Would you be happier if you got rid of 90% of your stuff???

Happiness is more money.

Happiness is more stuff.

Happiness is more of everything.

Right?

Maybe not!

There’s no doubt that more can be better in certain situations; but there’s also no doubt that less is more, and that more is worse in other contexts.

The minimalist movement is, I believe, very relevant to the happiness movement so if enjoying less sounds of interest to you then keep reading…

via Broadsheet by Miriam Kauppi

Joshua Fields Millburn is describing what he calls the 10/10 exercise. “You take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. Then write down the 10 most expensive things you’ve purchased in the last decade. On the other side write down the 10 most meaningful experiences you’ve had. You’ll realise that those two sides share very little, if anything, in common.”

Fields Millburn is one of The Minimalists. For nearly 10 years he and friend Ryan Nicodemus have, as they describe it, lived “meaningful lives with less”. They write books, are the subject of a documentary (2016’s Minimalism), have a podcast, and tour the world with their message. Which is: “Make room for life’s important things – which actually aren’t things at all.” They are now bringing their live show Less is Now to Australia this month.

Before coming across minimalism online, Fields Millburn says he was living the American Dream. He had a six-figure salary, a luxury car, “a big suburban house with more toilets than people”. He had, he says, “All the stuff to fill every corner of my consumer-driven life.” But when in the same month his marriage ended and his mother died he reassessed. “I realised I was focused on the wrong stuff.” He was 28 at the time.

Over eight months Fields Millburn got rid of 90 per cent of his possessions. But for him, removing the clutter is not the main game.

“Decluttering is the first step. It’s possible for someone to get rid of all their crap and still be entirely miserable,” he says. “You can come home to an empty house and sulk after removing all of your pacifiers. And that’s because I don’t think consumption is the problem. Compulsory consumption is. And I think we can change that by being more deliberate with the things we bring into our lives and with the things we hold on to.”

Anti-consumerism and acknowledging capitalism does not give a diamond-encrusted iPhone about humanity or the planet is not new. Many movements and individuals (naturist and essayist Henry David Thoreau in the mid-1800s, Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca who lived in the first century, Jesus, some will tell you) have advocated for living a simpler life. And most major religions have a vein of asceticism running through them. Also, Fields Millburn and Nicodemus’s brand of minimalism has plenty in common with Marie Kondo’s KonMari method and the tiny house movement. But the message is being received by The Minimalists’ 20 million followers as revolutionary…

…keep reading the full & original article HERE