#humanidentity

Imagine a life with less, a life of passion unencumbered by the trappings of the chaotic world around you. Well, what you’re imagining is an intentional life. It’s not a perfect life, and it’s not even an easy life but a simple one.  “When it’s cool to have nothing.” —New York Times

Perhaps you’ve all known about this movement about being minimalist by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus who have help over 20 million people live meaningful lives with less.

The reason I share this movement, it is not because I am a minimalistic person, but I am a total opposite. Though I am still struggling to live less, I think being minimalist is a good thing. We are more aware on what we consumed everyday and hopefully we are more responsible to live a sustainable lifestyle for a better earth and future.

Here are some snippets to ponder upon:

How do we learn to live confidently without the material things we’ve convinced ourselves we need? How do we live a more intentional and rewarding life? How do we learn to reset our priorities? How do we transform the way we look at ourselves? How do we get what we want out of life?

The Minimalists explore these questions by examining the 7 essential relationships that make us who we are: stuff, truth, self, values, money, creativity, and people. These relationships criss-cross our lives in unexpected ways, providing destructive patterns that frequently repeat themselves, too often left unexamined because we have buried them beneath materialistic clutter.

Minimalism has helped us…

Eliminate our discontent

Reclaim our time

Live in the moment

Pursue our passions

Discover our missions

Experience real freedom

Create more, consume less

Focus on our health

Grow as individuals

Contribute beyond ourselves

Rid ourselves of excess stuff

Discover purpose in our lives

“I wish everyone could become rich & famous so they could realize it's not the answer.” — Jim Carrey

The year was 1979, when Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the U.S., identified in his Crisis of Confidence speech the key issue that the addictive consumerism lifestyle has lead us to – 'human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns'. Good evening. It’s clear that the true problems of our nation are much deeper, deeper than gasoline lines or energy shortages, deeper even than inflation or recession. In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that only things and consuming things doesn’t satisfy our longing for meaning. We’ve learned that piling up material goods can’t fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose. This is not a message of happiness or reassurance, but it is the truth and it is a warning.

Love people and use things, because the opposite never works.