Episode 15: Mindful Consumtion and Minimalism | Paths to Mindfulness

Hello and welcome to the Becoming Mindful Podcast. Today we want to talk about minimalism and consumerism. I am Maria and I am Jackie and we are Becoming Mindful. Alright, do we want to do a quick check-in? Yeah, let's do it, how's your practice going Maria? I think somehow the recent changes in weather have been falling off a little bit. I think I need to figure out a way to just incorporate whatever weather it is and not make that stop me from doing mindfulness practices. Sure. So you've also been going outside? Yeah, mostly the going outside part and just overall feeling a little bit less motivated because it's cold, so I just want to bundle up summer or whatever. Yeah, totally. We've had a lot of snow and cold boats lately. How about you? It's going pretty good, just trying to find little pockets in the day when I can find a few moments here and there and I can give myself permission to do that is just helping a lot. I think I said last month too that I have less time to sit down and do a formal practice by trying to incorporate some mindfulness into all of my feeling activities especially the more repetitive. I've been going really well, so I'm going to keep that up and hopefully find those chunks of time again where I can practice a little bit longer. Great, alright, let's dive into the topic. So we want to talk about another past mindfulness in this time. We want to talk about minimalism and consumerism. Let's talk about why that could be a path. Right, I think this is a really good time to talk about it and we're coming into the holidays, shopping, talk Friday, gifts, yeah, I think it's a good time to talk about those spinning habits and mindfulness and help you influence how you spend your money and your time this time of year as well as I guess the whole year but right now especially, yeah, oftentimes we tend to maybe turn towards a more consumer mindset especially in this time of the year but in general to fill some sort of void that we're feeling right because maybe we feel that hey if we buy these gifts that somehow means something to make us happy or make others more happy or I guess maybe like creating some of this excitement that you had as a child and I think that can definitely lead to mindfulness when you think about how the consumption of things don't really fill that void, they don't really give your life much meaning or at least deeper meaning and oftentimes you realize at some point that this is not really what makes you happy. Yeah, absolutely, so I think it can go either way, you can see that the things around you aren't satisfying as they seem to be when you see them in the store before you buy them and that can lead you to wanting to find some kind of practice like mindfulness to change that kind of lifestyle but I think also anyone who has a mindfulness practice I think that also comes in the other direction and kind of leads you into minimalism or less consumerism I should say just because when you're mindful, when you're more present, when you're in the moment, a lot of those things that you talk about like those emotional triggers to purchasing things are either in the past or in the future or who we want to be or memories or things like that and the present, you know, your experiences matter, the people in front of you matters, that consumerism is lessened and it's funny because this time of year is most of us are visiting family, we're around the people we love and I think we all feel that when we're in front of people that it's not about the stuff but we still have that drive to wrap up present and get something, just don't want to make me shop those deals and all that stuff so it's hard to separate it. Yeah, and I guess that's also where mindfulness comes in because if you think about what minimalism means is stripping away of the unnecessary things, the clutter in your life, the things that weigh you down that are in excess and that could be anything, it could be possessions, it could be eating too much, it could be just indulging in habits, social media and minimalism and it really aims at only keeping those things that are most valuable for you that actually enrich your life and that's really where I think mindfulness comes to play where you have to figure out what's enough, what's essential to you, right? Remembering Marie Kondo's decluttering methods and she often talks about keeping those things that spark joy, right? Yeah, people talk about Marie Kondo but I use her method and I love it, it works and it's good if something isn't useful or brings you joy and why do you have it? Obviously there's some caveats there for some people that might have issues with, let's say like depression or something, I think for them it's really hard to figure out what sparks joy in the end, you sit there with an empty apartment but I think that this is another way where the mindfulness really is helpful and can bridge that gap to get that self-awareness and to explore how you feel and what brings value to your life, what helps you survive the day, let's say if you have depression for example. For sure, and a big part of mindfulness practices is letting go of your attachments to things so I think a lot of the things that we purchase, we have attachment to for very superficial reasons that we just don't think about, it just feels good to buy something or something feels like it'll make us happier in the moment but when we do as mindfulness practices to curb your spending or get that in check or something, they can help you to see that and illuminate what's really motivating you and then you won't have that same urge to buy something, you won't have that same need to reach out and gather things and make those purchases because you can kind of eat through what's happening there, you can tell that it's not something valuable to your core. Now one of the flip sides of this is I think that we are seeing that corporations and society now because minimalism has become relatively popular since the early 2000s has decided or has tried to almost attach consumerism back to minimalism, right? We also see certain design choices and certain interior design or architecture or certain lifestyle choices that are now tied back again to some form of consumerism, right? And I think that's a little bit dangerous, one thing is those are not necessarily minimalism as intended because minimalism is very personal as well, right? So it really depends on what are your things that are important to you and that enrich your life and not what some sort of trend or some sort of corporation tell us you to. And that can lead to some things like if you look at some of the architecture or the interior design that is hailed as the minimalist perfection, you see a lot of loss in detail, like craft manship and art and even just colors, right? And I think that is something of a distortion of minimalism. Thinking about especially details in art, those can be very mindfulness related, creating these art pieces of furniture can be a form of mindfulness practice, enjoying them in your home. They can be enriching to you if you think about things like Feng Shui or how your apartment is laid out or how certain things are presented. And if you look at nature, you would think from looking at it, that nature is not minimalist because you have essentially clutter everywhere, you have leaves, you have bushes growing wherever and I don't know, animal droppings, things that do not appear minimalist or not cluttered. But realistically, that's not true because they have a function, they have some importance and they need to be there plus if you think about art, I think that really enriches people's life as well in their mental health and so I think there's a kind of flip side where that was a little bit distorted. For sure. Yeah, you definitely hit the nail on the head where it has to come from within when you're looking at these trends, like you said, it kind of seems like the projection of minimalism is stricle personality from the style and I think it just comes to mindful consumerism having a reason, having some story behind something, it's making me think of bike club in the beginning when he's got the IKEA apartment and it's like he's just got the showroom in his apartment. But like you're talking about artisan and artist works, when you can purchase something that you know the story behind it, you know who created it, it reflects your community or it reflects an experience that you had. Anytime you need to purchase something, you can go shopping locally and look at local artisans or local woodworkers and purchase something that reflects the community that you're in or maybe it's made from local materials or maybe some artists that you can support by purchasing their work and decorating your home with that and that to me is still that minimalism spirit where you're not just mindlessly purchasing things. It has a purpose, it has a story, it helps someone and know what it's about and your environment reflects that. Yeah, and I think there's also something to be said about quality over quantity. So yes, you would be spending more money on something that you could look at and say this is consumerism but on the other hand it's not because you're not buying this over and over. Now obviously not to discount people that cannot afford that. But you're buying less stuff too, if you are investing in really well-made item, you can make that investment and just buy less things even though a few things that you buy might be more expensive but they mean a little bit more and you can always do it yourself too. That's a whole other ask that mindful consumerism is when you can make it yourself. Yeah, or repair things instead of simple things so there's also an aspect of community. You can share things. So not everyone needs to own necessarily big riding lawnmower. Love those two libraries where communities have libraries where you can check out tools or different things that are expensive to invest in. You might only need now and then you can just check them out and borrow from the community. I love that. I think with any of this, that's where you can be very mindful of what does this bring to my life and how does this impact everyone else, not just me. Yeah, totally because there's that whole other side of it too is that the garbage that we create or like what you said about fixing things and reusing things like when you do make a purchase thinking about Tennessee recycled or reused or fixed as it breaks or is it just going to be trash in the dump. You can think about that anytime that you buy anything and also just keeping things out of the trash with the life cycle or something. Yeah, and I think there's also something to be said about what we leave to our children and our loved ones. I know the minimalists talked about inheritance and things you leave and the loved ones having to go through your possessions to figure what to do with it, especially if it's sentimental items. Now, not to just count sentimental items, and that's I think where you see the spark joy. But also all of your stuff at some point, someone will have to go through and figure out what to do with it. Nine. Yeah. Absolutely. You talk about leaving things to your kids though, I think about like the furniture that my grandparents has and it's really robust and well made and these like bookcases are real wood and ornate. And I think about a lot of the furniture, especially what I bought when I first moved out. And it was made of cardboard and manufactured wood and it didn't last more than a couple of years. But this stuff that was made years ago, I feel like it's going to be around forever. It's so well made. Like solid wood and you can keep it for generations. And that's another thing, if you buy those cheap pieces of furniture, who's going to want that after and that's just going to fall apart. But then it really also depends on your situation. If you can't afford something made out of solid wood, then it's okay. But then of course it's a question, do you need two bookshelves or do you need one bookshelf? And that would even save you money then too, especially if you cannot afford it, you should be very specific about what you really need in your life and what you don't. Yeah. Or buying secondhand, I feel like a lot of people they want everything new, but if you can shop at restores or estate sales or ask your friends, ask on Facebook groups for giving stuff away. But they have a bookshelf. There's lots of groups online giving something away or the buy nothing, roots or whatever they called. Yes, local people give things away all the time, and you can get things from your friends. And we see this now with all the baby clothes and there's really no reason to not utilize that. It's a great opportunity. And yeah, definitely also secondhand shopping. It's all ways to be more mindful, more purchasing things and acquiring items, but just having less stuff, also to be more mindful, there's less distractions, less clutter, there's a little more space to breathe when I have less time for all of me. I have the same feeling, if it's clearly cluttered and unfortunately with the child, it is always cluttered. You have all these toys and even if you don't intend to, it ends up being a lot. And I think I could probably get rid of at least half of all of the things because they're not really used and they just lay around and used temporarily and if they were gone, my kid would probably don't even remember them. And it does be on you. I feel there mentally that when I sit in my living room and there's tons of stuff on the floor and toys everywhere and little things, and it just feels heavy. But I think it also depends what type it is and who, because I think, I don't know if my child feels the same way about the clutter, about her toys being everywhere, and we have to be mindful of that as well, especially when we live with more than one person, more than just with us, because my child may as well look at it and be like, this is great. I can see all my toys wherever they are. I just walk around and find something new to play with and it's wonderful. We go out in nature and find pine cone somewhere and it's like, oh, look at these awesome leaves here or something like that. And I think it's just for me as a parent, I don't play with those toys. So for me, they're an uncomfortable clutter, whereas for someone else, it's not. And I think the same goes for like decorations, like I have things that I found on the beach or I have little pieces from the woods or I have my plants here everywhere and some people would probably think, oh my god, can you clean that up? Right. Yeah. So that's where we come back to the mindfulness around what is essential to you and also being mindful of your other members or your family and their preferences and then accepting that as well. Yeah. I think almost essential of any mindfulness practice is looking at the way that collect things or acquire things and what your environment is like around you. So I think everyone who really practices mindfulness comes to this juncture of kind of looking around at their external environment and does it reflect that mindfulness practice, does it reflect what they're trying to cultivate and I think it's something we all face on this path. Right. And not even only external, I think internal as well, things like certain habits. Yeah. Obviously like social media and the kinds of information you consume to food, beverages, alcohol, drugs, all these kind of things, clothes, your appearance to everything. I think that's one thing that then also leads to looking at activities, things you do. Do you do more things that do not actually cost money that do not feed into this consumerism and capitalism, right? You spend time with people, spend time in nature. Yeah. Absolutely. More experiences than tangible things and those tend to stick in your mind so long too. They have such a greater impact. Absolutely. But I think it also affects relationship. If you think about mindfulness and minimalism looking at what is essential and what is not valuable. I think you also start looking at some of your relationships and maybe people that are not bringing value to your life or are not having a negative impact on you or if you just spend lots, lots of time with a lot of people and you feel maybe overwhelmed by that. So you focusing on the people that are important for you and that make you feel good. Yeah, mindfulness practices are really going to help bring to light how you value your resources and that's your time, your money, everything that you exert effort towards. Having that insight from a mindfulness practice to understand, have that pause before you make a decision and to help you understand why you're doing something or what the motivation is behind something that changes how you consume everything, everything that you choose to work toward. Yeah, and if you think about things like echo, minimalism, the poll, leave no trace and how you deal with this environment and nature, that's another big aspect I think. Yeah, so we talked about a few resources of what can help you become more mindful consumer, we talked about Marie Kondo and like her, you can look for the corp that are sustainable businesses and also shopping locally in artisans and local artists. Yeah, some other resources are definitely the minimalist, there's also another site called Becoming Minimalist to talk about Minimalism. 17 and yeah, there's definitely a lot of resources. Yeah, so going into this season maybe avoiding some of the Black Friday or Cyber Monday stuff and maybe focusing more on spending time with people and freeing some memories. Yeah, I'm exactly being mindful of everything that we consume as well, it's a big month for consumption and that it is definitely all kinds of consumption. Yeah, I don't know, it's a difficult task I think even personally I've tried hard, I've been moved into a tiny house and it's still hard to be minimal, I'm still like the first thing at the scenes and places, even though I know how good it feels, but it's hard. Absolutely. I think any time, I think my mindfulness practice gets away from me, I start to consume a little less, a healthily watching YouTube or something or just wasting my time or wasting my money. I quit. For me, it's mainly gifts, I think, for Christmas. It's hard. It still feels good to give gifts and things. There's also ways to make gifts more minimalist or more mindful if you think about where people say you get rid of something if you got something new. I don't want to say giving gifts or receiving gifts out of that and you should just remove it from the whole season and like, of course not. Yeah, but as we said before, what kind of goods, it cannot be like an experience. You get a zoo pass or something, I don't know, and definitely handmade things and art and there's definitely ways, but it's also maybe freeing for people to say, hey, we don't want any gifts. I think I'm armed for the Christmas season. I think so too. And I hope this discussion also helped our listeners think about some of those as you go into this holiday season. Yeah, just continue my phone's practices and feel good about the choices that you make. Right. Well, thank you all for listening and hope to see you again next month, where we will be talking about a book review again, always popular. Really, really good book. Yes, so the book we're talking about is radical acceptance by terror wrap. So I'm definitely looking forward to this, hope to see you again then. If you are interested in our other episodes, please check out our website at becomingmindfulpodcast.com or follow us on social media at becomingmindfulpodcast. This and thanks for listening and until next time, be well.