Never underestimate the importance of abandoning crap you don’t need.
Encouragement is important in all areas of life, but especially when trying to live a life different than those around us.
Encouragement provides us with motivation to persevere. It invites us to dream dreams of significance for our lives. And it begs us to work diligently with optimism and promise.
Overcoming the pull of consumerism is a difficult challenge regardless of our stage in life. Simplicity requires encouragement. To that end, I hope you will find motivation in these articles below.
Each post was intentionality chosen to inspire simplicity in your life. For maximum effect, find a quiet moment this weekend and enjoy them with a fresh cup of coffee or tea.
Happiness Comes from Giving, Not Buying and Having | Psychology Today by Steve Taylor Ph.D. Materialism doesn’t lead to well-being, but generosity does.
10 Things I Learned by Downsizing My Life | Moms By Heart by Lori Loomis. If I could tell the naysayers what downsizing has done for me, what would I want them to know?
The Real Cost of Your Shopping Habits | Forbes by Emma Johnson. The road to bankruptcy is paved with good deals.
In Praise of Limits | Zen Habits by Leo Babauta. Limits can be powerful, because they force us to choose, to focus, to go from excess to healthy moderation.
About Joshua Becker
I look forward to this post every week… of all the blogs I read, yours is the only one I never miss a post from! Thanks for everything you do!
I have only recently discovered the importance of a minimalist lifestyle and this article gave me a much more in depth view of how this discovery might be the best one I make this new year.
Thank you for sharing such awesome article’s Joshua :)
Lovely reads Joshua, thank you.
Thanks for the links, Joshua. Particularly enjoyed the forbes shopping habit article and the moms by heart downsizing article. Since originally embracing minimalism in one area in my life (joining a group with a goal not to buy clothes for a whole year), I have now extended that by choice to shoes, accessories, books, magazines and home decor. The more I edited and refined my possessions, the more editing I wanted to do (and not allow it all back!) Keep up the great work – love this blog.
I love this site as I am leaning toward lightening my load, too. And getting my wants under control.
Hi Joshua -I look forward to these reads every week. Thanks for putting them together!
I read this post by Leo this week. It stopped me in my tracks. He has such a way with words. Amazing. Limits. That’s what we all need.
Got totally absorbed in Lori Loomis’s article and all the heartfelt comments. Very clear and very inspiring. I came away from the read with: more people than not are doing this. All walks of life. All financial levels. All ages. How huge are we as Minimalists? Pretty big and growing!
A thoughtful stream of comments can add lots of value to a post.
Thank you for the inspiration! Such a cool post! Love this post!
Love from http://www.trangscorner.com – a lifestyle, cooking, fashion blog
happy new year! Thank you for the inspiration!
It is unfortunate that the first article has so many typos in it because it really lessens the effect of the message/research and makes the author (with a Ph. D.) seem less reputable. I would love to share these with others but when they are written poorly, it is hard to use as evidence to build your case in favor of minimalism, generosity and gratitude.
You’ll find words that appear to be misspelled if you read things written by people in Canada, Australia, the UK, Belize, the Maldives and any other country that speaks a version of English. We all have slightly different spellings of some words. There are also some differences in grammar rules. As a fellow academic I do not find his Ph.D. less reputable, nor do I feel that it is written poorly.
I don’t find any typos in the first article, and it’s certainly not written poorly.
As an editor, I can assure you that there are…
Thanks for the comment Jade. I did notice a few typos in Steve’s article. But I thought the importance of the message and the research behind it outweighed any inadvertent errors. I actually thought he made a strong case for minimalism, generosity, and gratitude—which is why I chose to include it.
Love reading these. I love spending a little while every weekend reading them. Thank you
These articles are just what my husband and I needed today. Encouragement is the word of the day, as it’s been difficult to stay on the right track lately. We want to really focus on giving, as just this week we experienced great joy by one small act of generosity. Love the articles. Have a great weekend!
Hi Joshua! Hope your New Year is going well! :)
I especially like the article on the real cost of shopping. I see it everyday firsthand because I work retail and I process payments. The stories I could tell you!!!
Joshua—just wanted to add that your blog builds my character. There are so many times I want to reply to someone in a cocky way…but I let it go! lol