My minimalist living project began the moment I decided to total renovate my one bedroom apartment and change it into a studio apartment with a Murphy bed. Previous to this tranistion I would wake up in the morning ,open my eyes only to feel closed in as the room was bedroom was small and my adding a floor to ceiling book shelf did not help.
Now, I wake up and can see a wall 30 feet away . I have a sense of expansion in my vision and life. As everything in life ,one gives up something to gain something else. In this case it is privacy. Since I live alone it is not an issue. When I do have company staying for a period of time we somhow adjust to the situation. It isn’t ideal but doable. I do have the Japanese screens that I can utilize to create a private space if necessary.
The beaury of this transformation is that I create a third more space in my minimalist apartment , making the bed is simply tossing the bed up to become the facade of a closet , and it facilitates having a clean and a tidy uncluttered space.
I have lived for decades now in Asia every winter and for several years lived in Japan.The Asian are masters of minimalist living and decluttering as space is a premium in Asia due to the dense population. I would say Hong Kong is an extreme exactly as well as apartment living in Tokyo and now Bangkok.
We in the West clutch on to many material possesions and filll many rooms of a house which is used for storage not living. The car is never parked in the garage as it has become a huge storage unit for most Westerners.
Time flies and soon the grim reaper arrives . Suddenly , all that you held sacred and could not let go is released as you enter the formless.
It’s challenging to let go all these things that we have always thohgt impossible to live with ; but the reward is immense.
I travel for five months every winter with only two carry on bags and surprisingly I don’t miss anything. The mysteries of life.
