The Minimalist Approach

“Remember this: Very little is needed to make a happy life”.
 -Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161 - 180AD.

A few years back, I bought a DVD Tutorial on how to make great PowerPoint presentations. The tutorial introduced me to a concept called “Minimalistic approach”. The key message conveyed through this concept was that when making a presentation, we should keep the key idea of the presentation intact and eliminate all the unwanted frills, attached to it. I found that concept appealing.

 

Recently, I went to a resort near Kanyakumari and there too, I found a statement saying that, “This resort is designed based on the ideals of minimalism”. Notably, I observed that most of the building work in the resort, did not look fully finished, like walls had no cement plastering, floors remained just cemented without any glazed tiles and so on. This I understood was the ideology of minimalism that they were talking about.

 

This word “minimalism” caught my interest, and I wanted to explore more about it. Obviously, I typed the word “minimalistic approach” in Google and was amazed to discover that minimalism is not just a concept of design but a way of life.

 

So, what is minimalism all about? Minimalism is an approach to rid yourself of life’s excess in favour of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfilment, and freedom.

 

We all want to be happy. We tend to find happiness by creating material abundance, which rarely serves the purpose. The more we have, even more is our need. It is a never ending vicious cycle. Time and again, we hear stories of billionaires, who lead a miserable life. Many people are busy trying to prove to the world, what they are capable of and in the process end up straining their health and relationships. This is clear indication that money and fame, alone cannot buy them happiness. You need good health and good relationships to enjoy life.

 

Minimalism is a “U-turn” approach. Minimalists search for happiness not through things, but through life itself. The starting point to this change is to determine what is necessary and what is superfluous in our life. Once we find this clarity we can stay more focussed on what really matters in our life and avoid the clutter of being messed up with too many things and activities. By doing so we will be less time pressed and money pressed.

 

Minimalist focuses on quality and not quantity. They are choosy about the thing they buy, but cherish it. They are choosy about the things they do, but they do it with passion and perfection. They are prudent in the use of resources, such as time, money and things. They believe that there is a need to pause and enjoy the things we have, rather than continuing to accumulating more and more things.

 

I also found a website, www.theminimalists.com, which is created by two friends who have taken up the ideology of minimalism and through this portal, they share how better their life has become, after they have adopted this approach. They say that, being a minimalist can help us:

 

• Eliminate our discontent

• Reclaim our time

• Live in the moment 

• Discover our life purpose

• Pursue our passion

• Experience real freedom

• Create more, consume less

• Focus on our health

• Grow as individuals

• Rid ourselves of excess stuff

• Contribute beyond ourselves    

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Their life revolves around the philosophy, “Have little and cherish it. Do little and enjoy it”. While this may sound anti-ambitious. It is not so. It is about living the life you desire and being focussed on what is important to you, and working towards achieving it.

   D. Senthil Kannan,

   Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

   Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

   Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com