Minimalism

“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say let your affairs be as one, two, three and not a hundred or a thousand… We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.” – Henry David Thoreau.

What a great blog. It really inspired me. http://artofmanliness.com/2009/10/11/go-small-or-go-home-in-praise-of-minimalism/

These are the key points that I assimilated from the blog

the following are the principles of living the minimalist life as laid out by Babauta:
Leo’s Principles of Living the Minimalist Life
   
1.  Omit needless things. Notice this doesn’t say to omit everything.  Just needless things.

2.  Identify the essential. What’s most important to you?  What makes you happy?  What will have the highest impact on your life, your career?

3. Make everything count. Whatever you do or keep in your life, make it worthy of keeping.  Make it really count.

4.  Fill your life with joy. Don’t just empty your life.  Put something wonderful in it.

5.  Edit, edit.  Minimalism isn’t an end point.  It’s a constant process of editing, revisiting, editing some more.

I would add the following:

6.  Hold on loosely. Even to your prized possessions.  At the end of the day its relationships, not possessions, that make life worth living.


Well minimalism is going to be one of my utmost resolutions for the New Year..and a good one, that.

Links to other  minimal blogs
http://artofgreatthings.com/2009/10/a-guide-to-self-reliance-minimalism/
http://mnmlist.com

please do add any other blog links you like..

Staying networked.Is it really necessary?

How many of us have this habit of coming home, connecting the laptop to our Internet connection and staying online almost perpetually even if there is no real need or necessity for it. The need to login to Facebook, Orkut and other social networking sites and not to forget the myriad messengers, Gtalk, yahoo etc.

Its almost like an addiction. Yesterday, when I did just the same on reaching home, I found my connection not working and my phone line down. The disappointment I experienced, not to miss that I did feel liberated as well. I mean have you ever tried keeping your mobile phone at home and coming to office without it? The freedom that comes without it is just so incredible. But my dismay soon disappeared because the Airtel people were so quick to fix it. Nevertheless, it made me think to what extent are we a slave to this technology. 

When I asked a friend about it as to what he will do if he goes a day without network, he was quick to respond that he would fill liberated and go enjoy the singing of birds and other beauties of nature.I mean think of it, how robotic we become in front of our laptop screens, just giving away to the clutches of technology. There is a saying that too much of anything is hazardous, so is too much of Technology and Internet.

Many a times I find my mind cluttered because of the many tabs of Mozilla I have opened. I experience a loss of focus and feel disoriented. I am sure most of you experience the same.Hence, my resolve is to spend some time everyday in solitude, away from the mobile phones, the laptops, the INTERNET, the social networking sites, away from the constant urge to keep updating statuses( what purpose do they solve, merely letting the world know what you are doing at any juncture, but whats the real need anyway). In short, this is again leading me to minimalism.For instance, why should I jot down a blog post in the blogger notepad, why not write it in my paper diary first. 

Can you suggest some other examples, where we can break free of technology in our everyday chores?