Minimalism, Jamestown, NC
As we turn our planners over to another new year, I’ve
always noticed an underlying sense of mild anxiety whenever I have been so busy
and focused on a project deadline that clutter has invasively entered into my life. That goes for both the mental and
environmental elements that shape daily life.
And many of us always seem to find that rectifying this situation is a
very responsible and priority item on our New Year’s resolutions list. Then life happens all over again as we blast
off on yet another trip around the sun!
As I was preparing the house for holiday guests, I found all
manner of clutter that had accumulated around my life in the form of an excess
of magazines, books, unnoticed canned goods past their expiration dates,
household accessories that had reproduced in the dark hours of the night, clothing
articles hanging innocently inside a walk in space which had not been selected
in over a year ( and some that had their seams taken in overnight by woodland
elves named calories), dust bunnies that were producing offspring faster than
their mortal namesakes, bedding and bath textiles that had been replaced by
fresher linens but retained on unvisited shelves, unfiled paperwork in my
office that rose to new heights of unorganized stacks, etc. There’s no need to even mention the storage
room and the garage space, although I had methodically carted off numerous items
to charitable groups all year. But
apparently its been observed that drinking and priming has deleterious consequences
that manifest themselves on your doorstep in the form of those ubiquitous
Amazon boxes that occasionally attract those pesky porch pirates.
Unbeknownst to me, all of this clutter had crept into my
life generating this undercurrent of unconscious uneasiness. Fortunately, clutter is one of the easiest
life stressors to fix! The attributes of
Minimalism focus on simplicity, clarity, and singleness that motivates us to intentionally
retain those things that bring joy to our being and enables us to release all
the other things that do not. It
clarifies our vision to see the deceit of our consumer culture and opens up the
possibility of redirecting our attention to nurturing relationships and our
very own souls. Jesus taught that we
should not store up treasures on earth but in heaven, for where our treasures
reside, there our heart will be also.
This eternal truth also applies to how we spend our time.
The Japanese traditional culture of Zen philosophy centers
on simplicity. Their principle of Ma refers
to empty or open space and reduces everything down to just the essentials. Marie Kondo has made an international name
for herself with her method of decluttering and organizing which she has dubbed
“KonMari”. She promotes only keeping
those things that “spark joy” in our lives.
And joy trumps life stressors every single time!
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