If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
___________________________________________
SPECIAL OFFER: Zen Habits Readers: Thanks for checking out the link to this article from Leo. If you haven’t yet checked out PROJECT M-31: Simplify Your Life in 31 Days, than you can get your own copy 25% off today only by using PROMO CODE: BABAUTA at checkout.
___________________________________________
Post by: David Damron
I was browsing through Leo Babauta’s Simple Living Manifesto and came across an interesting point made at #36. It read as follows,
“#36 Learn what “enough” is. Our materialistic society today is about getting more and more, with no end in sight. Sure, you can get the latest gadget, and more clothes and shoes. More stuff. But when will you have enough? Most people don’t know, and thus they keep buying more. It’s a never-ending cycle. Get off the cycle by figuring out how much is enough. And then stop when you get there.”
I love this notion of life with just “enough”, but something I would like to stress that I am sure Leo would agree with is that we can live on LESS than “enough” without even feeling deprived.
The first thing to understand is that “enough” is usually defined by the society around us rather than our own needs. Obviously, this is the wrong way to approach any meaning of a word or idea. Understanding the society’s meaning for a word or idea is important to intertwine your life with your surroundings, but living by these standards and ways of life set by a community is not the way to live the life you need or want. In my life, “enough” is very different than even that of Babauta and we are both minimalists. The same can be said for those within a society of other like lifestyles. Just because “enough” has been set by a society or community to mean 2 cars, a home with a mortgage payment, 3 flat screen TV’s and closets full of clothes that doesn’t mean it is what should be for everyone including yourself.
What is “enough”? This is the question you should be asking yourself. Ask yourself, “Do I need 4 white button-up shirts? What about 3? What about 2? Would 1 be just fine?” This sort of self questioning will lead to simplifying everything in your life and discovering what “enough” is for you. For many, I feel that living on less than most communities idea of “enough” would not be as difficult as said community would make us believe.
If less than “enough” is good enough than why even sustain society’s “enough”.
David Damron
The Minimalist Path
Click here to get a copy of PROJECT M-31: Simply Your Life in 31 Days
