i have a friend with a bookcase in her living room. it has four shelves. currently, it is the home for 36 books, 11 figurines, 24 family photos, 2 souvenir coffee mugs, various snow globes, flower arrangements, vases, and candles.
people often define minimalism as removing all material possessions from your life. and they ask me, “how do you live life as a minimalist?” but their definition is founded an incorrect assumption. in reality, minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things that you most value. it is about deciding what is most important in your life and removing the things that distract you from it.
which bring me back to my friend’s bookcase. i look at her bookcase and often ask myself, “what is it that she values the most in this life?” i can’t tell by looking her at bookcase. it’s too crowded with things that are less important. one benefit of minimalism is that you are able to visibly declare what is most important to you.
look around your living room. what does it communicate about you? if a total stranger walked in, what would they identify is most important? or has the most important things in your life become crowded out but less important things?
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I am a minimalist, too. I understand your thoughts about your friends bookcase. Last time we visited the outlaws, we were all watching TV. I could not focus on the program, because of all the stuff in the room and all over the walls. I started counting items just on the TV wall. I stop count once I hit 100 and I was not done. It hard to look at all that stuff.
Music and art, as you can see with my instruments and my original art work that is all over the place : )
When people walk into our living room, usually the first thing they remark about is the lack of a TV. There is not a lot of stuff sitting around either. People are generally amazed that our family actually talks and plays together instead of watching TV!
This is my favorite benefit of minimalism! Not only does it communicate to others what I value, it also reinforces those priorities to myself every day -and that is what is most important.
> intentional promotion of the things that you most value
Excellent point! My living room is pretty minimalist (compared to the rest of my house) – but I can do more. I can make sure my living room includes *only* those things I value. Thanks for the nudge.
I love that people ask me about the things in our house – everything that’s left has a story and is loved.
But we have to take care that because we have chosen minimalism, we don’t impose it on others – your post sounds very judgmental of your friend. It may be more cluttered than you would choose, but it sounds like the contents of her shelves make her happy and DO reflect her values- reading, travel, family etc.
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