Monday, January 30, 2017

Less is More

Right now, I'm reading yet another book on living with less.  This one is called The Joy of Less by Francine Joy.  And yes, I think the title is a bit of a pun on her name.
It's similar to Marie Kondo's book on the same ideas, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up.  Although I did a lot of getting rid of a lot of stuff that didn't "spark joy" and did find the KonMarie Method I learned about in that book to be pretty magical, I'm ready to downsize even more now.  And this book, The Joy of Less is a great inspiration.

I also recently watched the documentary film Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things.  It's currently streaming on Netflix for free!

And I'm listening to the Audible format of the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown. This book isn't about downsizing your stuff, but instead your commitments and the things you spend your time on.  It's a great motivator for doing the KonMarie method on your whole life.

I'm making small changes on an almost daily basis since I'm filling my head with the words from both of these books and film.  I tried to do the KonMarie Method as suggested in the book- in a fast a furious way.  And that worked great, because I had a lot more then.  I'm now trying to be more congnizant of the things I bring into my home, and into my life.  If they aren't the important things, they really don't belong.  The less I have, the better I can care for and appreciate the things I do have.  That applies to possessions, but also the way I spend my time.

For me, reading this stuff and keeping it in my focus for a while feels essential.  I hate the complicated feeling I get when I have too many things around me or too many things to do.  Even when it's good stuff.  It's true what they say, too much of a good thing isn't a good thing.

I've moved a few pieces of furniture out in to the garage until I can drop them off at a donation center. I also took some vases I didn't really like off our mantle.  At first, it looked a little weird.  I'd just gotten used to those spaces being filled up.  But I realize, I like the extra space.  Not every corner needs to be filled.  I like a little extra breathing room around here.

More of less.  That's what I'm aiming for these days.



2 comments:

Valerie said...

I downloaded the Joy of Less based on your recommendation. I still need to check out that documentary. Good luck with it all! You're making goo progress.

Kerri said...

oh nice! lmk what you think. i'm really liking it and was needing a refresher course on the topic! ;)