Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life

You needn't settle for a mediocre life just because the people around you did.

We weren’t downsizing, we were uprising.

Unless you contribute beyond yourself, your life will feel perpetually self-serving. It’s okay to operate in your own self-interest, but doing so exclusively creates an empty existence. A life without contribution is a life without meaning. The truth is that giving is living. We only feel truly alive when we are growing as individuals and contributing beyond ourselves. That’s what a real life is all about.

The people who are rebelling meaningfully don't buy a lot of stuff. —David Foster Wallace

We only have a finite amount of time on this earth. It can be spent accumulating monetary wealth, or it can be spent in a meaningful way—the latter of which doesn’t necessarily preclude someone from the former, but the relentless pursuit of riches doesn’t lead to a meaningful life.

Real happiness, however, comes from who we are—from who we’ve become. Real happiness comes from within. Likewise, discontentment is also a result of who we’ve become.

Honesty is a gift we can give others. It is also a source of power and an engine of simplicity,” Dr. Sam Harris wrote in his book, Lying. He continued by stating, “Knowing that we will attempt to tell the truth, whatever the circumstances, leaves us with little to prepare for. We can simply be ourselves.

Five Values that allow us to live a meaningful life: 1. Health 2. Relationships 3. Passions 4. Growth 5. Contribution

We feel safe around authentic people, as if we could reveal to them our deepest, darkest secrets, as if we could trust them with anything. And when we get to know these people on a deeper level—when we establish a connection with them—it’s refreshing to discover they are who we thought they were, that beneath the surface they are authentically themselves.

None of us is perfect, but we all have the capacity to be authentic, to remove the pretense and the facade from our repertoire and just be authentically ourselves, not the people we think we’re supposed to be.

So you’re left scratching your noggin, wondering how to convert them to your singularly valid viewpoint, which can be mind-numbingly frustrating. Don’t worry, though, you needn’t get on the same page right way; you need only understand you both have your reasons for being on separate pages.

Are we constantly improving our fitness? Are we happy with our progress?

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GOOD DEBT. Some

Careers are dangerous because people invest so much of themselves into their careers that they establish an identity and a social status based upon where they work and what they do for a living.

We are not our stuff. We are more than our possessions. Our memories are within us, not our things. Our stuff weighs on us mentally and emotionally. Old photographs can be scanned. You can take pictures of items you want to remember. Items that are sentimental for us can be useful to others. Letting go is freeing.

The best juicer we’ve found is the Omega J8004 Masticating Juicer.

To have the tallest building in town, you must tear down everyone else's.

Unless you contribute beyond yourself, your life will feel perpetually self-serving. It’s

When we appreciate others for who they are, not who we want them to be, then, and only then, will we understand.