What Is Mental Minimalism?
Mental minimalism is all about decluttering the mind by reducing destructive inputs. Normal physical minimalism is great but something more profound happens when you take its principles to the mental plane. By letting go of unproductive stimuli, you clear up mental bandwidth and attain freedom.
“No man is free who is not master of himself.”
— Epictetus
To understand Mental Minimalism we first need to look at its origins – minimalism.
Minimalism is a trend that has taken the world by storm.
Do a quick search on YouTube and you will find thousands of videos created by entrepreneurs who have decided to sell their possessions.
Downsizing from big mansions to small apartments.
Getting rid of the Lambo.
It’s a form of ‘Monk Mode’, which allows you to create mental space by clearing out your physical space.
The philosophy is not new; aspects of it have been practised in Japan for thousands of years.
Japanese minimalism was inspired by Zen philosophy.
It warned students about the pitfalls of material dependence which will lead to suffering from mental slavery.
Most Zen monks practice minimalism. They often have no more than a few material possessions which help them while meditating in the mountains.
Minimalists understand our conscious minds have a limited bandwidth.
Every physical item we own has a relationship with us.
When you look at your car and notice how it hasn’t been cleaned, you feel a small degree of stress.
You feel slightly guilty when you look at your bookshelf and see the title of a book you haven’t touched.
Imagine your home as a big system.
Each item you have is a node within that system.
The more nodes, the more possible interactions.
The more interactions, the harder it is to determine the system’s behaviour.
The simpler the system, the easier it is to engineer for your own benefit.
When you have a discussion with 3 people, it tends to be easy and enjoyable.
When you have 30 people in the room chaos ensues.
This is how it is with physical items.
But what if that is only one part of the puzzle?
If physical objects can affect our mental well-being, imagine the effects of the intangibles (social media, relationships, mental beliefs, etc.)
The 3 key areas of Mental Minimalism
Social Media
Social media is engineered with advanced AI to be as addictive as possible.
It tricks the brain’s dopamine reward system by delivering meaningless notifications.
You feel good when you receive a like or comment on your picture.
Despite the interaction having no real-world value.
You feel accomplished.
In the past, congratulations were given based on merit.
If you came up with a better way for building a fire, the tribe rewarded you.
If you create an amazing advertisement, you get record sales.
Today, you can feel the coveted reward chemicals for simply resharing memes.
This process fries your brain’s dopamine baseline and moves you away from freedom.
Social Interactions
Humans are social animals.
We have been designed by the Elohim to interact with each other.
Even in prison, when a man is surrounded by rapists and murderers, the worst punishment is to be left alone in solitary confinement with his mind.
Naturally, this need for social connection also helps with survival and successful reproduction.
Hence why some of our most powerful cognitive biases revolve around the social sphere.
Many people are born with an innate fear of public speaking.
It is one of the most common fears, often transcending the fear of death.
The fear of public speaking stems from a fear of social rejection.
This is just one of many examples which show how powerful our relationships are for us.
Their capacity to affect our mental space is unparalleled.
Mental Beliefs
Your subconscious mind is the creative mechanism which builds your life.
It’s the automatic part of your brain responsible for 95% of your daily actions.
It follows the blueprint of your belief systems.
Many of these beliefs were picked up during youth.
Many of them run you silently from the background.
When we see a terrorist committing heinous crimes, we often wonder,
“How can anyone do such a thing?”
Have you noticed those terrorist videos tend to show young boys (age 10 and under) holding AK47s?
They usually look ridiculous chanting with their fathers.
Those boys are the terrorists of tomorrow, but it isn’t their fault.
The beliefs ingrained at a young age form the blueprints for your life.
“Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man.”
— Aristotle
If you grew up holding an AK47 at age 7, you likely would be doing some gnarly shit too.
This is why the rich pay ridiculous amounts of money to send their kids to private schools and Ivy League universities.
It’s not about the knowledge those schools can give them.
It’s about the beliefs which will be programmed into the minds of the students.
While the plebs get indoctrinated into ridiculous ideologies,
The elites will be rubbing shoulders with future presidents, entrepreneurs and politicians.
This gives them an upper hand in the mental game of cultivating abundance.
I will give it to you simply.
Your life is largely run by the beliefs you hold about yourself.
Mental Minimalism Exercise
Minimalists often encourage newbies to do the following exercise.
Choose a room in your house and pack all of your stuff into various boxes.
When you need something, take it out of the box.
After a week, you will realize that 95% of the stuff you have you don’t use and hence do not need.
It was merely the ‘endowment effect’ – the tendency to value things we own more than things we don’t – that kept you from getting rid of the junk.
The next step is to get rid of all the stuff.
The same method can be used in the realms of social media, relationships and beliefs.
Mental Decluttering From Social Media
To create freedom from social media, simply delete all your apps.
Go for 2 weeks without them.
When the 2 weeks are over, ask yourself,
“Which app drastically reduced the quality of my life when I couldn’t use it?”
Let go of the losers and enjoy the new mental space.
This strategy is called the ‘Packing Party’ from Cal Newport’s book ‘Deep Work’.
Mental Decluttering From Social Commitments
To create freedom from social interactions you need to go on a hiatus.
Don’t interact with friends, and don’t attend your usual groups or social commitments.
Do this for two weeks and see who reaches out to you.
Did anyone notice you were gone?
Who did you miss spending time with?
Did you miss your weekly chat with the people at the café?
If not, don’t be afraid to eliminate those social interactions from your life.
This will clear up even more space than removing the physical.
Mental Decluttering From Belief Systems
To get freedom from belief systems, you simply do the opposite of what you have been conditioned to do.
You can experiment for 2 weeks to see what stays.
Do you believe the carnivore diet is the best thing on earth? Perhaps try the vegan diet.
You’re a vegan and can’t eat meat? Grab some steaks from the butcher.
You are too shy and hate talking to people? Put yourself in immersive social situations.
Do you have a charity and hate the rich? Read the biographies of billionaires.
Only once you have experienced both opposing beliefs can you truly choose which you want to keep.
The beliefs that no longer serve you can be dropped.
You might be surprised to enjoy an opposing viewpoint you once ridiculed.
Complexity Rises
Our world is continually getting more complex.
The system nodes keep multiplying and encroaching on your mental space.
To gain freedom from the chaos you need to practice mental minimalism.
Physical minimalism can only help you so much; gain more freedom by auditing your social media usage, social interactions and belief systems.
Do this, and I promise you will be one step closer to living and dying well.