The Japanese inaka (countryside) is a humbling lesson in minimalism. The landscape embraces a palette of four colours. The sky is blue; the fields are green; the houses are brown; and the vending machines and clouds are white.

No doubt, it’s an exaggeration to claim that there are no other colours, but I find myself drawn to comparing and contrasting the myriad shades within these vivid colours. They present clear and clean visuals to my line of sight. My eyes gravitate towards anything that deviates from these four colours. The shiny red tractor humming in the distance. The solitary tree who has forgotten the memo that winter is here and defiantly holds on to its yellow golden leaves. Reddish tomatoes adorning the land. They make for memorable and atmosphere-evoking images.

It extends beyond sight. The inaka is so profoundly quiet that my ears tune into on a particular sound at any one time. The red tractor doing its work is one example. So is the duck creating ripples in the river as it takes flight from the waters. Here, in the inaka, every passing vehicle’s engine becomes an intentional focus. I even nod in acknowledgment at the driver, for I’m in the inaka and that’s what people do.

Then, I thought isn’t Bitcoin another exercise in minimalism? Due to the advent of digital payments, consumers are inundated with too many options to pay for their purchases, including cash, debit cards, credit cards, Buy Now Pay Later schemes, digital wallets, among others. But when you decide to live the Bitcoin Standard, your life becomes simple. Stack sats and use the Lightning Network to pay. Replace the sats that you use up. Rinse and repeat. Maybe you will lose out on the cashback rewards or miles if you don’t use credit cards and such-like, but you will gain absolute clarity about how you are spending your sats. Sounds like a good trade-off to make.

What do you think?💭