Joshua and Ryan talk about calm, serenity, and the sound of simplicity with musician Andrew Belle, and they answer the following questions:
How do we find serenity in the echoes of our decluttered spaces? (00:00)
If you’re living a life that aligns with your values, why would it be necessary to take a vacation from it to find solace and silence? (13:39)
Is there any evidence that overconsumption of podcasts or other informative audio is linked to anxiety? (21:08)
How do we move closer to access and further from excess? (24:18)
Detailed show notes: minimalists.com/podcast
Support The Minimalists: minimalists.com/support
Joshua and Ryan talk about resisting the incessant tug of consumerism while striving to simplify, and they answer the following questions:
How do we overcome our shopping addiction? (00:00)
What are the three prime indicators of compulsive buying? (04:00)
What is consumerism? (06:45)
When does something become an addiction? (09:39)
Why do people have shopping addictions? (19:17)
When creating a capsule wardrobe and running up against challenges regarding durability, should we buy more clothes at once or purchase clothes more often? (19:35)
What is Project 333? (21:33)
How do I adjust my shopping habits so they better align with my minimalist practices? (26:01)
Detailed show notes: minimalists.com/podcast
Support The Minimalists: minimalists.com/support
Joshua and Ryan talk about removing the excess to expose the everyday beauty that’s all around us with author, podcaster, and pastor Erwin Raphael McManus, and they answer the following questions:
What exactly is “beauty”? (00:00)
Can beauty help us find peace? (05:01)
How do we discover and incorporate singular beautiful accents and items throughout our homes while maintaining a simple, minimalist style? (11:55)
What is the value of negative space? (14:21)
How do we find the beauty inside ourselves, and then be content with it? (18:42)
Detailed show notes: minimalists.com/podcast
Support The Minimalists: minimalists.com/support
Joshua and Ryan talk about the folly of the self-help industry’s focus on exhausting positivity—on trying to convince us that we can out-eat, out-learn, and out-perform our humanness—with author, podcaster, and professor Kate Bowler, and they answer the following questions:
What is the “gospel of hustle”? (00:00)
What are the signs that positivity has become toxic for us as individuals, and what are the signs that our well-intentioned positive vibes are becoming toxic to others? (06:58)
Where did the ‘good vibes only’ orthodoxy originate? (07:21)
Why does complaining seem to encourage camaraderie? (10:03)
What is the problem with the language of positivity? (10:43)
What is “horizon work”? (12:23)
What is “choice poor”? (12:38)
How do we address those that weaponize perspectives, such as toxic positivity, to bully us into accepting and adopting their way of thinking as our own; for example, when people that disapprove of minimalism call minimalists “privileged”? (17:11)
How do you define “elitism”? (21:45)
What is “prudential wisdom”? (23:39)
Where did the notion come from that being positive is the cure for everything, the path for everyone, the solution to whatever life throws at you—what is wrong with embracing sadness, contemplation, grief, anxiety? (31:35)
What is “limited agency”? (33:13)
Detailed show notes: minimalists.com/podcast
Support The Minimalists: minimalists.com/support