Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life

by Joshua Fields Millburn

Happiness comes from within, from inside yourself, from living a meaningful life.

making lists to help you better understand yourself.

Real happiness, however, comes from who we are—from who we’ve become. Real happiness comes from within.

Of course, happiness is not the point—a meaningful life is. We must stop searching for happiness and instead start looking for meaning.

Discontentment doesn’t work that way. Rather, it’s a slow burn; it’s a pernicious problem that creeps into your life after years of subtle dissatisfaction.

We wanted to find out what was making us unhappy, and what we needed to do to change those things in our lives, so we could experience happiness, passion, freedom.

(the first step to solving a problem is to identify the problem, right?).

We are not our stuff. We are more than our possessions. Our memories are within us, not our things. Our stuff weighs on us mentally and emotionally. Old photographs can be scanned. You can take pictures of items you want to remember. Items that are sentimental for us can be useful to others. Letting go is freeing.

It was for anyone who wanted to focus on the important aspects in life, rather than the material possessions so heavily linked to success and happiness by our culture.

The point is minimalism is a tool to help you achieve freedom. Freedom from fear, freedom from worry, freedom from overwhelm, freedom from guilt, freedom from depression, freedom from enslavement. Freedom. Real freedom.

Minimalism looks different for everyone because it’s about finding what is essential to you.

Minimalism is a tool we use to live a meaningful life. There are no rules. Rather, minimalism is simply about stripping away the unnecessary things in your life so you can focus on what’s important. Ultimately, minimalism is the thing that gets us past the things so we can focus on life’s most important things—which actually aren’t things at all.

Minimalists search for happiness not through things, but through life itself; thus, it’s up to you to determine what is necessary and what is superfluous to your life.

Minimalism is a tool to eliminate life’s excess, focus on the essentials, and find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.

Happiness, as far as we are concerned, is achieved internally through living a meaningful life, a life that is filled with passion and freedom, a life in which we can grow and contribute to others in meaningful ways. These are the bedrocks of happiness. Not stuff.

“How to Start a Successful Blog,” at minimalists.com/blog).

“Why I Walked Away from My Six-Figure Career,” at minimalists.com/quit.)

Five Values that allow us to live a meaningful life: 1. Health 2. Relationships 3. Passions 4. Growth 5. Contribution

the Five Values are the areas we changed in our lives that had the largest positive effect and resulted in more satisfaction and contentment for the two of us.

your failing health immediately took it away, and your possessions couldn’t do a thing for you. Without your health you’re unable to enjoy even the simplest things in life.

we believe your health is the best place to start your journey toward a more meaningful life. We want you to enjoy your life, and living a healthy lifestyle gives you the optimum conditions to do so.

so if we want to be happy, then we all must strive to be the healthiest versions of ourselves—broken

But health is not a destination; it is a vehicle.

it means he must take care of the vehicle he has, providing it with regular tune-ups (daily stretching, regular exercise, and occasional chiropractor visits, as well as a good diet, adequate sleep, and daily meditation), which will help him better enjoy the journey ahead.

In its simplest terms, there are two main ingredients of living a healthy life: eating and exercising. In other words: what we put into our bodies and what we do with our bodies.

Remember, the desire here isn’t to lose weight or look better; the desire is to live a healthier life and feel better.

But ask yourself: Why are humans the only animals who consume another animal’s breast milk? Do you think the human digestive system is designed to digest a cow’s milk?

We stopped eating meat as an experiment a few years ago and noticed phenomenal results, so we never went back (other than fish, which we discuss in the following sections).

The best advice we can give you is to test it yourself—stop eating meat for at least ten days and notice the difference it makes. Then decide for yourself.

Drink a green drink. We like Amazing Grass Green Superfood, which contains a large chunk of the vitamins and nutrients you need every day. Just mix a tablespoon or two with ten ounces of water, drink it, and feel the difference. We drink at least two every day. You’ll notice a difference in energy and vitality immediately. Green drink also helps you fend off hunger, keeping you from overeating.

Beans and legumes add healthy proteins and carbohydrates to your diet. They also help you feel full so you don’t overeat.

Fruits are tricky. They are healthy—filled with necessary vitamins, acids, and water—but they also contain natural sugar.

we also recommend reducing your fruit consumption if it is one of your pr...

paleoplan.com.

Intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting is a pattern of eating that alternates between periods of fasting

People who attempt this diet (even for ten days) typically see wonderful results.

leangains.com.

Developing Daily Food Habits Most drastic dietary changes fail long-term because they are overwhelming, so people find them too hard to maintain. Instead of establishing a diet plan, we encourage you to change your diet for ten days at a time (anyone can change for ten days, right?).

Your diet is not something you do; it is the way you live your life with respect to food consumption, which means it’s also not something you “come off of” either. Your dietary lifestyle is a permanent change, not something you adopt temporarily.

What You Do with Your Body

1. Are we constantly improving our fitness? 2. Are we happy with our progress? That’s how we measure our success.

Daily Exercise Habits

every exercise has been better than doing nothing at all

Joshua's Exercise Principles Enjoy exercise. I do only exercises I enjoy. I don’t enjoy running, so I don’t do it.

Exercise relieves stress. I use exercise as my primary means to kill stress.

Variety keeps exercise fresh.

Joshua's 18-Minute Exercises

Push-ups.

Pull-ups.

Squats.