Christin's Contemplative Cup #1: Extreme Minimalism

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Dear Ones,

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Christin’s digital postcard! This season is “contemplative cup”—please feel free to brew/prepare a cup of your favorite beverage, and enjoy a morsel of contemplative content.

What are our true material needs in life?

This week I’m intrigued by this extreme minimalist person called Aki, who posts on a YouTube channel called Samurai Matcha.

He challenged himself to start off with only his Samurai-style underwear (fundoshi), and allowed himself 1 additional item per day for 30 days.

It’s an interesting exploration of the minimum number of things we truly need to live a contented life. I recently de-cluttered and enjoy the extra space in our tiny apartment, and this video challenged me to further examine my true essentials.

Digital Postcard Experiment

I’d love for this digital postcard to be a way for us to check-in with each other, without it being too burdensome/daunting.

So here’s my experiment—I’ll pose a question every week and encourage you to write me 1 sentence in response. I’ll reply with 1 as well, and don’t feel obligated to reply after that.

Question of the Week

What is one thing you’re excited about donating/selling/discarding?

Warm Wishes,

Christin

P.S. The latest essay on my website is Get Off the Self-Improvement Treadmill with a Bao Yang (保養) Mindset, if you’d like to check that out. :)