|
|||
|
In Japan, at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, temple bells across the country toll 108 times. According to Buddhist teaching, we have 108 earthly desires that cause us suffering – and by listening to the bells toll, we can dispel each desire, one by one. For example: first ring – goodbye, greed. Second [...] A few weeks ago, I attended the John Pawson exhibition at the Design Museum here in London. For those unfamiliar with his work, he is the minimalist architect extraordinaire. I adore his aesthetic: white walls, open spaces, and minimum adornment, combined with natural materials like wood, marble, onyx, bronze, and granite. Simplicity, purity, grace, clarity [...] When you spend time in the blogosphere, you hear a lot of talk about goals: personal goals, professional goals, finance goals, development goals, creative goals, short-term goals, long-term goals, etc. (Sometimes it can be exhausting just reading about them all!) And if you’re a blogger, you’ll inevitably be asked to talk about your own goals. The [...] (Photo: Hassan & A few years ago, I participated in a Japanese tea ceremony. It’s a beautiful ritual, and—in my opinion—a wonderful analogy to minimalist living. In a nutshell, chado (or Way of Tea) is the ceremonial preparation and serving of matcha, powdered green tea. Guests enter the teahouse after walking through a small, contemplative [...] When I wake up each morning, the first thing I do is read a passage from the Tao Te Ching. For those who aren’t familiar with it, the Tao Te Ching is a classic Chinese philosophical text written by Lao Tzu in the 6th century BC. It’s relatively short, consisting of 81 passages, so I [...] My husband and I travel a lot, and people sometimes ask us if we worry about our apartment while we’re gone. Our answer: not particularly. The reason: we have nothing to steal. Sure, we have stuff—clothing, kitchenware, books, and a few pieces of furniture. However, I can’t imagine anyone wanting any of it. And if they [...] (Photo: bencrowe) I used to think that being fed up with “stuff” was a symptom of modern times. Globalization has made material goods inexpensive and widely available, and satisfying our consumer desires has become almost too easy. However, philosophers have been railing against materialism for millenia — well before megamarts and “everyday low prices” came [...] In the spirit of Minsumerism, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite internet videos: The Story of Stuff, by writer and activist Annie Leonard. It’s a brilliant, 20-minute, stick-figure documentary about the life cycle of material goods. The video explores the environmental and social issues of our current model of consumption, and calls [...] (Photo: kc~Karen…studying……) Today I’d like to share this quote from William Henry Channing: “To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to [...] Enlightenment One of the reasons I love writing this blog are the comments I get from my readers. They’re a wonderful source of inspiration, and a great opportunity to learn how others incorporate minimalist principles into their lives. Yesterday, I was thrilled to receive an incredibly insightful comment on one of my older posts. I know [...] |
my new book
blog collection
|
||
|
Copyright © 2012 miss minimalist - All Rights Reserved |
|||
Subscribe via email
Subscribe via RSS
Comments via RSS
Follow on Twitter