My friend, Ben Smythe, takes simple living and minimalism to another level. He is one of the most joyful people I know and everything he owns can fit in a single backpack. I asked him to contribute a guest blog post since he is always offering up wonderful tidbits of wisdom and inspiration.
Here is what he had to say:
1. Minimalism is about maximizing the most precious resource on earth: time. The less I have to manage my stuff, the more time I have to enjoy the view.
2. Everything is temporary, including me. Stress and suffering arises when I resist this simple fact.
3. More than things, we want connection. I have a one-a-day philosophy that guarantees a moment of connection: offer one person help, ask for help from one person and make a stranger smile.
4. Self-investigation is the simplest way to discover that underneath all those stressful thoughts you are an unending source of peace and contentment.
5. All fear is the fear of love. It is easy to think it is the fear of death, but in reality, what we are most afraid of is opening our heart as wide as we secretly know it can go.
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Benjamin Smythe teaches self-investigation to people around the world. He spends a good portion of his time holding a sign in the Bay Area that reads, “You’re Perfect.” He is the author of I am Life: Notes on the Obvious. For more information go to: www.benjamintsmythe.com
Love Benjamin’s wisdom on facebook. Thankyou Shira for asking Benjamin to contribute and thankyou Benjamin for sharing a little more of yourself. You are right – I love connection, and even get that feeling from exchanges in cyberspace sometimes.
I see Shira that your blog is normally about simple organisation. So, I’ve signed up. Definitely an area of my life where I am making progress slowly, so any extra advice is always welcome.
<3 Jenni