Joshua Becker's Blog, page 149

Reasons to Become Minimalist (from ADL 8th Graders)

This morning, I had the opportunity to speak to the 8th grade class at ADL Middle School as part of their "Saving Planet Earth as Kids Unite Proactively" Day Celebration (SPEAK UP). I was excited to see the organizers recognize the minimalist lifestyle as an important piece of the conversation.

At the end of the seminar, I asked each 8th grader to write a mini-blogpost consisting of 2-3 sentences that attempts to convince/inspire others to live with less.

I thought it would be fun to share with you some of the highlights:

"Dear _____, You should own less things because you will have more free time. Instead of paying bills, you can spend time with your family." – Tayler S.

"Dear _____, If you had less stuff you wouldn't have to clean so much and stress would be down. The basement and garage would be clean too. Also, your closets and downstairs/basement would be clean." – Alex W.

"Dear _____, Have you ever wished that you could take a break from the stress of daily life? Maybe you were cleaning out the closet or paying off the credit card debt? Maybe you were sitting in traffic on your way home from a job that you don't really like. But there's a way to avoid the clutter and unfulfilled feeling of this lifestyle: become a minimalist. Studies have shown that people who own less stuff are happier than those who own more, and it's great for the environment. Think about it really? What do you want most from life?" – Evelyn B.

"Dear _____, Please let us have a good planet." – Hannah G.

"Dear _____, You should live with less stuff because you'll have more money, you can go on more vacations. Also, you have more free time to do what you want. There is less stress because you have less things to pay for." – Brad M.

"Dear _____, You should consider living with less stuff because the planet is slowly slipping away into basically a garbage can, and I am not looking forward to living in a garbage can when I'm older. So maybe becoming a minimalist can help with that. You will be happy, I will be happy, everyone will be happy." – Laura C.

Dear ____, Even though it may seem like being happpy is having more stuff. But really it's not. Think about it. Wouldn't you rather feel really amazing knowing that you're doing all you can to save your money and the planet too?" – Ashley C.

"Dear _____, You should buy less stuff because everything you buy seems to have payments on it." – Jake G.

"Dear _____, Does your work suck? Would you rather be playing with your kids or grandkids? How 'bout this? Try every weekend getting rid of 10-20 things or maybe more. It's called minimalism. Living with less means more money and time. So you can quit that job that you hate and maybe add more hours to your day." – Giselle G.

"Dear _____, You have heard that you need the newest things and the best things. But it's not always the best. For example, you could live on only the stuff you need. You could be happy, spend more time with your family, and not spend as much money." – Chad H.

"Dear _____, If you owned less stuff, you wouldn't need as much money so your expectations would be lower and smaller things would make you happier. Also, my dad is pretty much always stressed so if he worked less, thus made less money but still had enough, he would be more relaxed. Also, my mom is always cleaning and our house is pretty messy, so if we had less stuff, she would be free to do other things. You would also have more time to travel and by buying less, you would have more money. Having less could also help you sympathize with people in poverty and desitiution, so maybe you would be compelled to help them." – Name withheld

It looks to me like the idea of minimalism is starting to make sense to them, don't you think? And on a related note, I am apparently available for school assemblies.

Stop Comparing Your Life. Start Living It.

"Envy is ever joined with the comparing of a man's self; and where there is no comparison, no envy." Sir Francis Bacon

Most of us understand the foolishness of trying to compare ourselves to others. We would readily admit that no good ever comes from it. Yet, whether we are comparing our home size, paycheck, physical features, or any number of measurable (and even unmeasureable) things, we do it all the time.

Even though we know there are inherent problems contained in the process:

We most often compare the wrong things. Because we can most easily compare the things that we can objectively measure, we live in a world that is great at measuring and comparing externals. Somewhere along the way, we decided that we could determine who is living a more valuable life by comparing clothes, cars, homes, paychecks, beauty, or Twitter followers. But externals are rarely a good measure. Net-worth has never been a good indicator of self-worth.
We always compare our worst with their best. Comparing your life with others is always a losing proposition because there will always be people who "appear" to be better off than you and seemingly live the perfect life. After all, we always compare the worst of what we know about ourselves to the best assumptions that we make about others. Be advised, their life is never as perfect as your mind makes it out to be.
There is no end to the comparison game. There is an infinite number of categories upon which you can compare yourself… and an almost infinite number of people to compare yourself to. Once you start down that road, you will never, ever find an end.
Life isn't graded on a curve. How you measure up against others holds absolutely no importance in your life anyway. It simply makes no difference. The goal of life is not to be better than 50% of the other people on the planet. The goal of life is to be the best you that you can possibly be.
Comparison puts your focus on the wrong person. You can control one life – yours. When we consistently compare ourselves to others, we waste precious energy focusing on other peoples' lives rather than our own.
Comparison robs you of joy. Comparing yourself to others will always cause you to regret what you aren't, rather than allow you to enjoy who you are. It will always steal the joy and happiness that is within your reach… and place it just outside of your reach instead.

Many a contented life has surely been stolen by the unhealthy habit of comparing ourselves to others. Comparing ourselves to others will always rob us of gratitude, joy, and fulfillment.

But even more than than, it prevents us from fully living our lives. It calls us to envy someone else's life and seek theirs rather than ours. It is robbing us of our most precious possession: life itself. And while the temptation to compare may never be completely eliminated, there are certainly some practical steps that we can take to move past it. Consider a few of these:

1. Recognize the inherent problems in comparing yourself to another. Take a good look at the list above. Why would we want any habit in our life that promotes feelings of inferiority? Or consistently promotes envy, competition, and strife with no end in sight? Sometimes, just a reminder of the foolishness contained in the habit is the most important step in overcoming it.

2. Celebrate who you are. There are many wonderful things about your life. You are an artist… or a businessman… or a mother… or a good listener… or a generous soul. You have much to celebrate and are entirely unique. Any comparison between you and another person is like comparing apples to oranges. They aren't living your life, you are. Therefore, you should expect the results to be completely different.

3. Focus inward. Value generosity, humility, goodness, kindness, and love. Begin to focus on developing the inward qualities of a simplified life and the externals will lose their beauty. And the quicker we find beauty on the inside, the sooner we'll stop comparing things on the outside (skin-deep beauty, paychecks, or power).

4. Realize life is not a competition. There may be times when competition is appropriate, but life is not one of them. We have all been thrown together at this exact moment on this exact planet. And the sooner we stop competing against others to "win," the faster we can start working together to figure it out.

5. Remember that nobody is perfect. We live in a society that glamorizes perfection. Consider that magazine racks are full of models and celebrities with perfect faces telling one-sided stories of great triumph and fulfillment. One important step to avoiding the lure of comparison is to remember that one snapshot in time never tells the whole story. The story is never told of the hours in a make-up room or the photo editing technique to cover the blemishes. The story is rarely told of their insecurities or failures (except to mention how they overcame them). That story doesn't sell nearly as many magazines. But the truth remains: there are no perfect people – including you and including me.

6. Live as intentional as possible. Too many people live their lives without intentionality or thought. They rarely find a quiet moment to sit in meditation or solitude and examine their life – who they are and who they are becoming. As a result, lives are lived as a reaction to the events around them. But when a life is lived intentionally and thoughtfully, the comparison game becomes less attractive.

As humans, it is in our nature to compare ourselves to others. But nothing good ever comes from it. So let's stop comparing ourselves to others. We were not born to live their life. There is no sense wasting our life (or energy) being jealous of theirs. Instead, let's start living our lives. Let's determine today to be good at it. After all, we only get one shot.

How to Weather Life's Unfortunate Events

Editor's Note: This is a guest post by Melissa Gorzelanczyk of Peace & Projects.

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." – Robert Burns

Here in Wisconsin, we've had the snowiest winter in decades. Granted, we live in this snowy state by our own choice, but that doesn't erase our lust for sunlight. Each day the snow melts gives us hope.

The good news is, spring officially started 30 days ago.

The bad news is, we just got 6 more inches of snow. As I'm writing this, the flakes are still tumbling from the clouds, blanketing our nearly-green lawn with another layer of white. I know the snow won't last, but the principle of enduring another snowstorm 30 days into spring is disheartening.

In life, snow is not the only thing that falls.

We face disappointments, big and small. We scramble for ways to weather the storms.

Maybe you woke up excited to write in solitude, only to find out there's a two-hour delay for school. Maybe you're anxious to minimize your possessions, but the rest of your family laughs at the notion. Maybe your teen daughter decided your rules are dumb, and stops following them.

If snow in spring – or teenage drama or unexpected backlash – has dimmed your happiness, here are some tips to help you thrive in the face of disappointment. It really is possible to still shine brightly:

Live today, cherish now.

This morning, it's a regular weekday, it snowed (again!) and school was delayed. I wondered bitterly, what's so great about today? The answer was, well, more than I thought.

Pondering my life, I realized that while some people in the world are sick, my family is healthy. While snow is piling up, we are warm. While someone out there is lonely, we have each other, even on regular, "boring" weekdays.

When plans in life go astray, try on a new perspective, like I did. Try thinking, "Today is a gift." Live for now, not just the plans in the future … not just for spring. Cherish what is happening in this very moment, even when it snows.

Love always.

Our kids don't always like our rules. If you're a parent, you know the drill. Rules get ignored and consequences are handed out. Those aren't my favorite moments. When my daughter is acting up, it helps to remember how much I love her, no matter how bad her attitude. This softens a frustrating moment. It takes the sting out of backtalk.

Love always. Put it in front of every action, even when your loved one is acting in anger.

When all else fails …

… take my son's suggestion and "Put a flame-thrower shield over the house." Then, donate the melted snow to communities that need water.

Yes, that's how Wisconsinites thwart snow in spring. Sitting around the kitchen table, we shared a laugh at the thought. Truthfully, it helped. Laughter always does.

We turned to watch the snow swirling around the window with a smile on our faces.

***

Melissa writes at Peace & Projects, where you can get her new ebook: The Hybrid Homemaker: A Guide to Personal & Financial Freedom.

Photo by Kevin N. Murphy

How to Thwart Snow (And Other Unfortunate Events)

Editor's Note: This is a guest post by Melissa Gorzelanczyk of Peace & Projects.

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." – Robert Burns

Here in Wisconsin, we've had the snowiest winter in decades. Granted, we live in this snowy state by our own choice, but that doesn't erase our lust for sunlight. Each day the snow melts gives us hope.

The good news is, spring officially started 30 days ago.

The bad news is, we just got 6 more inches of snow. As I'm writing this, the flakes are still tumbling from the clouds, blanketing our nearly-green lawn with another layer of white. I know the snow won't last, but the principle of enduring another snowstorm 30 days into spring is disheartening.

In life, snow is not the only thing that falls.

We face disappointments, big and small. We scramble for ways to weather the storms.

Maybe you woke up excited to write in solitude, only to find out there's a two-hour delay for school. Maybe you're anxious to minimize your possessions, but the rest of your family laughs at the notion. Maybe your teen daughter decided your rules are dumb, and stops following them.

If snow in spring – or teenage drama or unexpected backlash – has dimmed your happiness, here are some tips to help you thrive in the face of disappointment. It really is possible to still shine brightly:

Live today, cherish now.

This morning, it's a regular weekday, it snowed (again!) and school was delayed. I wondered bitterly, what's so great about today? The answer was, well, more than I thought.

Pondering my life, I realized that while some people in the world are sick, my family is healthy. While snow is piling up, we are warm. While someone out there is lonely, we have each other, even on regular, "boring" weekdays.

When plans in life go astray, try on a new perspective, like I did. Try thinking, "Today is a gift." Live for now, not just the plans in the future … not just for spring. Cherish what is happening in this very moment, even when it snows.

Love always.

Our kids don't always like our rules. If you're a parent, you know the drill. Rules get ignored and consequences are handed out. Those aren't my favorite moments. When my daughter is acting up, it helps to remember how much I love her, no matter how bad her attitude. This softens a frustrating moment. It takes the sting out of backtalk.

Love always. Put it in front of every action, even when your loved one is acting in anger.

When all else fails …

… take my son's suggestion and "Put a flame-thrower shield over the house." Then, donate the melted snow to communities that need water.

Yes, that's how Wisconsinites thwart snow in spring. Sitting around the kitchen table, we shared a laugh at the thought. Truthfully, it helped. Laughter always does.

We turned to watch the snow swirling around the window with a smile on our faces.

***

Melissa writes at Peace & Projects, where you can get her new ebook: The Hybrid Homemaker: A Guide to Personal & Financial Freedom.

Photo by Kevin N. Murphy  

7 Powerful Ways to Supercharge Your Life With Positivity

Editor's Note: This is a guest post by Henri Junttila of Wake Up Cloud.

"A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes." - Mahatma Gandhi

Have you ever wanted to be more positive? Have you ever been frustrated with the negativity that your thoughts seemingly force upon you?

I think we've all been there, but the good news is that you can do something about how you feel. You see, the emotions you have are there because of the thoughts that precede them. Changing your thoughts is very similar to changing your habits, any habit. If you want to start eating healthier or become a minimalist, it all starts with the first step.

And it's probably going to be hard in the beginning, because you're trying to change something that you're used to, and that your body is used to. However, after 3 to 4 weeks, you can start to feel comfortable in the new you.

This is exactly the process you can follow to change your thoughts and supercharge your life with positivity:

1. Read

Read books that inspire, encourage, and motivate you. It doesn't really matter if you already know what the book is all about. What matters is that you continually feed your mind with positive and inspirational material. The more time you can spend in the land of the positive, the better. You gradually increase the amount of time that you are positive. And if you keep doing this, you will eventually become one of those happy, positive people that can handle any adversity.

2. Listen

The second thing I personally really like to do when I'm taking a walk, washing the dishes, or cleaning the house is to listen to audio programs. Some great authors that I personally enjoy are Brian Tracy, Earl Nightingale, and Jim Rohn. They're all old timers when it comes to self-help, and they know what they're talking about. Even listening for 30 to 60 minutes a day will make a big difference in your life within a year.

3. Focus

While this might sound overly simplistic, most people don't do it, which is to focus on the positive instead of dwelling upon the negative. Most people concentrate on the problems at hand instead of the solutions. It has been shown that most of our worries never even happen. That means that you are worrying and making yourself feel stressed out for no reason at all.

Next time you feel the negativity come on, flip it over and think about the positive aspect of it and what you can do about it. For example, instead of asking "Why me?" or "Why am I so unlucky?" ask yourself "What can I learn from this?" and "How can I turn this around?"

4. Release

There are some great ways to release negative thought patterns and negative beliefs. Some of my favorites are EFT, The Work, and Sedona Method. I recommend you try one of the methods above. I personally really enjoy working with EFT right now, which is short for Emotional Freedom Techniques. The more negativity you can release from your life the more peace you will feel inside and the more positive you will be.

5. Habits

What kind of habits do you have right now that cause negativity in your life? What would your life look like if you started to change them? When we make the decision to change a habit, it almost happens by itself, but you have to be determined to make it happen.

As I said above, changing your thoughts is like changing any habit in your life. It's not going to be easy, but then again, feeling bad all the time isn't exactly a walk in the park.

6. Goals

The majority of people never set any goals. I know that it can be scary to decide on where you want to go, and you want to leave your options open, but nothing happens until you get clear about where you want to go and what you want to do. It doesn't matter if your goals change. In fact, that's normal, and one of the reasons why you should keep tweaking your goals as the seasons change.

One of the best ways to set goals is to use the S.M.A.R.T criteria, which stands for:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

Your goals will give you focus and purpose, so make sure you set goals in each area of your life. The most common areas are health, relationships, career, and personal development.

7. Passion

I've noticed that since I started following my passion and moving towards the life of my dreams, the positivity in my life has magically increased. Most people are doing things they don't want to do, and they never even take a step towards finding and going after their passion.

Don't let this be you. Go after your dreams, even if it means only being able to put aside 10 minutes a day. If you start today, you can build upon what you have, but if you keep putting it off, it will never happen.

Increasing the positivity in your life is simple, but not easy. You have to take responsibility and make it happen, because no one will do it for you.

***

Henri writes at Wake Up Cloud, where you can get his free course: Find Your Passion in 5 Days or Less. And if you liked this article, you will enjoy one of his top articles: 77 Great Quotes That Will Change Your Life.

15 Reasons I Think You Should Blog

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." – William Wordsworth

Over the course of my life, I've embraced a number of different hobbies: baseball cards, video games, tennis, art, just to name a few. But none of them have changed my life or brought me as much satisfaction as the act of blogging. In almost too many ways to count, it has truly changed me and the way I live my life.

In fact, so much so, that it has become a hobby I regularly recommend to my friends and encourage them to embrace. I started blogging as a personal tool to journal the changes that we were making as we began minimizing our possessions. But somewhere along the line, it became less about me writing the story and more about the story changing me. And while there are many articles written about why you should blog to grow your business or become an expert or make a whole bunch of money… the best recommendations are still found in the personal realization that blogging changes you – the writer.

Consider these 15 thoughts on how blogging will impact your life:

1. You'll become a better writer. At its core, writing is communication. It is about recording thoughts on paper and compelling others to agree with them. To that end, writing (just like every other form of communication that has ever existed) improves with practice. Blogging will not force you to become a better writer… it'll just happen as you do it. And becoming a better writer holds important benefits for the rest of your life – whether you are creating a book, a presentation, a résumé, or an anniversary card for your spouse.

2. You'll become a better thinker. Because the process of writing includes recording thoughts on paper, the blogging process encourages you to stop and think deeper. You will delve deeper into the matters of your life and the worldview that shapes them. Unfortunately, at this point, many will choose not to blog (or write at all) based on the faulty reasoning that they "have nothing to say." But to that line of thinking I always respond the same way… maybe you just haven't discovered yet what you have to say.

3. You'll live a more intentional life. Once you start writing about your life and the thoughts that shape it, you'll begin thinking more intentionally about who you are, who you are becoming, and whether you like what you see or not. And that just may be reason enough to get started.

4. You'll develop an eye for meaningful things. By necessity, blogging requires a filter. It's simply not possible to write about every event, every thought, and every happening in your life. Instead, blogging is a never-ending process of choosing to articulate the most meaningful events and the most important thoughts. This process of choice helps you develop an eye for meaningful things. And remember that sometimes the most meaningful things appear in the most mundane… but you'll see what I mean once you get started.

5. It'll lead to healthier life habits. Blogging requires time, devotion, commitment, and discipline. And just to be clear, those are all good things to embrace – they will help you get the most out of your days and life. Since beginning to blog, I have become an early riser, a runner, and can now properly identify my favorite drink at Starbuck's (Caramel Macchiato). And even if those three habits don't personally appeal to you, blogging will provide opportunity for new life habits to emerge in yours.

6. You'll meet new people. Whether it be through comments, e-mails, or social media, you may be surprised at how quickly you meet people on-line. And by meet people, I mean legitimately form relationships that seek to serve one another. The blogging community is friendly, encouraging, and genuinely cheering for you to succeed… the only thing missing is you.

7. You'll make some money. You don't need to make money to enjoy blogging. In fact, sometimes making money from your blog can actually start to distract you from the joy that you found in the first place. That being said, whether you make $20/year or $20,000/year, it's still pretty nice to have a hobby that actually pays you back.

8. You'll inspire others. Blogging not only changes your life, it also changes the life of the reader. And because blogs are free for the audience and open to the public, on many levels, it is an act of giving. It is a selfless act of service to invest your time, energy, and worldview into a piece of writing and then offer it free to anybody who wants to read it. Others will find inspiration in your writing… and that's a wonderful feeling.

9. You'll become more well-rounded in your mindset. After all, blogging is an exercise in give-and-take. One of the greatest differences between blogging and traditional publishing is the opportunity for readers to offer input. As the blog's writer, you introduce a topic that you feel is significant and meaningful. You take time to lay out a subject in the minds of your readers and offer your thoughts on the topic. Then, the readers get to respond. And often times, their responses in the comment section challenge us to take a new, fresh look at the very topic we thought was so important in the first place.

10. It's free. Your blog can begin today without spending a single penny now (or ever). I use WordPress and highly recommend it. With an initial investment of $0, why not give it a shot?

11. You'll become more comfortable being known. Blogging introduces yourself to the world. It causes you to articulate the life you live and the worldview behind the decisions that you make. Whether you have 1 reader or 10,000, the blogging process opens up your life to those on the outside. It is a good exercise in human-existence to be known by others. Over time, you'll reveal more and more of yourself to the outside world… and you'll be excited to find a world that relates to you and enjoys hearing your story.

12. It'll serve as a personal journal. Blogging serves many of the same roles as a personal journey. It trains us to be observant and gives weight to the personal growth that we are experiencing. It trains our minds to track life and articulate the changes we are experiencing. Your blog becomes a digital record of your life that is saved "in the cloud." As a result, it can never be lost, stolen, or destroyed in a fire.

13. You'll become more confident. Blogging will help you discover more confidence in your life. You will quickly realize that you do live an important life with a unique view and have something to offer others.

14. You'll find a platform to recommend. We all love to recommend something we have found enjoyable or beneficial – whether it be a nice restaurant, a good book, or a new outlook on life. The fullness of joy is not experienced until we have shared that joy with others. A blog provides an opportunity to do that very thing. It provides a platform to share the joy we have experienced and recommend good things we have discovered to others.

15. It's quite a rush with every positive comment. There's a certain little rush that accompanies the immediate positive feedback that you receive every time a reader posts a comment, shares your writing on Facebook, or tweets it out to their Twitter followers. While walking the fine line between finding encouragement in that feedback and obsessing over it may take some time to get used to, it's far better to find that line than to never seek it out in the first place.

Remember, you don't need to blog as a means to get rich or as a means to gather a huge following. You don't even need to blog as a means to change the Internet… the change that a blog will cause in your life is reason enough.

Minimalism Quotes… Through the Centuries

Voluntary simplicity (and/or minimalism) is certainly not new. In fact, it has been practiced and encouraged for thousands of years… literally. Just consider the following men and women who have advocated for a lifestyle of minimalism. (To place emphasis on the history of the movement, they have been arranged chronologically by author's birth year).

—

1954. Sandra Cisneros. "But I deal with this by meditating and by understanding I've been put on the planet to serve humanity. I have to remind myself to live simply and not overindulge, which is a constant battle in a material world."

1948. Jackie French Koller. "There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little."

1947. Linda Breen Pierce. "Simplicity involves unburdening your life, and living more lightly with fewer distractions that interfere with a high quality life, as defined uniquely by each individual."

1943. Tenzin Palmo. "One of the advantages of being born in an affluent society is that if one has any intelligence at all, one will realize that having more and more won't solve the problem, and happiness does not lie in possessions, or even relationships: The answer lies within ourselves. If we can't find peace and happiness there, it's not going to come from the outside."

1940s. Duane Elgin. "The intention of voluntary simplicity is not to dogmatically live with less. It's a more demanding intention of living with balance. This is a middle way that moves between the extremes of poverty and indulgence."

1940s. Richard Foster. "We really must understand that the lust for affluence in contemporary society is psychotic. It is psychotic because it has completely lost touch with reality. We crave things we neither need nor enjoy."

1940. Doris Janzen Longacre. "The trouble with simple living is that, though it can be joyful, rich, and creative, it isn't simple."

1936. Tom Robbins. "Any half-awake materialist well knows – that which you hold holds you."

1936. Richard Bach. "The simplest things are often the truest."

1935. Harold Kushner. "Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter."

1935. The Dalai Lama. "If one's life is simple, contentment has to come. Simplicity is extremely important for happiness. Having few desires, feeling satisfied with what you have, is very vital: satisfaction with just enough food, clothing, and shelter to protect yourself from the elements."

1926. Thich Nhat Hanh. "Smile, breathe and go slowly."

1920. Elise Boulding. "The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things."

1918. Vernon Howard. "You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need."

1911. E.F. Schumacher. "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction."

1900. Antoine de Saint-Exupery. "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

1899. Edwin Way Teale. "Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves."

1895. Lin Yutang. "Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone.  The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials."

1886. Mies Van Der Rohe. "Less is more."

1879. Albert Einstein. "Make things as simple as possible but no simpler."

1879. Will Rogers. "Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like."

1879. Katharine Fullerton Gerould. "Simplicity is an acquired taste. Mankind, left free, instinctively complicates life."

1876. Francis Jourdain. "One can furnish a room very luxuriously by taking out furniture rather than putting it in."

1872. Bertrand Russell. "It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly."

1836. Anna C. Brackett. "We go on multiplying our conveniences only to multiply our cares. We increase our possessions only to the enlargement of our anxieties."

1834. William Morris. "Have nothing in your homes that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

1834. Charles Spurgeon. "You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled."

1828. Leo Tolstoy. "There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth."

1817. Henry David Thoreau. "Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Things do not change, we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts."

1817. Baha'u'llah. "Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge."

1813. Henry Ward Beecher. "It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has."

1804. George Sand. "Simplicity is the most difficult thing to secure in this world; it is the last limit experience and the last effort of genius."

1783. Joseph Brotherton. "My riches consist, not in the extent of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants."

1774. Elizabeth Ann Seton. "Live simply so that others may simply live."

1771. Hosea Ballou. "Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit."

1562. Lope de Vega. "With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy."

1452. Leonardo da Vinci. " Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

1380. Thomas a Kempis. "Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature."

864. Wu-Men. "If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, then this is the best season of your life."

570. Muhammed. "Poverty is my pride."

330. Saint Basil. "If one had taken what is necessary to cover one's needs and had left the rest to those who are in need, no one would be rich, no one would be poor, no one would be in need."

55. Epictetus. "Contentment comes not so much from great wealth as from few wants."

—

1 BCE. Seneca. "It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor."

5 BCE. Jesus Christ. "Sell your possessions and give to the poor."

6 BCE. John the Baptist. "The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise."

341 BCE. Epicurus. "Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little."

469 BCE. Socrates. "The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less."

500 BCE. Lao Tzu. "Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."

551 BCE. Confucious. "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated."

563 BCE. Buddha. "To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance."

—

With such a rich history, it's nothing short of a high privilege to continue writing the same story that started so many centuries ago…

Why Becoming Minimalist is Still Appropriately Titled

Becoming Minimalist was started on a Sunday night with little or no forethought.

Earlier that weekend, while spring-cleaning my garage, I had a conversation with my neighbor who mentioned that her daughter was a minimalist. As if the thought of living with less had never crossed my mind, I was instantly intrigued with the idea and began researching the lifestyle online. Immediately, I found a few articles related to the topic that resonated with my heart. And as a family, we decided to jump right in.

The next evening, I decided that it might be helpful to blog about our journey. I assumed it would be beneficial to us as a family to have a written record of our downsizing efforts and I wanted to keep my extended family informed about our progress. As a result, I sat down at the computer in our guest room with the intention of creating a blog just for them and just for us.

I had never blogged before and certainly didn't know anything about it (or the industry). With little to no research, a simple Google search led me to wordpress.com which offered me the opportunity to host a free blog. It seemed easy enough and I was only required at this point to choose a domain name. I quickly chose "Becoming Minimalist" because it accurately described the journey I wanted to record, it best described the decision that we had just made, and it was the first thing that popped in my head. Luckily, it was available. And at that moment, becomingminimalist.wordpress.com was born.

Since then, the blog has been in a constant state of evolution. What began as a personal journal of our experience into minimalism quickly turned into a place dedicated to inspiring others. It became something different and far bigger than I ever dreamt. Yet through the years and despite all the changes/evolution of the blog, somehow… Becoming Minimalist continues to remain appropriately titled.

Consider the aspects of the name:

"Becoming"

To me, my journey into minimalism continues every day. The word "becoming" provides the opportunity to humbly say that I have not yet fully arrived – that I am on a lifelong journey that still continues. Some days I feel like I'm gaining ground, while other days I feel like I'm losing. To be honest, sometimes I feel like I still have as far to go today as when I first started. After all, removing the junk and clutter is the easy part – it is the "next step" that is far more difficult (the sentimental possessions, the unopened storage boxes in the basement, the extra car in the garage, or the house that suddenly feels too big). Additionally, the word "becoming" allows me to admit that the ever-present culture of consumption surrounds me with a constant state of conflict. And though I may never be removed from it… I will continue to stay resolute in my journey toward minimalism.

To those outside the minimalist movement, the word "becoming" stands as an open invitation. It does not boldly require you to "be" minimalist overnight. Instead, it encourages you to consider the journey and the far-reaching benefits that come from it. At its core, this is a blog dedicated to reaching people far beyond the minimalist movement and inviting them to embrace it. That's why I write monthly at Organizing Your Way… because I believe this simple message of owning less will allow them to live more. And the more we can reach with this message, the better!

To other minimalists, this is not a blog dedicated solely to you. In fact, I offer very little advice to those of you who are already living the lifestyle… who are hoping to reduce their possessions from 75 things to 55. While I think this blog can still push you forward in matters of the heart and inner-simplicity (generosity, forgiveness, service), when it comes to life hacks for extreme minimalism, this is probably not the best place.

And in that way, "becoming" has always been the perfect word to summarize both the journey and the focus.

"A"

While the decision to call the blog "Becoming Minimalist" rather than "Becoming A Minimalist" was not a debate I had in mind when picking a name, I have always been thankful for the accidental choice of neglecting the article. The article "a" transforms minimalist into a noun rather than an adjective. And I much prefer it to be considered an adjective in my life.

My life is not ultimately defined by minimalism – never has been and never will be. Minimalism empowers me to live a more meaningful life, but it is not the chief goal of my life. In the end, I don't want to be known as a great minimalist… I want to be known as a devoted husband, a loving father, and a faithful follower of God. I value faith, family, and relationships above everything else. And I'd much rather be known for pursuing love than pursuing minimalism.

That isn't to say that a minimalist can't be all those things… I hope they are. It just means that I value the word more as an adjective than as a noun in both my life and the name of this blog.

"Minimalist"

This is a website dedicated to inspiring others to live more life by owning less stuff. It invites its readers to embrace a minimalist lifestyle that centers on their values. It calls them to intentionally promote the things they most value in their unique life and remove everything that distracts them from it.

In the very beginning, it encouraged me. The process of keeping a daily journal challenged my thinking and forced me to verbalize my thoughts. It celebrated my past successes and motivated me to continue on the journey. It still does even today.

More recently, it has begun to inspire others. Every day, it inspires thousands of readers from all over the world to reject the empty pursuit of more possessions. It has granted me the opportunity to share the message of simplicity and minimalism to rooms full of people around the country. And it has been the topic of conversation with close friends around the table in my dining room.

But through it all, the message has always remained the same: "There is far more joy to be found in living with less than can ever be found in pursuing more."

1,000 Days Later

In March, 2008, I started a little blog named Becoming Minimalist. And now… 1,000 days later… the name of the blog is as appropriate as the first day I typed it into WordPress . Who knew?

.

Try Brainwashing, It Works.

Editor's Note: This is a guest post by Bernice Wood of Living the Balanced Life.

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." - Wayne Dwyer

Our Story

The journey towards minimalist living is an ongoing, continual process. Similar to healthy eating, you'll need to continue the habits and actions that got you to your current point. This may be daunting to the aspiring minimalists, but it should be a source of comfort. After all, there is no checklist, there is no certificate of achievement, you travel at your own pace, and you get to decide when you have "arrived."

As a child, I was raised by 2 packrats (not quite hoarders, but close to it). I married young and took many of the tendencies of accumulation I saw as a child and tried to create my own home. With the addition of 4 children over the next few years, my family had a houseful of stuff before we even knew it was happening. Fast forward 25 years… we had become a married couple who had been overworked, overwhelmed, and had spent years trying to keep up with all the accumulated stuff that had come along with our family.

However, as the kids began moving out, we realized we were ready to lighten our load and began that process. But first, we needed to change the way we thought about things.

Clearing the mind first

Sometimes, before you can change your lifestyle, you have to remove the doubt, fear and self-limiting beliefs from your mind. For example, when it comes to removing the stuff and belongings from your life, here are some things you may be thinking:

These things are my life. Who am I if I get rid of them?
But these ____________ belonged to my mother! How can I get rid of them?
I want to be able to pass these things on to my children. Everybody needs a ____________.
Won't my children be "left out" if they don't have a ____________?

Change your thinking and your actions will follow

We discovered that once we started intentionally addressing (and answering) the thoughts that were going through our minds, it immediately freed us up to start making decisions to release our belongings. And what an awesome feeling that is!

Now, my husband teases the kids that if there is anything they want to keep, they better get it now before I sell or donate it. And after changing our mindset (and working so hard to free myself of accumulated things), the last thing I want to do is go buy something else to fill its place. The awesome freedom and peace that accompanies living with less is just too wonderful.

Do you need to change the way you are looking at some of the things in your life?

***

Bernice is the author of the ebook Find Your Balance. She writes about defining and living your priorities at Living the Balanced Life. You can also find her on Twitter.

Simplify Your Family Life E-Book Sale

FOR THE NEXT FOUR DAYS, THE SIMPLIFY YOUR FAMILY LIFE BOOK SALE WILL BE LIVE.

Beginning Monday (March 21) at 2pm ET – Friday (March 25) at 2pm ET, 26 of the top authors in family life have come together to offer 29 e-books/guides in one unbelievable package for only $47. If bought separately, the 29 products would total $435. But for the next 96 hours, you can find them all in one location for one low price.

If you've been debating the purchase of even one of these products, now seems like the perfect time to jump in.

WHY THE FAMILY LIFE BOOK SALE?

A few months ago, Corey Allen and Mandi Ehman contacted me about joining them in this huge family-life book sale. They were compiling a package of family-based resources to offer at a greatly reduced price. Because Becoming Minimalist has always been centered on family and because healthy families benefit everyone, I couldn't wait to agree. As a result, I'm excited to have my second e-book, Inside-Out Simplicity (which usually sells for $11.99) included in the sale.

The sale is a great opportunity to get Inside-Out Simplicity into peoples' hands. My hope when writing the e-book was to inspire people to find an inward simplicity by approaching their most important relationships with life-changing keys. To date, it has been read over one thousand times. And hopefully, through the Simplify Your Family Life E-Book Sale, it will inspire thousands more.

In addition, Corey and Mandi have included books covering a wide variety of topics including Finances, Intimacy, Marriage, Food and Cooking, Parenting, Green Living, Organizing, Personal Development, Travel, and Working From Home.

WHERE CAN I BUY THE BOOKS?

The deal can be found by clicking right here. Note: You will be redirected to Corey's Simple Marriage website.

WHAT BOOKS ARE FOR SALE?

Here they are… broken up my subject… and with a brief introduction.

Family Minimalism

Joshua Becker's Inside Out Simplicity. Regular price: $11.99. Get ready for a 360 degree approach to the simplified lifestyle. "Inside-Out Simplicity: Life-Changing Keys to your Most Important Relationships" is an e-book that goes beyond external fixes to our complicated lives. Instead, this book dares to focus on the very heart and soul of a simplified life.


Leo Babauta's The Simple Guide To A Minimalist Life . Regular price: $9.95. The leading blogger on the planet offers the leading book on minimalism. In classic Leo-style, he offers useful chapters on different problems that people will face on their journey to a more minimalist life.


Dusti Arab's The Minimalist Mom. Regular Price: $17.00. Why should having children mean you can't live a simple lifestyle? While kids do make things more complicated, they also make things more fun in a lot of ways! Dusti Arab sets out to create a sustainable life of simplicity out of the chaos.

Food & Cooking

Jules Clancy's 5 Ingredients, 10 Minutes. Regular Price: $37.00. 133 totally new 5-ingredient recipes… each taking less than 10 minutes to prepare. And the gorgeous, full color photographs of every recipe across 343 pages make this unique cookbook both beautiful and helpful.


Katie Kimball's Healthy Snacks to Go. Regular Price: $6.95. With over 30 healthy snack recipes including traditional granola bars, iron-packed Popeye bars, and a dozen "larabar" style variations, Kitchen Stewardship's new Healthy Snacks To Go is the resource you need for healthy snack ideas. Complete with time-saving tips, frugal options and allergy notes, it will become your "go-to" cookbook to keep your cupboards filled with nourishing yet quick choices.


Melanie Thomassian's Healthy Eating Handbook . Regular Price: $27.00. If you've ever thought eating healthy was either a chore or too expensive, then you're not alone. Research finds that seven out of ten people think healthier foods are increasingly difficult to afford… Yet, by implementing the principles of the Healthy Eating Handbook, you'll discover how you and your family can eat healthier, while making significant savings at the supermarket checkout (perhaps 30% or more).


Stephanie Langford's Real Food on a Real Budget. Regular Price: $18.97. Based on 6 years of hands-on experience and hundreds of hours of research, Real Food on a Real Budget is written as a primer for families who want to learn how to save an average of 20-30% on their food budget ($100-$200 per month for most families), while at the same time serving better quality and more nutritionally dense foods.


Lisa Byrne's The Real Food Cleansing Guide. Regular Price: $29.00. In short, a healthy, whole-foods cleanse. Simply put, a whole-body cleanse reminds your cells just how good it feels to be fed healthy, cleansing, high energy foods– and kick starts habits of healthy eating and healthy living that you can bring back into our day to day life. It's healthy living boot camp for busy moms.

Green Living

Tammy Strobel's Simply Car-free: How To Pedal Toward Financial Freedom and a Healthier Life . Regular Price: $9.95. If you've ever thought about ditching your car and saving $5,000-7,000/year, this e-book may be the only extra motivation you need. Living in Portland, Tammy and Logan made the decision to ditch their vehicles years ago… and have never looked back.


Stephanie Langford's Healthy Homemaking. Regular Price: $12.95. Healthy Homemaking: One Step at a Time is a 76-page compilation of practical, relevant and varied "baby steps", designed to take you on a one-year journey. One of the major goals behind the book is to keep natural, nutritious and sustainable living from being overwhelming. The intent is to focus instead on the little victories in each positive step forward.


Michele Augur's Herbal Nurturing: A Family Healing & Learning Guide. Regular Price: $8.95. As a "friend along the journey," this 44-page book walks you through preparing basic herbal remedies for you and your family, from childbirth to arthritis, and everything in between! Naturally prepare for cold/flu season, PMS, headaches, sunburns, postpartum, tummy aches, rashes, and more with over 30 recipes, additional homeopathic suggestions, and healthy-living tips.

Intimacy & Marriage

Tony DiLorenzo's Stripped Down Marriage. Regular Price: $12.00. Stripped Down is full of practical advice on the most important human relationship we have on Earth.  The open and authentic approach to the topic of intimacy in marriage is refreshing in a world that blushes at the thought of having conversations around this gift that God has given to married couples.


Corey Allan's A Simple Marriage. Regular Price: $18. Corey is a husband, father, author, speaker, as well as a Marriage and Family Therapist with a Ph.D. in Family Therapy. He is also the organizer of the Simplify Your Family Book Sale. Both of his books on marriage are fantastic… A Simple Marriage is his first one.


Corey Allan's Buck Naked Marriage. Regular Price: $9.50. Buck Naked Marriage covers the top ten elements necessary for a marriage to thrive. It also offers some tips on how to address several of the common "relationship clutter" areas: like money, kids, family, rest. It wisely covers both the important and how to handle the immediate.


Dustin Riechmann's 15 Minute Marriage Makeover. Regular Price: $27. Dustin's book is brand new (released just last month). Based on the premise that "you can become an expert in anything if you invest 15 minutes per day," Dustin and his wife cover 31 topics of conversation for spouses to engage in for 15 minutes a day to become more of an expert in their marriage and unique relationship. The premise is genius. The topics are well-thought out and applicable. And I'm really glad this book is part of the sale.


Sarah Barton's Getting Lucky With The Wife. Sarah Barton is the creator of Anonymous8, a website dedicated to sex and intimacy that is actually helpful to married couples. Her brand-new book is written for men in committed marriages who are hoping to… well, get lucky a little more often. Sarah reminds us that luck has nothing to do it. The book covers three sections: essential information, specific steps, and building your unique plan. I hope it's okay that I can't wait to read more of this book…

Money

Jeff Nickles' The Super-Charged Guide to Financial Freedom. Regular Price: $19.95. After digging himself out of debt consisting of tens of thousands of dollars, Jeff Nickles' inspires people to be proactive concerning their finances rather than burying their heads in the sand until crisis hits. The e-book is set up in a "workbook style" providing readers/couples opportunity to interact with the material.


Melissa Gorzelanczyk 's The Hybrid Homemaker. Regular Price: $17.00. Melissa, who voluntarily gave up her corporate job to become a work-at-home mom, imagines a world full of choices rather than obligations. And through her interviews with other moms who have turned their talents into paychecks, Melissa encourages her readers to pursue happiness, not more stuff.

Organizing

Jessica Fisher's Organizing Life as Mom. Regular Price: $9. This 125-page e-book provides a game plan for your life as wife, mother, and home manager. With it, you will have all you need to create a personalized household notebook including worksheets; calendars (daily, monthly, holidays); planning sheets for the holidays, your budget, your mealtimes; and planner pages designed to fit you and your unique household.


Amy Lynn Andrew's Tell Your Time. Regular Price: $12. Amy puts great effort into writing a time management book that packs a huge, practical punch and isn't as…well, time consuming as other time management resources. Instead of wading through pages of theoretical commentary on time management, this 30-page book offers effectiveA tools which will help you see real change.

Parenting

Amanda Morgan's Parenting with Positive Guidance. Regular Price: $9. I first stumbled upon Amanda's book a number of months ago while researching e-books on the topic of parenting. I immediately fell in love with the premise of guiding your child toward increased self-control while fostering a healthy parent-child relationship. Every parent will benefit from reading the thoughts in this book… even if you're already doing a good job.


Angie Kauffman's Finding Educational Activities in the Most Unexpected Places. Regular Price: $7.50. What a fantasticly fun idea of using commonly found objects in and around your home for educational activities with your young child. It targets toddlers and preschoolers, but many of the activities can also be done with kindergarten-aged children. To be fair, I haven't read the book yet, but I love the idea behind it!

Personal Development

Sherri Kruger's Your Life. Live It. Love It. Regular Price: $19.95. Sherri blogs at Serene Journey and Zen Family Habits with Leo Babauta. This 70-page e-book offers hundreds of ideas to focus on yourself, others, and enjoying the little things in life.


Sherri Kruger's The Gratitude Journal. Regular Price: $5.99. Also written by Sherri, The Gratitude Journal is your guide to starting your very first gratitude journal and promoting positive thinking in your life by helping you gain a better appreciation and understanding of things you may never have thought about before.


Tess Marshall's Flying By the Seat of My Soul. Regular Price: $5.97. In Flying By the Seat of My Soul, you will find moving stories, profound lessons, uplifting quotes and personal stories of others that will inspire you to live more passionately and pursue your heart's desire with more conviction!


Katie Tallo's The 7 Week Life Cleanse. Regular Price: $20. The 7-Week Life Cleanse is a simple guide to infusing your life with momentum so that you can move directly and passionately towards the life you want. The weekly worksheets and questions are tools for change. They'll spark your awareness and ease you towards a sustainable plan. Plus, they're fun to do!


John P. Strelecky and Tim Brownson's How to be Rich and Happy. Regular Price :$25. Written by a Life Coach and a best-selling Inspirational Author, How to be Rich and Happy offers a formula for living an existence where you have the freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want. If their formula doesn't work for you, the book is offered with a full money-back guarantee (not applicable as part of this offer… but still, I love an author who stands behind his work).

Travel

Katie Kimball's Family Camping Handbook. Regular Price: $4.95. Family Camping Handbook gives practical advice to novice family campers on enjoying a successful vacation with a tent. It encourage families with very young children that you can survive (and enjoy!) a family camping vacation with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. And gives any camping family real food adaptations and compromise options for traditional low-nutrient camping fare. Want to get the family outdoors a bit more? Here you go.

Work at Home

Tammy Strobel's Smalltopia: A Practical Guide To Working For Yourself . Regular Price: $27.00. Tammy's newest ebook centers around her goal of equipping others to work for themselves. Having made the decision herself, she knows firsthand what it takes to make the step. But that doesn't stop her from getting contributions from 14 other bloggers who have made the same decision.

If any of the preceding e-books peak your interest, you can purchase them individually by clicking through above. Or, you can purchase them all for $47. Not a bad deal if you ask me. The sale ends at 2 pm ET on March 25th, and there will be no late sales offered.

A portion of each sale will also be donated to The Mentoring Project, which seeks to rewrite the story of the fatherless generation.