I love books. They are a great companion when I am alone. At times much better than a girlfriend. Books don’t nag 
I used to have 71 books when I last counted my possessions. Right now it is down to only 24 pieces.
How did I manage to do so? The steps are quite simple if you want to do the same:
1. Acknowledge that the books represent your development as a person but they are NOT YOU. At one point of life, you might have been really into a certain subject and you got yourself a book on that subject. Now you have some other interest and it is time to move on. But you still keep that old book eventhough you no longer read it. It is time to let go of that book.
2. Separate the books you have into two groups. One that you want to review each year and another one are books which you have already absorbed and internalised the content. The 24 pieces of books I still keep fall under the first category. Among them are Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina, Your Erroneous Zone by Dr Wayne Dyer, Norwegian Wood by Murakami and The Fight Club by Palahniuk.
3. Get rid of the second group of books. Sell them to used bookshop or donate. Usually the books that fall under this category are the classics like How to Win Friends and Influence People, and complete collection of Oscar Wilde writings.
And that is how I ended up with only 24 books now.
I’m still looking for courage to further decrease their numbers
I will let you know once I get there.
I have to admit that I am addicted to simple empty wide space.
I find empty space to be very relaxing and it gives me a sense of calmness.
Because of this I try very hard to maintain a simple and minimal surroundings in my house.
Ask those who have gone on a purge/declutterring session and they will be more than glad to tell you that the action might be physical in nature but the effect is also psychologically beneficial. You have more space physically and you will feel like you have more space mentally too.
So what is the secret to having more space mentally and physically? And what is the secret in maintaining a simple and minimal house?
Declutter your living space regularly. Yes, that’s it. Killing two birds with one stone.
Instead of making it a once in a while activity, turn decluttering session into a weekly affair.
You are guaranteed to have a nice, simple and clean place. And more mental space as well.
Last week I donated two shirts and a black pants. In fact, those three were still in good working condition.
But I decided to donate them anyway because first, I have been using them for I don’t know how many years already. So it’s good to have some new shirts. And in order to do so I need to replace the shirts that I have, not accumulate more.
Second, it was a good exercise in letting go of attachments. Both two shirts and the black pants I bought when I got my first job right after graduation.
They meant a lot to me. But if I were to keep them, I’ll be adding the burden of keeping stuff to remind me of the good memory associated with them.
The fact is, the memory is right there in my mind waiting to be recalled at any moment.
In the end, after getting rid of them, I felt better.
Because now I need to take care of less things and focus on things that matter.
So there is really no secret to keep your house simple and minimal.
All you have to do is to make decluttering session a habit
Changing the world is a big cause. It sounds big if we are talking about the physical world, the earth.
Let’s replace the word ‘world’ with ‘reality’. Can you change the reality?
Of course you can do so.
Reality is the way we see the world. A point of reference in our thinking and action. So remember, when somebody says ” The reality is…..”, he is actually referring to his own reality.
You own your reality. I own my own reality. All of us have different realities.
So when we own our reality, we are totally responsible to create that reality in whatever way we want it to be.
The one thing we can do to change the reality is to..
Change the lense of reality. If we wear a pair of sunglass with red lenses, the world looks red to us. If we change the lenses to a pair of crystal clear lense of course the world then is no longer red in colour in our vision.
The lenses act as filters and distort the images that we see. A yellow coloured rose looks red through a red coloured lense. The reality is , it is yellow in colour.
So what are the lenses of reality? The lenses of reality are simply our beliefs and values.
Do you need to change your beliefs and values to change your reality? That my friend, is for you to answer.
Instead of drastically changing your beliefs and values, let me offer you an alternative.
Before that, let’s get back to the lense analogy. One way to change the lenses is to change them to another lenses.
Another way to change them is to change them to nothing. This is the alternative I talked about earlier.
You simply take away your current lenses and not putting on any other lense.
See everything with a pair of naked eyes.
Instead of seeing things, events or people in relations to your beliefs and value, switch to see all of those as they are.
Drop any assumptions and seek to understand. Not sympathise. When we seek to understand, we ask questions. Ask questions to know more and understand. When we seek to sympathise, we sit by the ledge and look downwards.
The beautiful thing about this simple action of dropping assumptions and seeking to understand is that people are more open to express themselves to us.
They know and they can feel that we are able to see them as who they are.
Because of this, we will then feel more comfortable and at ease to express ourselves more genuinely in return too.
Just imagine what will happen if everyone has the liberty and freedom to truly express themselves genuinely and authentically?
The world will be full of more genuine and authentic people.
Isn’t that the kind of reality that you might want?
