What is Fewer?
Few is an amazing word that is translated as "a small quantity". It describes the concept of minimalism and simplicity so well. I try to implement the" fewer principles" in my life but unfortunately fail every time I enter a supermarket , a thrift store or even someone else's house. Our society has trained us to need more and more as well as newer and newer things. What are Things? For clarification let me explain my understanding of what " things" are. It is the last part of words we miss-use to describe everything(Just like I have done now) i.e nothing, everything, something, that thing, those things , that company's secret thing. etc. Things are modern life's accumulation (and kind of hording) of items we didn't make our selves and don't particularly need for survival of life. However we have confused our minds to believing we needed these things for survival in society i.e a car and weetabix. The fewer list
To Seek and To Be For clarification let me briefly explain the my understanding of the difference between finding and being. To find is the act of looking for something (There is that thing word again). To be is quite literally to exist, to take place or occur.. So to seek is a journey and to be is an event. Of course life is one long journey but it is interspersed with little beautiful (annoying) events. Sometimes I am stuck on the journey too long such that I completely miss an event and sometimes I chill eating samosas at events so long but in reality I'm going nowhere.It is like reading about exercising on your couch eating fries. It is the great contradiction of life that " Life is too long" (According to the practical pessimists) so you've got to keep plodding on day by day in misery because retirement is the great event or " Life is too short" so lets live recklessly running from one adrenaline filled event to the other. Unfortunately both trains of thought will be shocked to find that life constantly plodding on a journey is boring; and you might end up accidentally walking into depression and depressing everyone around you. Also that life constantly on a high is unsustainable (because life is really long- and face it one day you'll be 80) So I decided that its both. I've got to find the balance between, " Raise your hands up in the air and act like you don't care" and " saving for a house. To Seek and then To Be
Safe to say it easier "Listed" than done...:) em
0 Comments
Gosh my mind has been fret-full lately but I am slowly getting out of the dark hole of confusion into which I had self-descended.
.......And it's all thanks to that Boggey monster called " silence" Yes I said!!.. its a boggey Monster Silence is a scary thing, like a bogey monster under our beds we know isn't there but we are sacred of anyway. It is what reminds us that we are sinners, that we are not worthy of all we have. It makes us remember the pain , the hurt and reminisce about the good times (and compare it with the current times). It makes us aware of how short life is and also also how inevitably long it is. It invites us to the past and yanks us with no remorse or explanations or warnings into the future and then returns us all sad and confused into the present. Silence is not pleasant or Easy.To be honest: I can barely meditate on Gods word for more than a minute. That is why our modern generation thrives on "rides" and instant " joys" and distractions. That is why social media is such a hit and so are play station games. Its why we like having back ground music and drowning our thoughts in drugs, alcohol, work, friends, food and sin. Lest we try and ask ourselves" why?" That question must not surface; lest we decide to become better people!!!. Silence is the boggey monster, the invisible elephant we try to ignore in the halls of our minds. Silence makes my brain, spirit, heart and soul exercise ..and its exhausting!! Safe to say I have said enough to "silence -- silence forever but lets be frank silence is truly a blessing and deep down we know we like it how it makes us feel(after) and know we need it. Many of the things we don't want to do are the ones we need to do the most i.e healthy eating and exercising..being friendly. All it needs is for you to start and power through the teething pains. And boy!! I've started and want to turn back to my mind-numbing days. My mind cant handle all that thinking!!. So I tried putting Silence on a timetable The truth is we aren't that bad we do try and find silence and meditate, It is why people and have " country " homes or spend their holidays staring at the sea. It is why we like sitting for long " thinking in a bath, going for jogs in the forest, quiet time, yoga etc. Silence truly is golden but only on our terms. It cannot surprise us in the toilet (We have our smart phones to help with that), or on the plane ride, or by the camp-fire. technology has helped us keep the silence locked up in the country, or on the beach, where we visit when we our hearts are up for it. We tap into it on that weekend off and that Sunday afternoon laziness. It cant be allowed into our lives unwarranted......no no no......we must be the ones in control. It can't smuggle its way in when we are fuming angrily in the car stuck in traffic. It cant sneak its way in when we are trying to run our companies, judge our politicians or fall sleep in front of the TV. You should, see the panic our generation gets into when there is a power black out! We never really want the true silence to emerge and engulf us because; well its annoying. Our thoughts are too sensible , too rational, actually intelligence and sometimes complicated. (After all we are made in the image of God). I don't like the silence because my true thoughts remind me to give to the poor, be kind to mean people, quit my job and chase my dreams....and on most days I don't wan to hear that. Anyway i'm done with my rant and conclude with the words Embrace the silence, It's there to help you. Seek simple and pure things Be happy. (even if I don't think I want to be) Make others happy.(Even if they don't think they want to be) em I realized yesterday that I need to be in environments where I can impress other people.
Does that mean I am actually not self-driven at all? Does that mean that if left to my own devices I truly do not care about most things? For example imagine I was dropped on a deserted island would I work as hard as I do now with only the trees ad birds to cheer me on? Luckily I am not on an island to experiment that notion; right now I am immersed in the world I live in full of deadlines, boss's, teachers, parents, aunties etc......I am surrounded by situations where I can impress....and just like any drug it consumes me and is never satisfying. The world's expectations pile higher and higher and my own expectations are higher than them. Hikers know you should only hike for a few days at a time in order to acclimatize, unless you've been that way before. It seems that in this life and this generation we all seem to be hiking. When do you rest.? Take in the sights? go back down and bring people to where you've reached? to show them what you've seen? I cant remember the last time I stopped to ask why am I doing all this. (Well this realization kind of counts; but trust me ill be putting on my hiking boots and grabbing my hiking stick soon enough). It all seems a little meaning-less doesn't it. Even as a Christian and : whose answer to the question: Why? should be:God. I find that is further from the truth each day. Is all I do and all I am geared to impress people? to impress the world? Not sure how I feel about that yet but I do know It has brought me some peace knowing at the back of my mind this is part of my wiring. I either take flight, fight it or consult the creator on how to run this machine. |