It's always seemed odd to others when I have explained it, but it is what is is. The energy of things, patterns and noise jars very easily for me. Disturbingly so, when the objects feel dissonant. Wearing a patterned blouse can literally leave me frazzled, anxious and feeling noise.
And so it is with clutter, with antique and thrift shops, with competing energies, with distraction and with things that seem to contradict one another energetically. Today I threw out a perfectly good leather handbag that someone had given me eons ago, cos the energy that radiated from it felt dirty and distorted. Whilst normally I would donate something like this, today the only "right" thing I felt to do was to throw a relatively expensive handbag in the trash. It seemed wrong to visit that on someone else.
I almost always wear plain colours. T shirts too - I can't stand irrelevant messages nor any words on them - it literally itches and irritates me on an energetic level, and so they're plain colours too.
Minimalism, for me, is about the orchestration of the "stuff" in my life - music, correspondence, objects, books, people - to create an energetic harmony into which my soul can sink and say, "Aaaaaahhhhh" as if sinking into a warm bath. I have learned that I need that energetic harmony to stay well.
My journey towards minimalism started long before I had ever heard the term defined. When I moved from Australia to Thailand close on 20 years ago now, I took everything with me. 71kgs in total across 2 suitcases and 1 carry on. 20 books, 20 CDs. LOL. Yup, pre-spotify. I left nothing behind except 1 small carton containing a few winter clothes that I knew I might need for a return visit. 8 years later when I finally returned for my father's funeral, I got rid of even that last hook and remnant of another life. When people tell me they've come to live in Thailand but have left a storage locker (or 3! 😆) behind in the US or wherever, I just laugh. Minimalism, to me, means also not burdening another with the remnants of life one can't manage or face either.
This year I thought about committing to a Hive personal posting challenge to "Discard One Item Every Day & Blog About It" for the whole 2022 New Year. Cos after 20 years and motherhood for 17 of those, I have accumulated more stuff than I'm comfortable with. Relatively, we live light. Very light. I shall always remember with a chuckle when a Dutch cousin visited 3 years ago, looked around our home and asked, "Where's all your stuff?" 🤣 Apparently young Lars, at the tender age of 19 on his first solo travel experience, had never met anyone who doesn't have a mantelpiece overloaded with knick-knacks, photos and memorabilia.
I ummed and aaahed about the full years commitment, and wondered if I had enough stuff to do that, and whether I'd actually feel comfortable about disclosing each release publicly. My Hive guru-mentor @riverflows had already remarked that committing publicly to a daily posting habit rather set one up to fail. And it was while I was pondering this idea, that The Minimalist community contest showed up in my feed.
In August 2022, my 17 year old daughter - my only child - will leave this solo mama behind as she heads to Europe and university. We've already talked in depth about the changes to her life, and mine, which are coming. I expect to be living much lighter as my business expands and changes up, with my life spread over 4 locations - Hpa-An in Burma, Mae Sariang and Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand and, funds willing, maybe a beachside bolt-hole in Sam Roi Yod on the Gulf of Thailand.
I've been bingeing on tiny house living videos for their simplicity - I find them comforting in a time of turbulence and change. And considering what I'm ready to release.
Minimalism, for me, is not about having almost nothing. It's about having curated, high quality, multi-function, harmonious pieces which reduce the noise in my energetic field and enable me to find deep rest. It's about energetic simplicity, which is as much about colour and form as not having 63 mismatched items.
I'm thrilled to find this new community and grateful to @millycf1976 for a wonderful initiative in creating a space for this simplifying, conscious-consuming energy. Inviting @plantstoplanks and @mamrita to contribute to a fabulous new initiative in The Hive. And looking forward to contributing regularly to an important dialogue in a world overflowing with "stuff".
Grateful. Blessed.
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