A short video deeply touched me. In the video, a 19-year-old young man talked about "de-cluttering"----a Japanese-inspired philosophy of ‘decluttering’ not just your home, but your life and mind by letting go of what no longer serves you. (pronounced duàn shě lí in chinese).
Starting from the fact that he threw away six large bags of clothes, he began to explain it：
- Throw away the messy items on the table,
- Throw away your age and stop celebrating birthdays,
- Throw away the complicated relationships, especially the forced romantic feelings between men and women.
He said firmly: Keeping bad things around will eventually do you harm.
1 、The tardy awakening
At the age of 19, has the concept of decluttering become a part of our lives? And with the development of high technology, have we also become more modern?
When we were young, who would have imagined the concept of "tidying up and decluttering"? Feels like everything is great, everything is needed. Gathered a bunch of things that are merely optional.
As we grew older, we eventually realized that the useless things should be disposed of.
There are indeed certain things that one feels reluctant to discard - such as those clothes that haven't been worn for several years. Each piece of clothing carries a memory, a past self, and one always feels that maybe one day they will have the chance to wear them again.
2 、The essence of "Declutter" The wisdom of discarding what is no longer useful.
But I gradually came to understand that the true "deleting, discarding, and letting go" is not about blindly throwing things away. It is more like a kind of "
Sublation" ，（It is a core concept in the philosophical systems of Hegel and Marx, and the original German term is "Aufheben"）， discarding the dross and retaining the essence
This is also the brilliant concept presented by the great Chinese writer Lu Xun in "The Policy of Appropriation". The essence of decluttering is exactly this: discard useless things and retain the valuable ones that can nourish and enhance you.
3 、Growth: Enhancement of Discrimination Skills
The process of human growth is essentially one of continuous improvement in discernment and cognition.
We often become overly anxious about aging, but fail to recognize the wisdom that time brings us and the clarity that life accumulation offers us.
The enhancement of human cognition should make us feel more relieved than age anxiety.
Knowing what we want and what we don't want enables us to simplify our lives, discard the insignificant things that consume our lives, and focus our limited energy on more meaningful matters!
I completely understand the sense of relief that the young man felt by discarding those six packages of clothes. At such a young age, he has such a clear understanding of life. At the same time, I also understand the satisfaction one gets from having a practical and beloved object in life.
4 、The enlightenment from the charger: Key items should not be "abandoned, discarded"
The recent embarrassing experience has led me to have a more balanced perspective on the concept of "declutter".
My little niece was admitted to Xiamen Art College. I stayed with her for half a month.
Before leaving, I bought a new charger because the old one didn't meet the 3C certification requirements for civil aviation and couldn't be taken on the plane.
However, one night, due to my lack of proficiency in using the new charger, we failed to charge successfully. The next day, this small mistake completely disrupted our travel plans.
As it was getting close to noon, our phones stopped working.
The little niece's phone had completely shut down and mine had only one bar of power left. We had no choice but to head back.
At the bus station, we were worried that the phone wouldn't have enough power to complete the payment when the bus was about to arrive.
Eventually, we used the weak power left to hail a taxi. As soon as we got into the car, we could finally breathe a sigh of relief - at least the payment record had been generated.
What's really funny is that: The driver saw that our phones were out of power, grabbed a charging cable and gave it to me, but still, the phones didn't get charged!
At that time, it felt like nothing mattered in the world except for a charger!!
Therefore, life is not about completely "getting rid of" and "letting go", but about choosing "abandonment". Discard the useless things that weigh you down, and carefully select the high-quality items that won't put you in a difficult situation at critical moments.
Conclusion：
"Decanting, Eliminating and Sorting" is ultimately a wisdom for life. It's not just about throwing things away; it's about understanding what should be discarded and what should be kept.
Whether at the age of 19 or 50, whether in terms of material or spiritual aspects, we are all learning the art of "abandonment" - discarding those that consume us and retaining those that nourish us.
This might be the most beautiful form of growth.
Amazon link ：
--- If you are interested, you can read my article: