More often that not, we tend to look at the downside of things in life. We tend to compare ourselves with those who are better than us. Because of that we feel that other people are doing better.
There is a saying, look up for inspiration but look down for satisfaction.
Sure the grass always look greener on the other side but be mindful that each of us has our own issues for us to deal with. Hence, the best way to walk through life is to live in gratitude. If we set too high of an expectation then we are asking to be dissapointed.
It's not about how much we have. It's about appreciating what we have.
Ever since I develop the attitude of Voluntary Simplicity, my life had been blessed. I know that doesn't make much s[i]n[c]e (sense) to most people. To them is is all about having more or more expensive. However less is more. For example when lab mice were given 30% less food, they live 30% longer.
The key is not in addition but rather on subtraction. There is no limit to addition, however you can always stop subtracting until you get to zero. It doesn't make sense to subtract to negative. There is no concept of negative in nature. In the case of zero, that is when you cease to exist. Not even bones are left.
So our indulgence for material gains has no limit. However if you work backwards, you can always stop at zero. This is very unlikely. Before we reach zero (in this case death) we can always reduce to the barest minimum. Only spend what is needed. Often what we spend is not on the needs but on the wants. True enough there is no limit to what we want.
That is why the best is not to compare what you have with others. We tend to compare with those who have more than us. However if we just satisfy our needs and indulge a little bit on our wants, chances are we'll be a very contented person.
In every situation there is a saturation point. Economists ca[n] (call) this the Law of Diminishing Return. In the case of eating durian, my diminishing return is when I eat two fruits. I experimented with the thing I lust the most; which is this case watches. I kept on buying watches and at the same time keeping a close eye on my saturation point. I discovered that I basically had my desire for watches hit the maximum when I own nine watches. On the tenth watch, I basically no longer experience the excitement of owning anymore watches. The height of the excitement is when I bought my ninth watch which so happened to be my cheapest watch.
Since I had maxed my excitement on watches, from that point on I never lust for any other indulgences. The same happened with women. I had maxed my pleasure with them to the point that I no longer have any craving for felines. While I am not suggesting for you to follow my footsteps, I do encourage for you to find the limit of your indulgence.
The same thing applies to having more than one wife. Now I know my maximum as far as wives is concerned is two. That's pretty much what I need to fill my cup to the brim. Once you discover your saturation point, then you can more or less be sensible with your acquisitions. Only spend on what is necessary.
With the recent development in the COVID-19 pandemic, I came to the realization that basically you only need two things in the time of crisis; money and food. Without money, it is instant death. Without food, it is slow death. So you need both. Basically you need money to buy food.
When we look at this two variables then we begin to realize that we had wasted a lot on unnecessary stuffs. Clothes, books, shoes and gadgets are mostly over priced and over specs for what we actually utilized. We don't really need those branded items. Yet we still buying them because we don't actually buy quality but rather based on the perception that we have through the manipulation of advertisers.
The lesson here is to minimize lust. If we are lustful in buying things we don't need, eventually we become like the hamster on a treadmill. We are busy chasing over things to the point that we will get less and less satisfied with our purchases. Yet, we keep on buying, depleting the thing that really matters when the chip is low; which is hard cash.
In the time of crisis, those who are caught with their pants down are those who live on borrowings. So many people living their lives digging holes and then covering them by digging bigger holes. Individuals are guilty of it, so are organizations as well as governments.
Maybe this COVID-19 is an opportunity for everything to be reset and normalized. Already we are looking at the drop in fuel prices. Soon other things will follow suit. My worry is the price of food will increase as merchants take advantage of people doing excess buying instead of buying what is needed.
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