I was having a spirited discussion with a close friend the other day about life changes and out looks on life. How to keep life simple yet enjoy it fully? You know… the kind of discussion that go one for hours with out any resolution, or the kind of discussion that in a few minutes you realize the solution to the problem. Well it was one of those “Aha !!” moments for me. Thought I would share. He may have suggest that he wanted to minimize his life, I suggested minimalizing it. Splitting hairs? Perhaps yet the subtle difference bears opening the pandoras box. Various dictionaries will argue on one or the the other. Let’s see what we come up with.

Minimize means to reduce in size. In our context it was mentioned that he wanted to “minimize” his life. Minimalize means to simplify. That was the side of the coin that I had flipped on. Simplifying life is to minimalize it. Reduce the number of distractions and find the peace in daily interactions through a simpler outlook. By minimizing my life I am basically saying that my life is not that important and nothing that I do matters. Self deprecation is one thing yet wholly discounting my life to a significant reduction is quite another.

Minimalize is a word that has crept into many dictionaries over the last 5-10 years. I find it a very good word to convey my desire to reduce my preoccupation with all that I do  not need, yet once wanted or sought after. Attempting to let go of the tangible physical items that have long earned me the name of “pack rat” aids in understanding what a minimalist life can be. It is work in progress. The goal should be to minimalize life not to minimize it . By minimizing, I am holding no value to what I do or care about. It goes back to self worth. If my life is to be minimized, then everything I do, I have done or will do holds little to no value, so why bother even doing it. My place in the world and the universe is therefore worthless and non valuable if I minimize or “illegitimize” all that I am.  By minimalizing my life I am peeling my onion of a life by shedding the unnecessary and revealing the core of the necessary, in other words a world of abundance sitting and waiting to be discovered at the core!