3339: Your Belongings Should Help You Live in the Present by Rachel Jones of Nourishing Minimalism

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[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Living Daily.

[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a minimalist Monday edition of Optimal Living Daily.

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Your Belongings Should Help You Live in the Present by Rachel Jones of NourishingMinimalism.com

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'm Justin Malik.

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to get right to our minimalist Monday posts and start optimizing your

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_00]: life.

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Your belongings should help you live in the present by Rachel Jones of NourishingMinimalism.com.

[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Many times we make decisions on what to keep based on the past or the future without considering

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_00]: too much the effect our things have on our present life.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_00]: As you work through your decluttering, consider your present situation and what the items

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_00]: do for us right now.

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_00]: There are those of us who live in the past.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: They reminisce about the good old days back when we were kids and my college days before

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_00]: I became a parent when I didn't have to adult.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Ah, those were the good times.

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_00]: That's when I wore this.

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_00]: That's when I used this.

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: That's when I acquired this.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_00]: I had so much fun with this.

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you went backpacking back then, but it's been 15 years since you went backpacking

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and now you're in avid paddle boarder.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, you have plans this weekend to get out on the lake.

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Which means all those backpacking supplies belong to your past self, not the present self.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_00]: There are those of us who live in the future.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_00]: All week they anticipate the weekend.

[00:02:05] [SPEAKER_00]: All the plans are coming.

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll deal with that next week.

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Next year will be better.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: When the kids are out of the house, I'm going to blank.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_00]: When I retire, I will fill my days with blank.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, life will be better then.

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_00]: This weekend, I will do things.

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Next year, I will take a watercolor class.

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_00]: When the kids are out of the house, I'll travel.

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_00]: When I retire, I will pick up gardening.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00]: The future is always full of possibilities.

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_00]: But you've been intending to take watercolor classes for the last six years

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: back when you bought all the supplies.

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, you just shovel them from one closet shelf to another

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_00]: so you can reorganize your space and make everything fit better.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Which means all those watercolor supplies belong to your future self,

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_00]: not the present self.

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: We need to keep things that help us live in the present.

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Minimalism really means to take a good hard look at all the things in our life

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_00]: and decide if they are assisting us or hindering us.

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_00]: There is no right or wrong,

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_00]: but everything we keep in our lives needs to be serving you in the present.

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_00]: The tea set you have, but it's been stashed in the garage for years.

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not serving you.

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: The cake decorating set that you got when the kids were little

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_00]: leave and buying all your birthday cakes for years now.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not serving you.

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00]: The five inch heels that were so stinking cute

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_00]: but have dust on them because in the last seven years

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_00]: you haven't had an occasion to wear them.

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: They're not serving you.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_00]: The things in our house aren't sitting there benign.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: All those things are actually holding you back.

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_00]: It seems harmless enough to let the backpacking gear sit in the garage.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not really in the way and out of sight, out of mind, right?

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_00]: But the truth is all the things that we aren't using require something of us.

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that's the effort it takes in rearranging,

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_00]: shuffling it from one area to another.

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that's the mental inventory you keep in your mind

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: of all the things you own or all the things that need to be dealt with.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_00]: When we leave things piled up in different places around our home,

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_00]: it distracts us because it's all visual clutter.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: But it also reminds us of all the decisions we still need to make.

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Every time you see the watercolor supplies,

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_00]: you're reminded that that is something you want to do,

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_00]: but you haven't made it a priority to do yet.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's exhausting.

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Clutter is getting in the way of living in the present.

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_00]: When you look up the word assist, the opposite of it is obstruct.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And that my friends, is what clutter does.

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: We spend our time managing the stuff in our home

[00:04:48] [SPEAKER_00]: instead of spending our time doing things we enjoy.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_00]: How many more weekends could we spend on the lake paddle boarding

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: if we never needed to clean out the garage?

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_00]: How many nights could you spend relaxing with watercolors

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: if you never needed to reorganize that haul closet?

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not a magical transformation. It takes intent.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: When I decided to embrace minimalism, I thought everything would fall into place.

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to be more present with my husband and my children.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I knew I was always distracted and would flit around from one unfinished project to another.

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Because of that, working towards minimalism did take me quite some time.

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: But when I finally got to the point where my home was easy to take care of

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and was serving me well, I didn't just automatically want to sit and spend time with the people I loved.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I had been acting like a ping pong ball my entire life

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: and didn't matter if I got rid of all the stuff, I was still bouncing around.

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_00]: That definitely was a disappointment, but I had learned to make decisions

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and deal with clutter so I set out to learn to sit still and be present.

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Set up things that assist you in living in the present.

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Minimalism isn't just about getting rid of things,

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_00]: it's also about putting things in place in your life that help you accomplish what you want.

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_00]: If you want to be more present with your family,

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_00]: block off a couple of hours a week to do something together.

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Turn your phone off, turn off the screens, plan an activity that you can do together.

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_00]: If you want to grow as a Christian, put it in your daily schedule,

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_00]: make it a routine to read and pray in the morning.

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Sure, maybe that means getting up 10 minutes earlier, but if you want to grow,

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_00]: you have to make it a priority. If you want to go somewhere, you actually have to take the steps.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's stop allowing life and our stuff to happen to us.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, look to the direction you want to go and start walking.

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Let go of the things holding you back. Schedule in the things that you want to be a priority.

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_00]: You just listened to the post titled,

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Your Belongings Should Help You Live in the Present by Rachel Jones of nourishingminimalism.com

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you to Rachel. It's a good point that we don't often think about the present moment

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: or current times really when considering whether or not we need items.

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_00]: The just-in-case mentality comes to mind when thinking about the future

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and if we should hold on to something. That's one of the reasons why I like

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_00]: one minimalism tip in particular, which is to simply box the item and keep it out of sight for a year.

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, that's a long time, but then you actually get to see whether or not

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: you're truly holding on to something for false reasons. You might think,

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_00]: oh I'll wear this in the winter, but winter comes and goes and you didn't wear it.

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you'll come back to that box one year later, see that it's unopened

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: and you didn't need those items and it makes it so much easier to give it away or trash it,

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_00]: recycle it, or sell it. So that's one little tip you can use in your day-to-day life if

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: you're really struggling to part with some items but want to give it a try. Let me know how it

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_00]: goes and thank you for being here. Have a great rest of your day and I'll be back tomorrow

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: reading to you where your optimal life awaits.