In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.
Everyone has a reason for choosing something over the other. There's something magical they've seen in what they went for that makes them stick to it and sees it as a way to truly live life. I do believe that anyone who has come in contact with being truly simple and understands it would agree that there's a lot of lessons learned from it.
Waking up to the sound of nature around you is enough to get you smiling with a heart filled with contentment, and this is because of what the practice of minimalism has taught us. There's a lot of unexplainable reasons I have come to embrace the act of minimalism. Being from an African home with an African mom who has experienced and taken a liking to the act of minimalism made things better and the more I saw as a child, the more I came to truly understand as I grew up in life.
There's this sense of calmness that simplicity drills into our soul without even trying. It just happens, and this is why I have reasons to fully engage in it that it became a part of me.
Peace.
I can't just fully explain how peaceful my life has been ever since I embraced the minimalist lifestyle because it can't be explained. It has to be felt for you to know it. The sort of peace that I have felt and still feeling is that something is natural. It is very interesting to see how simple things tend to matter. How seeing these things are just enough to get us smiling endlessly like a newborn baby.
In the act of simplicity, I have found myself on nature's soil. I love and appreciate it because of the beauty it has brought to me both physically and mentally. It is a miracle to see how the sea and seeing greenery calm me. The therapy nature gives out is free, and there's no danger attached to it.
I have found myself loving more simple gatherings if I decide to attend and spend time alone with nature rather than being in crowded places where my peace of mind is disturbed.
Being in peace clears my mind and makes me think rightly, which is an additional bonus to making decisions. Though life sometimes gets in the way, being at peace made me understand with nature as an illustration that there's a season for everything. So, in my dark days when I feel lost, I pick myself up and remember that this too shall pass.
When it comes to choice of music, minimalism also affects what I listen to which is why listening to calm old music adds beauty to my day and I can't stay a day without not listening or even singing these songs. As I write, I am accompanied by Enya's song titled "The Humming." You can listen as you read on as well.
Meals.
With the country's economy, I have seen debates online on whether buying food or cooking food is the best as prices of things have gone crazy in the past months.
However, to someone like me who has stayed in a home where we plan things, I have gotten used to cooking my meals myself. Eating out at all times doesn't happen in my world as things are a bit accessible. Being a minimalist, I find joy and happiness in eating food whose source I know well. Like in my place, seafood is easy to come by because I stay close to the sea and border too.
Also, in a rainy period like this, these things are cheaper, especially catfish, which can be caught with a net around. Whenever it rains, there's always easy access to getting these things without paying for them. Many people own a fish pond where whenever fish fall from the sky, it goes into there, and with that, there's food to eat. Though life is not the best but with planning and making simple things out of what we have, eating good meals has been made possible.
Finance/Trends.
As a minimalist practitioner, I do not fancy the trends in the world. My eyes and ears are usually blind to them, not because I am poor but because the things are what I don't need.
I have stayed with people who value buying material things, and I have learned so much from them. Going shopping to get shoes, purses, and trending outfits when they are not needed is something I'd never do because I know places where that money will be appreciated.
It is hard and sad knowing how some people fall into trendy stuff. Some even acquire loans to get them, and at the end of the day, their life gets complicated. However, minimalism preaches the opposite, and this is more of the reason I am a die-hard fan of simplicity.
Images used are mine and video from #YouTube.
Still yours truly,
Balikis.
Thanks for reading and listening.
Peace be unto those who crave it and more to those who chase it away.