70 days

I have often read about people who take challenges towards making their lives simpler. Some people believe in this theory whereas some believe in simply simplyfing without counting or setting targets. I am more like the second group, de-cluttering as much i can without bothering about how much i am actually letting go of. This also results in not knowing how easy or difficult it is to actually declutter.

For a refreshing change, i have decided to let go of 70 items in the next 70 days, starting today! The rate at which i am going, i might exceed 70 items. I will be listing down items as and when they leave my house. This rule does not restrict me to discarding 1 item daily, but 70 items over 70 days.

Why not 100 items, 100 days, or any other significant number? Will reveal that at the end of this 70 day mission. Looking forward to a ligher and spacious room. 

Would you too like to join me in this self- imposed challenge and share your list of 70 items with me? Would love to have some company please

 

 

 

 

The Guitar and Us

 

Music was a subject I always wanted to study in my school days. While I did not end up getting any formal education for the same, I started with learning the guitar. That’s where my husband and I met. I went to that music institute for about 2 years. I remember having the time of my life there. While I did my BA in math hons, the guitar was there to act like the biggest stress buster. I would come back home and play my guitar for hours sometimes. The classes were also fun with people around, all of us learning at a different pace. Then once we all performed at the opening of another branch of the institute. The extra classes for practice were so much fun. Once we all went to a coffee shop and just decided to go full out performing and expecting some free coffee in return

Anyways then I went in for my masters and then a job. Life took a serious turn with so much work, assignments. When I started working there wasn’t much work to carry back home, but office somehow just drains you out. Sometimes there are late nights too. All of this just killed any time for my poor guitar which got ignored in a corner. Eventually it broke and very painfully I had to dispose it off.

Since the guitar is the common ground between my husband and me, about a year ago we went in and bought a new guitar. We have decided to renew this passion. This is where minimalism has really helped us streamline our mental time and space. As things and stuff are clearing out, we are aiming to remove unnecessary time commitments as well so that we can focus on things we love.

An interesting incident took place recently. We had three files of guitar chords. We went thru all the files and have pared it down to a single file of our favorite songs that we enjoy playing. I didn’t want just throw away the remaining chords. So I asked a colleague at work who is a musician if he would like to have them. He willingly agreed but said “I have nothing to give you in return”. I simply told him that he is actually giving me space. He got baffled at first. But then I explained how by taking away the chord sheets he was helping me create space in my house. I think he found that quite hilarious, but it is so true.

Anyways now we need to remove some time commitments to create a time space and a zone in which we both can get lost with our beloved guitar.

 

People more important that stuff

There is a line I remember from the movie “Up In The Air”; George Clooney’s sisters to be husband is getting cold feet just before their wedding and Mr. Clooney asks him a question “when you look back at your most memorable times, what do you see, were you alone in those times or was it filled with people” and the answer was obvious. His most memorable times were with people around him. It was a small example to make us realize that without people the memories won’t be memorable.

If you look around you’ll see people slogging their butt off to earn a good living so that they can enjoy a comfortable life. While doing so they neglect people and are most happy buying and acquiring stuff instead.

After years pass by they are still not satisfied with life. Had they celebrated their success, happiness, small moment of victory with people around them, would they end up being more satisfied?

Keep it simple silly :)

“All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players”

William Shakespeare

Life is so beautiful and fulfilling when we decide to take the simple way instead of complicating things.

I often remember the above phrase and it touches a chord within me. If we all start to treat this world as a stage and that our life stages are merely different roles that we need to play, the pain will ease.

While enacting a play we might play an angry role or a happy role. But we do not let that affect us, as we know that it’s just a role we need to play.  To an extent, life also needs to be taken with that kind of lightness.

Today morning as I drove to work, amongst a bad traffic jam, I saw this hoarding of a health insurance.

It made the whole proposition sound so ridiculous. Man himself is the creator of the many problems we face right now. Imagine if we all bicycled or took public transport to work instead of driving, there would be lesser road rage, better health, lesser stress. All this could lead to lesser dependence on health insurance. First we eliminate exercise and peace out of our lives and then invent health insurance.

Another ridiculous example is that of an advertisement I saw on television, about obesity rates being on the rise. It showed images of oversized people and then few people who were fit because they went for runs and exercised regularly.  It was a good ad, but only till it ended with the product it was advertising, some new baked chips.  If you are out of shape, you need to exercise and need to eat non-processed food. It’s so simple.

As we keep advancing into the new era, a lot of simple things have gotten complicated. One aspect is how we live, over-burdened with things. We keep buying to keep ourselves happy. But we fail to understand a simple thing that to be happy, out relationships is what we must focus on. If we are living with a happy atmosphere at home, the dependence on external things will go away. But if we are not able to receive love and happiness at home, we try to find that happiness through non-living objects like a designer handbag. Otherwise why would we like to collect so much stuff that it almost becomes a burden to take care of all our belongings?

On Finding the Spark

I was just reading this article by Leo Babauta on Passionate people: http://zenhabits.net/surround/. The article got me so excited about life and adding that spark to life itself. I started visualizing a dream lifestyle and could picture most of it. I imagined waking up in the morning with that excitement that I normally only feel on weekends. I would love to wake up to a simple empty room with loads of greenery and sunshine pouring in instead of all the furniture. Morning would then become a treat everyday. I would love to open my tiny wardrobe with very few clothes but each piece my favourite so that dressing up will be exciting. I picture my bathroom having just 5-7 items of essential use.

I picture having an extremely exciting routine where there is room for passion, room for development, room to come up with great ideas. A place where i go and teach a bit, learn a bit, are in the company of great working minds, where time flows so quickly that i would need to remind myself to stop work and go back home. I visualize ample time for indulging in sports or activities so that I feel great on the inside and outside of my body. I would love to achieve the highest level of physical fitness, go beyond the limitations of my own body. Most importantly I visualize most evenings spent outdoor in the midst of nature.

Right now a lot of material clutter needs to leave my hands. I want to free myself of this responsibility of taking care of stuff. Next would be mental clutter, for which a lot of introspection will be required. I am finding my purpose in life. I am looking for a greater level of satisfaction from life and that will happen once I can feel the spark on a daily basis.

Time is running out and I do not want to look back at life and feel I wasted my energy in a corporate world, in a cluttered home, in not indulging into my passion, in letting my youth become stale or in simply living just for the weekends. I want to instead use this limited time to learn skills, sharpen my own brain and serve community. I want to feel proud of my contribution to a person, community or the world.

Decluttering with a purpose

Hello folks…especially to those located in India. I have mentioned about this organization GOONJ before. GOONJ is a nationwide movement working on the issue of clothing. There is a special camp they are organizing from Feb 14th to Mar 3^rd during which DHL (Courier Company) will come and collect the de-cluttered items from your homes and deliver it to GOONJ’s Mumbai warehouse, for distribution to the needy and poor. DHL can be contacted at 022-2658 5151 or  idonate@dhl.com

Items that can be donated are:

ü  CLOTHES (Old / New but in wearable condition)

ü  FOOTWEAR (in pairs – left and right tied together)

ü  UTENSILS

ü  STATIONERY (Old/new notebooks, text books, story books, school bags, lunch boxes, water bottles, Pen, pencil, sharpener, eraser, scale, crayons/ colours)

ü  PAPER (Newspapers, magazines, one side used paper)

ü  DRY RATION (pulses, spices, sugar, tea leaf, rice etc)

ü  SEWING MACHINES

ü  BICYCLES

ü  COMPUTERS

ü  SCIENCE LAB EQUIPMENTS, etc..

Guys lets use this as an opportunity for our homes to go from fat to fit. No one wants excess of anything be it body fat, stuff, free time, OR work. There is a beauty in being moderate.  Also look at the reward you get for donating your unwanted items.  There are 2 levels of benefit you get directly without spending a ruppee.

1. You get to make your house look really pretty. Read a previous post on that topic: http://wp.me/pRXtZ-c
2. You are doing charity work without spending a penny. You are simply collecting the unwanted items. Then calling or emailing the DHL service to get it picked up.

 

Aren’t these benefits good enough to already get you jumping out of your seat to gather items that are collecting dust or otherwise?

Let’s help GOONJ and de-clutter in the process. You can visit them at www.goonj.org

The end of television

Definition of the black box:

“An addictive device which keeps the

lower classes subdued; a perpetuator

of violence and materialism; and a

silent destroyer of intellectualism.”

 

I read this definition of the television on a blog I was reading recently. I found it to be quite a strong statement but found myself agreeing to the above. TV can be very addictive. Action packed movies can spread the message that violence is a trendy trait to have. Advertising, which these days are shown much more than the actual content, does make you want to run after material things. The television also kills conversation time among family members, reading time, and time to pursue hobbies or sports.

How does the TV help us? There are a few who watch channels like discovery, national geographic etc. I also enjoy watching movies of interest but what about the masses?

We all tune into soap operas, family dramas, song and dance competitive shows, live shows. There are shows like “Big Boss” and “Maa Exchange” which could even have a negative influence.

 I am not saying TV is a complete no-no. I myself do watch a family drama show, but I know I cannot watch it for hours. It’s a slot of 30 minutes where I let my creativity go for a toss and enjoy with everyone.

On the other hand, when I am not watching TV, I find that time very relaxing, without the noise and the flickering screen. I prefer to put on some of my favorite music while de-cluttering in my room, or just dancing to the tunes or reading a book, or thinking and enjoying the calmness in the space, the stillness.

TV would destroy the beauty in that moment.  TV would also destroy the minimalistic look and feel to my space.

I am happy to announce that I am not addicted to the TV and could stay without one.

Ode to Starbucks!

My most fave coffee shop is Starbucks. It’s probably not the coffee. It’s the shop. The ambiance they create, it’s like magic. I follow them on twitter and started learning more about them. They practice the ‘bring your own mug and get free coffee’ philosophy to promote lesser waste. My level of respect for them skyrocketed.

We just got a new vending machine in our office and I was thrilled as I am a coffee person. I took my own ceramic mug for the coffee and felt damn proud of myself. I had kept Starbucks in mind. But my reaction to the vending machine was mixed. I’d be exaggerating if I said 2 people were following that philosophy.

Why do we need rules to make us feel that we should not be doing something wrong? Isn’t this whole wide world ours and not just Starbuck’s? Then why doesn’t it occur to us that using a paper cup for 2 sips of coffee is utter selfishness.

Let’s just say that in-spite of the education and news all around us we are all sleeping beauties. We still need a kick in the butt for us to wake up and realize that time is slipping out and we better take some action TODAY.

What’s lurking in your storeroom?

I discovered the real benefit of minimalism is that you get to use everything you own.

In my pre-minimalist days I used to collect a lot of things and due to ‘stuff –overload’ few things would be put out of sight. I had this really chic office bag in black which my parents had got for me. I had just started working and thought I wouldn’t be able to carry that look at the very beginning of my career. It got stacked away somewhere and I forgot about it.

About 5 years later I finally got it out of the cover (while de-cluttering ) and decided to use it as I urgently needed a bag. I loved it and felt very happy transferring my stuff into the new bag.

After 10 days of use I noticed that the corners of the bag have started to chip-off.  After years of storage I guess the bag got spoiled and it started showing up on the bag already.

How I wish I had not stored it for such a long time and begun using it immediately.

The journey on this road called minimalism has taught me to:

1)      Own less: This is the core philosophy of the practice. For me it means to own enough so that every item can be used in its freshest state. Imagine a soap made from fresh ingredients like lavender essential oils and you store it for eternity. One day it will lose its scent and the reason why you paid extra for that soap. Instead if you used it the day you bought it, the pleasure from using it instantly will be doubly or 4x. But to use an item in its freshest state means that I must not have 10 of those, else it will get into the waiting line.

2)      Stop preserving things: Another reason why stuff gets stored away is the fact that it’s too good to be used now. We keep waiting for the right or perfect time to use it. In my case I put the bag away for both reason: many other bags in possession and it wasn’t the right time in my professional career to use such a bag. If you own a beautiful object use it now. Derive the maximum pleasure today and you will feel very satisfied with owning less.

Take out time today to go through all your belongings and see if you’re missing out on a beautiful ring, an uplifting scent, a hand crafted scarf etc. But take a decision for each item that you pull out of the lumber room: Use it or Discard it

Lets banish words like Store, Preserve, Save, Put Away etc…

When you truly want to de-clutter, you’ll spot a helping hand

For last few weeks I have wanted to discard this particular shirt of mine. I have been wearing it to work and it looks good on me, but I somehow don’t enjoy wearing it. Maybe it’s the color, maybe the style. But since it’s in a good condition I end up wearing it, putting the decision to discard for later.

Today I was sitting outdoor taking a sun-bath when I noticed my shirt was torn, maybe due to ironing. It is beyond repair and has to be discarded. I noticed that I instantly felt happy instead of feeling upset. I could finally discard it without feeling any guilt.

Since I was being so confused, the shirt itself decided to lend me a helping hand by getting run down by a heavy iron.

Has this ever happened to you?  Imagine you have a vase that you really don’t care for but it’s been lying in your living room for years. There is a party, and you have guest and children over. One of them carelessly poke’s into that dreadful vase and there it goes into a million pieces. You keep your calm effortlessly as you actually feel relief.

It’s like you didn’t need to take that painful step of removing that object out of your life. It walked away on its own. So many times we lose things on trips or generally. Half the times we are disappointed but there are times when we feel delighted instead.

Just another way to ease out the de-cluttering process