Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things

Many of you may know The Minimalists; they blog, they speak, they write. Mostly, about making a simpler life for themselves and others. Something I strive to help my clients do on a daily basis. Recently, you may have heard about the documentary they helped make, Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things. I had the opportunity to see a screening of the film a couple weeks ago, where the Minimalists spoke and introduced the film. I came away with two major thoughts:

We're doing it all wrong. Well, most of us, at least. The examples of consumerism and the bigger-is-better attitude that many Americans espouse are pretty nauseating when shown in the film. I'm certainly not saying we shouldn't be buying things or creating new items to market or anything like that. What I took away from the film was how much we've managed to let it rule our lives and equivocate it with our self worth. Our families' self worth. Our status is our stuff. And, as shown in the movie, it's leading to a worn out planet, a worn out people and a whole lot of waste.

Some of us are trying to get it right. The documentary explores multiple ways how creating a life of less stuff allows those who were showcased on screen to have more purpose to their life. They all shared a sense of deliberateness in their daily lives, a stronger sense of community and much more appreciation for the things they do own. I hope that the work I do helps those I work with to create a better sense of what they want in their space, and in their lives. Getting rid of all the excess gives us more time to enjoy relationships and experiences. Certainly stuff is a part of that, but it doesn't need to be the focus of it. We don't have to strive for a higher salary, a bigger house, just to get more and more. We can strive to own things we love and use, a space that fits our lifestyle appropriately and a life fulfilled.

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