%% ID: 13204940 Updated: 2022-01-28 %% ![](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/article0.00998d930354.png) # About Title: [[Other/Obsidian Starter Vault(Second Brain)/Readwise/Articles/How Minimalism Brought Me Freedom and Joy]] Author: [[James Altucher]] Category: #articles Number of Highlights: ==31== Last Highlighted: *2021-11-28* Readwise URL: https://readwise.io/bookreview/13204940 Source URL: https://medium.com/the-mission/how-minimalism-brought-me-freedom-and-joy-ab92260a8e9c # Highlights I have one bag of clothes, one backpack with a computer, iPad, and phone. I have zero other possessions. ^278319883 --- don’t like that word. I live the way I like to live no matter what label it has. ^278319884 --- At any moment, you are exactly where you want to be, for better or worse. ^278319885 --- like to be a wanderer. Without knowing where I am going to end up. To explore with no goal. To love without expectation. ^278319886 --- I think minimalism means having as little as you require. That means different things to everyone. ^278319887 --- My brain is not so big. So now I can think about other things. I can explore other ways of living more easily. ^278319888 --- At 48 years old I have nothing and nowhere. Other than the people I love and the experiences I love. ^278319889 --- Yes. I’ve worked harder for other things since then. I don’t keep all of these things around either. They are gone. ^278319890 --- Society tells us a diploma is a special life achievement. It isn’t. It’s yesterday. I don’t hold onto all the things society tells me to hold onto ^278319891 --- I’m not minimalist if minimalism means having zero attachments. I’m attached to my kids. ^278319892 --- Do you have to get off the internet to be a minimalist?” ^278319893 --- I have 238,795 unread emails in my inbox. Emails are a suggestion but not an obligation. ^278319894 --- Love and spirituality and gratitude are found in personal connection. Not in an email response. ^278319895 --- I never answer the phone. I have no voicemail. My phone number is 203–512–2161. Try it and see. ^278319896 --- I understand real books are beautiful. So I go to bookstores for hours and read them. But I won’t own them because they won’t fit in my one bag. ^278319897 --- I never read random articles on the Internet unless they are by people I know. Mostly I read books I love. ^278319898 --- aren’t you afraid you’re going to miss some information?” ^278319899 --- 99% of information we read, we forget anyway. The best way to remember is to “DO.” ^278319900 --- Minimalism of things? No. Minimalism of fear, anxiety, stress, mourning. ^278319901 --- don’t like any intrigue. I don’t like to gossip about people. ^278319902 --- don’t like feeling bad if someone doesn’t like me. That’s also baggage. I try to leave that behind. ^278319903 --- If anything, the more you accomplish, the more you can afford to get rid of the things society uses to hold you down. ^278319904 --- experiences are always more important than material goods. A story is more important than a gift. ^278319905 --- A material good might not fit in my bag. But a joyful experience is lighter than an atom. ^278319906 --- What if an experience is not so joyful.One thing I know: joy is a choice inside and not an emotion given to you. ^278319907 --- You have to have goals to succeed! How can you be a minimalist with goals ^278319908 --- have interests and things that I love to do. If I get better at those things each day (or try to) I feel good. ^278319909 --- When I have less things in my bag, I feel more free. Did I get 1% more “free” today, whatever free means? ^278319910 --- Figure out the 10–15 things you want in your bag before you die tomorrow. ^278319911 --- But there’s one thing I can do: I can always help someone else. That makes my day and life lighter. ^278319912 --- Anyone can have miracles in their life.Miracles don’t happen. Miracles are given ^278319913