I would like to know how you delt/deal with the restlessness that some people -including me- struggles with?
I am also struggling with myself all the time, but I am very optimistic in this sense. People are realizing more and more that happiness is freedom, and freedom is to be able to “travel light”, not possessing a lot of things, because at the end of the day, the things start to possess you. I remember that I considered to buy a castle in France. I went to see some. One day I realized that if I buy a castle, I cannot think about anything but taking care of it. Therefore, I bought a small watermill, so to keep it is very easy, and I have time to go to the mountains, to walk, do spend my life in the way that I would like. In short: the less you have to keep, the more you have in freedom. And one of the lessons nature teaches you is exactly that: keep your contradictions, as summer is the opposite of winter.
I think life is beyond things. Mainly in time of crises. For exemple,the japoneses have the highest technology and still live in simple places. (added by Mobile using Mippin)
Hmm,but if u have many servants,must be easy.In great lines I agree that life must be lived ,and is good to be rich in spirit,not in material things.But,I like fine things,so,I say if happens to have them,is nice,but is bad being obssesed by things.As I see many they do everythung to have the last model of a cell phone or else.Is ridiculos.
I am not restless any more..;] I ‘know’ that things and money cannot give us happiness and satisfaction. Well, may be a temporary satisfaction but, as you have put it, dear Paulo Coelho, castles and big houses need cleaning and personnel!
When I was young and my children were small I bought 3 acres of land, on a hill facing the sea. One day I went there and I found out that the neighbour had intruded into my own plot and built his house and the view to the sea was destroyed!! I thought that the Government’s officials would make him obey to the Laws and Regulations of my country! Alas, they were also involved into this ‘mafia’ and they have tried to cover it up. Until now this is a huge disappointment. My dream was to build a house there with a … rose garden and a room for a .. Steinway piano, although now I think I do not deserve it any more!
As for travelling ‘light’, I like taking with me ‘more than less’, especially …. shoes.;] These are for ..material things.
Traveling in life, our journey, growing older, I ‘know’ exactly what I need. Just Love.
LOVE,
Thelma
A beautiful answer.
“Travel light.” True words.
Do not mix fear or the people with no dreams with your restlessness, because it will leave you not doing much. This has been my problem for many years. Where I failed I wish others will succeed.
Several years ago, I inherited a house. This house, the house I now live in, has four bedroom, three full bathrooms, two living rooms, a study, a kitchen and a laundry room. My daughter and I inhabit this house, alone. What a waste! And not only that, what a drudgery also! I can’t afford a housekeeper, and consequently, now spend much of my waking time just trying to keep the place clean and in order. Meanwhile, my niece and her husband, who have three kids and one on the way, inherited a small house: one bedroom, one bath, one small living room and a tiny kitchen. It is like joke that we each laugh at constantly. If there were any justice in the workings of the universe, she should have my house, and I should have hers. We both would like to trade, except that I don’t want to give up the twenty-something acres of wooded land I live on – I like it here. And she, similarly, prefers her location, a lovely shaded plot on the banks of a beautiful sprawling river, actually right at the point where a creek lets into the river. In the convergence there is even an island, of which she has a perfect view. Both places seem magical in a way and perfectly suited to our individual tastes and needs, except that we have the wrong houses. Hers makes her tired because it is always cluttered for lack of space; mine makes me tired because it is simply way too big for us, far beyond our needs, and even our wants.
So, I would say that Paulo is definitely right: don’t go buy a castle is you can get by with a watermill instead. Don’t overburden yourself with baggage of any kind. My dream is to live in a yurt (like those the Mongolian nomads inhabit). I’ve actually looked into purchasing one, ordering it from a company in Colorado that makes them. If I could ever, in the future, just get this huge house off of my property, I might just do that. A one-room life – simple, minimalist! How sweet that sounds! I think I would love it.
We don’t always buy the cumbersome extra baggage in our lives – sometimes we inherit it. Still yet, by some means, whatever means necessary, we have to control it. I’m seriously considering a bulldozer, and if not that, a match! Sometimes I actually pray for a tornado, which are fairly common here. Can you imagine that! I am so desperate to unleash myself from this burden of a too-large house that I am willing, even eager, to watch all my personal belongings flutter away in the wind along with it, so long as my dogs and my daughter and I are not in it when it takes flight to the Land of Oz.
I’m going to just keep praying and maybe God will make a way, or otherwise create a path of destruction to sweep it all away and make space for a more simplistic life.
-”Struggling for existence said Darwin, was he struggling himself or did he wanted struggle for all to possess? Human existence is not only struggle, it is path taken over hidden scripts.”
-”Existence is full of not pain because of struggle but it is full of pleasurable moments, which we misintrepret as struggle.”
-”Open questions like love, life, death, struggle and sex are our experiences, our opinions are not answers but they still remain mysterious unanswered questions. Let it be Open.”
-”In the race of life, some win and some loose those who win think they are busy and those who loose remain free.”
-”As beauty lies in eyes of beholder, struggling lies in reaching further.”
Good day ! :)
like the movement or balance of yin and yang..
they complement through action, movemen, change – not from being stagnant…
hmm. think that cleared it up ;o)
Hi.. how does the last phrase relates to the rest of the text? “keep your contradictions, as summer is the opposite of winter.” I do not understand. Can someone please explain what Paulo meant to say?
Thank You
Kasia May: very clear insight! There are so many areas in life where they try to persuade You to buy and buy. The more You buy the better person You are, the more possibilities You have, the more ‘power You have over a situation’ etc. – at least that’s what they want You to see. Sometimes it’s true, but a lot of times it’s just a way how to make You buy more stuff.
Although, back to what You said. There are babies who need a bit more than a general baby. But this has to do mainly with medical or pshychological reasons.
But in the case of a healthy baby in general, in ideal – mom’s would love their babies and spend as much time with them as they feel is needed, and at the same time give babies time to rest and do all the natural things. It’s about how You balance all.
And those people who persist You to buy want to make You see, that this, buying absolutely everything that they advised, that this will make You a better parent. In fact, it just makes Your home clatter in objects that possibly You won’t even use.
Simple things, like love, matter more than objects, in most situations.
Exactly,we don’t need much to live well and be happy.
I keep on hearing people saying,if I would win the lottery,I would buy this and that.Of course,I would too,but just like you,a simple house where I would find peace.But I would buy for others I know that as so many are in needs.The point is that people need to understand that diamonds,papers,clothes ect..we don’t take it with us when we cross over,God is going to see what you have given,what you have done not what you have possessed,it won’t look at how much you were having on your bank account but will look at how much love you were having in your heart and how you did your best to spread it.
Simple as that.
Just wanted to say something about possessing lots of things.I recently had a baby. The amount of stuff they try to convince you that you need for your baby is unbelievable. I just realized that most of this stuff is to put the baby away so you don’t need to hold or play with your child. But when you put your child away you disconnect from them and you miss on so many of very special little things. You simply miss the joy that comes from caring and interacting with this person.
The” King of the castle” ah ah ah You are so funny . I can just see you doing the dusting …..with a light feather.