Live Small so you can live BIG…

In the few years I have been on this earth I have been able to cram a TON of living into this crazy thing we call life! I have had many interesting and exciting experiences all over this planet. I am an American by birth and have lived in more then 10 states, and for more then a year and a half in each one. More importantly though, I am blessed to still have lifelong friends in the majority of those states! I have also traveled to over 15 different countries and will be using some of that travel experience to talk about various cultural differences in our society today.

My post today is about my experience in California, more specifically the Japanese culture I experienced while living in San Francisco, California. That amazing city  is saturated (inundated) with the Far East culture and I got a chance to enjoy some of that saturation first hand. Out of the all of the cities in this country, San Francisco has the highest per capita population of Asian American and newly immigrated Asians who came to this country in search of a better life. There are some  pockets of the city that have more Asians living and doing business in them then the rest. These neighborhoods tend to be located in an area known as the “Sunset” district.  This district is pretty much a miniature Asia because almost all of the residents are Asian. That is where I lived and spent most of my time in San Fran, which you can call San Francisco if you have ever lived there. At least that is what I was told by the locals. So I can honestly tell you from first hand experience what it was like being the only “white kid” on the block!

EDIT BELOW:

Today we are going to address a specific Asian culture that I had the honor of living in and around for the majority of my stay in San Fran. One of the things that the Japanese culture excels at is “Minimalism.” I have been to Japan twice and was once engaged to a Japanese girl, who was born and raised in Tokyo, so I have a decent understanding of some basic Japanese cultural traits. I have also studied the life of traditional Martial Artist’s and read many books about the Samurai life and culture. (CONTRADICTS???I am far from an expert on Japanese culture, especially since I am a Texan and have lived most of my life in the Southern part of the US.) But through my experience in this life I have learned to take the Japanese concept of Minimalism and run with it! This is a counter-cultural concept for almost all of the citizens of this country because America has literally built it’s economic strength on consumerism and it’s peoples desire and ability to buy things.

This is EXACTLY what the essence of my post is about. “Live Small so you can live BIG!!!” The falsehood that true happiness is predicated on consumerism is eating away at our country and our present day culture! The biggest and most deadly player in this arena is “debt”. The entire concept of debt is about buying something that you can NOT afford. I still remember getting my first credit card and thinking how great it was b/c I could buy and do things that I couldn’t afford (or at least afford now!) What a lie and false sense of reality.

Yes I am advocating that you have ZERO credit cards and debt, and that you do NOT buy things that you can not afford. But more specifically I want you to evaluate how you are living your life. Is it ok to live a life where you don’t own more then one computer/TV/video game console/etc… Heck is it even possible? The reality is that the things we own tend to eventually own us. I mean how often have you drowned out your day watching a television show instead of really connecting with your partner who is sitting right there in front of you? How often are you consumed with “the playoffs” as opposed to going out for a surprise meal with your family? For us single peps out there…when was the last time you stepped away from the computer/TV and just called one of your friends to see how his or her day was? (the last one is percisely what I am guilty of so please don’t think I am above reproach with this stuff;)

I want you to take a second here and reflect on my original thoughts on Minimalism and the Japanese culture. I have not lived in Japan and am not sure exactly how it works over there. I am not saying that it is the perfect or even ideal culture. But one thing I do know is that people in Japan generally don’t own as much stuff as we do over here, and their houses and cars are far smaller then the average American’s. I also got to see how the Japanese family I almost became a part of was not as affectionate as a typical American family, but they sure did spend a LOT of time together just hanging out. There weren’t nearly as many “things” to distract them from spending quality chill time together.

So living a more minimalistic life is definitely not the norm but I promise you that you will be happier and experience more joy in your life if you are debt free, own less things, and spend more quality time with the people you love! So my challenge to you today is to take a no-BS assessment of what “owns you” and spend some time time thinking through your days in regards as to what you actually do or spend time doing in your free time (tv, family, reading, connecting, etc.) I Pray you don’t get caught up in the cycle of buying things you can’t afford so that you can be even more “distracted” from the people and relationships in your life that truly matter:)