WEEK 13
Start practicing minimalism
While people find joy in collecting items of meaning and beauty, having many possessions comes with plenty of strings attached. Nice cars need maintenance, and big homes need more cleaning. More stuff needs more space. Takashi enjoys being handy, so he doesn’t mind that he has to build another display case for the latest collectibles he purchased. But he is having trouble figuring out where to put it. This week, we’ll explore taking steps to minimize the possessions we have.
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How far happier is he who is indebted to no man for anything except for what he can deprive himself of with the greatest ease! Since we, however, have not such strength of mind as this, we ought at any rate to diminish the extent of our property, in order to be less exposed to the assaults of fortune. Those men whose bodies can be within the shelter of their armor are more fitted for war than those whose huge size everywhere extends beyond it, and exposes them to wounds; the best amount of property to have is that which is enough to keep us from poverty, and which yet is not far removed from it.”
Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind, 8
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As we know by now, Stoicism hangs our happiness only on the things we control—that is, our judgments, values, and intentions. Our happiness does not include any “externals”—no objects, possessions, or money. Here Seneca is arguing that the more we own, materially or financially, the more we expose ourselves to the vagaries of Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck. True, people like Takashi get pleasure from owning things, but the tradeoff is stress; we have to worry about maintaining our possessions, not breaking or losing them, and shielding them from the envy of other people who may steal them from us. All of this distracts us from the main goals: to work on our character in order to become better people, and to approximate ataraxia, or mental tranquility.
Seneca recognizes that to do away with possessions entirely—that is, to adopt the lifestyle of the ancient Cynic philosophers—is not for everyone. The Cynics (a word that means “dog like,” because their critics thought they lived like dogs rather than as human beings) sought an existence with no material possessions and no affective bonds. They lived in the streets, surviving on the charity of others, and did not marry or have children.1 The Cynics spent their whole lives practicing virtue and telling others how bad they were at it. Needless to say, they weren’t extremely popular at parties.
But that is not the Stoic way. For Stoics, you may recall, externals are preferred or dispreferred indifferents, meaning that you may or may not pursue them, so long as they don’t get in the way of working on your character. And that is exactly Seneca’s point: Too many possessions, and likely also too much money, do get in your way if your chief project is to become a better person. That said, Seneca didn’t exactly practice what he was preaching here, as he was one of the richest men in the empire, with excess properties and possessions. Accordingly, he was often criticized for it. Then again, he also never claimed to be a wise person; quite the opposite. He often wrote to his friend Lucilius about just how much he failed his own expectations:
Pray, pray, do not commend me, do not say: “What a great man! He has learned to despise all things; condemning the madnesses of man’s life, he has made his escape!” I have condemned nothing except myself. There is no reason why you should desire to come to me for the sake of making progress. You are mistaken if you think that you will get any assistance from this quarter; it is not a physician that dwells here, but a sick man.2
As we learn from Seneca, if we are to make progress in improving our character, we should embrace minimalism.
This week you will dip your toes into minimalism by not buying anything extraneous and by getting rid of items you no longer use.
Step 1: First start by brainstorming up to five possessions you may be able to toss, by using the table below.
Step 2. Decide to part with any item in the first column if:
- You answered “no” in the second column.
- The item is rated between 1 and 5 in both the third and fourth columns.
If you don’t have any items that meet these criteria, go back to the first step and list items that do.
Step 3. Circle the items you’ll part with, and come up with a plan to donate, recycle, or dispose of them. Be sure to write specific times when you’ll research your options if needed, and, most importantly, to get rid of the items.
Step 4. Now that you have a plan, set an implementation intention to remind yourself not to purchase anything unnecessary over the course of the week. This doesn’t mean you should avoid grocery shopping, or not get new clothes for an important interview, if needed. Rather, remind yourself not to buy things that are just for pleasure, and resist the desire you have for impulse purchases.
Step 5. Act on your plan from Step 3. You may find it useful to write your action plan in your to-do list or calendar, and to review your implementation intention daily.
As Seneca mentions, a sage would be unaffected by maintaining or losing possessions. However, since we’re not sages, the goal of this practice is to minimize the amount of external things we own that are subject to the winds of chance. By starting with a few small items and a week of buying only what’s necessary, you will prove to yourself that you don’t need to own things to be happy. If Seneca’s advice works for you this week, then it may be worth it for you to pursue even more minimalism in the future.
How did your week of minimalism go? Did you remember to minimize your purchases? Did you miss the items you disposed of as much as you thought? Write your thoughts about this exercise, and whether you think minimalism is for you.
Finally, bookmark this page if minimalism worked for you.
Minimalism helps you realize that you can be satisfied with little, and helps you focus on what’s important in life. This is a theme we’ll also be exploring in the coming week.