Living Minimalist

Minimalism is a concept which involves living with only what is necessary and getting rid of everything which is not necessary. Some people decide in isolation that they want to live minimalist and so the process begins humbly by losing a couple of unwanted items from the junk room or attic, not long afterwards it’s a case of challenging the stories the mind tells us about our stuff, as it tries to justify why we need it. Personally, minimalism was simply a part of a much bigger change in my life – with this came mindfulness, regular meditation and a switch from a vegetarian to vegan diet and it’s a surprisingly exhilarating way to live. One of the best things about reducing the clutter in our house is the fact that there is space to think and best of all space to do, when you clear the clutter you become more productive and can discover a whole new side to yourself which you never knew had existed.

I rarely write about minimalist living in isolation, simply because it’s difficult to think about in isolation of mindfulness, we go through our daily lives being bombarded with advertisements which tell us that we need one thing or another and these advertisements subtly work to convince us that we cannot be happy unless we have these things – they promote conditional happiness which means that we put a price on our daily happiness, i.e. it’s impossible to be happy without having a particular something. The problem arises when the standard constantly changes and suddenly we never believe that we can be happy. Becoming more mindful of our being and of what we have already can often make us aware that with food, love and a roof over our heads our basic needs are met and we don’t require a fancy car or a villa in the sun to have a smile on our face. Minimalist living and mindfulness can often go hand in hand.

In my latest book, Simple Living Sweeter Life I discuss these concepts more fully – I provide in depth advice as to how you can move into a minimalist lifestyle, including advice on de-cluttering both physically and emotionally. This includes quite practical financial advice for losing debt and beginning to save regularly as well as practical ways to build a mindfulness habit and have more time for yourself and the ones you love. It’s a book about having the life you have always wanted by growing as an individual and demonstrates just how much of a difference minimalist living can make. We all have the potential to be amazing, we just have to find out who we really are amongst the clutter.

For more from Laura O’Hanlon visit her Author Page