Minimalistic


Image by Olga

My inspiration board turned out somewhat minimalistic this time...

Simplicity is so perfect - nothing distracts you from seeing plain objects and noticing their beauty. And noticing is key here.. To think of it, when we surround ourselves with little unimportant 'nice' things - we stop noticing them at all until they get dusty and we abandon them...

Things... Why do we get so attached to objects? It is time to get tired of the majority of them and stop accumulating more and more of the unnecessary ones. The less of them we possess - the more space we have to live, think and create - the more freedom there is for us.

I have a friend who made a decision to get rid of the things he was not using for more than 6 months and he was quite amazed by the result... There were not many things at all left at the end. I'm wondering if I would ever be able to do something like that.

8 comments:

Juana said...

Well...I declare myself a hoarder; but because I am against consumerism and love to recycle everything, like old jeans to make plaid for my cat or bags, my husband shirts to make picnic plaids, or the leftovers in the kitchen, and so on.
It's also true that there are objects like our chilhood's keepsaskes which we treasure and we would'nt part; or memories of our youth,(I kept every single ticket of my travels as a young girl in the 70's!)
I don't know what's the reason...May be nostalgie of times past?
Have a nice day, Olga!

Anonymous said...

My house is almost empty.
Less is more.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Actually, there are two aspects i like of the fact of having few things around me.

One is the "zen" idea of it.
When you are in a room or a house where there are only few things but perfectly placed, and as you said you can notice their beauty.
And at that point you feel sort of a sense of freshness, space.

The second idea i have of it is almost the opposite (but i like it as well) and it's like when you are on a trip in the mountains and you have nothing other that few things to eat and your bag.
That's the real abscence of anything and you feel more close to your origins.
You just pick up an apple and eat it...you have nothing to do other that walk and look around you.

I think there is nothing bad in having many things, but i think it's something that makes you lose your track.
You start to worry about things that have absolutely no importance.
And when you realize it, you feel like you lost your time on stupid things.

PS: check the song SOCIETY by Eddie Vedder, from the Into The Wild soundtrack.
Beautiful music and beautiful lyrics.

Olga said...

Juanita, you are right about nostalgia - also things tend to mean for us a lot in case they belonged to people close to us who are no longer with us - we then impersonify things with them...

Matteo, thanks :) I remember this song from the movie very well - and by coincidence I'm now reading the book on which the movie was based! It's not only devoted to Chris McCandless travels but also to some other enthusiasts who left everything behind to travel the world or climb the peaks no one previously did. Have a read if you come across it - it is worth it.

In terms of what you say about travels - I think it's true... After the travels when I come back home things regain their meaning for a little while - when I feel comfort of my home again and can relax and reflect on the impressions. I just get restless again too quickly..

SkyTrail said...

Hi Olga! How is today’s weather? Snowy day?

About your latest blog. We tend to be attracted attention to something new. This tendency might be gotten in the course of evolution……..

Oh, our most important problem is how to deal with these “not important, but can’t abandon” things.
I think your friend has a nice rule. I often buy books, but don’t read it. It’s one of my bad habits. :p So, I make it a rule to abandon these books that haven’t read last two years and won’t read next one year. Six months are too short. :)

All we have to do at first is to make strict rules without exception. :(
But some people may say wastes must be needed as the source of invention or discovery. :)

See you later.

Olga said...

Thanks for dropping by, Masa :) It was quite cold this morning - around -10, and lots of snow. Pretty unusual for this part of the country as we have the Baltic sea - which usually makes the climate milder. But the weather has been like this for a couple of weeks now - quite enjoable!

Books for me are a hardest thing to abandon, but also they take space and are heavy.. I don't like e-books and can't get used to reading on my PC screen (only blogs! :P).. For me each book has a character and almost life of its own and having them in the PC kills it.. I quite often buy books when I travel and then don't have time to read them all before I travel again :)... so it's the same problem. Leaving those you'd like to read again might be an idea - and giving out the rest...

Aaron Mannino said...

“Objects exist, and if we pay them more attention than we do people, it is because they exist more than those people. Dead objects live on. Living people are often dead already.” -(2 Or 3 Things I Know About Her, Godard)