Intentionalist, not Minimalist
Of all the popular –ists and –isms, minimalism is one that inspires much debate.
A hot topic du jour, minimalism was popularized, in large part by Leo Babauta’s blog, Zen Habits. While I love Leo and most everything he writes, and have embraced many of the principles of minimalism, I have grown weary of the term.
It’s lost its meaning and original intention—that of downsizing, ridding ourselves of possessions and things that clutter our lives, streamlining, ideally, to increase happiness and clarity around what is truly important and meaningful—to become just another term that gets used without much thought.
This current shift toward downsizing gathered steam as people tried to make sense of, and weather, the current economic storm. When times are challenging, people tend to evaluate the way they live, how they spend, and the subtle tension between need and want. Minimalism offered an antidote to the excesses of the previous decade—and a welcome one, at that.
And, as people appraise their lives, many find that stuff just doesn’t do it: doesn’t equal happiness, doesn’t provide fulfillment, and doesn’t sate that empty existential pit that rumbles from within. And if a dark, gaping hole of dissatisfaction exists, it isn’t going away by throwing more crap from Wal-Mart or Nordstrom into its gaping maw.
If you’ve read any of my writings, then you know that I strive to lead a life uncluttered.
Yet, over the past few years, the way in which minimalism informs my life has changed. It’s limiting, that word minimalist, and I don’t like being constrained.
My discovery of minimalism was less an epiphany than a natural extension of Voluntary Simplicity (from which I sadly strayed for many years). But, just like Voluntary Simplicity, which I first came across nearly twenty-five years ago when I read the book of the same name (by Duane Elgin), I felt there was something missing. Many fervent adherents to minimalism are missing a sense of lightness, aesthetic sensibility, and a sense of humor. Dogma abounds when a group gets too serious about its –ism, and I don’t play well with dogmatic thinking or behavior.
While I still identify in large part with what it means to be a minimalist, the term has lost it resonance. I acknowledge that it’s a pursuit, a path, a continuum—that there are as many definitions of minimalism as there are those who would choose the label, but I have decided to use a different word.
Intentionalist, if I must be defined by a single term, is the word I use to describe my way of being and living with conscious awareness. To live with mindfulness, to make thoughtful choices, whether actions or acquisitions, and to be free from the coercion of any trend or movement that prescribes certain behaviors, is what I mean when I call myself an Intentionalist.
Less Debate, More Living
Heated minimalist debates floating around the blogosphere that center on notions like who can live with the least, who endures more hardship, etc. border on the absurd. Hooray that you haven’t showered since Bastille day and that you can wear your socks for six days in a row, but I don’t see the point of such extremes. And to debate such topics seems just as silly as those who live mega-consumptive lives in their McMansions with ten-car garages arguing that they have a right to their Yeti-sized carbon footprint.
I’m not a rampant consumer, and yes, I still feel like I have way too much stuff, but to get caught up in counting how many things I have or some other score-keeping technique, just takes the joy out of living. I have too many things I want to do, so much life to be lived, than to worry about whether I would earn the minimalist badge.
So, while the dogmatic keep tally of the hair shirts in their respective burlap duffel bags, I’ll be outside looking at the stars, or drinking tea with a friend, or riding my Vespa with a huge grin plastered across my face, because I’m making the choice to live my life with intention.
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15 Comments for this entry
Sue Ann Gleason
I once dated a minimalist. A minimalist with a capital M. The first time I saw his house, I thought he had just moved in and forgotten to take his furniture. I probed and I queried and I spent many a night analyzing this mysterious man I had fallen in love with. And, I spent very little time in his abode. It was just too, well, sterile. So we romped and wriggled (and dined) at my place for about seven years. Here’s what happened in those years. I began to pare down my acquisitions and create white space in my home and in my life. And he custom built every piece of furniture in his home. A dining table made of marble. A frame for the mattress that sat on his bedroom floor. I think it was cherry. We parted ways before the pieces were complete but what I see now, as I reminisce, is intentionalist, not minimalist.
Here’s to living life with intention blanketed in bliss. . .
shanna
Ah, yes, white space. I am hyper-sensitive to stimuli–especially too much visual clatter. One of my favorite terms that I learned many years ago, while studying east Indian art, is Horror Vacuui, or fear of empty space. You see it in much Indian and Mughal art where an entire canvas/space is filled with imagery with nary a room for breath! Anyway, I think many people have Horror Vacuui as evidenced by their homes, garages, and, the worst–storage spaces! Perhaps it’s the fear of being alone, or empty, both words have such negative connotations in our culture.
Thank you, Sue Ann, for such a thoughtful comment, I love the words intention and bliss in the same sentence!
nasrine
I have been clearing the clutter over and over again, in almost every aspect of my life. Since becoming an expat I struggle with clutter. I often think to myself “I can’t get rid of this” this is from Boston, my hometown, or the it’s from the US and I need to hold on to it, it is a piece of home for me. When I lived in Cairo I struggled with tons of clutter b/c it is a developing world city and it seemed everything, every item I had access to before in the US suddenly disappeared. I was THAT girl getting on the trans – atlantic flight, you know the one? With tons of suitcases filled with random items. How things have changed. However, the more I learn, I realize items are just things. Home is within me Also, since I have easier access to traveling across the pond, technology and so forth what I need is no longer a challenge, as it once was.
nasrine recently posted..The iMind: Think Differently
shanna
Thanks for visiting and commenting, Nasrine! What is it about stuff? We seem to give tangible material things more weight or value than they intrinsically possess (unless it’s a pile of gold, I guess). Of course many things we collect (I call them dustables instead of collectables) do seem to confer some sort of identity reinforcement–what we choose to surround ourselves with sends a message to others. Collect knives? A certain mental image appears. Collect stuffed pink bunnies? another image all together and neither assumption may be correct.
Yes, home IS within you, and you have that wherever you go on this blue and green planet. And I am sure you have discovered that traveling and living abroad has helped you truly understand the difference between need and want.
Kimby
Shanna, the way you concluded this piece made me feel like you’d moved toward that sense of lightness (and sense of humor) you mentioned in the middle of it. Balance is key. I applaud you for pointing out the obvious (which SHOULD be obvious, without the distractions of clutter…): Austere surroundings can indeed be “simple,” but too much (or too little) of a good thing turns life into vacuum.
It took me twenty years to come to terms with “stuff.” (Some, I retained for sentimental value, but the majority of it was due to a false sense of “me”… without it, I felt I lacked identity.) After a thorough housecleaning (inside and out), I realized that I’m NOT equivalent to my belongings (or lack of belongings) — “things” are meant to enhance my life, not define it.
Here’s to LIVING… and star gazing… and tea sipping… and riding your bike with a great big grin. You GO, girl!
Kimby recently posted..Forks In The Road … Pathways To Culinary Pleasure
shanna
Greetings, Kim, I appreciate your visit to my little space on the interwebs and for your thoughtful comments. Paring down is something I do with regularity; it’s the ebb and flow of things and makes me feel aware of my surroundings and stuff, nary a thing escapes my scrutiny when I am in purge-mode. I do adhere to a “for every item in, two must go away” policy.
When I was robbed in my early 20s, and nearly everything was taken from my tiny apartment, I think it was then that I realized that we can never truly own anything–someone bigger and badder can always take things from us. So, I also realized that my memories reside in my heart and my head–of course I do have some sentimental things, but way less than I used to. I’m fine with that. It’s like the actual space I free up makes room for more adventures and experiences. I like that, too 
Tracey
My friend’s mother recently passed away. I remember visiting before she died and the whole house felt alive. The last time I was there we played Miles Davis on an old record player while my daughter danced and we talked as we sat on the circa 1965 custom-designed couch. While I was helping my friend clear out the remnants from the house–her mom had lived there for over 45 years–I couldn’t help but notice all the things in the house had lost their luster. My friend said the house felt like a corpse now that her mother was gone. All the books, pictures, artifacts, knick knacks, clothes…it all seemed different without her there. In the end we don’t take out stuff with us. While we’re here enjoying life it can mean something, if there’s intention behind it. So I agree, no need to get a badge for being minimalist. As long as what you surround yourself with makes you happy or at least doesn’t take away from you, then it’s okay to have it.
Tracey recently posted..Want to write a book but can’t find the time?
Marion
Shanna!!
What a great posting! I’m with you.. I personally just don’t like clutter and favor simplicity. It makes me feel freer and happier. It’s not to say that I don’t like stuff. But if I choose to add something in, I also look for ways to re-purpose something out.
The paragraph that brought on a MAJOR chuckle is:
“Heated minimalist debates floating around the blogosphere that center on notions like who can live with the least, who endures more hardship, etc. border on the absurd. Hooray that you haven’t showered since Bastille day and that you can wear your socks for six days in a row, but I don’t see the point of such extremes. And to debate such topics seems just as silly as those who live mega-consumptive lives in their McMansions with ten-car garages arguing that they have a right to their Yeti-sized carbon footprint.”
So, so true!
Hugs!
Marion
Marion recently posted..Daily Detoxes as Quick Fixes for your Life & Health
shanna
Thanks, Marion, I am glad my sensibilities and sense of humor resonate with you
Matthew Corrigan
Shanna,
I like your post in regard to straying away from attachments. Particularly attachments to “stuff”. As beings we like to be comforted and often times we buy things to nurture that comforting feeling. Not that we aren’t deserving of the “stuff”, we are, but when we look back on it months later, we realize that it was temporary happiness. I am going to pass along a quote from the Dalai Lama that a friend of mine posted on Facebook today. It seems very poignant in relation to your post.
When asked what surprised him most about humanity, he replied. “Man. Because he sacrifices his health to make money, then he sacrifices his money to recuperate his health. Then he is so anxious about the future that he doesn’t enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future, he lives as if he is never going to die, then he dies having never really lived.”
Matthew
shanna
Thank you, Matthew, for your insightful comments. Sadly stuff is never a replacement for the love, comfort, security, whatever it is that people feel they are missing. We have everything we need within ourselves, yet it is so hard to see that sometimes. And thanks for the Dalai Lama quote–I saw that circulating on Facebook and I love it!
Emelie Rota
Ahhhhh how I resonate with your approach, and how, indeed the word “minimalist” has become some sort of reverse status symbol. How humans tend to muck up that which starts off beautifully and with great intention… My favorite line that you wrote is, “Dogma abounds when a group gets too serious about its –ism, and I don’t play well with dogmatic thinking or behavior.”
It’s just so true! I’m reading a book right now which you might really enjoy – it’s by Osho and it’s called “Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic.” I am thoroughly enjoying his unique perspective on dogma…. he just doesn’t buy in to any of it.
I wonder, why it is that we seem to need to turn EVERYTHING into a religion of sorts… be it worshiping stuff, lack thereof, sanctity of “marriage”, hovering over our kids, vaccinations; it all becomes larger and more important than our “ness” – the bits inside of us that make us unique. Perhaps it’s time to become a souldier.
Emelie Rota recently posted..Would someone please clean that up?!
shanna
Hey Emelie, thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it. Yes, we do worship at the Altar of Stuff and ideologies, and other things. It’s as if we believe concepts and things to be fixed, static, unchangeable, but just like people, institutions, ideologies, and stuff all transform. I couldn’t live with grace and in truth if I didn’t regularly assess my own beliefs and assumptions. Stasis is not a part of living! And when you mentioned our “ness,” that resonated with me as I call the essence of our true self our “thusness.” Much synchronicity between us, Emelie
Amy Scott
Thanks for calling this post to my attention, Shanna! It so resonates with how I see the world – and I, too, first discovered what is now called “minimalism” through voluntary simplicity, thanks to a book a friend gave me called Choosing Simplicity.
It really is about intention more than anything else: choosing what is important to you and how you want to live your life, and then making intentional decisions that reflect those values and dreams. I love the last lines in particular.
I can sooo relate to what Nasrine said about living abroad and feeling attached to things because of it. I’ve definitely been the one lugging huge suitcases through the airport, filled with things from the States that I thought I needed. I moved to Buenos Aires with just two suitcases in 2007, and now have an apartment full of stuff! I think I lost my *intention* there for a while, and I’m on a quest to get it back.
Amy Scott recently posted..It’s Time to Plot Your Escape
Intentionalist, not Minimalist – Shanna Trenholm | HappyTipsDaily, October 7th, 2011 on 5:27 pm
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