Simplified

Sometime I get a feeling that I hate to throw things away, afraid that one day I might need it and I won't find it. However this mentality could easily fall into hoarding unnecessary items all around me, my closet and my garage. I have clothing which stated a size 4 when I am currently wearing a size 8, I thought perhaps one day I would lose some weight and be able to wear this dress again. After awhile I accumulated more clothing or things which I do not use. Then I set a rule to govern myself that if I have to buy 3 pieces of new clothing, I would have to donate or discard 3 old pieces of clothing. This strategy seems working alright as far as the closet was concerned.

When I take a close look at the things surround us, the more we need the greedier we get; need a bigger house, need a faster car, need a better face (could be a face-lift later for me), need a vacation, need a luxury watch, need a lot of things..... The list goes on and on, it never ends. In Zen teaching, there was a saying of "where is the dust gather when there is nothing to hold onto?!"

What it means is we gather the things for the dust to hold onto, then we complaint about the dust. The solution for not having the dust is to simplified your life. The dust here in this Zen teaching does not mean the actual dust, it represents un-wanted behaviour or un-wanted desire or a bitter feeling after getting something or not getting something. It sounds very deep, isn't it?!

It is a challenge to teach myself I don't need a lot of things, or to tell myself I am happy at something. Don't get me wrong that I don't like good stuffs, I love good stuffs but I do not want to let having the good stuffs or not having the good stuffs bother my living emotion, I want to be able to enjoy everything. If I travel, I want to enjoy the trip as much as I could whether I get to stay at the Four Season or short of budget to stay at Motel 8. Instead of spending time moaning that I don't get this or I don't get that. It's kind of a waste of time or I shall say a waste of my 'brain juice'.

We have to be the one to make sure the dust got nothing to hold onto, is to live a simplified life. Don't complaint about the dust, it is "we let something" for the dust to be accumulated, as simple as that.