Reducing

When one is in pain, the streamlining becomes "natural".
Today's advice is about doing only the 5 most important things.

I don't shower every day. It's not necessary. I don't need to leave my home, and I'm not that dirty. Besides, I save water.
Are you aware that we in Western "civilized" countries use PURE DRINKING WATER to that? What is even more horrifying is that we use PURE DRINKING WATER - the most precious resource on this planet - to flush down our feces...
Read a bit about water.

I have reduced my internet groups a lot. I still have difficulties leaving all of them, but - What are they good for? Why am I a member of this group?
and
What else could I be doing with the time I spent on-line?
are two very important questions.

I spent a lot of time in the internet, because I'm usually too tired to be doing something sensible with my time. How about you?

I mean, all these people who say that their life's goal is to eradicate themselves (or their "ego") and dedicate themselves to "pure love" towards their fellow humans - what the heck are they doing HERE? They are not asking people to join their activities, they are not looking for things to do, no, we are all TALKING here. I talk, you talk, everyone TALKS. It's just WORDS, WORDS, WORDS, all day long, in dozens of groups... and mostly what people talk about is how *I* see the world. That *I* think people should eradicate their egos, that *I* think you are wrong, that *I* have this opinion and that belief, and so on.

99% of people you meet on the internet doesn't want to meet you in "real life". That's why they are on-line, and not out there, meeting people.

So, what are the 5 things that are most important to you. Do them today. You might be dead tomorrow, so why spent time on irrelevant or secondary things?
And the same tomorrow. You don't need to do more than 5 things every day.

If you think your family is important, spend today with your family. Not with strangers on-line, or watching soap operas or "documentaries" of some people's lives in the television.
If you think money is important, spend the day by earning money. Now, if your blog is your money-maker, work a couple of hours with your blog, and a couple of hours by advertising your blog in different forums on-line.
If you think your pet is important, spend the day with your pet. Teach it some new tricks. Take your dog to a long walk. That's good for you too.
If you think art is important, spend the day by going to an exhibition, a gallery, a library to watch art books, and make art the rest of the day.
If you think loving your fellow human beings is important, go and do that, in different ways you can imagine. Go and "click for free". Sign petitions. Go out and work a couple of hours in a soup kitchen. Talk with homeless people. The mere fact that you SEE them, that another human being SEES you and treats you like you were an equal makes your day :-) Go and read a fairytale in a library, bookstore or park. Go see some old people.

But, on to next issue.
Here's 8 easy steps to less material clutter in your life.
The first step reminded me of today's "meditation for people who do too much", which was the one above.
How to declutter our spiritual life, mental life, social life, economical life, intellectual life?
You do it the same way. You take things that are important and enjoyable, and scrap everything else.
If people irritate you in an online community, don't go there.

----------------------------------------------------
Oh Goddess how tired I am.

In my life, what I do is not only a question of what is important, but what I can do. I cannot do what I think is important. I have no energy to take the dog out for a long walk, or clean my home. My hands hurt and that makes it difficult to do arts and crafts. I have no energy to take the buss to the library, or to my sisters. Mere talking is exhausting, so I don't call my sisters either.
My life is hopefully different from yours. You have the energy. You don't take medication that drains you from energy, you don't have a chronic pain condition. So why are you wasting your life?

Today's action for the healthier planet - and you:

read this article about the surprising things you can find oil - petroleum
There's oil in chewing gum, candles, tape, sheer pantyhose...

While you are at it, click for free to donate for several different causes, I think it's easiest either in Care2 or breast cancer site. You could put either site as the starting window when you open the computer, and click before you read your post. It doesn't take more than a minute to click for all the causes in Care2 and breast cancer site.

recommendation - thich nhat hanh - 1965

Promise me,
promise me this day,
promise me now,
while the sun is overhead
exactly at the zenith,
promise me:

Even as they
strike you down
with a mountain of hatred and violence;
even as they step on you and crush you
like a worm,
even as they dismember and disembowel you,
remember, brother,
remember:
man is not our enemy.

The only thing worthy of you is compassion –
invincible, limitless, unconditional.
Hatred will never let you face
the beast in man.

One day, when you face this beast alone,
with your courage intact, your eyes kind,
untroubled
(even as no one sees them),
out of your smile
will bloom a flower.
And those who love you
will behold you
across ten thousand worlds of birth and dying.

Alone again,
I will go on with bent head,
knowing that love has become eternal.
On the long, rough road,
the sun and the moon
will continue to shine.

Know Thyself

Know Thyself
- Socrates

To Thine Own Self Be True
- Shakespeare

"Know Thyself" was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal
of the new world, "Be Thyself" shall be written.
- Oscar Wilde


"When the day comes that I must account for my life, I will not be asked: `Why
weren't you Moses?' I was not equipped to be Moses.
But I dread the question, `Why weren't you Zusia?'
—Reb Zusia of Anipoli

The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we hold of
ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us.
- Quentin Crisp

I started writing a book "13 moons and one day", about how to be a witch. The
first chapter is all about me, myself and I.

You have been created to be you, a perfect you, just the way you are. You are
not to be like someone else, like anyone else.

Your dreams are your own, your hopes, your ambitions, all your own. No-one else
shares those exact same dreams, hopes and ambitions with you. These dreams are
given to you, to fit you as a glove, for you to reach out for, for you to make
real, because you are the only person in the world who can do that.
A lot of people waste their time by trying to be someone else, trying to reach
someone else's goals, trying to look like someone else.

I don't think "The Secret" is worth much in that it is very heavily
concentrating on secundary things, like money, house, things to own and so on.
What is good about it is that it makes you think about what YOU want. What YOU
want is unique and personal. What YOU want is what YOU are created to get. The
Universe, Goddess, WANTS you to get what you want, because She put in that want
in you. Your whole life experience, with the good and the bad things, have been
given to you only so that you would want what you do want.

In many religions wanting is seen as something bad, unwanted, but even those
people want. They might want enlightenment and Nirvana, they might want Kingdom
Come, they might want a deeper experience of God, but those too are wants,
unique and own to these people.

There is nothing bad in wanting itself. The bad comes in when you start
believing you want something that you don't really want. Most people do quite
fine without being millionaires. Most people want the money to be able to pay
for their food, electricity, home, transport... perhaps some entertainment,
clothes, things... Think about what you want the money for. There are many ways
of getting what you want without money.
Might be that you have an aunt you didn't know you have, who dies and leaves you
her house.
One of my favorite children's books was a story about two girls, best friends,
who were given a house of their own. This eccentric millionaire loved to build
houses, but she always built them "unfit" for her - this specific house was
build for two little girls :-D The house was already fully decorated and there
were even pretty clothes in the closet for the girls.
Now, we think that will never happen in "real life", and it is quite possible
that that won't happen, but it is also possible that it might happen. Miracles
do happen. So concentrate on wanting the house in stead.
Perhaps you don't really want a house. Perhaps you want an apartment in stead.
Perhaps you want a houseboat. Or gypsy wagon. Or something else. You want to
live in the forest in a tent the rest of your life. Or in a treehouse, like
Tolkien's elves.

How little do we know that which we are! How less what we may be!
- Lord Byron

Study the heart and the mind of man, and begin with your own. Meditation and
reflection must lay the foundation of that knowledge, but experience and
practice must, and alone can, complete it.
- Lord Chesterfield

Observe all men; thy self most.
- Benjamin Franklin