mnmlsm by Vinh Le

edited by:

vinh le julian gindi

Z E N B O O K S N E W YO R K C I T Y

mnmlsm Copyright ÂŠ2013 by Vinh Le, Julian Gindi All rights reserved. No part of the material herein may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For further information, please write: Vinh Le 14121 Rock Canyon Dr. Centreville, VA 20121 vinh@vinhdesigns.com

dedicated to r/minimalism

contents learn 3

learn

being OK with things as they are

letting go of fake needs

frequently asked

the true cost of stuff

minimalism, rethunk

live

minimalism, the quick method

minimalism is the end of organizing

a day in the life of a minimalist

minimalist eating

eating less to be lighter

minimalist fun

look 79

look

minimalism in the arts

minimal in nature

lastly 106

sources

vii

preface The topic of minimalism has always been an interest of mine because of who I am. Keeping things simple is the way I think everything should be. Most things these days are overwhelming, confusing and often times convoluted, so I wanted to edit this book to focus on simplicity in all aspects of my life and how it can help others along the way.

Applying minimalism in a modern world is a way of eliminating

unnecessary things that clutter and detract us from our own lives. This notion of freeing oneself is what has interested many from the past to the present. To be truly free is something everyone wants to achieve. While it may be very difficult to achieve, there are steps that you can take to make it a reality. Keeping things simple is difficult in today's consumerist and information overloaded world. With various things competing for attention, it is easy to get stressed out and lose focus on the important things in life. Letting go of unneeded possessions and keeping the bare necessities is extremely difficult because doing so goes against the inclination lauded by human nature and the goals of popular culture. Reducing the unnecessary is the key to the whole concept. People should define what things are cluttering their lives to embrace the minimalist concept.

It's intriguing to think about how many people have associated

happiness with the number of possessions they own. This book aims to To help people reflect on how they can break free from these expectation and lifestyle. It defines and encourages minimalism without being forceful or pretentious. The

goal is to educate people and help them take the next steps to improve their lives and see what minimalism has done throughout history, art and design. Another major point in this book is clearing up misconceptions. Minimalism may be trendy and counter cultural to some, but it is really about applying aspects of minimalism to your own personal life.

Minimalism could be the key to a stress free life. It's not a one-size-

fits all kind of solution and it won't happen overnight. But having fewer things to worry about, and give your attention to, and being able to focus your life on what counts is something that I would love to achieve. Minimalism can be applied to every aspect of your life, whether it be your day to day activities, relationship and for me, my design and lifestyle.

VL Fairfax, VA December 2013

learn 3

learn

being OK with things as they are

letting go of fake needs

frequently asked

the true cost of stuff

minimalism, rethunk

learn

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Minimalism is not simply an attribute ascribed to a beautiful product or a term to mark the absence of unnecessary items, it is also a mindset that governs one’s actions and thoughts. Minimalist thought suggests that you should receive all knowledge and new experiences with a clean and empty mind. Zen philosophy states that meditation is not meant to be a way for one to clear their thoughts but to be a state of receiving your thoughts with a ‘beginner’s’ mind. To truly learn something, one must always learn as a beginner learns: with no preconceptions or assumptions. As one begins to truly experience the world as a ‘beginner’ and devotes their lives to the never-ending pursuit of learning, he starts to notice the elegant patterns of nature and the systems which dictate it. A naive minimalist might say something along the lines of, “a minimalist is a specialist, not a generalist.” While this makes intuitive sense, it is wrong in trying to impose minimalist aesthetic onto minimalist thought. While it seems natural that these two should be similar, they are, in fact, quite different. Thought is abstract while reality is structured; thoughts have no limitations, while reality is dictated by physical laws. The minimalist aesthetic is the way minimalism is presented within the bounds of physical laws. A table might be described as “minimalist” if it contains no unnecessary embellishments or is made of simple materials; these same attributes, however, cannot be applied to the abstract world of thought. In this distinction lays the true essence of minimalist thought and how it relates to learning. When one begins to recognize structure and pattern within his abstract thoughts, a new lense in which one can learn through emerges. When approaching something new, one should not approach it with conceptions or attempt to impose structure on it. Absorb the raw knowledge with a beginner’s mind and let patterns organize themselves into elegant structures. Learning is not a discrete action but a constant state of mind. If one approaches learning using ideas proposed by minimalism, they will be able to absorb and connect things in entirely new ways. 3

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Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. Lao Tzu

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being OK with things as they are being content with how your life is right now

We strive to improve our lives, often because we are dissatisfied with how things are. I know this, because I’ve lived it. I don’t like the way I look, so I try to improve myself. I don’t like my house, so I work to get a better one. I want everyone around me to improve too, so I push them to change, and get frustrated when they won’t. This striving never ends. When we are unsatisfied with how things are, including ourselves, we make changes, but then what? We are still unsatisfied, because the root cause of this problem isn’t the things around us (or how we look, etc.), but our expectations. We expect things to be different. This means we are always unhappy in some way. Things don’t meet our expectations. We try to correct this problem by changing the world around us, trying to get others to change, trying to change ourselves. Our compulsion to spend, to consume, to buy more stuff … it’s rooted in this as well. And so minimalism is an attempt to fix the compulsion, but that can really only be done once we address the root problem: our expectations. Sit for a minute and look at the things around you. Are you happy with them, or would you like things to change? Think about what you do each day, and ask if you’re happy with your daily life, or if you’d like change. Think about the people in your life, and ask if you’re happy with them, or if you’d like them to change. Think about yourself, and see if there are things you’re dissatisfied with, if you’d like to change yourself. 7

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Now, for each thing you think needs change, try sitting for a minute and see if you can simply accept each one, as they are right now. See if you can accept each person in your life for who they are, exactly as they are. See if you can accept your body for what it is, without the need for change. It takes practice, so if you aren’t good at it at first (and I’m still not a master at it myself), practice. It’s an enlightening process, to be sure.

This doesn’t mean we’ll never change anything. We can develop

healthy habits and make our bodies healthier over time, but we can do that while also being happy with who we already are. Change is inevitable, but it doesn’t necessarily require that we not accept things as they are, that we not be happy with things as they already are. Once we become happy with things, people, and ourselves … as they are … we can become whole, without the need to spend money to fill a hole in our lives. Then minimalism becomes a possibility, because once we are OK with things as they are, we can simply strip away the unnecessary, and be content with little.

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Eliminate physical clutter. More importantly, eliminate spiritual clutter.

D.H. Mondfleur

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letting go of fake needs Our lives are filled with things we need to do. Until we look a little more closely at those needs.

Think about what needs you might have: the need to check your email every 15 minutes, or empty your inbox, or read all your blogs, or keep something perfectly neat, or dress to work in the latest fashions. The need to constantly badger your kids about things, or control your co-workers, or meet with everyone who wants a meeting, or be wealthier and wealthier, or own a nice car. Where do these types of needs come from? They’re completely made up. Sometimes the needs are created by society: the industry you’re in requires you to work until 9 p.m. or dress in impeccable suits. Your neighborhood has certain standards and if you don’t have an impeccable lawn and two BMWs in the driveway, you’ll be judged. If you don’t have the latest iPhone, you won’t have your geek cred or status symbol, and you’ll be jealous of those who do.

Sometimes the needs are made up by ourselves: we feel the urge

to check our emails or RSS feeds or news websites or text messages or Twitter accounts constantly, even though there is no negative societal or work consequences if we don’t keep up with them. We want a perfectly made up bed even if no one else cares. We want to create a list of goals in life or for the year and achieve every one of them, even if nothing bad will happen if we don’t achieve most of them.

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Either of these types of made-up needs can be eliminated. All it takes is the willingness to let go. Examine one of your made-up needs, and ask yourself why it’s such an important need. Ask what would happen if you dropped them. What good would it do? Would you have more free time and more space to concentrate and create, or less stress and fewer things to check off each day? What bad things would happen — or might happen? And how likely is it that these things would happen? And how could you counter-act them?

These needs are created by fears, and the more honest we are

about these fears, the better. Face the fears, and give yourself a little trial period — allow yourself to let go of the need, but just for an hour, or a day. Just for a week. If nothing bad happens, extend the trial, and slowly in this manner you’ll find that the need wasn’t a need at all.

It can feel good to let go, and by letting go, you are freeing yourself.

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Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Albert Einstein

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frequently asked questions about minimalism and living the minimalist life, for those new to the concept.

Why be a minimalist?

It’s a way to escape the excesses of the world around us — the excesses of consumerism, material possessions, clutter, having too much to do, too much debt, too many distractions, too much noise. But too little meaning. Minimalism is a way of eschewing the non-essential in order to focus on what’s truly important, what gives our lives meaning, what gives us joy and value.

Isn’t minimalism boring or too sparse, with nothing in your life?

This is a misconception about minimalism — that it’s necessarily monk-like, empty, boring, sterile. Not at all. Well, it can be, if you go in that direction, but I don’t advocate that flavor of minimalism. Instead, we are clearing away all but the most essential things — to make room for that which gives us the most joy. Clear away the distractions so we can create something incredible. Clear away all the obligations so we can spend time with loved ones. Clear away the noise so we can concentrate on inner peace, on spirituality (if we wish), on our thinking. As a result, there is more happiness, peace, and joy, because we’ve made room for these things.

What is minimalist living?

It’s simply getting rid of things you do not use or need, leaving an uncluttered, simple environment and an uncluttered, simple life. It’s living without an obsession with material things or an obsession with doing everything and doing too much. It’s using simple tools, having a simple wardrobe, carrying little and living lightly.

What are the benefits of minimalism?

There are many. It’s lower in stress. It’s less expensive and less debt. It’s less cleaning and maintaining. It’s more enjoyable. There’s more room for creating, for loved ones, for peace, for doing the things that give you joy. There’s more time for getting healthy. It’s more sustainable. It’s easier to organize. These are only the start.

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What does the schedule of a minimalist look like?

There’s no single answer to this question, but a minimalist would probably focus on doing less, on having a less cluttered schedule, but what’s on his or her schedule would be important. A minimalist might not actually keep a schedule or calendar, at one extreme, if he didn’t have much to do each day — he might instead just decide each morning to focus on one or two important things.

A minimalist would also save a lot of time because of having less clutter and fewer possessions. That means less time cleaning and maintaining, and less time searching for things. A minimalist who clears away distractions and single-tasks would also waste less time with those distractions and in switching back and forth between tasks (multi-tasking). In general, all this results in more time for relaxing, for hobbies, for creating, for doing fun things.

I believe in simplifying, but why should I be so frugal?

Frugality is simply a way of not spending on unnecessary things — sticking to the essentials. Is there anything wrong with a few really nice things? Not necessarily. If you need to buy something, it’s usually better to go for quality, rather than cheap, because it’s better made and will last longer. Minimalism is about quality over quantity.

However … it’s always good to examine whether it’s good to have an

attachment to material things. This isn’t something I’ve completely succeeded with — I love my Mac, for example — but it’s something I’ve been working on. I am much less attached to possessions than I was just a few years ago, and I recommend that everyone examine their relationship with physical things, with products, and see if it’s really what they want.

What rules do I need to follow to become minimalist?

There are no set rules. There’s no one way. What I suggest for living minimally isn’t what someone else would recommend, nor is it how you would live your minimalist life. In general, however, you want to live simply without too many unnecessary possessions, distractions, clutter, or waste. You want to live frugally, debt-free, sustainably, naturally.

Do you need to be vegan or vegetarian to be minimalist?

No. While I believe the vegan/vegetarian lifestyle is consistent with minimalism, you can eat simply as an omnivore as well. Again, there’s no one way. A minimalist would try to eat naturally, without too much processing, and not eat too much food (such as the ridiculous portions at most restaurants these days).

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What rules do I need to follow to become minimalist?

This whole site is about finding minimalism within the American culture and society — as well as other industrialized nations — not on some remote desert island. The complexities and social expectations of the United States (and other industrialized countries) is exactly why minimalism is needed. All the advice I give on this site (and Zen Habits) is aimed at people in these modern societies.

I’ve lived a minimalist life on Guam, and now in San Francisco. It’s a

matter of choices. Do you need to be as minimalist as me, or someone living in the wilderness? Not at all. It’s not about that. It’s about finding simplicity and finding what’s important to you, and making choices, rather than adopting the consumerist mindset that most people have.

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My definition of poor are those who need too much. Because those who need too much are never satisfied.

Jose Mujica

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the true cost of stuff But there’s more to buying less. Way more.

Often we think about cutting down on what we buy because we’d like to be frugal, and save money. And I’m all for that. But there’s more to buying less. Way more. The cost of purchasing an item just scratches the surface. When we buy something, we are taking it into our homes, our lives, and we are taking on the life of another object in this world. The life of an object? But surely you’ve gone mad, Leo. It’s entirely possible I have — I’m talking to myself in this post, after all. But hear me out, O hypothetical reader in my mind.

An object isn’t born in the store. It is born in the woods (if it is wood),

in the mines (if it’s metal), in the depths of the world (in the case of petroleumbased products such as plastics, synthetic textiles and such), or perhaps all three places and more if it’s a combination of materials. It’s born when those natural resources are mined or harvested (at great cost and great cost to the environment), and then hauled to a factory somewhere, a factory that pollutes, inevitably. It’s shaped and shifted into its final form (often in various factories), then shipped to various distribution systems and finally to the retailer.

I say finally, but it’s far from final. The life of this object has just begun

to enter our lives, even though we’ve already paid for the destruction of our Earth just to own it.

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Now we must transport it home, further polluting and consuming and paying — paying for the cost of fuel and maintenance of our transportation, unless it’s human-powered, as well as the cost of time, precious seconds of our lives that we’ll never get back).

All of that spent, it now occupies valuable real estate in our homes (or offices), real estate that could go to living space, or real estate that we could give up if we had less stuff and a smaller home. This is real estate that’s really expensive, btw: we pay exorbitant prices to own or rent a home, and every square foot of that home costs us more precious time that we spend working to earn the money to pay for that real estate. And that’s just for rent or mortgage. Add in the cost of power or gas to heat or cool that home, the cost of maintaining the home, and the time we spend maintaining and cleaning and decluttering and organizing that home and the stuff in it.

And yet, we’ve still only scratched the surface. The item, if it’s electronic, requires power. All the time. The item needs to be maintained. Switched on and off, cleaned, oiled, and caution taken not to break it. These are more precious seconds, precious dollars. If it’s wood or metal or glass, it might need to be polished. It might break a bit and need repairing. We have to store its warranty somewhere, and not forget about that (more mental cycles spent). We might have special tools for it, cleaning products, accessories. All of those require space and care and money. And yet, we’re not even halfway there. I’ll spare you the rest of the narrative and just make a list.

It clutters our space, causing distractions and stress. We must constantly move it to get to other stuff, to clean, to organize, to paint walls or decorate or remodel. We must take it with us if we move, and often if we travel. That’s a ton of trouble and costs. Often we pay for extra storage, outside in our yards or in storage facilities.If it breaks, we will often take it to be repaired. If we have kids or pets, we have to worry about it getting broken, or scold them for not being careful with it. If we get used to it, and it breaks, we’ll replace it because we think we need it. If it gets old and crotchety, we have the headache of putting up with a less-than-functioning tool. If we have too much stuff, it weighs us down, emotionally. We get attached to our stuff, creating an emotional battle when we consider giving it up (whether we actually give it up or not). If we have too much stuff, we live in a cramped space, and don’t have room for our other stuff. Too much stuff causes more messes and is harder to clean. We might trip over stuff and hurt ourselves. If we don’t trip over it, we must worry about that each time we pass by the item. If we went into debt buying the stuff, we must deal with all the pain and worry of that debt, added to other debt. Even if we don’t go into debt, there’s the added burden of dealing with the financial transaction in our checking registers or financial software, or reconciling it with the bank statement. If we even bother, because sometimes it’s just too much. It gives us a false sense of security. It reduces the time we have to spend doing things, instead of worrying about, cleaning, maintaining, using, and working to pay for stuff. It reduces the quality of the time we do have. At some point, we must worry about (and spend time and money on) getting rid of the item. This means time and money spent on Ebay, Craiglist, a yardsale, giving it to a charity or friend or relative (and the driving required to do that), taking out a classified ad, dealing with buyers, and so on. A real headache. If you die and leave your stuff, your relatives will have to deal with all of it. A real headache indeed. If, goodness forbid, a natural disaster happens, or your home gets burgled, you’ll have to deal with the emotional loss of stuff.

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I could go on, as you can probably tell. There is no way to calculate the true cost of stuff, as it’s way too complicated to put numbers on. Just remember all of that, when you consider getting an item — even if it’s supposedly free. Nothing is free, when you consider all of the above. Are you ready to deal with the life of that item, and the life you’re going to give up to own it?

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Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.

Will Rogers

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minimalism, rethunk Obsession over possessions is unhealthy, and it needs to be rethunk.

As many of you know, I’ve been passionate about minimalism for awhile now, but as the trend towards simplicity and minimalism has grown, it’s given me pause for thought. The minimalism trend has had certain elements that leave some readers with a bad taste in their mouths: elements of hype and salesmanship, elements of obsession, elements of one-upsmanship, a focus on aesthetics, a focus on possessions to the point of obsession. I have to confess I’m as guilty of these things as anyone else, so please don’t take this as an attack on anyone. If anything, it’s simply me, holding up a mirror and giving myself a close inspection.It’s true that when we obsess over what (few) possessions we have, it has a hold on us just as much as if we were hoarders. I publish my list of 50 things not so much to obsess over every little thing I have, but as a way to say: limits are good things. And as a way to inspire others, to show them that it’s possible. But still. Obsession over possessions is unhealthy, and it needs to be rethunk. Minimalism, as discussed on minimalism and simplicity blogs, can also become a game of one-upsmanship — showing how little we have (it all fits in a backpack!), how far we’ve come (not only have I given up my car, but my house and my computer too!), how cool our setup is.

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Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s let go of these obsessions with the perfect setup, with showing simple desks and desktops and software and so on.

And that brings me to minimalism, rethunk: we need to let go.

Let go of obsessions, and embrace the moment.

Let go of salesmanship and hype, and be content.

Let go of one-upsmanship and competitiveness, and just share and encourage.

Let go of control, and embrace what comes.

Let go of perfection, and just do.

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live 41

live

minimalism, the quick method

minimalism is the end of organizing

a day in the life of a minimalist

minimalist eating

eating less to be lighter

minimalist fun

live

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Living a Minimalist lifestyle is about reducing distractions that prevent you from living the best life possible. Zen Buddhism teaches one how to focus on the aspects of life which are most important; reduce consumption and gain a clearer insight into your life. It is human nature to want more “stuff” and modern culture dictates one’s status by the objects they possess. Judging people on what they own is not the true way to judge someone. Judging someone on how they use the things they have, and how they make due with less is a more accurate way to see someone’s character. Minimalism is not about reduction, it is about satisfaction. A Minimalist truly believes they don’t need another object to be happy. Minimalism is as much a design aesthetic as it is a state of mind. In a way, they are deeply interwoven. Minimalist design simply mirrors the fundamental values that minimalists subscribe to. Reducing embellishment and unnecessary features allows an object’s true purpose to be clear and reliable. Similarly, if someone removes unnecessary complexity in their lives, their lives will become more straightforward and easier to live. When you focus inwards on yourself and what you already have, as opposed to what you might be one day or might posses one day, you begin to experience a certain calm that allows you to approach future issues with clarity and composure. Zen Buddhism describes what it is like to live a minimal and mindful life by comparing your mind to a calm pool of water. Imagine a rock being tossed into a pool of water; at first, the water is disrupted and reacts to the rock, but soon after, the water returns to its calm natural state without showing any evidence of its interactions with the rock. Living a minimal and mindful life allows you to react to new events and struggles just like a pool of calm water, letting the incident register within you, but quickly letting it go.

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Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.

Confucius

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minimalism, the quick method The path to becoming a minimalist doesn’t have to be long and arduous. It’s fairly simple, actually.

You just do and buy less. It’s a switch that you can flip, in an instant: one moment you’re a resource-hogging, polluting, consumerist materialist capitalist swine (no offense), and the next, you’re a minimalist. It just takes the decision to live with less, and to be content with where you are and what you have and who you are. You can do this, right now.

Will all the stuff in your life instantly disappear? No, of course

not – you’ll still need to chuck all your stuff. You’ll need to get out of all your commitments, and start simplifying your schedule and to-do list. That’ll all take time and effort, I concede. And there’s more, that’ll take time: changing your buying habits, changing your impulses, gradually letting go of attachments, getting used to having less. But that all comes later. That comes with the territory. For now, you can just flip the switch: start buying less (right now), start doing less (right now), slow down, and find contentment. Right now, right here. Be happy with what you have, with your life, with where you are. Stop focusing on what you don’t have, because godblessit, you have way more than most of the world — even if you gave up your big car, big home, tons of food, and most of your possessions. You have the world, and you need to learn to love it. It takes an instant. It’s harder than hell, but it can happen right now. 45

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Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

William Morris

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minimalism is the end of organizing The rise of clutter has given birth to a whole industry: organizing.

We now have legions of professional organizers, whole companies that sell organizing products such as closet organizers, magazines and blogs on how to get yourself organized, and of course, the hand-held notebooks we call organizers — and their digital equivalent, PDAs and mobile devices. And while I have nothing against professional organizers — they help people to find peace in lives of chaos — I don’t think they’re necessary … if you adopt minimalism. Organizing is only necessary when you have too many things to easily find what you’re looking for. Think about it: when we organize a collection of books, it’s because when they’re not organized, we can’t find the books we want. But if we had, say, five books, we wouldn’t need to organize. The same applies to anything that needs to be organized: Closets that have a minimal amount of things don’t need to be organized. Tasks only need a complicated system or productivity apps for organizing if you have a lot to do. Focus on only doing a few important things, and you barely even need a list. Files only need to be organized if you can’t let go of this need to organize them. With search so powerful these days, you can find things with a few keystrokes. There are lots of other things that need to be organized, if they’re not kept as simple as possible. I’m sure you can think of a few yourselfpossible, and the organizing will fade away. 49

Simplicity, many people think, is an end in itself But they’re getting it backwards Simplicity is the path, the means It’s not a far off destination, somewhere in the future It’s right here, right now It’s taking things one at a time It’s asking simple questions It’s taking simple actions It’s doing it slowly It’s considering and being conscious, with everything

When you find yourself becoming overwhelmed on the path to simplicity Taking a complicated, frenzied path to get there Stop, consider, and choose the simpler path And take it slowly And easily And lovely

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If your mind isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t clouded by unnecessary things, then this is the best season of your life.

Wu-Men

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a day in the life of a minimalist I do not have a daily routine. I no longer need one. I do, however, have habits on which I focus every day.

Don’t get me wrong, I used to have a daily routine — before I quit my six-figure job to pursue my passions and live a more meaningful life. And I hated that routine. Every day felt like Groundhog Day: awake to a blaring alarm, shower, shave, put on a suit and tie, spend an hour or more in mind-numbing traffic, succumb to the daily trappings of emails and phone calls and instant messages and meetings, drive home through even more mind-numbing traffic, eat something from a box in the freezer, search for escape within the glowing box in the living room, brush my teeth, set the alarm clock, sleep for five or six hours, start all over again in the morning.

That was life most days. The same thing over and over and over.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat. And then last year I decided it wasn’t for me anymore. I realized working 60 to 80 hours a week to make the money to buy more superfluous stuff didn’t fill the void I felt inside. It only brought more debt and anxiety and fear and loneliness and guilt and stress and paranoia and depression.

So I canceled my routine. Or, rather, I traded in my routine for better

habits. It didn’t happen overnight, but over a few years I pared down my possessions, got into the best shape of my life, paid off my debt, jettisoned 55

my TV, eliminated Internet at home, left corporate America, started pursuing my passions, stopped buying junk, and started living a more meaningful life — a life focused on growth and contribution. During that time of personal growth I developed new habits I love, habits I look forward to each day, habits that make me happy: exercise, writing, reading, establishing new connections with people, and building upon existing relationships.

I am also developing the habit of contribution. I believe giving is living

— we don’t feel truly alive unless we contribute to other people in meaningful ways. Donating time to Habitat for Humanity, local soup kitchens, and various other community organizations has been a starting point on my journey towards developing this habit. I also enjoy contributing to the readers at our website and inspiring them to change their lives, much like Leo and Zen Habits inspired me to change mine. Many readers ask me what my typical day looks like now that I’m no longer forced into an unnecessary routine. My answer is always the same: every day is a blank page, although there are habits I act upon daily.

Presenting last Thursday as an example, this is how I enjoyed the day:

I woke at 4:50am without an alarm, excited and refreshed. These days my habit is to wake when my body tells me it’s rested. But there is no routine. I ate a banana, drank a cup of coffee, then wrote from 5am to 11am. As I primarily write literary fiction, I prefer writing in the morning when it’s quiet and I’m closest to the dream world. My writing room contains only a desk, a chair, a laptop, and my notes — the only things I need. Nothing else. There’s no phone, no Internet, no clock — no distractions. Just me and my habit, which I enjoy immensely. Each day I write until I don’t feel like writing anymore. But there is no routine. After a writing-fueled morning (interrupted only by push-ups every hour or so), I walked to the neighborhood park and alternated between pull-ups and push-ups under the midday sun. Exercise is important for me, and I enjoy it daily. But there is no routine. showered, dressed (jeans and a T-shirt), and walked to a local burrito joint to eat a modest, vegetarian lunch. I eat when my body tells me I’m hungry, irrespective of the time (I don’t own a watch). Some days I eat lunch at noon; other days I might eat at 10am or 3pm. But there is no routine. 56

After my meal, I walked to my favorite coffee shop, ordered an herbal

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tea, used their Internet connection to check my email and publish some writing online, then visited with some of the regulars (as well as some strangers). There were 37 emails in my inbox, which was okay as I only check email two or three times per week. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But there is no routine. After two or three hours on the Internet, I walked to a park, sat on a bench, and read a novel while the sun set fire to the sky. Some days this habit invites me to devour chapter after chapter, hour after hour; other days I read for only half an hour. But there is no routine.

After a few chapters, I hit the gym with my best friend (and online

writing pal), Ryan Nicodemus, and enjoyed some cardio and weight training. We habitually visit the gym four or five days per week. We drop by at different times each day. But there is no routine. Throughout the day I made sure I was hydrated. Besides coffee and herbal tea, I drank only water. No alcohol. No sugary drinks. No soda (or ‘pop,’ for those of us in the Midwest). I attempt to drink my body weight in ounces of water each day, which isn’t always easy — so sometimes I drink only half that. But that’s okay: there is no routine. I own a car, but I didn’t drive it on Thursday. I didn’t need to. It was a nice day, so I walked instead (even though Dayton, Ohio, isn’t exactly the most walkable city in the world). Some days I need to drive to where I want to go; other days I can walk. But there is no routine. Later that evening I enjoyed dinner and a conversation with a friend, and afterwards we walked to a local concert. Other days I might watch a movie at the indie theater or visit a friend’s house or spend time in an art gallery or volunteer a few hours of my time, all habits I enjoy. But there is no routine. After the concert, I walked a few miles by myself, gathering my thoughts. It had been a beautiful day, followed by a beautiful night — a denim sky illuminated by a waning crescent moon, a million diamonds afire, and the prospect of a new day at midnight. The good news is my life is no different than yours, minus the routine. Sure, the details are different, the circumstances are different, but we all have the same 24 hours in a day. We all have one life to live, and that life is passing by one day at a time. The only real difference lies within the decisions we make and the actions we take.tea, used their Internet connection to check my email and publish some writing online, then visited with some of the regulars (as well as some strangers). 57

There were 37 emails in my inbox, which was okay as I only check email two or three times per week. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But there is no routine. After two or three hours on the Internet, I walked to a park, sat on a bench, and read a novel while the sun set fire to the sky. Some days this habit invites me to devour chapter after chapter, hour after hour; other days I read for only half an hour. But there is no routine.

After a few chapters, I hit the gym with my best friend (and

online writing pal), Ryan Nicodemus, and enjoyed some cardio and weight training. We habitually visit the gym four or five days per week. We drop by at different times each day. But there is no routine. Throughout the day I made sure I was hydrated. Besides coffee and herbal tea, I drank only water. No alcohol. No sugary drinks. No soda (or ‘pop,’ for those of us in the Midwest). I attempt to drink my body weight in ounces of water each day, which isn’t always easy — so sometimes I drink only half that. But that’s okay: there is no routine. I own a car, but I didn’t drive it on Thursday. I didn’t need to. It was a nice day, so I walked instead (even though Dayton, 58

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Ohio, isn’t exactly the most walkable city in the world). Some days I need to drive to where I want to go; other days I can walk. But there is no routine. Later that evening I enjoyed dinner and a conversation with a friend, and afterwards we walked to a local concert. Other days I might watch a movie at the indie theater or visit a friend’s house or spend time in an art gallery or volunteer a few hours of my time, all habits I enjoy. But there is no routine. After the concert, I walked a few miles by myself, gathering my thoughts. It had been a beautiful day, followed by a beautiful night — a denim sky illuminated by a waning crescent moon, a million diamonds afire, and the prospect of a new day at midnight. The good news is my life is no different than yours, minus the routine. Sure, the details are different, the circumstances are different, but we all have the same 24 hours in a day. We all have one life to live, and that life is passing by one day at a time. The only real difference lies within the decisions we make and the actions we take.

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Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; love more, Swedish proverb

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minimalist eating How does a minimalist eat? Just a few grains of rice each day, perhaps?

There’s no one way, of course, but one thing to consider is whether eating huge amounts of food, super-sized fast food meals and mountains of fried cheesy food that you find at chain restaurants … whether this American style of eating is consistent with the minimalist philosophy.

I say no. A minimalist would more likely eat less, prepare food simply with few ingredients, eat mindfully, and eat sustainably.

Here’s how.

Eat less. If you’re overweight, eating less is absolutely the best thing you can do. If you’re underweight, eating less isn’t a good idea. But the Okinawans, reknowned for their incredible health and longetivity, do so well in part because they eat fewer calories than most people. They stop when they’re 80% full. I’ve been doing this with great results. Trick is to cut back on your portions a little at a time, and your stomach slowly grows smaller. It’s not hard if you do it slowly, gradually. Don’t starve yourself, but learn to eat until you’re almost full — after 5 minutes, you’ll realize you really are full.

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Fewer ingredients. Try three-ingredient recipes (other than spices, oil & water) — there are lots of them on the web. I like oatmeal, nuts & fruit (with cinnamon); black bean chili with tomatoes (and cilantro, cayenne, chiles, salt); black beans & quinoa; soy yogurt, berries & nuts; coconut flakes, fruit & soymilk; apples & almonds. You get the idea.

Simple preparation. The above dishes require very little preparation. If you really love cooking, this tip won’t be for you, but for those who normally eat out or eat packaged foods, it’s important to find foods that don’t require a lot of prep time. You want to do little work with few ingredients — just fresh, real food that is flavorful and healthy.

Eating mindfully. Instead of eating while you watch TV, try paying attention to each bite, savoring your food and getting the most out of it while eating less.

Eating sustainably. A plug for veganism, which is more sustainable than meat and dairy because plants require fewer resources (yes, even fewer than free-range animals). If everyone became vegan, we’d have more than enough food to feed the world, and we’d use fewer resources with less carbon emissions.

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eating less to be lighter As Americans, we eat way too much (and waste too much food as well).

As someone who was at least 60 lbs. overweight only a few years ago, I packed away the food as much as anyone else. I know what it’s like to eat entire pizzas by myself, eat super-sized fast-food meals plus extra nuggets and desserts and more, finish the gigantic heaping plates of food that the restaurants serve these days. It’s too much, and it’s led to an obesity epidemic of alarming proportions. A large part of our healthcare crisis is because of our overeating. A good part of the solution is to simply eat less. A separate discussion should be about what we eat — organic, real foods, preferably grown locally, cooked at home with a minimum of processing and packaging. But today, I’d just like to talk about eating less. It’s something I’ve focused on in my own life, especially recently, as I look at not only quality of food but quantity. I think we’ve been conditioned to eat without thinking, and in doing so to eat way too much. To stuff ourselves until we’re gorged. Which of course isn’t healthy at all.

My focus has been on eating until I’m not quite full. I eat until I feel like I want a little more, and then pause. Breathe. In about 10 minutes, I realize I’m satisfied and don’t need to eat any more.

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Some tips if you’d like to accomplish this:

Only take a small portion to start with. Don’t heap the plate. Eat slowly and mindfully. Pause between bites. Savor the food. Stop before you’re full, and wait. Drink water with your food. Eat every 2-3 hours, or embrace the hunger and wait a little longer. If you get hungry again soon after, eat a small snack — a fruit, some veggies, a handful of nuts. Cut back slowly. Don’t try to eat like a bird at first. Just eat a little less for now, adjust, and then cut back a little more. Over time, you’ll change, and be able to eat less. You’ll be healthier (assuming you were eating too much before) and lighter and living more sustainably.

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Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy.

Richard Halloway

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minimalist fun The path to becoming a minimalist doesn’t have to be long and arduous. It’s fairly simple, actually.

This brings up a common myth about minimalism — that we have empty lives, and can’t do anything fun because we try to eschew consumerism and all the spending that entails.

A brief discussion first: what is entertainment, and why do we need

it? Entertainment is usually meant to distract, to make us feel that our lives are exciting — distractions such as TV, movies, carnivals, going shopping, playing video games, drinking and partying. And while these each have other merits (a good film is a work of art), often they serve to distract us from work or other difficulties. Unfortunately, this fun is only temporary, and often empty. And as soon as we’re off that temporary high, we must find a new high from entertainment, ad nauseum. I believe if you find contentment, you don’t need entertainment. That’s not to say you’d never watch TV or good films or go to parties or theme parks … but you wouldn’t need them for entertainment. You wouldn’t go shopping to fill an empty space in your life, to fill the need of finding happiness, because you’re already content and don’t have that empty space or need. Finding contentment is learning to appreciate what you already have, learning the concept of having enough, learning to enjoy the simple things. It isn’t an overnight thing, but as you become more conscious of it, you’ll find more contentment and need to be entertained less.

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So the question remains: what do I do for fun? I’ve made space for what’s most important to me, by eliminating the unnecessary. That’s what minimalism is really about, at its core, not emptying your life. What’s important to me: family, writing, reading, running. And so my fun is finding time for those four things.

Some examples of things I’ve done in the last week for fun:

Had a small family get-together for my daughter’s birthday Went on a walking date with my wife, eating near the beach and walking to get coffee & watch a movie Ran three days a week with my sister Worked out with my nephew, doing full-body weight exercises Read with my kids Took short walks with my daughter Read a novel, magazine, online articles Had lunch with my mom & sister Helped my mom in her garden Write blog posts and some of my new book Rode my bike to meet a friend for coffee Those are just a few examples, but you get the idea. They’re not everyone’s idea of fun, but I enjoy them.

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minimalism in the arts

minimal in nature

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What makes a piece of minimal art or architecture beautiful? Answering that question requires us to observe the changing meaning of the word “beautiful” throughout history. People have historically defined beauty as the “perfect” manifestation of an item, place, or person. The Romans built many temples with intricate and numerous embellishments as a way to replicate the “houses of the gods.” Back then, beauty was not in the same realm as reality, and was an attribute applied to “what could be” as opposed to “what is.” In the early 1920’s, art and architecture took a shift away from abstract beauty and began exposing beauty in functionality and practicality. Embellishment began to be viewed as a distraction from the true nature of a building or work of art. Functional and minimal designs emerged as the new modern form of beauty. Beauty’s definition began to shift away from the ideal nature of something to its true essence. This shift coincided with the emergence of modern art and architecture. The beauty that can be seen in nature directly stems from this very same idea. Nature is undoubtedly one of the most obvious manifestations of pure beauty in the world, but this beauty is immensely raw and purely functional. Every fiber of nature serves a distinct purpose, an unnecessary embellishment can cause a species’ extinction. The beauty in nature is the beauty in seeing an object serve its true purpose without compromise. A minimalist house is beautiful because it doesn’t strive to be something it is inherently not (such as a dwelling of the gods). When one begins to look at the world around them and see each moving part’s role in the universe, the world becomes an immensely beautiful place. Minimalism strives to achieve this same beauty by reducing unnecessary features. This is not in an attempt at frugalness, but an attempt to highlight the beauty in an item’s pure purpose.

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A shape, a volume, a color, a surface is something itself. It shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be concealed as part of a fairly different whole.

Donald Judd

minimalism in the arts The term â&#x20AC;&#x153;Minimalismâ&#x20AC;? has evolved over the last half-century to include a vast number of artistic media, and its precedents in the visual arts can be found in Mondrian, van Doesburg, Reinhardt, and in Malevichâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s monochromes. But it was born as a self-conscious movement in New York in the early 1960s. Its leading figures - Donald Judd, Frank Stella, Robert Morris, and Carl Andre - created objects which often blurred the boundaries between painting and sculpture, and were characterized by unitary, geometric forms and industrial materials. Emphasising cool anonymity over the hot expressivism of the previous generation of painters, the Minimalists attempted to avoid metaphorical associations, symbolism, and suggestions of spiritual transcendence.

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Key Ideas

The revival of interest in Russian Constructivism and Marcel Duchamp’s readymades provided important inspiration for the Minimalists. The Russian’s example suggested an approach to sculpture that emphasised modular fabrication and industrial materials over the craft techniques of most modern sculpture. And Duchamp’s readymades pointed to ways in which sculpture might make use of a variety of pre-fabricated materials, or aspire to the appearance of factory-built commodities.

Much of Minimalist aesthetics was shaped by a reaction against Abstract Expressionism. Minimalists wanted to remove suggestions of self-expressionism from the art work, as well as evocations of illusion or transcendence - or, indeed, metaphors of any kind, though as some critics have pointed out, that proved difficult. Unhappy with the modernist emphasis on medium-specificity, the Minimalists also sought to erase distinctions between paintings and sculptures, and to make instead, as Donald Judd said: “specific objects.”

In seeking to make objects which avoided the appearance of fine art objects, the Minimalists attempted to remove the appearance of composition from their work. To that end, they tried to expunge all signs of the artists guiding hand or thought processes - all aesthetic decisions - from the fabrication of the object. For Donald Judd, this was part of Minimalism’s attack on the tradition of “relational composition” in European art, one which he saw as part of an out-moded rationalism. Rather than the parts of an artwork being carefully, hierarchically ordered and balanced, he said they should be “just one thing after another.”

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‘Untitled’ — concrete sculpture by Donald Judd. 85

Robert Morris at Sprueth Magers

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Beginnings

In New York City in the late 1950s, young artists like Donald Judd, Robert Morris and Dan Flavin were painting in then dominant Abstract Expressionist vein, and beginning to show at smaller galleries throughout the city. By the early 1960s, many of these artists had abandoned painting altogether in favour of objects which seemed neither painting nor sculpture in the conventional sense. For example, Frank Stella’s Black Paintings (a series of hugely influential, concentrically striped pictures from 1959-60), were much thicker than conventional canvases, and this emphasised their materiality and object-ness, in contrast to the thin, windowlike quality of ordinary canvases. Other early Minimalist works employed non-art materials such as plywood, scrap metal, and fluorescent light bulbs.

Many names were floated to characterise this new art, from “ABC art” and “Reductive Art” to “literalism” and “systemic painting.” “Minimalism” was the term that eventually stuck, perhaps because it best described the way the artists reduced art to the minimum number of colors, shapes, lines and textures. Yet the term was rejected by many of the artists commonly associated with the movement - Judd, for example, felt the title was derogatory. He preferred the term “primary structures,” which came to be the title of a landmark group show at the Jewish Museum in New York in 1966: it brought together many of those who were important to the movement, including Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin, Robert Morris, Carl Andre, and Donald Judd, though it also included some who were barely on its fringes, such as Ellsworth Kelly and Anthony Caro.

Concepts and Styles

The Minimalists’ emphasis on eradicating signs of authorship from the artwork (by using simple, geometric forms, and courting the appearance of industrial objects) led, inevitably, to the sense that the meaning of the object lay not “inside” it, but rather on its surface - it arose from the viewer’s interaction with the object. This led to a new emphasis on the physical space in which the artwork resided. In part, this development was inspired by Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s writings on phenomenology, in particular, The Phenomenology of Perception (1945).

Aside from sculptors, Minimalism is also associated with a few key abstract painters, such as Frank Stella and, retrospectively, Barnett Newman. These artists painted very simple canvases that were considered minimal due to their barebones composition. Using only line, solid color and, in Stella’s case, geometric forms and shaped canvas, these artists combined paint and canvas in such a way that the two became inseparable.

Concepts and Styles

By the late 1960s, Minimalism was beginning to show signs of breaking apart as a movement, as various artists who had been important to its early development

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began to move in different directions. By this time the movement was also drawing powerful attacks. The most important of these would be Michael Fried’s essay “Art and Objecthood,” published in Artforum in 1967. Although it seemed to confirm the importance of the movement as a turning point in the history of modern art, Fried was uncomfortable with what it heralded. Referring to the movement as “literalism,” and those who made it as “literalists,” he accused artists like Judd and Morris of intentionally confusing the categories of art and ordinary object. According to Fried, what these artists were creating was not art, but a political and/or ideological statement about the nature of art. Fried maintained that just because Judd and Morris arranged identical non-art objects in a three-dimensional field and proclaimed it “art”, didn’t necessarily make it so. Art is art and an object is an object, Fried asserted.

As the 1960s progressed, different offshoots of Minimalism began to take shape. In California, the “Light and Space” movement was led by Robert Irwin, while in vast ranges of unspoiled land throughout the U.S., Land artists like Robert Smithson and Walter de Maria completely removed art from the studio altogether, and turned the earth itself into a work of art. This achievement not only further blurred the boundaries between “art” and “object,” but reinvented the more conventional definitions of sculpture.

The significance of Michael Fried’s attack on the movement continues to be discussed, and, to the extent that, as critic Hal Foster has put it, Minimalism forms a “crux” or turning point in the history of modernism, the movement remains hugely influential today. However, some critics have challenged the reputations of some leading figures such as Donald Judd: in particular, feminists have criticised what they see as a rhetoric of power in the style’s austerity and intellectualism. Indeed, it is the legacy of the movements that followed in Minimalism’s wake, and that are often canopied under the term “PostMinimalism” (Land Art, Eccentric Abstraction, and other developments) that is more important. 89

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Scrim veil—Black rectangle— Natural light (1977) by Robert Irwin. 91

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Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

Lao Tzu

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sources people who have made this book possible

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section openers julian gindi - juliangindi.com

articles leo babauta - mnmlst.com / zenhabits.com justin wolf - theartstory.org

photos katie strylowski - ktstry.wordpress.com unsplash.com superfamous.com galleristny.com contemporaryartdaily.com wikimedia.org gratisography.com

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This is where the colophon of a book goes. I learned how to create one in my book while writing this book in 2013 for my senior design project at George Mason University. That is all.

PEACE.