Far Beyond The Stars: The Archives

Written and Photographed by Everett Bogue | Follow me on Twitter

When people think about minimalism, some of them think that it’s really hard and it involves throwing out all of their stuff and being a freegan or something. It doesn’t. Minimalism is about small steps toward a simple goal. It’s totally achievable, but the idea of running around with just a backpack is really terrifying for folks who have a house full of stuff and a packed schedule.

You’re not going to be a minimalist overnight, but by taking tiny steps you’re getting there slowly, and more important, simply.

If you can do one of the things on this list today, you’ll be a little more minimalist, and that helps! Yes, they’re small, but that’s fine. Maybe try doing one of these once a day for a hundred days? Maybe some of them will stick, and then you’re doing 100 things that make you more of a minimalist. That’d be pretty cool, and I think you can do it!

Here is 100 things you can do today to simplify your life and become more of a minimalist.

1, Recycle, donate, throw away one item.
2, Eat one less mouthful.
3, Spend one less dollar.
4, Drive one less mile.
5, Watch one less movie.
6, Count how many things you own (I own 79 things.)
7, Drink one less cup of coffee.
8, Cook one meal at home.
9, Think one freeing thought.
10, Walk to the store once.
11, Work one less hour.
12, Spend a half an hour meditating.
13, Skip dessert.
14, Skip the soda.
15, Drink one glass of pure water.
16, Cook with carrots.
17, Cook with kale.
18, Give one less gift, give a hug instead.
19, Bike to work for one day a week.
20, Walk around the block instead of anything.
21, Plant one plant that you can someday eat.
22, Write one list about how you could be more minimalist.
23, Read Tammy’s RowdyKittens.
25, Read Leo’s Mnmlist.
26, Read Dave’s Minimalist Path.
27, Donate one book after you read it.
28, Email one story about minimalism to your best friend.
29, Write one minimalist thing somewhere prominent in your house.
30, Read Walden by Thoreau.
31, Create one piece of art with one tool.
32, Do one thing at work that you’ve been meaning to do, but have done fifty things instead.
33, Take a plane trip somewhere with only a backpack.
34, Unfriend one friend on Facebook.
35, Unfollow one person on Twitter.
36, Follow me on Twitter.
37, Cook without meat for one meal.
38, Sit in front of a fire for an hour.
39, Sit under a tree for an hour.
40, Watch birds for an hour.
41, Dedicate one hour to reading a book.
42, Unplug your TV for one evening.
43, Write one paragraph on how you could become more minimalist.
44, Donate/recycle/trash one memento that you’ve cherished since high school.
45, Tell one person you love them.
46, Take the train to work once.
47, Take one yoga class.
48, Give some of your money to a charity that helps starving children.
49, Quit your job that you hate (don’t worry, you’ll be okay.)
50, Write one blog post on minimalism.
51, Tweet once about minimalism.
52, Dream one dream that you could never do if you had a house full of stuff.
53, Redefine your idea of success as being freer.
54, Work from home for one day.
55, Turn off the lights for one day.
56, Walk on a beach with a friend, once.
57, Make your own coffee in the morning, once.
58, Make one payment to get yourself closer to being out of debt.
59, Walk down Broadway between Houston and Canal in Manhattan and don’t buy anything.
60, Walk down Hawthorne in Portland without buying anything.
61, Read a book in a bookstore without buying it.
62, Take your lunch to work for one day.
63, Cancel your cable TV.
64, Cancel your Netflix.
65, Delete your Facebook.
66, Turn off your phone for one day, call everyone back the next day.
67, Don’t drink one more beer.
68, Do one action without doing any other action.
69, Watch a butterfly.
70, Watch a fruit fly.
71, Clean your counter top so the fruit fly goes away.
72, Clear your desk.
73, Take everything out of your car.
74, Decide what you’d take with you if you left today.
75, Realize that you can’t take it all with you when you die.
76, Think about what people will remember you for when you’re gone.
77, Send one short email that conveys just as much information as a long email.
78, Have one friend over to dinner.
79, Spend one day with your dog.
80, Subscribe to this RSS feed.
81, Buy one (necessary) thing with that jar of change that everyone has.
82, MP3 and sell/donate/recycle/trash one CD.
83, Stay home for one friday/saturday evening.
84, Take a photo of a tree.
85, Buy one less boxed thing at the grocery store.
86, Avoid buying in bulk once.
87, Breathe slower and more steadily.
88, Close your eyes for ten minutes.
89, Smile at someone you don’t know.
90, Walk slower.
91, Say thank you, smile, and look into the eyes of someone you don’t know.
92, Sit on a park bench.
93, Lie on a beach (with sunscreen on.)
94, Leave your house without a backpack.
95, Leave your house without your cellphone.
96, Sell/donate/recycle/trash one object you haven’t used in a month.
97, Sell/donate/recycle/trash one object that you haven’t used in a year.
98, Think one thought for 15 minutes.
99, Do one yoga pose.
100, Text your girlfriend/boyfriend/someone and tell them that you love them.

Whew, that was a lot of thinking for one morning.
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If you like one of these ideas, share them with one person.

I probably left some out, can you think of one thing that you do to be a minimalist? Leave it in the comments.

Written and Photographed by Everett Bogue | Follow me on Twitter

I had a conversation with someone last night that ended up trapped in my head for the entire night, even after meditating and staying in sarvangasana for fifteen minutes–a yoga pose which is supposed to clear your head!

I have this tendency to always suggest a thousand possibilities when someone asks me for the solution to a problem. (What about this, what about that?) I’m just not content to limit any thinking to one solution. There is never one solution, and most of the time the solution isn’t anywhere near where you thought it was.

Because the world isn’t concrete.

She was like ‘what do you mean?’ and I couldn’t answer, because it felt kind of self-explanatory. It’s not, I suppose, so I thought I’d try harder to explain

You know that the world isn’t concrete if you’ve ever:

• Created a work of art out of nowhere.
• Had a glimpse of universal consciousness.
• Saw one of your ideas spread virally around the internet.
• Got an amazing job without trying.
• Stargazed in a rural field or beach.
• Been part of a movement.
• Realized that you’re the decisive element.
• Concluded that there is no bottom of society to fall off of.
• Found success that didn’t equal massive amounts of money.
• Had a solution came to you in empty space.
• Moved slower and accomplished more.

Nothing is for certain, and the world is changing at an incredible rate. The world that our parent’s lived in is gone. We can instantly communicate with hundreds of people simultaneously across the globe. When did any of the tried and true methods take that into account?

We now live in a post geographical society, and it’s time that we all started taking that into account. We can live anywhere, we can work anywhere, we can create anywhere. We can touch any person who is willing to be touched. We just have to be brave enough to reach out and share our ideas, no matter how unpopular they may be, they will find an audience because the audience is everyone now.

And this is your life, so why are you wasting it doing something that you don’t want to do? The audience is out there for your crazy ideas, you just have to get those ideas out of your head. Free the ideas, publish your ideas. Especially the crazy ones.