On Minimizing
On minimizing….
I’ve been asked before two big questions. The first is why do I work to minimize my possessions/needs, and the second is how does one know when it’s taken too far? My goal is to try and answer these questions in a fairly concise way. The art of minimizing is a fairly recent one. Some people who are very well off decided that life is too complex when it comes to how much we own. Furthermore, movements such as 7-habits, GTD, “zen”, and so on – they all point to a general issue we have in life. That issue, simply, is that people tend to try and cram more and more things into their life, and need ideas on how to get more done, faster. I know a number of people who enjoy this thrill of having lots of friends, being more in the limelight, and so on – in short this sort of life style makes us feel important, needed and so on. I know people who want to go to meetings and find them helpful if for nothing else likely the reason of feeling important or moving up the corporate chain.
I’m going to address the first question now – why did I bother with this? The reason started some number of years ago, and I’ll keep the story short. I used to be, and still am in many ways, a pack rat. To those who are not familiar with this term, it’s coined as someone who tends to accumulate possessions and never lets things go. It’s a sense of security to have many things, to know that if anything arises, that you’d have all you needed and wouldn’t have to depend on anyone else. This sense of security is why I also gained as much weight as I did in my younger years as well. About 8 or so years ago, I was introduced to Zen Buddhism, and practiced quite a bit. After awhile, I learned it’s not what you do only in meditation that matters, but also what one does outside of the meditation room. Much of this wisdom came, in part, from Shoken (An abbot from Ryumonji Monastery). From around that point, I began to heavily question why I needed to own as much as I had, and determined in some ways what I should do about it.
Over the past year and some, I’ve spent much of my time trying to give/donate and/or sell much of my possessions. It’s been one of the hardest things I’ve had to do, but not really for the usual reasons. It wasn’t due to the fact I was inconvenienced from the less number of items, but more from looking at something and saying “Oh, I remember when I used to have fun with this…” sorta feeling. This happened a lot; but considering I haven’t seen that particular item in a number of years, it’s all the more reason why I don’t need it. I’m still working heavily on trying to get rid of other possessions I have. Random game consoles, computers, TV/couches/etc, DVDs and CDs – and so on, all are being analyzed and dealt with accordingly.
I’ve learned of some benefits I’ve gained from this way of doing things:
1. I have greater awareness of when I want something. This can be in the form of food, or whatever. In a lot of ways this drive died down a whole lot, but not in all ways (lifts ipad).
2. I am able to spend more concentrated time at home. I used to go elsewhere to concentrate, but find being at home works just as well now. I spend far less time cleaning, because I have less things to clean up after. This saves money from the coffee shop, and I really do have a much nicer work area at this point.
3. I less often come across stuff saying “I didn’t know I had this!” As I was cleaning up one area some months ago, this feeling happened a lot.
4. I spend more time on activities that matter. I have an issue where I like to do too much. I like to keep myself busy, and pride myself on not being bored. I jump around different activities like a jack rabbit. Since I removed a lot of areas that I used to do as random activities, and have further plans to remove even more – I’m spending far more time perfecting areas that I should have been doing for the past 10 years. Mostly this relates to martial arts, where at this point I’m spending a few hours a day working out/practicing.
5. I’ve learned to limit pleasure. Specifically this came in the form of video games, TV, and chatting on the net. I’ve worked at going an entire work week without Internet at home, and that’s been beneficial for me. I commonly will go a day or two without net with no issues as well.
I still have far to go though, but I am making good progress
To tackle the second question – how far is too far? This specifically came up with a coworker, when I was talking about building a PC (I have too many computers, but am thinking of settling on a PC tower and a MBP – long story). Anyways, looking at the data processing I do, he said that going the route of a PC is likely not a bad idea and would help me a lot. He brought up the idea that he knows I’m trying to minimize stuff, but when can it be taken too far?
I thought a lot about this question, both from that point, and afterwards. My initial answer was as follows: You can take it too far once it becomes uncomfortable. Upon further reflection, this isn’t entirely accurate of an answer. The reason being is that if one is comfortable, one really stops growing. This doesn’t mean the goal is to be constantly uncomfortable, but more to not be totally comfortable at the same time. This is a bit tricky because it really depends on the person for when something is taken too far. For myself, I really haven’t fully found the answer yet. I suppose, when I have enough to be happy but enough to not be distracted – that at that time it’s on the border of being taken too far. Does this mean I need that PC, and I should build it? Perhaps…but not yet, not until I finish getting rid of all but 1 of my remaining computers. When I can accomplish the idea of having just my MBP, maybe an ipod/ipod touch, and my ipad – I’ll reconsider the PC thing. I can find many ways of justifying the purchase, but in all actuality, I’ve gotten by this long without building it for now.
I hope this clarifies a bit about my position on trying to minimize my possessions. Much of my own story, I feel, is similar to what Siddhartha Gautama Buddha felt around my age some years ago when he left his life of luxury. Unlike the Buddha, I’m not really leaving a life of luxury – but instead trying to cherish fully the stuff I have and to be satisfied with that. Looking back at all this, I’m very happy to have gone this far and have much to learn.
