Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life
Summary:
Do you jump out of bed every morning excited about the day in front of you? Do you live a life defined by deep meaning, endless passion, excellent health, empowering relationships, and constant growth?
You can.
Ultimately, the eight chapters and ninety-eight sections inside this book are meant to help you take small actions each day that will radically improve your life over a short period of time.
This book’s foreword and first chapter go into vast detail on our personal backgrounds, our troubled pasts, our depression, and how we made changes that transformed our lives over two years. These chapters discuss why didn’t feel fulfilled by our careers and why we turned to our society’s idea of a meaningful life: we bought stuff, we spent too much money, and we lived paycheck to paycheck trying to purchase happiness in every trip to the shopping mall or luxurious vacation we could find. Instead of finding our passion, instead of searching for our mission, we pacified ourselves with ephemeral indulgences, inducing a crack-cocaine high that didn’t last far past the checkout line. (Summary and book cover courtesy of goodreads.com)
Review:
Growing up, my mom had a bi-annual appointment to drop things off at Salvation Army. This meant we were forced to do purge of stuff leading up to the date. Everything from out-grown clothes to last year’s school books to the Halloween costumes were given a second look. I grew to love the exercise because it was so satisfying to “start fresh” with everything having a place. Minimalism is this “spring cleaning” on steroids.
This book is fantastic because it forces a good hard look at everything in your life to see what is really necessary. Written in a 5-step guide, the authors provide their arguments point by point to show why a life purge is not only necessary, but vital. Unlike many counterparts, the claim is not to have less than 100 possessions or to get rid of your TV, but rather to be cognizant of where your time and money goes.
I love that this is a book anyone can find value in. How I choose to follow the steps may be different from someone else, but we can both find improvement in our life. I would highly recommend giving the book a try or perusing their website at: theminimalists.com.
Rating: 5 stars!
Who Should Read it? Everyone! Even if you don’t buy into the principles of minimalism it will encourage you to take a second look at the cycle of constant purchases.