Making Room to Be— The Minimalistic Lifestyle.
By: Marnío A. Toussaint
Tags: Minimalism, Lifestyle, Personal Growth, Mindfulness, Purpose

Making Room to Be— The Minimalistic Lifestyle.

I had a big revelation: everyone is trying to figure life out. Not super deep, I know, but I’m realizing that in the midst of all the figuring out, we tend tell others how to live life the way we want to live it instead of inviting others into how we live life currently. The first way breeds arrogance and pride, but the latter builds connections and makes room for growth. I love growth. I want to share my journey into the lifestyle I have chosen; it’s called minimalism, and I’m going to define what it means to me.

First, what it doesn’t mean:

I went to a church for seven years that practiced what Christians call “legalism”, in short it describes the use of fear and judgement to apply extreme pressure that incites the adherence to a specific formula for living. While I was there I spent some time with a young man who had given up fishing, soccer, and anything else he loved for the sake of “righteousness”, a lifestyle of self denial and the avoidance of pleasure in the pursuit of virtue. This is called Asceticism, and I hate it. It’s lifeless. There is an Apostle named Paul, a pillar in the founding of the church, who speaks against this type of living in the Bible. He says “These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.” He must have missed that part. Bottom line, asceticism seems wise, but it doesn’t change the heart.

I am not an ascetic. I’m not into pious self denial. I’m a minimalist, and I’ll explain the difference.

Minimalism is built around the mindset of “less but better” as Dieter Rams put it. It is a lifestyle that comes from a deep awareness of what matters most to you. You can’t actually start the minimalist journey until you’ve done some inner work to cut through the noise of your environment, to hear the still small voice of purpose in your life. In order to maximize what matters most, the minimalist minimizes the things that don’t matter much at all. For example, I’ve come to realize that I really enjoy connecting with people. I prefer sitting around a table for lunch over sitting and watching a movie. An ascetic would say “I won’t own a TV because I’ll be more righteous if I give it up, watching TV fuels my most evil desires.” A minimalist would say “I think I’ll give up my TV because I want to create a space for deeper conversations, I notice I don’t connect with people as deeply when there is a TV around, and I really love deep conversations. I’m gonna make an investment towards better connections by getting rid of my TV.” Minimalism is about love, it’s about making as much room as possible for the things that matter most. It’s about making space for joy, peace, and purpose to overpower the noise. This has been the cornerstone of my journey these past two years, I always ask myself “What is meaningful to me? What is lovely? What is admirable? What is excellent?” and then I make a plan to prioritize those things. It’s a mindset that grows as I grow. I genuinely love writing, so I’m making room to write, and I’m removing the things that are distracting me from doing what I know I love to do. I’m not striving to become, I’m making room to be. I should mention that these decisions look different for different people, I don’t think any two minimalistic spaces should look exactly the same. Your space takes on the characteristics of your journey. One couple might decide to forego their smartphones permanently, another might simply “add” a drawer in the hallway to “minimize” the amount of things distracting from the intimacy and rest of the bedroom. One person might enjoy studying films and build a home around a flat screen and a collection of movies, whereas another person might only want a loud speaker and a Spotify subscription to promote dancing with friends and family. Minimalism is about going all in with the few things that matter most, and growing as you learn. I believe it’s in that place of purpose true happiness is found.