We’re hard-wired to hoard resources. That way, when the famine comes, we won’t starve — or so our inner caveman tells us. But in modern-day America, when so many people have so much stuff, how beneficial is a deeply ingrained urge to accumulate?
Hence the Great Unloading, a recent era ushered in by millennials, who refuse to take their parents’ knickknacks and keepsakes, and Japanese super-organizer Marie Kondo, who taught the world to mercilessly interrogate their socks and CD collections by asking them: Do you spark joy in my life? Her bestseller, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” turned the author into a verb. Have you Kondo-ed your closet yet?
In 2010, childhood friends Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus started a blog devoted to unburdening. It now gets about 5 million readers a year, and the guys have diversified, launching a podcast and filming the recently released movie “Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things.”
“She had 14 winter coats in her closet,” Millburn said, then paused for effect to deliver the punch line: “She lived in St. Pete Beach, Florida.”
Somewhere between the discovery of boxes upon boxes of his elementary school paperwork and answering questions about whether he wanted a climate-controlled storage unit, Millburn had a change of heart.
He realized his mother was keeping a lot of worthless items in order to hang on to a piece of him. Yet, “those boxes had been sealed for more than two decades,” he said. “That made me realize something really important for the first time: Our memories aren’t in our things.”
So he canceled the U-Haul and tossed, donated or sold his mother’s personal effects. Then he turned his attention to his own things. At the time, Millburn had a big job, which facilitated a big house, which was filled to the brim.
“I had boxes and bins from the Container Store to make me look organized,” he admitted. But if he had fewer belongings, he realized he wouldn’t need things to organize his things, so over the course of eight months, he got rid of roughly 90 percent of his possessions.
Then he started letting go of other things: the stressful, high-paying job as a director of operations for 150 retail stores, which he hated, plus his big American Dream-caliber house and 80 pounds of excess weight.
Nicodemus hopped on board after noticing the positive changes in his friend. Both insist that it wasn’t getting rid of objects that transformed their lives.
Getting rid of things made Millburn ask himself questions he’d never thought to pose before. Namely: What’s important to me?
Or he would have said his relationships, yet he only saw his mother on holidays, even though she lived 30 minutes away.
“Our priorities aren’t what we say we do, they’re what we actually do,” he said.
And while both men were in the red at the time, they kept buying things, partly for self-soothing purposes.
“And on top of that I was pacifying myself with bad habits, whether it was indulging in a ton of TV or going out to the bar and racking up a $300 bar tab,” Nicodemus said. “And those pacifiers stopped working.”
“You have this thing that you were obsessed about, but then the new version comes out, which is new and improved in a dozen ways … and now you no longer care about the one you have,” neuroscientist Sam Harris says during the movie. “
Cut to images of new iPhone owners peeling back the layer of protective plastic.
“I think we’re confused about what’s going to make us happy,” he adds.
The Minimalists try not to be dogmatic. On a recent evening, when they were visiting from Missoula, Mont., to host a movie screening at Landmark’s Bethesda Row theater, they were engaged but easygoing, drinking herbal tea, dressed in plain black T-shirts.
They say they’ve been touring the country, doing book readings and sold-out movie screenings, to “share a recipe.” Not the recipe, but the one that works for them.
The reason they wanted to make a movie was to gather other voices. Leo Babauta, for example, has six kids but still manages to live without clutter, and Colin Wright is a young guy who owns 51 items that he keeps in two carry-ons while traveling the world. He describes himself either as homeless or “home-full.”
“We don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with stuff,” Millburn said, although he admitted that there was something appropriate about a San Diego shopping mall he visited recently that occupies an old prison.
And, in case you’re wondering, the answer is no, neither Nicodemus nor Millburn regrets giving away any possession.
“I have one big regret in my adult life, which is that I didn’t spend more time with my mom when she was dying,” Millburn said. “Because you can’t get that back.”
“Minimalism” screens May 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Regal Gallery Place. If there’s enough interest, it will also screen on June 29 at Angelika Film Center and July 5 at Mazza Gallerie. More information at minimalismfilm.com.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/05/25/our-memories-arent-in-our-things-a-movie-explains-why-having-less-stuff-makes-you-happier/?utm_term=.f63e414558f4
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"The art of letting go": This article by Fish Grikowsky in the Edmonton Journal on Sept. 9, 2017. That's how I was able to find the other article above:
World-renowned purgers the Minimalists are not here to judge you, or tell you to get rid of your stamp collection. Nor, as successful booksellers, are they opposed to capitalism or physical objects.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with things,” said co-founding Minimalist Joshua Fields Millburn, 36. “We all need stuff — so consumption isn’t the problem. For me, it was compulsory consumption that was the problem.”
Millburn and his friend Ryan Nicodemus were earning six figures, living in big houses, driving luxury cars — the American Dream manifested. But they also felt the existential void I don’t even need to explain, working 70-plus hours a week to secure more. Just period: more.
And so, famously, at age 30, they abandoned those “plum” jobs and began living experimental lives in the public eye, shedding things both physical and philosophical.
In short, it’s not so much the pieces as the whole game the Minimalists focus on. Ironically, they’re really about making room for more — more time, more growth, more contribution, more experiences and, hopefully, more contentment.
And this starts with simple decisions, sometimes letting go of a single object. In my case it was a ball of elastic bands I kept growing, a fraying rubber tumour on my desk.
The last two Decembers I played the duo’s terrific Minimalism Game, sharing the experience daily in 2015 in the pages of this newspaper.
On the first day of a month of your choice, you let go of one thing. On the second, two things, and so on, so that by Dec. 31 you’re letting go of 31 objects that day — 496 total.
One way to not do that simply is by writing about it and taking studio photos of the stuff every single day for a daily newspaper.
But the Game is just one aspect of a bigger picture. In advance of their Less Is Now talk at Myer Horowitz Sunday, Millburn is a delight to speak with, and we start at the beginning.
Related
Q: What was it that was first making you unhappy?A: The discontent, it wasn’t one particular thing, it was a lack of something. A lack of meaning or purpose or joy or creativity. A lack of priorities. I was focused on the wrong stuff.
Q: What was one of the first things you got rid of that was really tough?
A: It was before I discovered Minimalism. I was 27 when my mom got stage four terminal lung cancer. Eventually she lost her fight. I had to go down there one last time, and that was to deal with her stuff — three apartments worth crammed into mom’s tiny one-bedroom apartment.
Q: I’ve noticed in nerds, more than ever, identity is what stream of products one buys, be it Batman, Star Trek, your hockey team or whatever. Do you feel that?
A: Without a doubt. As a species, we identify with tribes and the new tribe, instead of it being the close-knit group of people in your geographical region, is iPhone versus Android, Apple versus PC.
Q: Well, the president of the United States right now is a manifestation of unchecked capitalism and consumption.
A: It’s this overindulgence, it’s rapaciousness personified. But we are what we desire, in a way. When we just sort of go with the flow, eventually you end up at the f—ing rapids. For me, Minimalism has been a way of preparing myself — not in the sense of preparing for every scenario — but letting go of the need to prepare for every scenario.
Q: Do you consume much media?
A: I’m in airports a lot these days, and every time I go CNN has breaking news. When everything is an emergency, we have a problem. Most emergencies aren’t. I do listen to a lot of music, go to concerts, listen to a fair amount of podcasts.
Q: Did you ever hear from corporations or get called un-American for what you’ve been doing?
A: Well, I was the director of operations for 150 retail stores — I was part of the problem. We worked really hard to get five-year-olds to have cellphones. But I do think we’re shifting from a culture of ownership to a culture of access.
Q: What happens if you get into a funk now and you don’t have objects to blame any more?
A: (Laughs.) You’re only as strong as the weakest link. Maybe it’s health. I had two difficult years, really bad mercury poisoning, and I had C. Diff, which kills 14,000 people a year in the U.S.
Q: When I was doing the Minimalism Game I heard people getting frantic before they started. Can you talk about that?
A: We don’t want to throw a person who doesn’t know how to swim into the deep end. It was all about getting momentum. People are like, ‘I have 300,000 items in my household, I don’t know where to get started.’ And they give up. But you start with one thing. After a while you build up that muscle. You embrace a little bit of the discomfort, but not too much.
PREVIEW
The Minimalists: Less Is Now tour
Where: Myer Horowitz Theatre, 8900 114 St.
When: Sunday at 8 p.m.
Tickets: $30 to $85 through Ticketmaster
Guy #1: But they'll have plants I don't have!
Guy #2: Just take care of the plants you already do have!
My comment: I have to say don't buy things, and appreciate what you own.
This guy Mackenzie "liked" my comment.
Aug. 25, 2019 Post Secret:
"Quarter of denial"/ "Downsizing tough when kids don't want stuff parents offer"
"Let loose and be clutter free"/ "Inspiration by design"
You know what? Maybe it's time to start being happy right now. Happiness has nothing to do with how much "stuff" we can accumulate. Happiness revolves around living life authentically and being content with who we are, what we do, and where we are going.
It's important to realize that “stuff” and other people cannot make us happy. Then, it’s essential to take the time to think about what makes us happy and start living life doing those things.
If you have never been out to an A Conscious Partner event, please be prepared for a very social and fun environment. There will be plenty of laughter, some great conversation and a safe environment.
Come on out to this fun and innovative way of promoting growth in yourself and others.
When Julia King, a nurse at Vancouver General Hospital, decided to anonymously donate part of her liver to a sick child, she was surprised to learn she'd have to travel to Ontario to do it.
The 23-year-old had assumed there was a program in B.C. that would allow her to donate to a local child.
"I know if that was one of my family members or friends, I would want to help them with a live donation. And in B.C., I was told, that isn't an option," said King.
B.C. Transplant says living liver transplant surgeries were performed at Vancouver General Hospital between 2001 and 2015.
But after that, the number of deceased organ donors increased significantly, meaning there was a greater availability of deceased donor livers for B.C. patients.
The living liver transplant program was shelved, but B.C. still has a living transplant program for kidney donations.
A live-donor liver transplant is when a surgeon removes a portion of the liver from a healthy person and places it into someone whose liver is failing. The vital organ has the ability to grow back.
"Every year, we lose about 25 to 30 per cent of patients who are waiting for a liver transplant," said Dr. Nazia Selzner.
Selzner, who is the medical director for the University Health Network's Living Liver Donor program in Toronto, says living donations are a valuable way to help patients receive an organ donation faster and on average, patients of living donors will have a five per cent better long-term survival rate than recipients of deceased donor livers.
There are only two living transplant programs in Canada where living liver transplant surgeries can be performed: one in Toronto and the other in Edmonton. Selzner would like to see far more.
"There is a need to have a living liver donor program in almost all transplant centres across Canada," she said.
Sept. 6, 2021 "Before 'Shang-Chi,' Simu Liu was a model for stock photos, and fans keep sharing them on Twitter": Today I found this article by Celia Fernandez:
Before becoming Marvel's first Asian superhero, Liu was a model for stock photos and has appeared in textbooks and advertisements all over the world.
The pictures can be found on Getty by using search words like "Cheerful East Asian coworker," "East Asian," "business person," "smiling," "cheerful," and "coworker."
Liu also commented on a photo of him on the cover of an accounting textbook in 2017. Before becoming an actor, Liu worked as an accountant at Deloitte.
"Call @Alanis Morissette because I just died from irony. I did a stock photo shoot in 2014 and it ended up here. I used to be an accountant," he wrote.
Sept. 11, 2021 "Watch Shang-Chi Star Simu Liu React to His Viral Stock Photos as Marvel Memes": Today I found this article by Cameron Bonomolo. Here is a video of Simu Liu on the Jimmy Fallon show:
Watch Shang-Chi Star Simu Liu React to His Viral Stock Photos as Marvel Memes (comicbook.com)
Sept. 9, 2021 "This Is Us star Justin Hartley has already booked a new gig at CBS": Today I found this article by Lynette Rice on Yahoo News:
This Is Us hasn't bid audiences farewell just yet, but star Justin Hartley has already lined up his next gig. The actor, who plays Kevin Pearson on the hit NBC drama, will star in the CBS pilot The Never Game, which is based on the best-selling novel by Jeffery Deaver.
Hartley will play a survivalist named Colter Shaw, who "roams the country as a reward seeker using his expert tracking skills to help private citizens and law enforcement to solve all manner of mysteries while contending with his own fractured family," according to the show's official logline. Should the pilot go to series, Hartley will also executive produce the drama along with This Is Us EP Ken Olin.
This Is Us star Justin Hartley has already booked a new gig at CBS (yahoo.com)
My opinion: That sounds interesting like a mystery action drama.
Sept. 17, 2021 Ordinary Joe: This TV show is coming out on Mon. Sept. 20, 2021. It's on NBC and City TV. I'm really excited about this show:
"Centers on Joe Kimbreau as he makes a pivotal, life-changing decision at his college graduation and follows him on three parallel timelines: as a police officer, as a music star, and as a nurse."
Ordinary Joe (TV Series 2021– ) - IMDb
FBI: International: I will check out this show, but I have a feeling I'm not going to like it.
"Elite agents of the FBI's International division as they travel the world with the mission of protecting Americans wherever they may be."
FBI: International (TV Series 2021– ) - IMDb
The Last Baron: Here is a Canadian Documentary produced by Omar Mouallem, who I went to MacEwan Professional Communications with in 2006-2008. This is about the fast food place Burger Baron. I went there years ago when there used to be one close by where I live.
CBC Gem - Absolutely Canadian - The Last Baron
Dentist: I also went to the dentist which I haven't been to since 2015. My parents went there last month and my mom nagged at me to go. So I did. There was plaque built up and I can feel the difference after the cleaning.
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