I take particular pride in not owning a lot of stuff; for a lifestyle I try to be a minimalist. Yet, I’ve learned there’s a dark side to this attitude and practice. I don’t like to own unnecessary baggage or spend frivolously; it helps with the housework, bank balance and the planet. Minimalism, like any […]
Use compassion, not anger, for productivity
The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work. Thomas A. Edison I can have a hard time getting motivated; finding focus, apathy, and lassitude is the enemy to getting sh*t done. I get desperately frustrated and myself sometimes, but occasionally I […]
Buddhism and the quest for meaning and purpose
In my experience and understanding, such questions as ‘Why are we here?’ ‘What my ultimate purpose in life?” can’t be answered definitively. I don’t need the consoling beliefs offered up by other religions like theism. Such views are always metaphysical (Place your faith in God). I looked into metaphysics and concluded it’s a waste of […]
Buddhism: Jiriki-Tariki – Do you find enlightenment or does it find you?
Big questions occupy our religious musings: ‘what extent does hard work help us find salvation or enlightenment? Is that impossible, out of our hands, or do our efforts make a difference?’ In Japanese Zen, this debate is between Jiriki and Tariki, or Self-power and Other-power. Jiriki Vs Tariki Jiriki (自力, one’s own strength) is the […]
Is Social Anxiety more a habit?
Am I anxious just because I’m made this way or is it because I learned to be this way? (at least in part) Whilst some of us are predisposed towards anxiety (Sensitive types are like Orchids) I can’t help feel that in some way I learned to be anxious. I feel that for many chronic […]
Handshaking Serendipity: One big strategy for life
‘No good sittin’ worryin’ abou’ it,” he said. “What’s comin’ will come, an’ we’ll meet it when it does.’ Hagred, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling So much of our suffering seems to be self-inflicted. When I was younger I learned to retreat from life. I found the world to […]