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It sometimes amazes you how little you need to be happy yet everything we do is to get as much as possible.

by jinqueeny 9y ago

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deleted 9y ago
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microcolonel 9y ago
Maybe I'm the weird one here, but I use everything I buy. The only time something I own goes unused is when somebody else buys it for me. Right now I'm looking to move about 700km. Sure, what little I own is a bit of trouble to move, but it is almost all useful. I'm at the point where having less stuff would mean doing fewer things.
- ellius 9y ago
  I think the problem is drift over time. Maybe you would have used an item, or did use it, but your life has changed--as lives inevitably do--and now you wouldn't use that item under any circumstances. But the thing has become part of your environment, you're used to it, and there's the possibility that the part of your life which motivated you to buy the thing in the first place might come back. So through inertia you acquire more and more stuff, and it starts to quietly sap your energy as you begin to associate subconscious feelings of guilt and frustration with it. In my book, "minimalism" is often a treatment for the symptom rather than the disease. The real cure is to actively remove items that have a negative emotional connotation, and to hold onto only those things that you either use or otherwise affiliate positive feelings with. (For example, I almost never use my flashlight, but it feels good to know I have it on hand in case the power dies out. That's worth keeping.)
  - tedmiston 9y ago
    > The real cure is to actively remove items that have a negative emotional connotation, and to hold onto only those things that you either use or otherwise affiliate positive feelings with. Is this basically the same idea as "spark joy" from Marie Kondo's books? http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/why-keeping-only-the-clothes-that-spark-joy-is-magical-216094 http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/why-keeping-only-the-clothes... https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/garden/home-organization-advice-from-marie-kondo.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/garden/home-organization-...
    - ellius 9y ago
      I took it from "10 Minute Declutter," but it seems like the same idea. It's the only principle I used when cleaning up my own spaces and I'm amazed at the difference just a few months made. My whole state of mind is better.

It sometimes amazes you how little you need to be happy yet everything we do is to get as much as possible.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

microcolonel 9y ago

Maybe I'm the weird one here, but I use everything I buy. The only time something I own goes unused is when somebody else buys it for me. Right now I'm looking to move about 700km. Sure, what little I own is a bit of trouble to move, but it is almost all useful. I'm at the point where having less stuff would mean doing fewer things.

ellius 9y ago
I think the problem is drift over time. Maybe you would have used an item, or did use it, but your life has changed--as lives inevitably do--and now you wouldn't use that item under any circumstances. But the thing has become part of your environment, you're used to it, and there's the possibility that the part of your life which motivated you to buy the thing in the first place might come back. So through inertia you acquire more and more stuff, and it starts to quietly sap your energy as you begin to associate subconscious feelings of guilt and frustration with it. In my book, "minimalism" is often a treatment for the symptom rather than the disease. The real cure is to actively remove items that have a negative emotional connotation, and to hold onto only those things that you either use or otherwise affiliate positive feelings with. (For example, I almost never use my flashlight, but it feels good to know I have it on hand in case the power dies out. That's worth keeping.)
- tedmiston 9y ago
  > The real cure is to actively remove items that have a negative emotional connotation, and to hold onto only those things that you either use or otherwise affiliate positive feelings with. Is this basically the same idea as "spark joy" from Marie Kondo's books? http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/why-keeping-only-the-clothes-that-spark-joy-is-magical-216094 http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/why-keeping-only-the-clothes... https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/garden/home-organization-advice-from-marie-kondo.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/garden/home-organization-...
  - ellius 9y ago
    I took it from "10 Minute Declutter," but it seems like the same idea. It's the only principle I used when cleaning up my own spaces and I'm amazed at the difference just a few months made. My whole state of mind is better.