Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism

Want to know how to make yourself instantly unhappy? Compare yourself with someone else.

Why do we own so many things when we don’t need them? What is their purpose? I think the answer is quite clear: We’re desperate to convey our own worth, our own value to others. We use objects to tell people just how valuable we are.

We are more interested in making others believe we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves. —FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD

If it’s not a “hell, yes!” it’s a “no.

When given too many choices, people tend to worry that there’s something better out there than what they decided on.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have. —RABBI HYMAN SCHACHTEL

Minimalism is just the beginning. It’s a tool. Once you’ve gone ahead and minimized, it’s time to find out what those important things are. Minimalism

Minimalism is built around the idea that there’s nothing that you’re lacking.

It’s often said that cleaning your house is like polishing yourself. I think that this is a golden rule. It isn’t just dust and dirt that accumulate in our homes. It’s also the shadows of our past selves that let that dust and dirt continue to build. Cleaning the grime is certainly unpleasant, but more than that, it’s the need to face our own past deeds that makes it so tough. But when we have fewer material possessions and cleaning becomes an easy habit, the shadows we now face will be of our daily accomplishments.

the accumulation of small achievements is the only way to do something incredible.

The glory of acquisition starts to dim with use, eventually changing to boredom as the item no longer elicits even a bit of excitement. This is the pattern of everything in our lives. No matter how much we wish for something, over time it becomes a normal part of our lives, and then a tired old item that bores us, even though we did actually get our wish. And we end up being unhappy.

You can avoid buying more things simply by first asking yourself if it’s something that you actually need.

There’s a favorite quote of mine from Dale Carnegie’s How to Stop Worrying and Start Living that really sums up what was wrong with me: “I was trying to wash today’s dishes, yesterday’s dishes and dishes that weren’t even dirty yet.

I’ve heard it said that the secret to a happy marriage is to simply talk a lot with your partner. One study showed that happily married couples talked with each other five more hours per week than couples that aren’t happy. If people are busy taking care of their possessions, quarreling over them, spending time in separate rooms, or watching a lot of TV, they’re naturally going to have less time for conversations.

Minimalism is not a rite of penance, nor is it a competitive sport. It is simply a means to an end.

The things you own end up owning you.” A

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. —STEVE JOBS

My feeling is that minimalists are people who know what's truly necessary for them versus what they may want for the sake of appearance, and they're not afraid to cut down on everything in the second category.

If you can’t make up your mind about an item, I suggest you go right ahead and discard it.

We can accumulate as much as we like, but without gratitude we’ll only end up being bored with everything we’ve obtained. Conversely, we can achieve true contentment with few possessions, just so long as we treat them with gratitude. The

There’s another benefit to a minimalist wardrobe. Because we choose items that are timeless, we don’t need to worry about being out of style.

a minimalist is a person who knows what is truly essential for him- or herself,

Ask yourself which of your items would truly be necessary if you were to start with zero belongings. What if everything you owned was stolen? What if you had to move next week? Which items would you take with you? There are probably a lot of things we have sitting around in our homes for no particular reason. Think about starting from scratch, and it will become clear which items are essential.

When you’re aware of all the things that you own, you’re not only certain of where they are, you’re also sure about whether you have them or not.

If you really want to change something, the only way to do it is to start changing this very moment. There’s really no tomorrow, and no next week to look forward to. Once tomorrow comes, it’s going to be today. A year from now will be today when the time comes. Everything is in the now. By

All of our possessions want to be cared for, and they tell us that every time we look at them.

when you have few possessions, there are fewer things that need to be done each day. You can take care of each task as it arises, so you don’t end up with a long list of things to do,

Fight Club: “The things you own end up owning you.