An alternative Structure to Thinking : Subtraction as Addition
Luis Barragan
The goal is not to think different thoughts.
The goal is to construct an entirely new way of thinking.
The system of thinking starts first with your way of being.
Let your state of being precede your way of thinking.
A good coach empties you of information rather than prescribing you information.
There is nothing that needs to be added to your life.
The heart of your being, your mission, your creativity, your freedom, is already there,
You just have a dilemma of subtraction.
When is the last time you subtracted information and elements from your life.
This is the design dilemma.
Many of our choices are to add and add and add and add.
This is exhausting, and limits your potential tremendously.
We are addicted to addition, and that cycle must break to live your best life.
The power of subtraction far exceeds the power of addition.
Subtraction returns you back to spaciousness.
You need space in your life.
You need space to create, to breathe, to play, but what happens when you filled up the volume of the space within which you do these things.
How then do we expect things to flow naturally, gracefully, and abundantly?
Minimalism is a thing for a reason, despite its current en vogue-ness.
When we introduce subtraction to our lives mentally, energetically, perhaps even physically,
We are emptying ourselves of cluttered energy.
The objects and the thoughts themselves are secondary to the space they take up energetically and the energy that emit into your way of being.
Subtraction brings you back to the spaciousness from which you can best operate.
You can design this inner space as you wish,
But I encourage you to heed the wisdom of Mies Van Der Rohe,
“Less Is More.”
The beauty of subtraction also allows you the choice to add should you desire.
It is increasingly easier to add rather than subtract.
That is why I encourage the challenge of subtracting first, then introducing elements back into our life so we can observe their impact.
I like the analogy of composition of an artwork, or a space.
The more elements in the composition the less gravity each element possesses.
The less elements in the composition the greater the gravity each element radiates.
There is an inverse relationship between the amount of information in your mind and the power of that information.
The greater the information, the lesser the power.
The lesser the information, the greater the power.
Think about it, pun intended.
If you go your days mostly considering how you can be of the highest service,
That idea, that code, that piece of information, has profound impact on your life.
Inversely, if you go your days constantly consuming new information and don’t have a practice for maintaining mental hygiene, that information becomes significantly less significant.
The point of the matter is this.
Very few of us keep ourselves responsible for maintaining our input / output balance.
We tend to have inputs that imbalance our outputs and not always simply through quantity.
Garbage in, garbage out.
There is so much floating around online, in conversation, and through advertising that is nothing short of garbage for your mind both conscious and unconscious.
But it’s difficult to have boundaries and prevent the garbage from affecting us.
We don’t need to be hyper-critical of the comings and goings in our life, but we need greater discernment of what we are available for, and what we are not available for.
A great place to start is to surround yourself with people that you can create with rather than consume with.
Creation can look like :
Hiking
Playing at the creek
Starting a project together
Writing letters
Surfing
Anything where we allow ourselves to be less in mind and more in body.
photo by ivana cook
Creation comes from the body, not the mind.
Empty the mind to gain greater clarity to what the body wants to express.
Remember,
Creativity is your birthright.
If you want personal support in going from consumption to creation, finding balance, and living more simply I am here for you.