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Spring Cleaning

15/4/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture

The old house grew cluttered.

I could not stop myself to cling and grab and stash, so that things piled up beyond that which my memory can hold;

all those objects, those worn coffers, are hardly mine anymore, absent from my attention, a resting place for dust.

My better mouse trap is so crowded there is no place left for the mouse.

Maybe the well is dry and all these thoughts, elusive, too quick to catch, are only flies buzzing over the drying mud. Maybe this is the end.

                                                                    *

What wisdom can I draw from such a troubled state of mind?

                                                                    *

That it is time for spring cleaning.

Am I displeased with myself? As Eckhard Tolle says [1], it means that there are two of us: the one who does not satisfy me and the one who is displeased; I must find myself - the free, the lighter one - and take distance from the one I dislike.

I may need a lighter broom too. Many years ago I learned that in difficult situations when people feel lost, the miraculous recipe is to make things simple; to ask “what does all this mean in plain human terms?”

Look at Montaigne teaching “l’air de rien” such simple things, like wisdom being an art to live well as you are, not by chasing some unattainable perfection.

Take it easier; enjoy the sunshine and the quiet evenings. Eat only what you need. Read some good books. Write one thought at a time. Smile and be smiled to.

This is a wonderful season to cast aside or to give away, to unlearn and forget, to be nice, to leave some space for other people...


[1] Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now, author’s introduction:  “I cannot live with myself any longer.” This was the thought that kept repeating itself in my mind. Then suddenly I became aware of what a peculiar thought it was. "Am I one or two? If I cannot live with myself, there must be two of me: the 'I' and the 'self' that 'I' cannot live with.“ ”Maybe,“ I thought,” only one of them is real.”
1 Comment
Daniel Tenner link
15/4/2012 04:31:06 pm

Another related piece of too-often-repeated wisdom (at least since Fight Club quoted it): the things you own end up owning you.

I also dislike throwing things away, and so end up accumulating things... but most of those things I don't need. I don't own them, they own me. Recently, I threw away some things that had some sentimental value, because they were duplicates of other things I had and served no purpose. I try to make it a habit to ask myself: do I own this because I need and use it, or do I own it because I own it?

Interesting that the same concept can apply to thoughts and ideas. Certainly, when it comes to ideas at work, ideas being worked on, a single project can end up owning my intellectual life and pushing aside other possible thoughts. Is it my project, then, or am I its tool?

Personally, I find that I produce more and better things when I work for myself rather than for an idea. In other words, refuse to take on the burden of a single idea/project, and instead take on whichever idea I feel like at the time.

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