A MINIMALIST VIEW

troduced to or have never been invited to explore. The benefits of minimalist living have never been articulated. As a result, it’s too far a leap… too long a stretch… and jumping in with both feet is just not going to happen. Although it may just seem like a millennial fad to most, minimalism, when practiced for the right reasons, can benefit your life significantly. All the things we surround ourselves with are merely a distraction, we are filling a void. Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy comfort. After the initial comfort is satisfied, that’s where our obsession with money should end.

We are bombarded by the media presenting promises of happiness through materialistic measures. Being from a journalistic and advertising background, I know the deep-down tactics of the advertising world. There are campaigns created that have the maximum impact on the consumer’s mind. There are psychologists who sit and decide what is the aspect where we can hit to create an impact and ensue the viewer to ultimately buy the products that are being advertised. It’s no wonder we struggle every day. Resist those urges.

It’s an empty path, it won’t make you happy. One needs constant reminders that it’s a false sense of happiness French philosopher Albert Camus had famously argued the literal meaning of what life is “whatever you are doing that prevents you from killing yourself.”

To rephrase: the purpose of life is to do things that keep us from dying, or so to say conducting the daily essentials of life, such as eating, resting, so on. The crux of the saying is that we just need the bare minimum to survive. All the other things are just pompous. At least that’s what the pandemic also taught us.

In pre-corona times, this philosophy would have sounded what Camus called life itself — absurd. We’d have assigned higher meaning and purpose to life — pursuit of happiness, quest for knowledge or recognition, philanthropy, or even reckless hedonism. However, some can go beyond the sphere of commonness and some reach the stage of knowing the real purpose of why they have taken birth on this earth. So, its best to focus on that rather than living on the materialistic things and losing the true essence of what god has to offer. Grow beyond material to make space for the better.

My Shadow

The day was slowly turning into night

The birds moving towards their abode Giving a beautiful backdrop to twilight

I was walking slowly on the lonely road My thoughts moving along with me A deadly silence creeping, bizarre and odd

A little perturbed, I spoke a silent plea The darkness played a little game with the gleam My shadow emerged and started walking with me

Holding me tight, like sleep holds the dream My shadow never left my side, We both make an awesome team

When world abandon me or takes me for a ride My shadow holds the lamp and becomes my guide.

Where Have You Gone

Jerome Bradley (Jwritezz)

New York, USA

Your voice is a sound

Which echoes in my head

The fond memories are cherished

Like every word you said

I recall your smile

And all that followed after Without you

My world lacks laughter

I often reach out to touch you instead I grasp air

When it use to be you there

Your absence is a mystery

That needs to be unraveled

If it took miles to find you

They would be well worth traveled

My life is depleted

Weary and defeated

With no direction

Time spent

Lost in your reflection

Wretched in a pool of rejection

You are the one I yearn to hold

I will never leave you

Are words I dread being told

My love is to no avail

Which patiently awaits your return

To see your face, feel your presence

Is an endless aching yearn.. --