Informative

Replenishing the soul with minimalism

Can we differentiate between want and need? 

The need has limits, while wants are limitless. Water, food, clothing, shelter, with few other things to stay alive and survive, are defined as needs. A want is something a person desires, immediately or in the future, which differs from person to person. But the question is, how to strike a balance between these two? The question to this answer is, ‘Want what we need”.

In almost every meditation session, Swamiji tells us that Tantra never asks us to renounce things to progress in spirituality. Tantra is a science to progress in spirituality, along with enjoying worldly pleasures. But at the same time, Tantra never tells us to hoard and get drowned in the wave of consumerism. How do we strike out the balance in these two? With the help of minimalism.

What’s Minimalism?

In the movie Fight Club, Brad Pitt says, “things you own end up owning you.” Minimalism is a lifestyle, owning bare minimum things that actually add real value to your life. It’s about decluttering, getting rid of the things we do not need, and investing that energy in the more productive, valuable items which have been left behind.

Simplicity or minimalism is not just about less stuff. In today’s shopping-driven society, it seems inevitable to gather things that we really don’t need. But, not it is just overwhelming, but it creates a cloud of negativity on our subconscious.

Consumerism

Consumerism strives on the outer appearance, while spirituality is all about peeking in what’s going on inside. We are being exposed to advertisements more than ever before. Maybe we are driving, maybe we are spending time on social media, perhaps we are reading a blog, or may it be when we are watching a movie. Everywhere, we will see an advertisement, constantly rearranging our thinking process to buy things.

Buying stuff to meet our ends plays an essential role in our lives. Still, studies illustrate that materialistic over attachments lead to decreased life satisfaction, happiness, and social cooperation while increasing anxiety, depression, and antisocial behavior. Minimalism seems to be the solution for that.

Minimalism and Spirituality

Whenever you start to feel suffocated, whenever you begin to feel trapped in your belongings, remember, this is how minimalism can help you to walk on the path of spirituality.

Creating priorities: Minimalism often gets a bad rap, with empty rooms and white walls, and living with two shirts, one pair of jeans, and a broken spork. On the contrary, minimalism is all about loving the essential things we own. Slowing down from a rat race of purchasing the latest iPhone and focusing on our inner self is beneficial to our spiritual life.

Questioning the needs: May it be violence on tv, or online bullying, over-cluttered living space, or general lack of solitude, we are surrounded by the things which are harmful to our souls. Minimalism helps us to redefine our needs, to get rid of the things that bring in negativity.

Creating a space: As we are less distracted with the things you own, it creates physical, mental, financial, and spiritual room in our lives, promoting healing from past experiences.

Fewer things to take care of: As we get rid of all the junk, there are fewer possessions to clean, maintain, and take care of, which yields more free time to redirect towards doing the things we love. Not to mention, it gives us the ability to move with ease, and not to be bound to our possessions is very much liberating.

Getting rid of the pressure to impress:  Statistical study shows an increasing percentage of the things consumers want compared to the things they really need. People buy new cars, a new wardrobe, new furniture, and even new homes when they already have one. This comes from the pressure to impress. Once we get rid of the compulsive need to be accepted or impress someone, we can clearly draw the line between need and want, making our thought process crystal clear. 

A reminder of our true self: Self-awareness is the stepping stone in spirituality because knowing ourselves opens the doors to our internal freedom. As we escape from the vicious need to earn more cycles, we could see our worth, purpose, talents, and thoughts with precision.

Creativity booster: It’s an old Chinese proverb that says, ‘Abundance inspires little, while scarcity demands innovation.’ By removing everything we don’t need, we can design our lives with practical and creative solutions.

Healing: when mind, body, and soul come together, it creates bliss within us. Minimalism helps to focus our energy inwards, making us work on ourselves, get real with the feelings within.

Incorporating minimalism in our lives:

It has been observed that overall, minimalists are happier, cheerful, less stressed, anxious, and with less amount of chaos in their lives. Instead of giving importance to worldly things, they have learned to value relationships, experiences, and having time to enjoy simple pleasures in life. Here are few helpful tips to practice minimalism without being a monk, selling our Ferrari.

Learn to say no to all the things and events that do not add value to our time. Setting up the boundaries will reduce our workload, helping us to take better care of ourselves physically and emotionally.

Eliminating clutter by giving our things to charity is one of the best ways to give back to society and cleanse our soul.

Simplify spending by learning the art of budgeting. Budgeting will help us to get perspective on the things we need and we want.

Discarding the duplicates is one easy way to declutter home. May it be another pair of headphones or another turkey dish, the rule of thumb is if we can’t use those two at a time, it’s time to say goodbye to one of them.

Streamlining a buying process is one essential thing minimalists design. Doing extensive research on quality, price, sale and setting ourselves a waiting period will stop you from being an impulsive buyer.

Changing the diet towards more wholesome food plays a massive role in reaching that deep meditative state. Avoiding dining out and preparing food at home is a considerable part of a minimalist lifestyle, helping in spiritual advancement.

Bhratruhari was a legendary philosopher and Sankrti poet who lived in the sixth century. While talking about renunciation and living a fundamental life, he said, 

अशीमहि वयं भिक्षामाशावासो वसीमहि।शयीमहि महीपृष्ठे कुर्वीमहि किमीश्वरैः॥ 

Means, let’s consume the food we have begged, let the sky be our clothing, let the earth be our bed; what is the use of being rich?

Even though it’s tough to live such an extreme life nowadays, we still have control over what to keep with us and give it away. While minimizing, we must remember that this process is everlasting, and dynamic, and never static. It’s not about having a more comfortable life, but making it easy, making space for learning different things, and tackling the more significant challenges.

The important thing is, there is no right or wrong way to start practicing the minimalist way. It’s just about removing the obstacles and distractions, connecting yourself to deeper levels.

Do you practice minimalism? Do you want to start today? Write down five things that you currently have but not using them. Start minimalism by donating these five things to the charity—Declutter yourself.