Photo of Leizl Joy Nayahangan
By Alpha (Day 105)
I am not sure whether I have confessed my addiction to reading Leo Babauta’s site on Zen Living. If not, now you know. Everytime I get a chance to sit down and read something – whether during my lunch break or when everybody is asleep I log on to Leo’s site and take in whatever I can from his site. Recently, I had the opportunity to read a whole bunch of his posts and I would like to share with you the most powerful sentences from him on minimalism.
I did challenge myself on one particular aspect on minimalism and I will share it with you my progress on that soon. This is a 30-day challenge on using cash only in all my purchases – be it big or small spending. I think this is a right way for me to apply the one of the concepts of minimalism towards my personal finances.
Here are the quotes I truly enjoyed during my reading:
“We are influenced by our environment, but we also create our environment, and we always have a choice.”
“Wait until you’ve changed yourself before you change your clothes and gear.”
“And when you do notice yourself wanting something (awareness is everything), pause. Pause some more. Put it on a 30-day list. Wait. The desires go away with time.”
“There are people who claim never to want stuff anymore, who just don’t care about cool clothes and gadgets and bags and notebooks, who have moved past desiring things. Those people are lying.”
“We don’t need to play. Let’s live instead: everything essential is nearly free anyway.”
“When we start out with something, we usually will try everything. But as we learn, we can pare down ideas that we find out don’t matter. We’re left with the essentials.”
“A minimalist is simply one who questions the necessity of things, and who tries to live with what’s necessary, rather than with consumerism.”
“What is blogging at its best? This sign distilled blogging to its essence: regular updates that inspire others from someone doing something remarkable. If you’re thinking of (or are already) blogging, don’t be intimidated. All you need is to do something remarkable, and let people know about it.”
“When we wear things with the logos and slogans of the companies whose products we use (Apple, Nike, Prada, Gucci), we are doing their advertising for them. We are walking billboards.”
“There are no prerequisites for minimalism. Do it however you want, however you can, wherever you want.”
“Cut back to a few important tasks and your work will be transformed. Do only a few things in life and those things will breathe and take on an importance they never had before.”
“Why do we keep things even if we don’t need or use them? Because we’re afraid we might.”
“Life includes: taking long walks, creating things, having conversations with friends, snuggling with my wife, playing with my kids, eating simple food, going outside and getting active.”
“The most important thing is asking what’s the most important thing.”
