Love People Use Things (Because the Opposite Doesn’t Work)

Joshua Fields Millburn is one half of the popular simple living duo known as The Minimalists. He and his best friend and fellow Minimalist Ryan Nicodemus have helped over 20 million people live more meaningful lives with less through their website, books, podcast, and Netflix films. The Minimalists have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Forbes, TIME, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, BBC, and NPR. Joshua has previously been an NBT client, and I’m fortunate enough to call him a friend.

On this podcast, Joshua and I talk about minimalism, consumerism, values, and healing.  Joshua explains how minimalism is not simply about getting rid of material possessions (though that can play a role), but rather it’s a process of getting to the root of life’s lingering discontent - digging out from under the stuff, the debt, the stress and the loneliness and regaining control of your life. He describes some of the main points of his new book, Love People Use Things, and shares some of the most important lessons he’s learned along his Minimalist journey.

Here’s the outline of this interview with Joshua Fields Millburn:

[00:00:13] Paul Saladino.

[00:01:29] Mimetic Desires; Podcast: Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life.

[00:02:09] Book: Love People, Use Things: Because the Opposite Never Works, by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus.

[00:02:51] Enneagram.

[00:03:03] Ian Cron; Book: The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery, Podcast: Typology.

[00:05:51] Consumerism.

[00:08:03] Book: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed, by Lori Gottlieb.

[00:08:28] Lori Gottlieb on The Minimalists Podcast.

[00:14:21] Books by Chris Ryan: Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships and Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress.

[00:17:50] Four types of values.

[00:19:13] Book: Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life, by Luke Burgis; thick vs. thin desires.

[00:19:45] Luke Burgis on The Minimalist Podcast.

[00:20:46] Erwin McManus, lead pastor at Mosaic; Hear him on The Minimalists Podcast.

[00:22:40] Minimalism and what that term means.

[00:24:36] Podcast: Healing Trauma with MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy, with Dan Engle.

[00:26:00] The spontaneous combustion rule.

[00:26:33] Chris Kelly on The Minimalists Podcast #138: Healthproblems.

[00:30:39] The Minimalists: Less is Now Movie (trailer).

[00:33:01] Podcast: Protein vs. Energy for Improved Body Composition and Healthspan.

[00:33:46] The Minimalists Love People, Use Things Tour.

[00:34:52] Spartanism (compulsive decluttering); Minimalists podcasts on hoarding and compulsive decluttering.

[00:37:05] Minimalist diets and Joshua's story of regaining his health.

[00:38:54] Minimalists Podcast episode #184: Minimalist Diets.

[00:43:25] Documentary: The Sensitives.

[00:46:22] Pain management solution: grounding. 

[00:47:09] 4-Quadrant Model.

[00:47:57] Book: Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever! (Second Edition), by Clinton Ober, Stephen T. Sinatra, et al.

[00:48:37] Documentaries by Clint Ober. The Ground Therapy Universal Mat.

[00:51:41] Elixinol CBD.

[00:56:51] Book: The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion, by Simon Marshall, PhD.

[01:00:18] Lyme disease coinfections; Sunjya Schweig, MD; Podcast: How to Prevent and Heal Lyme and Its Co-Infections.

[01:03:03] Testosterone replacement therapy.

[01:08:32] Book: The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous, by Joseph Henrich.

[01:10:43] Personality traits; Introversion/Extraversion.

[01:20:50] Podcast: Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy, with Jessica Fern.

[01:25:30] Homelessness, mental health, and intellect.

[01:27:55] Overrated virtues.

[01:31:24] Podcast: Healing and Transformation with Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), with Jason Connell.

[01:29:27] Problems with empathy.

[01:33:39] Jealousy.

[01:40:01] Object A; Peter Rollins.

[01:45:52] theminimalists.com.