This quick one is to share with you thoughts on what I call as, “minimalistic opulence” ; which in turn can bring welcome changes to your life and even in the lives the people around you! Join me here as we try to unravel and decipher what this is all about and how it manifests and what are the tell tale signs of minimalism with opulence. As we skim through this, we also understand why this matters and how this can empower individuals to do what is possible in their own realm! So here we go!

The challenges that we see around the world have fundamentally to do a lot with the natural (yes natural) tendency of humans to hoard and hold! You see, as we evolved, through the ages, human settlements have flourished and perished on account of having and not having- now what those elements were changed from time to time- in the earlier days, historic times it was as simple as sustainable and on going food shelter and safety (from the wild and fellow humans in a minor way) but as we progressed and settlements began to change into civilizations and rules and regulations of societies began to come in- everything else changed, but the problem of the people on the fringe- the people who in these societies still have to wage a war to just ensure they have a shelter over and food on the plate! But within these same societies you have people who have all what they would ever need and continue to hold on and hoard on still more and more and this is the setting which makes a compelling case for embracing “minimalistic opulence”

I am not asking you to be opulent in a minimalist way, rather I am urging you to stay a minimalist and stay opulent ( not being miserly or frugal) and this is perhaps the only way that society can accelerate resource re-distribution, re-allocation and re-prioritize what the society needs and how much of it! Sure enough, you don’t have to be a billionaire to do this, but every action that you take, just by being who you are, you will end up transforming the ways that billionaires probably want to sun or ruin the societies as the case may be and just one intervention from you- will set the clock in motion to create enough ripples to bring about changes that you want in the society that you are in! It certainly will depend on what’s been held up and what’s been hoarded in a society, but rest assured a slight nudge from your end and walking away from that party- will soon enough destabilize the social frameworks as you begin to embrace this route of “minimalistic opulence”. Don’t be mistaken this not any socialist rant, it rather is a way to empower individuals so that they can keep shifting the balance of a society in a dynamic manner which discourages hoarding and promotes the idea of “minimalist opulence”. So what is this really? How can we practise it? How can we see it manifest around us? Is it viable enough? Read on!

Since this is a blog, I am going to keep it short and to the point! Whichever society you live in if there’s any way to stop the skewing of opportunities and resources within the context of the frame- it will have to start by knowing when “enough is enough” about everything and anything that we do and is around us! How many clothes are enough, how much travel is enough, how much money is enough? Well you see, you can come with different answers and don’t mistake there’s nothing wrong in wanting more or less- that all depends on who You are and what your aspirations and chosen path of life is- the real issue is- is the society ready and able to give you what you choose? Because if the social frame doesn’t allow you to (by making or promoting conditions so), nothing will matter, whether it is the extra dollar you want to make or those millions of dollars that you aspire for! This is where Minimalistic Opulence again comes to your rescue! How? Read on!

To begin with, as I said earlier, it is not about frugality or being a miser or being a Robin Hood to equally reallocate wealth to everyone! No, that’s not how it works! It all starts at the very foundation of everything, and that foundation is “You”. Once you are able to know yourself well enough-then you know what is that you need and what is that you aspire for! These are two different and fundamentally important things! When you don’t get what you need- you have an existential crisis- but when you don’t get what you aspire for- you still exist but don’t get to live the way you aspired for! The whole process of “minimalism with opulence” gets played out in the space of your needs!

It all starts by you getting to know who “you” are and once you have done that, then the only thing remains is to arrange all that you “need” on the canvas of your life. These needs can be big or small , easy or challenging , possible in your social frame or may be not- what matters is this is what you “need” to have and this is what will make “you” complete and this is the essence of social opulence! Once you reach this space, decisions as trivial as, “how many clothes in your closet”, to “which car” to “what profession” or “which vacation” all of these begin to get answered and go a long way to de-clutter your life and thereby ensure that at all times your inner circle of life is always filled and complete with(as much as possible) things and people that go on to make your “needs” and this is what “minimalist opulence” is all about! It is about knowing yourself, your needs and then living a life pursuing what matters and is critical to your existence! So what about aspirations?

Aspirations are important, no one is asking you to do away with your ambition or aspirational attitude to be better and ahead than where you are right now! What is important is that these aspirations have to be allowing your need horizon to expand naturally and in a congruent way so that even as you grow and thrive in the times ahead, you do not succumb to the hoarding or holding mentality and get drawn into the mad race of wanting beyond your needs- immediate and long term both! Let me explain this, say you are a doctor and doing well and everything that you ever wanted is there around and in your life- one fine morning you get an offer to own a hospital- your own hospital and with a little stretch you know you will be able to own it- Now the question is how natural will that step be to expand the horizons of your need and how much of that will manifest in an non-divergent way! You see owning the hospital is one thing and being able to run it like a business is a different ball game altogether- that’s why not all Doctor’s make great surgeons and neither are all of them great administrators! There are very few and rarest of the rare who are able to blend in the best of the both worlds and it is eventually these set of doctors who end up running the biggest and the best medical and healthcare facilities- simply because their aspirations melted into being their needs with the passage of time and they allowed that to manifest and evolve slowly and in way that allowed them to practise and embrace the change!

As long as your aspirations are aligned to your current needs and hold the ability to be transformed into the needs of tomorrow, you are all set to live your aspirations; provided the social frame permits that! The moment your aspirations are synced out of your need, you will begin to get consumed in the war of wanting more and holding to what you have (simply because you will find it difficult to understand how long what you have will remain!). This is what leads to never ending strife, chaos and ambiguity and often people end up spending entire life time trying to pursue aspirations that are in direct conflict of their needs and which perhaps never have the potential of transforming themselves into becoming needs in the times ahead! This is why “minimalism with opulence” helps, it helps to significantly de-clutter all that will not serve you now or in the times ahead and hence leaving you with more time and energy to pursue what matters, whether it is related to the realm of your needs or your aligned aspirations so that the journey stays congruent and converges to present you with empowering frames through the moments of your journey on an ongoing basis!

The word “opulence” you may be wondering why is it here, well opulence is all about being suave to know what really matters and how does that serve you in the now and in the times ahead! This frame of opulence alongside minimalism creates magic to help de-clutter in a rapid and aggressive manner all that one must!

The moment you start to want less, aspire less ( in line with what your trim level is) you will find you start to do a great service by buying less, wanting less, spending less and thereby no more holding back, unwanted hoarding of resources (whatever type they may be) and importantly you live a life- moment to moment- with greater focus and depth which again brings amazing clarity to build empowering moments which serve you in your now and in your oncoming tomorrow!

I leave you with thoughts, urging you to think around this space and embrace the frame of practicing “minimalistic opulence” to have an empowering now and a resilient tomorrow!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another one! Until then Stay Safe and be in the now!