My Evolution (Part 3)

​I'll start this post with the question I ask myself about some thing or another pretty much every day, thanks to the influence of The Minimalists.
Does it add value?
​It's an important question to ask about every object, activity, and relationship in life, don't you think? But it's not one I had thought much about before starting to follow The Minimalists. While I might not agree with them on everything (is there anyone I completely agree with?), their values and way of putting things have helped me improve myself and my life. Best of all, they have an abundance of free resources, so you don't have to invest any money to gain value and decide if you want to take it farther.
Their message to 'Love People, Use Things' is more in keeping with Jesus' way than many of the religious messages I've heard in my life, though I warn you that they don't always keep their podcasts 'clean'. On the bright side, they have started putting a warning at the beginning of some episodes, a little girl saying, "This podcast has bad words." Cracks me up. I haven't listened to their complete backlog or anything, but I can say that I've never heard an episode that was super trashy or filled with bad language. Usually it's just a word here or there. Anyway, between The Minimalists and Celebrate Recovery, I have made huge strides in my ability to chose the truly important over the needs and wants of everyone around me, including my own. If that's not enough to get you to their website, the podcast has a super catchy intro song that helps me make better choices when I'm at the grocery and that _____(fill in the blank) looks so good…. I would write the words here but I'm pretty sure that would be a copyright infringement, so if you're curious, you'll have to check it out.
At theminimalists.com you can find a free Values Worksheet to help you define your values and where to start focusing your energy. How cool is that? Knowing where to start is usually the hardest part. There are numerous useful books, which they ask you to either give away when you're finished or buy digitally so you don't accumulate more stuff. There's a free pocket-guide type book to help you decide on which purchases are truly important  to you and which aren't. There's a calendar to help you play the Minimalism Game, which is a fantastic way to get started on de-cluttering your home! That's only the half of it. It's totally worth checking out. They say, "Live meaningful lives with less." Funny how it's easier to have more meaning with less stuff.
But how many times can you write about how to get rid of stuff? Probably not too many. So The Minimalists don't stop there. They have talks about many aspects of life, about how to simplify those aspects, and how to cope with the resulting change. I could write many paragraphs about ways they've impacted my life, and in fact I did, but then I decided to delete them because your time is precious and you can see for yourself just by looking at their list of podcasts. Just put them on some time while you're in the car or cleaning house and give a listen. You could be on the path of increased meaning and less white noise.
P.S. The blue words mean you can click on them and be taken to the website. For example, clicking here with take you to The Minimalists' book list. If you think I'm dorky for explaining that, well, you don't know my other readers. Lol.