Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism

We think that the more we have, the happier we will be. We never know what tomorrow might bring, so we collect and save as much as we can.

Minimalism is a lifestyle in which you reduce your possessions to the absolute minimum you need.

“The things you own end up owning you.”

Liquor is not happiness but a temporary respite from unhappiness.

The American company Apple has an intriguing connection to the minimalist culture of Japan. Many minimalists are fond of Apple products and of Apple’s founder, Steve Jobs.

My feeling is that minimalists are people who know what’s truly necessary for them versus what they may want for the sake of appearance, and they’re not afraid to cut down on everything in the second category.

Danshari, the art of de-cluttering, discarding, and parting with your possessions

About sixty thousand different thoughts are said to go through a person’s mind over the course of a day. Ninety-five percent of that is made up of the same things we’d been thinking about the day before, and 80 percent of those thoughts are believed to be negative

If we could just be satisfied with what we have, then we wouldn’t have to keep buying more and better things

You aren’t likely to be five times happier when you get a $500 ring as opposed to one that costs $100

We think we can’t become a minimalist until our lives have settled down. But it’s actually the other way around; we won’t be able to settle down until we’re living a minimalist life

we should not think of these places as shops where we buy goods, but instead as our warehouses where we go to get something when we need it

A key way to gauge your passion for something you own is to ask yourself, “If I were to somehow lose this, would I want to buy it again at full price?”

happiness continues for longer periods if it’s based on experiences rather than objects. A $1,000 coat will lose its novelty as you continue to wear it, but if you had spent the money on a trip with a friend, you can relive that joy every time you remember that trip

the Zeigarnik effect, which says that people remember things that they once pursued and left incomplete more than they do the things that they had completed

Deeper relationships are only possible if we see every person as a real human being with the same meaningful desires, concerns, and fears

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