You should always be a beginner at something – Marianne Williamson
Author: The Wise Owl (Page 5 of 10)
At the center of your being you have the answer. You know who you are and you know what you want. – Rumi
You live most of your life inside your head. Make sure it’s a nice place to be.
Minimalism is about more than getting rid of stuff. It’s a mindset, a way of life. These two qoutes say it well.
At its core, being a minimalist means investing your time in the important things in life.
The first step in crafting a life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t. — Joshua Becker, Becoming Minimalist
The next quote comes from 7 Ways to Live a Simpler Life in a Modern World
Time and money are two of the most valuable resources people have. When life gets simpler, the amount of these two things that a person has available will rise. That is the benefit of a simpler life in today’s world.
Designing a simple life
Despite the how in the title, How to Design a Simple Life is as much about why. There’s good advice in that post (the quote below is just a small part of it).
Designing a simple life doesn’t just mean throwing out all the things. It’s not about a life of most, it’s not about a life of least, it’s about the life that’s right for you.
You don’t have to get rid of things just for the sake of getting rid of them. You remove what you don’t need (in your home, in your thoughts, in your schedule) to make room for the life you want to live.
Designing a simple life means having fewer distractions in your life, so you can focus on what matters. It’s about saying no to everything that gets in the way, but saying yes to what’s right for you.
It means having more of some things: more time, more energy, more space, more flex in your budget, more peace of mind. It means having less of others: less distractions, less frustration, less clutter, less drain on your resources.
Sites about minimalism
Two interesting sites about minimalism are No Sidebar – Design a simple life by Brian Gardiner (has a free weekly newsletter) and Becoming Minimalist by Joshua Becker.
Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.
Bruce Lee
This future is near…
– Hello! Gordon’s pizza?
– No sir it’s Google’s pizza.
– So it’s a wrong number?
– No sir, Google bought it.
– OK. Take my order please ..
– Well sir, you want the usual?
– The usual? You know me?
– According to our caller ID, in the last 12 times, you ordered pizza with cheeses, sausage, thick crust
– OK! This is it
– May I suggest to you this time ricotta, arugula with dry tomato?
– No, I hate vegetables
– But your cholesterol is not good
– How do you know?
– Through the subscribers guide. We have the result of your blood tests for the last 7 years
– Okay, but I do not want this pizza, I already take medicine
– You have not taken the medicine regularly, 4 months ago, you only purchased a box with 30 tablets at Drugsale Network
– I bought more from another drugstore
– It’s not showing on your credit card
– I paid in cash
– But you did not withdraw that much cash according to your bank statement
– I have other source of cash
– This is not showing as per your last Tax form unless you got it from undeclared income source
-WHAT THE HELL? Enough! I’m sick of Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp. I’m going to an island without internet,where there is no cell phone line and no one to spy on me!
– I understand sir, but you need to renew your passport as it has expired 5 weeks ago.
Giftedness is not what you do or how hard you work.
It is who you are.
You think differently.
You experience life intensely.
You care about injustice.
You seek meaning.
You appreciate and strive for the exquisite.
You are painfully sensitive.
You are extremely complex.
You cherish integrity.
Your truth-telling has gotten you in trouble.
Should 98% of the population find you odd, seek the company of those who love you just the way you are.
You are not broken.
You do not need to be fixed.
You are utterly fascinating.
Trust yourself!
Dr. Linda Kreger Silverman
I no longer have patience for certain things, not because I’ve become arrogant, but simply because I reached a point in my life where I do not want to waste more time with what displeases me or hurts me. I have no patience for cynicism, excessive criticism and demands of any nature. I lost the will to please those who do not like me, to love those who do not love me and to smile at those who do not want to smile at me.
I no longer spend a single minute on those who lie or want to manipulate. I decided not to coexist anymore with pretense, hypocrisy, dishonesty and cheap praise. I do not tolerate selective erudition nor academic arrogance. I do not adjust either to popular gossiping. I hate conflict and comparisons. I believe in a world of opposites and that’s why I avoid people with rigid and inflexible personalities. In friendship I dislike the lack of loyalty and betrayal. I do not get along with those who do not know how to give a compliment or a word of encouragement. Exaggerations bore me and I have difficulty accepting those who do not like animals. And on top of everything I have no patience for anyone who does not deserve my patience.
A business card popped up on a friends wall on Facebook. It’s a card with attitude and the story behind how it ended up in the press can be read at The Best Business Card Ever: A Warren Buffett Story, Starring His Girl Friday, Devon Spurgeon.
The Huffington Post wrote about it too at Devon Spurgeon, Warren Buffett’s Chief Of Staff, Keeps Hilarious Business Card: ‘You Don’t Call Me. I Call You’.
For some occasions that kind of card can be useful but using a Gmail address is a bit generic. I, for fun, bought the domain youdontcallme-icallyou.com which carries the message in a different way. After a few years I dropped the domain.
There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance.
John Lennon