Gest blogger: Rita from Portugal

Here's another great post from a guest to this blog... but a great blogger from Portugal!  The link to her blog can be find lower...  Rita is this amazing woman who, without her knowing it... and without knowing each other, other than virtually, had a huge impact on my life!!!  For that I will always be thankful to her!

I have always been an organized person and I never accumulated too much clutter at home. In fact, I’ve always loved to through things away. In 2010, after I finished my PhD, I decided to redecorate my home and then I realized that I still had too much stuff. The furniture I had wasn´t right anymore, but it was still hard to get rid of it… One day I became aware of my emotional attachment to stuff… and I realized how ridiculous that is! Stuff is just stuff. More important are people, experiences, memories. And so I started to sell/give/throw away stuff that didn’t belong anymore in my home. I began with the furniture and then my clothes, books, kitchen stuff, work stuff, kids’ toys…  I got rid of more than half of my clothes and downsized from 60 pairs of shoes to 20. Everything in my home was submitted to a rigorous examination. Do I love this? Do I need it? If the answer was no to both questions, off it went…

At the same time I traveled to a Greek island for work and there I spent my nights reading Leo Babauta. That’s when I had my epiphany and decided to become a minimalist. I realized that a minimalist life was the kind of life that suited me. Minimalists seemed to be rather happy people, with no stress, no worries, no keeping up with the Joneses – and I wanted that for me and my family. When I got back to Portugal I decluttered even more, not only the physical stuff, but also commitments, appointments, responsibilities. I built up the courage to say “no” to things that didn’t interest me or didn’t add value to my life, both at work and in my personal life. I started doing what I wanted to do, not what other people expected me to do. I established priorities and organized my life accordingly to my priorities. I started to live my life, in the present moment.  

And then I discovered yoga.  I’ve always been into sports, but quickly I realized that yoga is much, much more than a physical activity. It’s a lifestyle. And minimalism is a part of the yogic lifestyle. Yoga teach us how we should deal with other people and our attitude towards ourselves, through a set of moral codes (Yamas) and personal observances (Niyamas). Two of those rules are called Aparigraha, to have only what we need, and Santosha, to be content with what we have – this is minimalism, a modern name to some of yoga’s ancient teachings.

So, a journey that started with decluttering some stuff soon became a lifestyle. Now I have time to myself, to my family, to my work. I’m not busy and I seldom hurry. I take life slowly. Now I live a mindful, healthy and peaceful lifestyle. And I’ve never been happier.

Rita Domingues, The Busy Woman and the Stripy Cat

Rita Domingues is a minimalist, aspiring yogini, blogger, marine scientist and mom to two boys from Portugal. She is currently enrolled in yoga teacher training and practices yoga on and off the mat every day.

What about you?  What was the deciding factor to your decluttering??? 

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