Maybe you have already said this phrase at some point in your life: "We don't need much to be happy". But what really makes you happy? We've been sold on the promise of happiness through things, and, in this frantic search, we bought the idea of "the more, the better". Currently, we live at the peak of overload, suffocated with things and tasks. From global warming, we opened the era of "mental warming". We disconnected from the natural flow of life and started to live hyperconnected. We are intoxicated with so much information. One of the newest syndromes in society
is FoMO, "Fear of Missing Out", or fear of being left out, that is, the anguish that we are always out of date. If we stop to think honestly, this is not the way we want to live. At some time, we have all reached the limit or we are close to reaching it. We know that, for many people, Consumerism is an escape mechanism, one of the ways to mask emotional and existential problems. According to the Global Footprint Network, an organization that measures the size of our ecological footprint, to maintain our current consumption pattern, 1.6 planet would
be needed. The ecological footprint refers to the traces or consequences left by human activity in the environment. The bigger an individual's consumerism, the bigger his ecological footprint. If the world consumed like the European Union, We would need almost three planets. If we lived like Americans, almost five. What does all this have to do with us humans, the Earth's "conscious species"? What kind of response can each of us give to the planet? Would minimalism be an answer? Isolatedly, no. But, after all, what is minimalism? MINIMALIST MIND A Documentary About Minimalism Minimalism took me out of the
automatic way of living and awakened me to a more intentional life. I discovered minimalism at 44, And, on that occasion, I asked myself: How do I want to live the rest of my life? What, in fact, motivates me to get up every day? I learned minimalism is not a life of deprivation or denial, but to focus on the good things we like to do. I rescued the taste of the simple things in life, like the benefits of a relaxing bath, for example. "Less is more" is not just a slogan. Today, in effect, I do much
more with less. My stress decreased and my productivity has increased, Because minimalism is not just removing excess stuff, but also learning to say "no" to what distracts us and steals our energy. As author and minimalist Joshua Becker says, when we confront the things that no longer make sense in our lives, we start to confront ourselves. I think this is the kind of confrontation people fear most. THE TRANSFORMATION My name is Gianini, I'm 49 years old, I'm married and today I live in Ilhabela, north coast of São Paulo. I met minimalism in 2015, when reading an
article by Dave Bruno on how to live with 100 things. First, I was curious to find out how many things I had, and I gave up counting at the very beginning. Reading the article, I realized that the focus was on selecting what was essential in my life. I decided to do this experiment and I did it for three months. I separated 100 items, boxed the rest, donated some things. The idea was to remove the influences from my visual field and reflect on each item I chose. The issue of functionality, of emotional relationship, why I was
keeping that in my life. Then I started to reconsider my whole life project, not alone, but with my wife, Patricia. We decided everything together. One of the main choices we made was to live without a car. We haven't had a car for almost four years. We're thinking about buying a car, because we're needing it at this moment of life. So nothing I stop having is forever. By the way, it's not a question of quantity, but of how much you use it, how much it serves you. We cannot be trapped, hostage to things. Things have to
be at our service. We abdicate television for three years, and today we have TV, because we moved house And there was already had a TV here. Given that we rent our house, we leave the house for people to stay, so we also thought about the houseguest. Sharing our house is a great exercise in detachment, a change in mentality, that helped spread minimalism to various areas of our lives. Besides living without a car and rethinking about what a home is for us, home is where we are, when we rent our house, we have little to take
away. We take only our personal stuff, Because we apply minimalism to our eating, so we have a very lean pantry, aligned with a healthy diet, which is the line my wife follows. On the financial side, we adjusted our cost of living, our standard of living. People want to grow, I also wanted to grow, I followed this path, but as we grow, we get lost, because you want to have financial stability, but you can have financial stability 'here' or 'here'. It depends on your standard of living. To maintain the standard of living 'here', you have to
work hard, you have to spend hours of your life selling your time for a salary that's not worth it, which makes you waste your life. This standard of living that is here in minimalism, with regard to each one's income, in our case we found our minimum cost of living. It depends on the format of each family. So we have financial stability here, according to our beliefs and our personal choices. I think that's what minimalism is. It's to exercise our power of choice consciously, Without following society's rules. MINIMALISM IN RELATIONSHIP When Gianini introduced me to minimalism,
he introduced me as a new lifestyle, that it would also be very beneficial for us as a couple. But I thought, "This is not for me". And why did I think that? Because I was always very consumerist. And besides being a consumerist, I used to work in a workplace that stimulated consumption even more, it was a very competitive environment. For working a lot, the fact I go shopping at the mall was like a reward. I used to say: "I worked hard, so I deserve to make that purchase". After some time, I started to observe Gianini's
model of life, mainly in relation to work. I realized he worked serenely and was very happy with his work. And I would come home and complain, pouring out on him all my frustrations at work, I was nervous, stressed, and he wasn't, he was in a different mood. So I realized it also made sense to apply minimalism at work, but I just couldn't, because, emotionally speaking, it was very difficult for me. In reality, I was afraid to leave my job and to be financially dependent on Gianini, because I always had my money. Until one day I
got sick at my job, I had a very stressful situation, and, coming home, I had a heart arrhythmia, my vision started to blur, and I felt like I was going to pass out. Thank God I didn't pass out, but as soon as I got home crying, I told Gianini about the stressful situation I was going through, and that I didn't want to go through that kind of stress anymore. That's when he said to me: "The money is neither mine nor yours, it is ours, "it's the money of our relationship, our budget. "And if you change,
we'll live in a simpler way, "with more quality of life. This will be as good for you as for us as a couple". Sometimes we carry fears in the relationship for lack of a good conversation. And that conversation boosted my mentality shift. But we talked and decided that I wouldn't quit my job immediately. We outlined a plan, a project. And we, in parallel, had a trip scheduled to Chapada dos Veadeiros. On that trip, at the airport, Gianini gave me a book as a gift. The book "The Joy of Less", by Francine Jay. I devoured this
book. The trip took 12 to 14 days. Before the trip ended, I'd already read the book and wanted to reread it. I wanted to come home and put into practice everything I learned with the book. CONSUMERISM AND ALIENATION Do you know the difference between consumption and consumerism? Whereas consumption is the act of buying what is essential to us, in consumerism we pass the limit of necessary, we start to live in an excess. Polish sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman was a great thinker and critic of postmodern society, which he called "liquid modernity". According to Bauman, "Consumption
is a condition, it is a permanent and irremovable aspect, an inseparable element of biological survival". About the consequences of consumerism, Bauman warned: "Human relations are being hijacked By this mania to appropriate as many things as possible". Few people know that the word "consume" also means "to destroy". Fire, for example, can consume/destroy a forest. Therefore, by adopting consumerism as a lifestyle, the consequence is that we are filling our share of destruction of the planet. But why don't most of us realize this? One of the reasons is called alienation, the false illusion we are separate from the
whole. "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Henry David Thoreau Hi, folks. I'm Filipe do Lago, I'm 45 years old, I live in Piracaia and I would like to invite you to meet a little of my house and my history. Well, this is my house, that's where I reside, work and live well. It's my little space, which has a lot of comfort, a lot of tranquility, a lot of peace. It's a place of inspiration, quietness, rest and work too, but mainly with quality of life, Which is what we appreciate a lot. So that's
it. Here are my herbs in the window, you can cook and get the chives, mint, lemon balm, basil, all the spices. Out there we have a little orchard too. And this is my sundeck, where we have breakfast, we sunbathe and contemplate nature. I was married, then I divorced, and I was in a big house, paying rent, it was a pretty cool place. But I saw it was idle. A gigantic house with four bedrooms, three bathrooms. I wasn't in a favorable financial moment, with some difficulties. Then I said: "I need to get out of this house".
And the property I had was this boat garage. I started searching on shipping container houses. I had the idea of buying one and putting it up here. Until the penny dropped and I said: "I have already two containers here in size". That's when I had the idea, even due to the need to come and live here, of taking the motorboat out of garage, putting a cloak on it, so that it stays out there, And building what there wasn't, which was the bathroom and the kitchen, the necessary for me to inhabit. Then I built... I built
a sewage system with a biodigester, everything environmentally correct. No waste goes to the dam. I capture water from the dam, which is very clean. Water is 96% potable, fresh. So it's a wonderful water. Anyway, there... I built the bathroom, the sewage system, a small kitchen, And the idea was to use, with the intention of being like a boat, something you have everything near at hand. Although small, it's very comfortable. I grew up in a family of teachers, I'm a teacher. I always saw people complaining about lack of time, that they saw their children being raised
by nannies, that they didn't see their children grow up, that when they left or returned, their children were sleeping. Definitely, that wasn't what I wanted for my life. That was a certainty I had. We grow up hearing that we have to work hard, that "the early bird catches the worm", that if you don't work and work, you won't have things, and you need to have things. This stays in our mind, and we end up believing it. Minimalism makes you reflect on this point. Do you really need all these things? Minimalism came into my life at
a time when I was coming out of a toxic relationship. I was 27, almost 30, and I didn't have what people said was important for us to have. I didn't have my car, a home of my own, a steady job. And I started to get depressed. Minimalism, for me, started with letting go of relationships that weren't doing me well. So I spent a long time without a cell phone. To talk to me, it was needed to go to my home. I stopped following people on social media that incited me to consumerism, that made me feel
bad. Because I needed this, I needed to know myself. I needed to know what was really important to me. I needed to see myself through my eyes, and no longer through others'. When I got back to social media, I started to follow only people who did me well, who taught me something or added something to me. We live in a world that highly values having instead of being. When we decide to live a minimalist life, in fact, what we do is go against that path. How many people get sick, succumb to anxiety, sometimes depression, panic
disorder and so many other mental disorders, for leading a stressful life, for assuming many responsibilities and commitments, on behalf of a lifestyle And to sustain a lifestyle they never stopped to think about if it really makes them happy. Although I was never a person who went into debt to buy things, I had a habit of buying much more than was necessary. At that time, if someone told me there was a lifestyle that preaches the idea that we can be happy with less, I probably wouldn't like the idea at all, because I was very guided by
this issue of having things. Having more was something that filled me, or that I thought it filled me, actually. I had contact with all kinds of properties, I had a lot of parameters so I could compare and reach my consensus. Sometimes I sell a property that has nothing to do with what I have here. Sometimes I invite people to come here, and the person is enchanted and says "Why did I make such a big house, if I don't need it all?". When he attests to this in practice, sometimes he gets a little frustrated and says
"I didn't need all of this". The person starts to get in touch with this concept of seeing what is really needed. I saw so many people buy properties and end up using little, it's idle. The person has a superhouse with a pool, with security, with everything, but he can't enjoy it, because he doesn't have time. Sometimes the person comes to his house twice a year, while there's a lot of expenditure and all that, so... I have this perception, the possibility of knowing and seeing all kinds of experiences. I see this trend for people to want
more quality, to come inland, this is a trend that has been happening. Many people want to reside here, Instead of just coming over the weekend. Working from home, the remote working. So people are adapting in that sense of minimalism. My name is Renan Wilbert, I'm a journalist and content creator. I'm from Rio de Janeiro and about a year ago, I discovered minimalism, and minimalism changed my life, my career, my way of working and living. It changed everything. I understood that, if I didn't say to myself what was important to me, if I didn't determine what
my priorities were in life, What was essential to me, other people would say. I believe minimalism isn't about you having few things. It's about you having enough, having what makes you happy. If what makes you happy is a bookcase full of books and all the books in it make you happy, it doesn't make you less minimalist. But if you abdicate all your books and you miss them, this is also not minimalism, this is scarcity. Minimalism has to do with balance, with enough. Of course, I can't say that achieving this enough is easy, because I would
be ignoring a good part of the country's reality, Who has no financial conditions to have even enough. I produce content on the LGBT issue. It's a struggle within the LGBT community so that we're not guided by consumption, because if consumption guides us, the protagonists of a cause will end up being companies, not people. I think a lot of LGBT people could to benefit financially from a life focusing on what is essential. The stress we don't feel when we start to focus on the essential and see we don't have to run after things we don't need,
but that adsvertisements and other people say we need, is liberating. And less stress means a happier life. In a society that says we are wrong, in which many people say we shouldn't even exist, any stress taken off our shoulders is already a big profit. THE SYSTEM The Industrial Revolutions, which began around 1760, brought favorable conditions for the creation and strengthening of the capitalist system, the model that dictates the rules of the world economy. New means of production, transportation and mass communication Helped to forge what is now known as consumer society. Such society is based on
ensure the permanent flow of surplus production, stimulate demand through credit and advertising, and transform the act of consumption into a ritual of happiness. To survive and keep growing, the prevailing economic model strives to reduce increasingly our citizen presence, in order to transform us mere consumers at service of capital. We have become the great fuel of the "matrix", The consumption machine that cannot stop. We become numbers, statistics, graphs, research samples. We became "puppets" of big corporations, of a questionable political system and of major media outlets. And so, we become invisible in the crowd. So many times
I ask The moon what should I do And she, serene, answers me Accept, you have nothing to fear Not everything has an explanation A reason Or apparent place And that's when I take a deep breath I reflect and thank for another day That's when I take a deep breath I reflect and thank for another day From sunrise to sunset From sunrise to sunset... I would like to... ... to express my repulsion for the abuse of labels About minimalism, particularly. So, I accept being called a minimalist, because I have a minimalist way of living, but I'm
Paulo, I'm not "the minimalist". So, I have a life filled with many ideas, with various activities, that are not restricted and, above all, not limited by minimalism. Minimalism is a means, I understand it that way, for us to be more free. And it's not an ideology. It's not something that shapes us, neither the personality nor our global way of life. From the experience I have with the people I talk to, above all, something catches my attention a lot more, before the concept of minimalism. By the way, a concept that I can't dissociate from another, which
is to have a conscious life. And people are not living a conscious life. In the workshops and trainings I give, and people I know, what happens is that, suddenly, it "clicked". "I never thought about that". Why don't they think? Because people live hostages of the consumer society. Society doesn't teach how to think, schools don't teach children to think, to have a conscious life, aware of what's going on inside, your thoughts, your behaviors, the way we consume, the way we deal with other people and things. This is not taught. So, what I observe is there's a
general numbness of the people. The media, the society itself is made for that. Hi. I'm Fátima Teixeira. I'm a mother of a two and a half year old girl, I'm a pianist and music teacher and I'm a minimalist. Minimalism, as a philosophy of life, is the focus on what is essential and the removal of everything that works as a distraction in our life. Minimalism literally makes us reflect about our essence. When we seek our essence, we seek what keeps us with energy always up here, What makes us always feel good and cheerful. When we see
a person, she's always laughing, playing, cheerful. It doesn't mean she has no problems, but that she has realized what makes her happy is where she'll invest the most time. I consider myself someone who is always in a good mood. I've never been like this. But at present I'm always playing, laughing, telling a joke. And I feel it's due a lot to the fact that I dedicate my day to what I really like. When problems arise, I can look at them with a positive outlook, because I know that the essential for me is here, And that's
the biggest advantage of minimalism. I consider myself a normal person, ok? I also feel influences. My relationship with things and materials is a relationship that, increasingly... I also have ambition, sometimes I have will of... What I have to do to have certain things is it worth my effort, my endeavor? Is it really that important to have these things? And then I end up having to... ... having to turn off some "social buttons". I think society pressures us to have things. Because of status or to keep up appearances. And then, sometimes we have to be a
little more... ...more introspective and look more at ourselves and think: "I don't need that much, if I can overcome social pressure". Because, deep down, everyone likes... Who wouldn't like to have many things? It's normal for humans to want more. But the price, sometimes, is totally unnecessary. If we look at the world today, There are the environmental issues, but we talk so much about capitalism and how the world is so polluted and all that stuff. And this has to do with the desire of some to have a lot, because if there was no such desire, the
world today would be different. Whoever has the power to change this, doesn't change, because it doesn't matter, it isn't appropriate. If I can live well with 'this', why should I... ... harm the lives of so many to have 'this'? Deep down, I think there should be a balance, but these are conversations that... ... we're having here today, but if 90% of the population doesn't have this ability to understand, they won't understand and will continue to want to prosper or seek success, when sometimes success is right there where they were born. Of course the ambitions, the
desire to grow sometimes also makes us have to leave the place where we were born. Funny is that sometimes, at the end of life, we ended up returning there, because that was where we were happy and where are our roots. I think, in general, it's a little bit like that. PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE French economist Serge Latouche is one of the blunt critics and spokespeople of the economic growth paradigm of the current capitalist system. For Latouche, the consumer society is based on three factors: planned obsolescence, advertising and credit. Planned obsolescence is an industry strategy to shorten product
life intentionally. It is divided into two categories: technical and perceived. In technical obsolescence, products are manufactured With a predetermined service life. The perceived obsolescence, in its turn, has a psychological effect. It aims to make the consumer lose interest in a product, even if it is working perfectly. The proposal is to encourage the purchase of another product with more current, attractive and modern design. This strategy spreads to several products: clothes, cars, furniture, cell phones, televisions, computers. Planned obsolescence makes the wheel of consumerism spin and produces garbage, a lot of garbage. Consumerism created the world of the
disposable, of disposable things, of disposable people. In 1955, economist and sales analyst Victor Lebow wrote: "Our enormously productive economy "demands that we make consumption our way of life, "that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, "that we seek our spiritual satisfaction "and our ego satisfaction in consumption. "We need things to be consumed, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever-increasing rate". In 1954, in one of his lectures, American industrial designer Brooks Stevens said: "It's necessary to instill in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little
sooner than is necessary". There are those who claim this strategy never existed, that it's nothing but a conspiracy theory. And you, what you think about it? Have you ever felt impelled to throw away a product that stopped working, instead of fixing it? Have you ever been in a situation where repair was more expensive than buying a new product? Have you ever exchanged one product for another Because you felt out of date? I suggest you watch the documentaries "The Story of Stuff", by Annie Leonard, and "The Light Bulb Conspiracy", by Cosima Dannoritzer, which bring evidences that
planned obsolescence does indeed exist. In my case, minimalism was a natural process. I think it originated much more from an intimate philosophical reflection, since adolescence, when I was always... ... confused by habits that other people considered normal. Adopting or accepting the designation of minimalist was an extremely invisible, imperceptible thing, because... ... I didn't change anything in my life when... ... and I don't know when I got to know the term "minimalist". I really can't specify when it was, because it was something so natural for me, that I was indifferent. I didn't really care, until I
realized it was important for other people A concept with a name, something well identified. For me, before it was just the "Paulo's way of being". There's a lot to do, because most people hasn't changed his mindset yet, they continue to live on autopilot, to have houses full of things, to postpone what they like, to have problems with themself, because they don't know themself, to many problems with the neighbor, because they don't have a conscious life. So, the big question that always worried me, and that's why I don't distinguish. Minimalism makes sense to me only when
we're aware of things, because it's much more than having little. Sometimes people ask if minimalism is having few things. It's much more than that, it's really valuing what is important. We're referring to objects, situations, whatever. It's this seed of conscious life that gives me an immense pleasure. I feel my mission, and yours too, which you do very well, is to alert people around the world that life is much more than waking up disgruntled to work, taking half an hour to find something at home, facing an hour of traffic, because "we have to", Because "having to"
is the obligation. And this starts since we're little ones at school. You have to get good grades, you have to... Because to be someone in life, you "have to". And you have to do several things. Of course there are rules, but it's not taught to think. It's not taught to be conscious. So these are the big... This is the big myth, mainly. If we look at the human being as it was in the past, we had nothing. We lived according to our needs. The world today has evolved a lot for the economy. Minimalism doesn't... ...
doesn't get on very well with consumerism. And for things to be sustainable, there has to be sales, there has to be purchases, there has to be margins capable of guaranteeing this production, so that later there is... It seems very... ... contradictory, but... Getting to that level where we can realize We don't need to accumulate things, we don't need to sell our time in search of ephemeral things, things we like today and tomorrow we don't, is a great challenge for humanity. And there it is... It has a lot to do with our ability to disconnect from
social pressures. OSTENTATION The "having more to be happy" culture has brought several consequences. The apex of this distortion is represented by the culture of conspicuous consumption. It may seem prophetic, but this topic was already addressed By the sociologist and economist Thorstein Veblen, in 1899. For Veblen, "Conspicuous consumption is that manifested as a basis for the social insertion". Ostentation is characterized by the act of emphasizing a false reality. It's kind of like Tyler Durden said, character played by Brad Pitt in the movie "Fight Club": "We buy things we don't need, "with the money we don't have,
to impress people we don't like". We are experiencing the height of ephemerality, In which people are willing to sacrifice relationships, to live indebted and to put health at risk, on behalf of a fantasy life. It's worth watching the documentary "Generation Wealth", from 2018, which portrayed very well how far the human being is capable of reaching when he loses himself. When I was 50-something, 56 years old, seven years ago, I got divorced. And until the divorce, I was a consumerist, but conscious. Not the one who lived on automatic. No, I was very conscious of my purchases.
I used to buy on merit, because I studied a lot, I had good jobs, I had specialized a lot. So it was a way for me to compensate myself. They were like gifts for me. I had, for example, dozens of things of the same color. That's when you realize you've lost control of your finances a little bit, because you start to buy duplicate things and to get into debt. Then I tried to simplify my life. At the time, I didn't even know minimalism, actually. Let me get this to show you. I wanted to simplify my
life and I found this book: "Simplify your Life: 100 Ways to Slow Down and Enjoy the Things that Really Matter", by Elaine St. James. It's about a couple who try to simplify everything in their lives. They had a lot of magazine subscriptions, many bank accounts, many credit cards. I identified a lot with the story of this couple. I said: "That's it! It's an ideal time for me to simplify my life". When you get to a point in which You're a little bothered with your current life, it's starting to turn the page. You're uncomfortable, you know?
You're not managing to deal with so many things you have. And we don't need that much to live, actually. It's our ego that's screaming, but not our needs. And from this book, which for me was a watershed, I started to study, I met minimalism, I started watching a lot of videos, reading a lot of books, And I'm still on that road. That's been about seven years, and we never finish the process of this lifestyle. You learn day by day. And now with my channel, I learn a lot more from my followers. About this lifestyle, I
would say it is smart, in which you become more aware of what you do, of how you spend your money. And the results of that awareness begin to appear. I met minimalism through the Arts, But only when I became a mother did I bring it into my life. I was in a very fast pace, in a master's degree, coordinating a school. In this process, I discovered pregnancy and I needed something to help me reorganize my life and overcome this challenge of being a mother and working at the same time. This brought me more coherence to
my work, with environmental education and conscious consumption, and showed me how much mothers are pressured to consume. Lists and lists of layette, toys, things that promise to solve all the challenges of motherhood, and they don't. So, it was great to bring minimalism to my life during pregnancy and get rid of many of these consumption traps, and focus on what is most important and makes me happiest, which is to be with my son and to live all the experiences with him. Before I met minimalism, I didn't intend to have a child so much. I was observing
the way people around me raised their children, everything a child demands, not in the sense of energy, disposition, attention, but of things. And I kept thinking it was too complicated. Then I met minimalism, and this lightness, simplicity, the practicality of carrying things, precisely because it's just things And we don't need to have so much, made me open the doors of my life to think about that idea. People still link a lot the act of giving things to the child, of providing things to him since birth, with the fact of loving him. And I could see
clearly one thing had nothing to do with the other. My son didn't have a cradle, he wears cloth diapers, he doesn't know baby wipes, we use reusable wipes. In all areas where I was able to apply more sustainable alternatives, because I think sustainability has a lot to do with minimalism, this conscious consumption, so everything I could ally, I did. Otto is ten months old, and I bought six pieces of clothing for him so far. His clothes are almost all second-hand, from other children. There's a lot of freedom in that. You're not required to have. I
notice that, of all our choices, however correct they are, he could still have much less. If I had had children before I met minimalism, my choices would probably be very different, because my mind was very different. So, I feel very pleased and privileged to having given birth to him after I met minimalism. ADVERTISING AND CREDIT Advertising is the second pillar of the consumer society. We can describe it as a persuasive technique With the intention of stimulating consumption and the economy. For the "machine of the economy" to work, the third missing factor is credit. The idea
is simple: if you have no money, there's no problem. We lend it to you. Buy now and pay later. The fact is that an economy based on easy credit becomes speculative and artificial, creating a economic bubble, which occasionally explodes, as occurred in the 2008 crisis. In view of the current crisis generated by the coronavirus, credit is likely to be the recovery mechanism for the world economy. It is the sweet medicine of a society based on consumerism. When a person adheres to minimalism, it's the result of a slightly more elaborate conscience, of an autonomous reflection, in
which the person isolates himself and becomes, in a way, immune to marketing pressure. We pass from analysis, from introspection, from reflection to attitude, which is the most important, what really takes us to minimalism, which is "Where do I start?". I usually suggest starting with simple things. I always say the ideal is to choose an area of our life or a part of our house, depends on where we want to start, but it'll be easier to start with the visible, with the objects, and start to see the impact that it has, that it makes life easier,
that we start to have more time, and then, from there, we make a path. I think all of this came... ... came to potentiate my life choice in the sense of seeking to have... ... a more calm, more peaceful life. How do I achieve it? First, you have to disconnect from a lot of things, because everything affects us. The human being... The sun, the wind, the rain, the others, everything affects us. We have to know how to turn off a little bit and focus a little more on what are aspects... ... I don't mean pure,
but more human aspects, that make us realize that life is a passage and that it suits us, while we are here, to do good for ourselves, but also to do good for others and try to find a middle ground, so that we don't always live obsessed with having things, with being the greatest, the best. I think it's more or less within that balance that I... ... I can orient myself. I didn't have to be inspired by anything or anyone, I didn't read anything about it. I simply thought... ... everyone was born minimalist. Even without think
about a specific term, we born in the simplest possible way. In the first hours of life, we need very little. And if we analyze it well, we can reach adulthood also needing very little. Who is not minimalist really suffers much more, Because you will need a lot more things. You will have to... You will have many more crises in search of things to fill your life. Who is minimalist really dissociate what is essential from what is perfectly... ... optional, what is incidental. One thing I discovered when I started to feel really minimalist, a phrase I
said at the time, which is what I feel, is the focus of minimalism is not on what we remove, but on what we keep in our lives. In many coaching processes I did at the time, with people who were on a minimalist journey, People were always focused on "What can I get rid of?" In a workshop I attended, a girl said to me: "Fátima, I love my works of art. How can I get rid of them?". I said: "If you love them, why get rid of what you love? Start by getting rid of what you
don't love". We capture stimuli essentially through our main sense, which is vision. So, when we start to see around us that things, objects, are there for some reason and the emotional connection we have with them is beneficial for us, we started looking at other objects and questioning: "Why do I have this?", "What is this doing in my life?", "This takes a lot of work and spends my time". "Time and work that I stop doing other things I like". So, if I start to be aware of what I see, it's much easier. Honestly, it brings advantages.
When a person has less things, there's more space, there's more mental time, because when we look at things, "I have to organize that", "I need to buy that", "I have to do that", and so on, and sometimes we don't need any of that and we can put it off. That "less is more" story is perfectly real. Who is minimalist is richer. "Minimalism is not removing from our lives what we love, but removing the things that keep us away from what we love." Joshua Becker FREE YOURSELF I really believe we women have a different need than
men, we need to respect this need within minimalism. I think all the documentaries I watched showed very little of this female vision. We must have a functional wardrobe, with versatile clothes, That make our life easier, that value our natural beauty, that simplify our day-to-day, that don't squeeze us, that don't cause calluses, that don't hurt us, that don't leave marks on our body. This is the closet I believe in. I think we women should look at minimalism as a compensation and a liberation. And today, in this such a complex world, with so many things, with so
many demands, we have to be a good wife, We have to be a good employee, we have to be a good mother, and, finally, we have to be a good woman. Simone de Beauvoir said we're not born women, we became a woman, and I believe that. We learn to be a woman at every stage of our life. And minimalism came to say to us "free yourself". In my childhood, in my adolescence, I didn't have many references from people like me, black, with curly hair. I grew up trying to fit into a group, which was different
from me, Trying to fit into a way of styling my hair, trying to fit into... ... a physical stereotype, of clothes. I spent my entire childhood and adolescence trying to be part of a group. Because I grew up in an environment where most people was white, I wanted to be like them. I remember some points in my life when I heard phrases like "Wow, you're black, but you're beautiful", "You're black, but your soul is white". And I was fascinated to hear this, because when I used to hear these things, I felt part of a group.
And I grew up with this thought, and this was turning me into someone with the need to consume to fit into a group. All of this changed when... ... I decided to wear my natural hair, already in adult life. I realized hair straightened with chemical procedures, in addition to giving me a huge expense for maintenance, didn't really make me happy. So after a lot of research and a lot of resistance, I decided to wear my natural hair. That was when my view with regards to what I like, with regards to who I am and with
regards to the point that I don't need... ... I don't depend on people's opinions to be happy made a total difference in my life. I started to love myself as I am and not to care about people's opinions. The hair transition, without my knowing it, was already a minimalist thought. My name is Rosemary Soares da Silva, I'm 48 years old, I live in Franco da Rocha, Greater São Paulo. What made me look for minimalism? I saw on television, I don't remember which TV show, "less is more" and I decided to research. About three years ago,
my children decided to leave the house. My son is now 22, my daughter is 24, and they decided to take care of their lives. It shook me deeply. It made me spend wildly, like crazy. After I met minimalism, I donated many things, I sold many things. My family even thought I had joined some kind of sect. And it made me... ... suffer a little prejudice in the family. But as I'm single and live alone, I'm not having too much difficulty. The biggest difficulty is not to spend for nothing with gifts for my granddaughters. I'm having
this difficulty, because I love to spend. And I still have reasons, which are the newborn granddaughter and a 6-year-old granddaughter. So this is making me... ... lose track a little bit, but other than that, it's good, it's great, it's wonderful. Few clothes, few groceries, few things to do, few things to clean. It's great for me. That's it! My name is Isabel, I'm 48 years old, I'm from the city of Franca, countryside of São Paulo, I'm married and I have three children. I got to minimalism when I noticed the excess of things was taking all of
my time and my financial resources, and I wasn't satisfied with the life I was leading. Then I started watching documentaries, reading books, searching, and I identified with this lifestyle. I saw it could bring me many benefits. But I had a challenge. How would I introduce this new lifestyle to my family? Because I had liked it, but how would they react? Then I called everyone, we sat down and started watching the documentaries, and they liked it. They saw it would bring a lot of benefit to our lives, because we could use our resources to do other
more important things, and not spend on material things. They have the dream of getting to know the beach. I also dream about it, because me and my children don't know the beach. So, we all decided to pool our resources and realize this dream. I think minimalism is not a fad, It's not a phase you will pass through. Minimalism becomes a philosophy of life. And I realize this is doing me very well, because I can see that what really matters is not my objects, is not my things, but my relationships, what I am, not what I
have. And when we see the world and life from this perspective, things change completely. We become much more centered. We become much more essential. "I need to know who I am. I need to know where to go. I need to know how to choose even the true meaning of dying." Every day, when I look in the mirror I see life, I see everything to the natural I see the color of my hair I seek in me everything that is essential I almost always go by foot to work Promotional posters are everywhere I will buy or
won't buy And what will be essential for me I chose to bet on my life To invest my time in what I always wanted To have only what I need That's what fate says To build moments with my family To be much more with those who like me Today I know "less is more" And I want to live like this It's my way of living everything I like Minimalism And a way to have time and space Minimalism It's my way of living everything I like Minimalism And a way to have time and space Minimalism It's
not wanting to start suddenly. "I'm gonna change from one day to the next, I'm gonna look at myself...", because the essential is to be coherent with ourselves and consistent. That's why it's so important our daily work of alerting people to certain concepts and attitudes, mainly attitudes in everyday life. Because if we don't do that, how the external pressure is so great and... If it was the other way around, it was easier, in fact, we weren't here if the world were like that, but it isn't. We live in a world where the pressure to have is
so great, to have it all the time and have everything, that there need to be these alerts "It doesn't have to be that way", "We don't have to follow that way, we can choose". Ok, simple life, simple life, simple life, for me, is... ... is being close to the family, is appreciating the good things in life, which, basically, is living with good human beings and everything nature gives us, like animals, plants, the green spaces, which we have a lot here in Nazaré. And this is my concept, In line with my conceptions. I'm not saying I'm
gonna live in a tent, with nothing. That's not my style. I also want to have comfort, but without too much exaggeration or madness, and have a life... ... a sustainable life and get to have much with little. Basically, that's it. What I notice is that people associate minimalism with fundamentalism. They say "I've already heard a little about minimalism, but I need help, because I can't get rid of everything". There are many people... "I can't get rid of everything, there's a lot I like". I feel people need these alerts, and your work is very useful in
that sense, to constantly demystify that this is not "all or nothing". It's to finding the balance. This is another confusion that is very common and, in a way, understandable. But I would like to make it clear that minimalism is a voluntary and conscious philosophy of life, result of a philosophical reflection, and not by force of circumstances. A person can have a simple life, in this case, a minimalist life, for the most varied reasons. People think, by the fact they have an austere life for financial reasons, that they are minimalist. I don't consider this to be
minimalism. This is really a situation of financial precariousness, of financial weakness, and not a voluntary attitude. A minimalist, regardless of your financial condition, If he overnight becomes a multimillionaire, he will continue to be minimalist. He won't want to have more things because of the fact... ... because of the fact he has almost infinite conditions in terms of financial resources. They can get a little confused, but they are not minimalist, they are poor, in fact. They have an economic weakness, where they are forced to severely restrict their consumption, but they have no choice. While... ... a
person with good financial conditions, Or even with very high financial conditions, may be minimalist due to a conscious, deliberate and, above all, voluntary life option. "Poverty is involuntary and debilitating; simplicity is voluntary and enabling." Duane Elgin VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY I rediscovered myself in minimalism after reading the book "Voluntary Simplicity", by Duane Elgin. It's a transformative work, with a lot of research, about people who have adopted this practice And decided to embrace a simpler lifestyle externally and richer inwardly, following the practice of voluntary simplicity. Through this research, I got in touch with Jorge Koho Mello, precursor of
this movement in Brazil in the 90s. Jorge has been practicing this lifestyle for over 20 years. Today he lives in Switzerland, in Zurich. I've been talking and learning a lot with Jorge. I ended up inviting him to write the preface to my book, then he opens my book "Minimalist Mind", and I invited him to participate in this documentary. How did voluntary simplicity change my life? I believe that, first of all, for giving me a concept of a more vivid life, with a notion of more health, of more freedom, a connection with an authentic power to
make lucid and conscious choices, as far as possible, without being conditioned by outside opinions, and that brings autonomy. Naturally, autonomy is also a challenge. Self-responsibility to make my decisions brings the need that I, along with enjoying the merits of those decisions, also respond when the merits I hope for don't come. So, it's a more mature life, in the sense of a more mature self. Furthermore, I believe that voluntary simplicity has allowed me to live a life with less wear and tear, insofar as I accept things as they are and I act, insofar as it's possible
to transform them. Another aspect, too, is to understand moderation is, in my opinion, an evolutionary element of humanity. Through a simpler life, we can connect with the power of needing less, less things, less everything, and choose the quality of relationships, with what we enjoy in life, From objects to relationships, and, from that point of moderation, have a greater lucidity, taking advantage of that space. In this regard, there's also free time, which is a precious item these days, and, from there, a successive and gradual process of improvement can be done, in favor of a more quality-based
life. Finally, an aspect that voluntary simplicity provided me was to undo the illusion that living condition makes a difference. There's much misconception about this. Living condition doesn't mean quality of life. But for that lucidity to emerge, I need to live the experience. When I live a simpler life, this experience becomes real, insofar as I attest, no one tells me, I don't need to believe anything. I attest I can have a better quality life, based on frugality. And that makes a radical difference in the quality of life. MINIMALISM AND PRODUCTIVITY My name is André Luís, I'm
37 years old, I'm a musician and teacher and I live in the city of Natal. I already knew the term "minimalism" for a few years, But I had never stopped to read about it as a lifestyle. I was officially introduced to minimalism, so to speak, only in the middle of this year 2020, at a time when I was watching a lot of documentaries and videos related to nature, a more environmentally friendly life, the human impact on the planet, that is, topics related to self-knowledge, to self-reflection about our habits. When I looked for information about minimalism,
to understand it better, the minimalist precepts seemed very obvious, very clear to me. They made sense to me and were in line with reflections I'd been doing for a while. So it was in a very natural way that I started to apply the principles of minimalism in my life, in my relationship with people, in my relationship with things, with the time, with my work and even with eating. It's an intense change, but it's a gradual, thought-out, planned change, with a purpose. It's not radical, casual and sudden something. It's an essentially internal, mental transformation, From the
inside out, and, for that very reason, a deep and continuous transformation. With regard to the professional field, for example, for quite some time, I have the pleasure of working with what makes me feel good, what makes me happy. I mainly work with music, with teaching music, but I also dedicate a good deal of my time and energy to apparently quite different areas, which are woodwork and languages. These are activities that, above all, give me a lot of pleasure when doing them, because I believe that when we work with what we like, which is my case,
We do everything with more dedication, with more involvement, with more satisfaction, lightness, and even with more competence. After knowing the ideas of minimalism and applying them in my life, I feel more productive, I feel more creative, more concentrated. So all of this has been potentializing and simplifying, in the best sense of the word, my mental organization in the activities I work with. I don't have that sensation of imposition, of obligation. I don't have that physical and mental fatigue, That guilty conscience at the end of the day. This well-being of mind and body, for me, is
the best salary. By the way, here's a very wise saying that sums up I said. "Who runs for pleasure doesn't get tired". The page has turned It's another time that I realize it's gone And it's gone that time that we let everything pass Just being without realizing that The page has turned After all, the day to grow always comes And we started to measure the consequences of coming and going We think about tomorrow, if we're going out And the cups are measured Weighted in health and judgment And are no longer worth Those sleepless nights So
many things built Of rigid bricks and cement And being happy depends on Everything that's on your surroundings On your surroundings THE CONSEQUENCES There are some consequences of an unruly lifestyle Based on consumerism. One of these is individual and family indebtedness, when excess consumption generates debt and compromises the household budget and survival itself. Another consequence is the social one, when the buying habit can become an addiction, a disease known as Compulsive Buying Disorder, or oniomania. Compulsive buying is self-destructive and can impact on a person's productive life and family and social cycle. Consumerism also entails several environmental
consequences. Among them, perhaps the biggest is The volume of garbage we are generating. We have never produced so much garbage. We are turning the world into a dump and destroying nature. Michael Braungart, co-author of the book "Cradle to Cradle", said: "Nature doesn't produce any waste, only nutrients". The future is alarming. Currently, the world population is over 7.7 billion inhabitants. And in 30 years' time, we will reach 9.7 billion. If today we already feel the collapse of an uneven and perverse economic system, What will it be like in 2050, with two billion more people? How far
will we endure "the more, the better" lifestyle? THE INVITATION Minimalism, although not as new as it appears, is still little understood. It's challenging to turn from consumerist to minimalist in a society that preaches, all the time, consumption as a synonym for success and happiness. However, it's possible. Being minimalist doesn't make anyone more special, but it can help make someone more aware. If, one day, you ever start to feel special for having become minimalist, remember Tyler Durden's words: "You are not special". Minimalism is not getting rid of things, letting go of some pairs of shoes or
of a pile of clothes and saying "Done, now I'm a minimalist". Minimalism is not a rule book that will teach you the five steps for you to remove what is not essential in your life. Minimalism is not a vow of poverty nor does it make apology of it, Since poverty is an involuntary situation. Also, let's not confuse minimalism with deprivation and financial austerity. Minimalism has not to do with the amount of things you own or the 20 items you swear you will never buy again. Minimalism is not an end in itself. These are some myths
that can confuse anyone who is trying to follow this path. Don't get confused with them. Study deeply. Go beyond the labels. In general, minimalists believe that minimalism Makes room for us to experience a more genuine happiness in everyday life, enjoying the simple things in life. "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." John Lennon The message I wanted to convey, and I'm a human being... ... just like you, completely normal. I'm just passing through life, I also look for my success, my well-being, but, undoubtly, it's very possible to live with... ... with
less ambition, And look more at well-being of the relative, or the neighbor, or the child. We cannot forget we are human. I think minimalism... For me, minimalism helps us make a connection with our human side, because we are very influenced, both for a good side and for a less good side, that is, both for a more human and less human side. So the choice is in us. We must have this ability to make the right choice and not waste the precious time we have in this world. So I make this appeal to we learn to
live with less, because less is more. To all of you who are listening to me, my invitation, my proposal is that you start to look inside yourself. If you find it easier, start looking outside and stop a little bit. It can be today, don't postpone it for tomorrow. And take a look at what surrounds you, what is visible, the objects that surround you, the impact of each of them on the environment, The impact of each of them on your day-to-day management, if it makes life easier, if it complicates life, if it takes time, which could
be a pleasant time, and live a focused life on what you really like. Nobody says it's easy, it's a challenge, but life is made up of challenges. I've been through mine, many of you certainly pass through yours. At the end of it all, when we're not here anymore, or at the end of our life, we'll look back and see that what really mattered were the worthwhile moments, Not the distractions. That's the invitation. Be more alert, more aware. Come here and give me a hug to say goodbye. Thanks. What makes you happy? What gets a smile
out of the corner of your mouth? What makes you smile? What makes you laugh for nothing? Joking, singing, feeling Taking the way back home Joking, singing, feeling The lifetime here without delay Living happily in the now What makes you waste Your lifetime chasing these things? What makes you pretend Living other people's lives? Joking, singing, feeling Taking the way back home Joking, singing, feeling The lifetime here without delay Living happily in the now Living happily in the now What makes you happy? What gets a smile out of the corner of your mouth? Joking, singing, feeling Taking
the way back home Joking, singing, feeling The lifetime here without delay Living happily in the now Living happily in the now Living happily in the now Living happily in the now...
