More on mnmlism - letting go of desires

Straight from the minimalist blog. I take no credit for any of this. I've simply read it, and want to pass it on. Being un-copy-righted, makes that nice and easy. Enjoy.

mnmlist : 02.2010 : letting go of desires (mind)

We all have desires – it’s part of the human condition.

We want to be loved, to have friends, to experience joy, to have security.

But a desire for things is not as natural as we’re often led to believe. Sure, we all have desires for things: nice cars, nice clothes, nice houses, cool computers and iPhones, beautiful furniture and notebooks and shoes and jewelry and bags and bikes and on and on.

But these desires are manufactured in us, by advertising and marketing. They play on our natural instincts: for hoarding (security), for the pleasures of food and drugs and sex (desire for joy), for fitting in with clothes and bikes and gadgets (desire for friends), and so on.

Desires like these lead to all kinds of problems — in fact, all the problems of modern society. They are rooted in the immense power of corporations in our society, and their drive for massive profits. Problems result that include obesity and related diseases, massive consumer debt, shallow consumerism, overwork (to make money for all these things), lack of true human connection, and more.

And while desires are perfectly natural and unavoidable, if we can learn to let go of the manufactured desires, we’ll start to free ourselves from the chains of consumerism.

Start to become aware of these desires – recognize their signs in you. Pause before acting on them. Take deep breaths, go for a walk, get some perspective. You don’t really need more things, and buying is not the answer. Make do without and find happiness without more stuff.

Let the desire go, and feel the lightness, the freedom. Become liberated from desires, one at a time (not forever, but for the moment). You’ll love it.

Homemade multigrain

We've been making our own bread for a while now, about a loaf a day,
and it just keeps getting better. My sweet wife found a recipe for
multigrain that actually rises well. This is some of the best bread
I've had in my life. What a great way to start the weekend!

Those old 3 speed hubs get me everytime

As if I needed another project.

On minimalism

Over the past several years or so, I've been taking steps toward simplifying my life. Every aspect of it. Not that it was ever really complicated, and this move wasn't born out of stress or frustration. Rather, it was an idea I'd stumbled upon and was really taken with. Less is more. I've been a pack rat my whole life. I used to keep stuff just in case I might need it. I used to have hundreds of pounds of scrap steel in my garage in case I needed it for the next project I took on. Never know when you'll need a small bit of tubing, or some stainless steel sheet metal right? Well no. It was a complete waste and a complete headache.

Moving really brings into light the junk that you have but never use. I would say that in the past 4 years, I've rid over half of my belongings. Yet I still have too much stuff. As of recently I've made some hard cuts. I threw out a cabbage patch kid I got from my grandma when I was about 4. Fairfax Bouris was his name. Why the heck would I keep such a toy? Sentimental reasons. The argument there is in the memory, not the object. Take a photo of it and chuck it out.

My main source of inspiration on minimalism is mnmlist.com. A great site with some great thoughts. I have been so impressed with how good it feels to let things go. To free myself from the obsessive consumerist model that has been placed on us. To go through the basement and come out with literally 4 pickup truck loads of stuff, even after we’d moved, feels excellent. I’ve given much of my stuff away to people I know would want or need it. The rest has gone to the local recycling yard.

I challenge anyone reading this to give the idea of minimalism a moment to sit on your brain. Think it through a little. It’s not like you have to start drastically and get rid of everything less a blanket. Maybe start by going through your closet and seeing which clothes you haven’t worn in the last year. Any chance you’ll wear them in the next? Hmm. If you can’t bring yourself to actually get rid of stuff, maybe box it up and put it in the basement for a while. You’ll have started the detachment process. If you haven’t missed it in a few weeks or months, maybe you can get rid of it. My sister in law is trying this, and so far she’s impressed.

Without to much of my own babbling on the subject, I’ll turn it to Leo Babuata, who has written the below. It has been copied straight from his mnmlist website and is copyright free, so it is here, in his words, just as it is on his website. Enjoy, and thanks Leo for the great work you’ve done on your site. I will be sharing more minimalist posts from his site here, just to get them out there, but this bit is a good start. Cheers.


mnmlist: the essentials
How to do minimalism in steps
You can become a minimalist overnight, by not only changing your mindset but renouncing all possessions.
Of course, that's not a realistic approach for most of us. We have families, jobs, lives, and unless we're willing to give up those lives, our approach won't be so drastic.
Slow change is best for most people.
And so I recommend you do it in steps, as I've done. Here's what these steps might look like:
1. Stop buying unnecessary things. This step was important for me as I was trying to get out of a mountain of debt (achieved, btw). Only buy the necessities, and always ask yourself: is this truly necessary? Stop the bleeding first.
2. Get rid of the obvious things. Stuff that's getting in your way, that you rarely ever use. You can often fill up a few boxes immediately, put them in your car, and donate them to a thrift shop or to friends and family the next day.
3. Get rid of more obvious things. Now that you've cleared up some of the clutter, you can take a look around and start seeing other things you rarely use. Box these up as well.
4. Clear the clutter on your floors. If your floors are barely visible because you have clothes and boxes and different items all over the place, start clearing your floors.
5. Clear other flat surfaces. Shelves, table tops, counter tops. They don't have to be completely clear, but should only have a few essential objects.
6. Start going into closets and drawers. One place at a time, start clearing out clutter.
7. Cut back another third. At this point, you should have simplified drastically, but you can revisit what you still own and see things you don't really use that often.
8. Start letting go, emotionally. For emotional reasons, there will be things that you "just can't part" with -- clothes or shoes or books or mementoes or gifts, childhood items. This is difficult, but given time, you'll learn that such attachments aren't necessary.
9. Get rid of another third. At this point, you're pretty minimalist, but you can cut back more.
10. Et cetera. The process will never end, until you actually give up everything. I'm not there yet.
These steps are just a rough outline of what I went through, but it's a look into a process that might help.

Mad skills that would shame any fixie hipster

The miracles of lighting

Here is an iPhone photo of where I was shooting this morning to get the
photos in the previous post. Post production only involved clarity and
sharpening. With the fast sync speeds, and gels, it's what cool look
you can achieve. This set is exactly as shot. See what I mean it's
fun! Cheers.

The long lost project

Had an idea I wanted to try shooting my mom’s Harley. I’m not happy with the results, but I figured I’d share one pic I took of my bike.

I’ve built this bike from Scratch. Everything less the wheels, forks, engine and headlamp housing have some serious sweat-equity in them. 60hrs in the gas tank alone. Maybe one day I’ll be interested in it again and finish it up. Maybe.