I took that opportunity to talk to him about his reaction and suffering.

“You know, how you react to this task is only affecting you”

 

“I don’t want to fold”

 

“It’s not my favorite thing to do either, but, how I react to it directly relates to whether it is hard to get through, or easy. You see, if there is something I don’t particularly enjoy doing, I can make a choice; do I decide ‘this is horrible, I hate this’, or, ‘this isn’t my favorite thing to do, but I can get through it pretty quick so no big deal’. If I choose the first reaction, I suffer. However, if I choose the second, I don’t, and I also usually get through the task much quicker. Which do you think would be the better decision?”

 

“Saying it’s no big deal.”

 

“Yep. Do you know where I learned that?”

 

“Your Dad?”

 

“Great guess, but actually, it was <I point my eyes up and to the left, towards our Buddha that sits in the front room>”

 

“From Buddha. <as he smiles>”

 

“Yep. That is one of the most basic, yet, most important teachings. It is also why I sit every night. So the mind I have when I sit, can be the mind I have when I work on a task that I don’t particularly care for.”

 

“<he smiles some more> OK”

And you know, we got through folding that laundry basket full of his t-shirts pretty quickly.

Over the weekend I had a few hours to myself. This is a rare occurrence and instead of sitting down and watching TV (something I don’t do too often anyways), I turned on some music and went to work on my side of the closet.

I had been meaning to do it for some time and was happy to able to work on it. Going through what I had in there was funny; I guess I had forgotten all the clothes I owned. After not much time at all, I was able to clean out my side of the closet and rid myself of 1/2 of what was in there. This felt great.

An added bonus to this was previously I thought I needed to go shopping for a few shirts. Well, I found shirts I had forgotten about that fit great, so no shopping trip needed.

Now, I’m not convinced I’ll ever ‘qualify’ to really be considered a ‘minimalist’ but it was a good start. What little time it took make a good impact and I plan to continue with other areas of things I own (some of which may very well own me when I really think about it, but that’s another topic).

Here is a list of the ‘Minimalist’ sites I read fairly regularly:

• The Minimalists
• zen habits
• mnmlist
• Unclutterer
• be more with less
• becoming minimalist
• SIMPLE. ORGANIZED. LIFE.
• Slow Change
• Rowdy Kittens – social change through simple living
• The Everyday Minimalist

I’m curious, have any of you gone through a similar change in thinking? Any other sites you recommend on this topic? Would love to hear.