Maximal Minimalism

New York, NY

Minimalism begins with a ceiling, but taken down its logical path, introduces a floor. ​

Minimalism is an applicable philosophy that, as a first step, acts as a ceiling - a limit, on what to include in your life. Given this ceiling, we must apply a filter to limit what gets included. This purge is necessary for clarity, and living a lighter, minimalist life. But it is only the beginning. Many stop at this first step. Many who dismiss minimalism as an adolescent philosophy have never practiced it with more experience than a novice. Minimalism begins with a ceiling, but taken down its logical path, introduces a floor. 

Let’s step back a minute. Minimalism is not only about removing all that is unnecessary. It is also about including everything that is. Again, removing everything that is unnecessary is itself the necessary first step. A first step that creates room for realizing what is necessary. The things that are included in the next step are often things that themselves remove other things. They generally fall in the category of making life easier by automating, outsourcing, or simplifying time consuming tasks or space consuming items. Subtraction by addition.  

Practicing minimalism with only a ceiling leaves a lot of room for overfitting the bounds by including too little. Introducing the floor raises the lower limit, and reduces the size of the target space, leaving less room for error. This step can get messy. It can lead to mistakes that misjudge what is necessary, and fill the space too much, or raise the floor above the ceiling. 
Observing oneself, there is a need to continue the cycle of purging and adding. This weaving of the two is practicing minimalism - living minimalism, rather than living with scarcity by only purging, or living with overabundance by only consuming. As one continues this practice, one gets better at it. As with many things, one only improves by being willing to make mistakes, recognize them, learn from them, and keep going.