Overnight Minimalism

My daughter has just become a minimalist. She is 10 years old and I have to say it happened overnight, literally.

It was not exactly planned, it just happened. She had been experiencing anxiety at bedtime and everything in her room appeared to her to be "alive." You know how it is when you imagination gets the better of you? In her case, she worked herself up so much that she would get sick to her stomach, just from nerves. Through it all, she is learning to face her fears and work through them.

After a few nights of trying to deal with these night terrors in other ways we finally decided to remove everything from her walls, from her room and to completely empty it except for the bed, the closet and her bookshelf and lamp.

It worked, she is less anxious and does not want anything to find its way back into her bedroom. Now you have to appreciate that this is a total 180 degree shift from her normal pack-rat self. In the past I would have a hard time wrestling away a piece of cardboard for the recycling bin.

Something changed, the catalyst was an undesirable fear of the dark or of the unknown lurking in her bedroom, but it was change nonetheless and for the better. Her room is clean and tidy and restful.

If an 10 year old can benefit from getting down to the bear minimum, so can we. She has ample clothes, a few toys and crafts and her beloved books. She is happy.

This whole episode got me thinking about the process of minimalism and how it really does bring a sense of restfulness when we live purposefully and without clutter to crowd in on our minds and create extra visual stimulation.

This weekend I De-cluttered my kitchen one more time, and I will have to go back and keep doing it, pairing things down until I am at a point where I can really say that I am at my comfortable minimal state. The point of minimalism that I have to remind myself is not De-cluttering as much as living with the minimum so that there is space in my mind, heart and world for what is important. It is about living intentionally, with more focus on the intangible, than the "stuff" I own.

I am also going to stay away from the grocery stores for a while, why? I have a fulls stock of food in my cupboard, and want to use up what I have and LET GO of the fear of "not having enough" or of "running out" and it is an opportunity to come up with some really creative recipes.

For instance, this is one I developed today:

 For the recipe click on the link below.
Chocolate G-Bean Delight.

Will I become a minimalist overnight? Probably not, but it is a work in progress and when I see how my daughter adapted, I know there is hope for me to find that place too, out of the forest, into the world of the simple bonsai.