Hardcore Japanese minimalism - Goodbye Things

As part of my new years resolution of reading monthly 2 books, I came across Fumio Sasaki’s book, Goodbye Things, which is definitely an interesting book in terms of minimalism.

The book shows Sasaki’s transformation from a maximalist to a minimalist. In easier terms how to become a hardcore minimalist. Well I have a long long journey ahead of me still but feeling like I am in the right path, even though Sasaki’s achievement is far away from my priorities and from my ideal minimalism at least from the image I have about minimalism.

Sasaki like most of us was a hedonist in many ways, was after all the good things in life you can purchase and materialise but like most of us, after a while he felt overwhelmed but empty in the same time.

As the saying goes;

The things you own, end up owning you.

I think we can all relate to that way too much. The time we spent to earn the money for that object what later we don’t even use. The time we spent to select that particular item, to purchase it, the time we never going to get back, probably that’s the hardest part about materialism.

Fumio Sasaki also get us in his book 55 tips how to say goodbye to your things. I found really useful some of them, some of them were obvious, but in overall was a great bunch of tips which definitely worth to give a read.

My journey towards minimalism started in a similar way as Fumio’s, I didn’t feel good in my skin for some reason. I didn’t feel happy in the first place for some reason that I seeked for so long. Started to read various books and got hooked up with the idea of happiness is coming from within, it’s our inner satisfaction with ourselves, the inner peace, that we accept ourselves the way we are.

I tried to find happiness so badly, I bought lots of gadgets, fancy branded clothes, designer shoes, you name it, but whenever I bought something I felt satisfied or happy for hours or days only, I’ve always seen somebody who got a better one, a newer one, a more expensive one. Partly I fell in this trap because of social media, partly because of the marketing/ advertisements, yeah London’s pretentious life is ain’t no easy to deal with..

I read this quote in the book, which is so true I can’t describe;

We are more interested in making others belive we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves. - Francois de la Rochefoucauld

When I realized that the stuffs are not going to bring me happiness, I seeked for other way. I have to tell y’all that since I was a child my parents always told me, the goal is to be happy in life, they were so true and this sentence got burnt into my memory, can’t thank them enough.

Materialism was not the answer to my question, than what was it? I found the answer, with each item less surrounded me I felt a bit more, I felt a bit better, I didn’t feel overwhelmed with the lots of stuff and didn’t feel under pressure to keep up with others, I stopped comparing myself with others. The focus is on an easier life with more memories, more travel, more time spent with my family, more time being with myself, with my thoughts, more time I spend to develop myself, physically, mentally.

Overall I found Goodbye things a great little book, really informative with lots of pictures, 55 tips and a funny description why to be a minimalist, the positives about it. If you haven’t read it just yet, give it a go, won’t regret it, I promise.

Don’t be discouraged by seeing those pictures about the hardcore Japanese style minimalism of Fumio Sasaki, don’t feel the need to have only one mattrasse at home in an empty room, just go step by step, item by item and don’t compare yourself to others not even if it is about minimalism. Focus on your necessities and get rid off the excess, because;

the less is more.

Your sincerely

To/Minimal