start a beautiful new relationship, one that makes her feel like “the lucki est woman alive.” Decluttering not only provided her love life with a fresh start, it also enabled her to improve the lives of those less fortunate. This gave her a sense of joy and fulfillment.
Designing a Joyful Life
Minimalist living applies not just to your belongings, but to your time. Do you find yourself feeling like you spend your days putting out metaphorical fires and responding to crises from every corner? Do you feel out of control of your days and wonder where the hours go? If so, you may want to declutter your schedule. Take control of your time so that you can spend your days enjoying relationships, connecting to your spirit, and pursuing purposeful goals. If you aren’t sure where the time goes, you may want to use a computer tool like Toggl to track your time for a week and see how you spent it. Being an anchorless boat tossed about by the oceans of TV-watching, web-surfing, over-commitment, or other people’s expectations can mar your joy just as much as overstuffed closets.
How do we let go of the extra activities in our schedule so that we can enjoy freedom of time? It’s not always easy. If you’ve committed to something, backing out can feel like a blow to your integrity. Yet your own joy is most important, because your happiness spreads. If you're doing something with stress or resentment, you may as well not be doing it. You aren’t doing anyone any favors by doing something with a negative attitude.
The home or work environment you create with your belongings can also directly affect how you spend your time. For example, have you ever wished you could watch less TV and paint or (insert activity of choice here) more? Where is your television? Does it have pride of place as the focal point of your living room? What if, instead of your television, that was the spot where your easel and painting supplies were?
I ask these questions to illustrate what a strong impact our home environment has on us. The average American watches almost three hours of television per day. [8] For someone born now who will live to age eighty, that’s a total of eight years of television watching – straight, not including time for sleeping. Said another way, TV-watching for the average American is like having a full-time, 40-hour-per-week job for over more than thirty years. If someone replaced this television time with growth activities, say, attending medical school or learning to compose music, he or she could become an expert in seven different fields according to Dr. K. Anders Ericsson’s theory of 10,000 hours. [9]
I’d argue that our excessive television watching is at least partly due to the fact that it’s so common to own a TV; it’s odd not to have one. As humans, we are very good at responding and interacting with our environment. Evolutionarily, to survive and thrive in cave-person world, we needed to investigate, understand, play with, cultivate, and interact with our surroundings. Humans live all over the globe in all kinds of climates. We are excellent adapters. What is around us is what we will place our attention on. We can use this understanding of the way our brain naturally works to help us do the things that we’ve always wanted to do, or know we should do for increased vitality, contribution, and joy, but that aren’t habits for us yet. If we don’t use this knowledge, we may fall victim to our surroundings, such as the TV in our living room that steals so many years
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