Minimalising Mental-clutter?

I came across The Minimalists Podcast after watching a movie on Netflix Australia called 'Minimalism'.

I first thought this movie was probably about paintings and art, but I watched the trailer and saw that Sam Harris was in it and that was a name on my radar at the time -

Sam Harris and 'Is Life Actually Worth Living?'

But as I was watching 'Minimalism' there was a segment where Josh is standing in the desert reading his book aloud to the camera where he talks about losing his mum to lung cancer, getting divorced and losing his job.

Well, it sounded like Josh was reading out a list of events from my life there, as my mother has lung cancer in a late stage, although still managing to fight it, while my father passed away last year from Alzheimer's/pneumonia.

I was divorced recently and was retrenched from two jobs, one of which was a furniture store I worked in for 24+ years, and never want to hear that four-letter name again ever (my ex-wife's name is also a four-letter word and I can think of a few more four-letter words as substitutes for her name, too;-)

But Josh in that movie has to go through one of that companies catalogues to show us all the things we buy and don't have to?

So, it was a bit like descending into hell and getting a life review on everything that I don't like about what happened in my life and the events, people and places, that I never want in my life ever again.

That doesn't include the co-workers I liked and got along with in my old jobs, but it sure does include a certain Swedish furniture store, some ex-bosses and an ex-spouse and her mother.

But for that sort of mental-clutter I think I would need a lobotomy to clear those annoying thoughts from my brain.

Josh sure had my attention from that point on in the movie though.

I knew that in a few more years that I would probably sell my current place and move to another Australian state, so I should streamline my possessions and practice living a minimalist type of lifestyle, but still hold on to the things that really matter to me.

I've already written a post about going through my bookcases and giving away books that I probably wouldn't read again -
The Book Angel (of Death?) and the Shadow Side of Life?

So, I have been practicing minimalisim without even knowing I was, but to me it was decluttering so I could move less of the things that I didn't really need to be carrying around with me in my life anymore.

But I still have a lot of books that I know I'm not finished with yet (there are another three full bookcases upstairs).

To me minimalism is like the words in that Kenny Rodger's song 'The Gambler', where he sings,

"Now ev'ry gambler knows that the secret to survivin' 

Is knowin' what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
'Cause ev'ry hand's a winner and ev'ry hand's a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep."

Oddly enough that last line above,
"And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep."

brings my thoughts back to the Sam Harris podcast where David Benatar basically argues that dying in your sleep would be the best thing you and the planet could hope for.

Although, I don't agree with David because to me as nasty as life seems, all the world is a stage like Shakespeare says, and we need somewhere to play out our collective dramas, don't we?

Unlike David I see the picture being much bigger when it comes to life and what's in the wings.

"And somewhere in the darkness the gambler, he broke even.

But in his final words I found an ace that I could keep.
You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done."

Is Life Actually Worth Living?

"In this episode of the Waking Up podcast, Sam Harris speaks with David Benatar about his philosophy of “anti-natalism.”
They discuss the asymmetry between the good and bad things in life, the ethics of existential risk, the moral landscape, the limits and paradoxes of introspection, the “experience machine” thought experiment, population ethics, and other topics.
David Benatar is Professor of Philosophy at University of Cape Town, South Africa.
He is the author of Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming Into Existence and The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions."

Podcast 019 | Mentalclutter

I listened to the above podcast on mental clutter after contemplating throwing out the above fridge magnet right at the top of this post.

I bought it years ago from a store called REMO as a reminder to keep focused on the things that matter in my life in terms of quality not quantity. 

As far as throwing fridge magnets out go though, I feel that they are all important to me at the moment, including the one that I was going to part with right at the top of this post.
The magnets are all pieces of the puzzle that make up my life and help keep my thoughts on track at the moment.

As far as clothes go though, I need to get this wardrobe sorted, as I don't and probably won't wear half of these clothes.

Podcast 056 | Clothing

Podcast 058 | Home

And as far as "Home" goes I have another post coming up soon about my thoughts on just what "Home" means to me -
Logan Lucky: Mountain Mamma, Take Me "Home" Country Roads?

Podcast 063 | Jobs

Podcast 067 | Happiness

Podcast 092 | Smallstuff

We all tend to focus on the "BIG STUFF" in our lives, but it is the accumulation of all of the "small stuff" in our lives that really makes us who we are now.

Buy sorting through the "small stuff" we accumulate in our lives we get a better picture of the "BIG STUFF" that is really important in our lives.

Podcast 103 | Masks

I have a mask hanging on my wall that I asked my youngest son to bring back from Bali when he and his girlfriend went over there.

It hangs in a prominent place in my house, and I like to see it as a metaphor for looking fear in the face and not being paralyzed by doing so and living my life around it.

We need to have fears in our life to stop us from doing stupid things that could hurt us or even kill us, but at the same time fears can be paralyzing when you have to make a move in your life, and no one should be a deer in the headlights of life.

Which doesn't mean you should be reckless with your life and go looking for trouble either.

But we all have to strike a balance between our fears and living our lives and I find that mask a good reminder to do so.

Hanabeth Luke assists Tom Singer 
outside the Sari Club

As fate would have it, I ran into a survivor of the Bali bombing when my son was over in Bali and I expressed my fears to her about my son being over there and Hanabeth told me not to worry as Bali is overall a safe place.

Unknown Things?

I remember looking into Hanabeth's eyes when she was telling me this and it was one of those surreal life moments (for me anyway) where two souls cross paths just at the right time to affect each other's lives on some deeper spiritual level.

When I look at that mask hanging on the wall and look into its eyes, I see Hanabeth's eyes staring back at me too, and I wonder what my life would be like now if my own son had never come back from Bali, and I wonder what Hanabeth's life would be like now if she never had gone to the nightclub that night ... and did life even give her a real choice?

Hard to know from down here, I guess.

Just more mental clutter for my mind? 

These 'The Minimalists' podcasts have great topics to meditate on, which is why I love listening to them without even planning to become a "minimalist".

I was listening to podcast #19 'Mentalclutter' and had to laugh at the very Zen thing Josh says to a guy who asked about the inevitability of his own demise and any tips they could give him to stop worrying about it.

And Josh says, "on a long enough timeline everything ends".

The trouble with Josh's statement is that there is no timeline long enough for everything to end, it all just keeps transforming.

Remember that infinity goes both ways, as far back as it goes forward, so in a way we are all smack bang right in the middle of eternity NOW.

I'm not a mathematician, but I'm sure there is some kind of formula like - 

Now = The Past x The Future divided by The Present.

Probably needs some tweaking, but it's probably not too far off.

So, I think Josh is getting a bit ahead of himself when he says, "nothing lasts forever".

No thing may last forever, but forever lasts forever, so just try and sit and think about that one;-)

If it is always NOW then you can't ever get to the end of ETERNITY.
It's a Zen like oxymoron to say "it's always NOW, but nothing lasts FOREVER".
It's right up there with "what's the sound of one hand clapping?"

Everything is transforming every second in the NOW and none of us are the same person we were last week or who we will be next week, but we will still be right here in the NOW.

If you are here, then you are already halfway there when it comes to eternity.

NOW, I have some mental decluttering to do, and I don't have all day;-)