Once you reach your goal, the natural tendency is to always want more. That is why, reducing my tech needs to just a netbook wasn’t enough.
I wanted to cope with all the (digital and physical) clutter that had been growing during many years of computing. Having a small sized workspace allows you to work anywhere, anytime. Sure, creating material can be nice if you are sitting at your office, I guess. But it can also become a pleasure if you can do that while sipping a nice coffee, sitting at your favourite lounge bar with some nice music playing, don’t you think?
By downsizing my digital needs, amazing things began to happen. I have analysed my core values and needs. I have become more centered on my day-to-day decisions. The habit to pause, to step back and enjoy the present makes you aware of the importance of Time. Time, if we are able to enjoy and manage it, is an incredible source of good emotions. In a minimalist approach to modern living, society encourages us to invest our time and money in things that are fast. Fast food, fast training and workouts, fast cars, fast trains. Fast results to see your abs. This is a fast and furious life. Instead, we should be aware that human life is naturally slow. Nature is slow. It takes time for things to happen, to make your vegetables grow; to make your body adapt; it takes time to comprehend a concept; It takes time to get things done; It takes time to create valuable material.
Naturally I’m not telling you to get rid of all the interesting things in your life or to change the way you live your life. Everyone has his own idea of life, his own viewpoint about life. The idea is to just look for the way our life works best for everyone of us, and then stick with it. This means that if you love your life, then there is nothing you should change about it.
What if you don’t like the way your life is?
Mahatma Gandhi once wrote: “Be the change you wish to see in the world” So, make that change happen, by being the change, downsizing our needs.
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You have more time to do what you truly love
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You realize that you can design your own life.
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You become aware of things you hadn’t noticed before.
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You appreciate your life, and enrich it with passions.
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You accomplish the goals you set for yourself
Enjoy the process, the presentmoment of your life. We live a neverending continuum of presence. We are presence because we live only in this intersection between future and past.
Because needs will not enrich your life; only unforgettable moments will.
This, my friend, is the answer.