Chopsticks. Right now, millions of people are digging into their food with two sticks that have stood the test of time as a utensil for humans, even when countless thousands of other tools, gadgets and products haven’t. But what’s so special about them? What can we learn from mere chopsticks? Personally, I have used them…
“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it”. ~Lao Tzu If only we could be more like water – strong, life-giving and beautiful. It trickles and surges, ebbs and swirls, here and there, following the natural course of life without attachment or resistance. Even when it appears to be quite still,…
Humans are social creatures. We like to fit in. As the old saying went, “the nail that sticks up gets hammered down’. If you act too differently, you’re labelled ‘wild’ or ‘crazy’. At school, from our parents and through the media we are told all the things we should want. We ‘should’ want a big…
“Not all readers are leaders but all leaders are readers” ~ Harry S. Truman For a lot of people, reading is ‘boring’. To them, books remind them of something they ‘had to do’ at school. Until recently, I didn’t realize the extent people actually rejected reading, as if it was something to avoid. I’ve seen…
They say that it’s best to aim for the low hanging fruit. A lot of the time this is true, but it isn’t always the case. In the short term, it might make sense to take advantage of whatever comes your way first. The low hanging fruit are easy to reach, but they aren’t necessarily…
The next stage of our journey along the Noble Eightfold Path is understanding how Ethical Conduct affects every single aspect of our lives. By conducting Right Speech, Action and Livelihood to the best of our abilities, we can move closer towards an enlightened body, heart and mind. You don’t have to be Buddhist to follow these principles. As…
Whether it’s money, possessions, body type, career, status, fame or fortune, most of us find ourselves doing it almost everyday – comparing ourselves to others. We see someone else with more or better X, or Y than us, and we feel less of a person because compared to them, we don’t stack up. It’s something…
One of the biggest life questions that I’ve been battling with lately is how to balance work life – and everything that it comes with – with a minimalist lifestyle. Can you have it all? Since I was a kid, I have been extremely ambitious. I daydreamed about having a successful career. I would climb…
There will always be a reason why you can’t or shouldn’t. But there’s rarely a justification for won’t. It can take a lifetime to build up walls to protect yourself from getting hurt. Brick by brick, we build our defences and prepare ourselves for battle with all the people that come in and out of…
You only live once… but if you make it worthwhile, once is all you need. Right now, millions of people out there are so busy working to buy more and more stuff, they forget that they’re wasting something so precious that they will only ever have one of it, no matter how much money they…