Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life

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But actually, the author does not demand that you get rid of everything in favour of the bare minimum. We need to realise that material accumulation is not a measure of success and should not be used as one. I do like thinking about it as a philosophy, because I think ‘philosophy’ can encompass all those things. It is thought that this is because many Japanese people still follow Buddhist principles which advocate a simple life.

Certainly minimalism, or the formal art movement of Minimalism of the 1950s and 1960s, did have roots in Zen. They advocate for true happiness over more things and share their own stories of how they made the leap to minimalism themselves. I wish they had gone deeper on that or clients that didn’t do therapy but came to figured out their hurdles. Music is a practical art, so it is a delight to dig into the specific details of how these most influential musicians worked with their materials and with one another—conveyed in their own words, not retrospectively but in the moment.I think the accumulation of household items is maybe the longest-running problem; people have always owned a lot of stuff. Whilst most people will start their decluttering by going from room-to-room, Marie Kondo’s method, known as the KonMari Method, is a little different. Elisabeth Sussman (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2002); Conceptual Art: Theory, Myth, Practice (Cambridge, 2004) and A Minimal Future (Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2004). Mostly the book focuses on the notions that underpin Minimalism: that of focusing your time, money, and energy only on the things that matter and of letting the rest go.

Sasaki shares how he decided to embark on a minimalist journey to achieve true freedom, new focus, and gratitude for everything around him.Stuff accumulation and hoarding have reached epidemic levels, resulting in more stress, more financial burden, less freedom, and decreased life satisfaction; we are literally drowning in clutter. This included the big mortgage payments that came with the expensive houses, unhealthy relationships, car payments, debts, continual spending and the high pressure careers with long hours that were required to keep the cycle going. Indeed, minimalism emerges as a wider, deeper, more inclusive, and more radical phenomenon than we had known.

Niequist advocates for readers to focus on one thing at a time and teaches about genuine rest and simplicity in the process.

Her main technique is to pick up each and every object, consider it, and ask yourself “ does this spark joy? Some are personal stories, others are about specific parts of minimalism (like digital), while others contribute practical advice for removing items from your home and getting organized. It’s interesting that two of the books on this list are written by Japanese authors, and both Agnes Martin and John Cage—who we will come onto shortly—wrote about their interest in Zen. It can be easy to forget, or get sucked back into the consumerist mindset, especially when we are being sold to daily and often very subtly.