My love of minimalism began before I knew it would be a trendy Netflix show topic or that it was good for mental health. I was around eight years old when I first started rearranging my bedroom and creating zen-like spaces, to my mom’s delight. I loved to organize my toys and stuffies and pull my bedsheets tight. It added the “ahhh” at the end of a long day at school, and getting into a made bed was a somatic experience of relaxation hard to describe in words.
Then, life got messy; teenager “things” became bigger and harder to manage. The troubles with organizing and maintaining a zen level of control over my belongings began to rub my nerves. I recall getting through my time in the military and then college with a few moves under my belt. Needing ten or more boxes for every move. Where did all this stuff come from?! It accumulates, and we are often almost unaware of how.
I’ve learned over the years, through psychology and research, that material things hold energy, that an organized, intentional space may have a direct correlation with our mood and health, both physical and emotional.
Mindfulness is the essence of awareness and intent. Mindlessness is not knowing how the five Amazon boxes showed up at your door this morning after clicking the sneakily placed auto-ship option last month. What do we do with all this “stuff”? Research shows accumulating things we have no need for causes us stress and sometimes even anxiety and depression.
There is, however, a two-step solution you can practice: mindfulness and minimalism.
Mindfulness is an awareness practice. It’s being in the moment and acting from a place of certainty and intention. It’s remembering and noticing, and has a feeling of being certain of the actions you’re taking. It has the somatic feeling of being settled in the center of your chest. As one of my clients may attest, as we practice somatic experiences in-session, it’s a “knowing” feeling and is pleasant when you find it. This is where we make our best-guided decisions and purchases of “things” we may need to help us truly enjoy our lives.
Minimalism is a concept of having what we need, and not an excess of what we do not. This doesn’t mean you need to have limited items in terms of numbers; it means you have only what you use on a regular basis, and take care of what you have in a way that helps it maintain its life purpose. This way, you get what you need and enjoy the process of knowing where things are when you need them.
So get what you need, not all that you want, with intention, awareness, and certainty. Take good care of what you have. Consumerism can be dialed down with care and practice; feeling control over it is good for your health and the world we call home.
