""To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, subtract things every day."
Lao Tzu
We are taught to believe that the path to fulfillment lies in addition.
Learn more.
Do more.
Add more.
Become more.
I admit, this can be fun!
It can help us to grow and feel alive.
It can help give our lives meaning.
But I've also come to appreciate another path as well – the path of subtraction.
I'm not an expert on this path, but the more I live, the more I see that our wellbeing is often not so much determined by what we do as what we don't do.
To better understand this, let's look at things from a physical, emotional and mental level.
Eat crap.
Sit around all day.
Easy to do. Bad for our health.
So we vow to eat our salads and exercise.
And we dream of a day when we can afford to have the finest organic foods for every meal.
But maybe, to start out, we can just keep things nice and simple.
Maybe we can begin by eliminating the stuff that harms us.
Admittedly, what harms us will, to some extent, vary from person to person, and everything probably depends on what your goals are.
Do you want to lose weight?
Do you want to feel more chi?
Do you want to enjoy more physical vitality?
So no one size fits all.
But if I were optimizing for chi flow, I would reduce or eliminate meat, avoid certain supplements, and cut onions and garlic from my diet (weird, I know!).
If I were striving for mental clarity, I would avoid excess gluten, sugar, white flour and the like.
I’d also avoid staying up too late.
To feel great, other people may wish to:
Not rocket science, but just like that, by avoiding unhealthy things, the majority of people would physically feel a lot better.
Just as our physical health benefits from letting go of certain substances (and habits), our emotional wellbeing often flourishes when we release patterns that no longer serve us. This often involves setting boundaries, managing our reactions, and being mindful of where we focus our energy.
It may also mean not wasting energy getting upset or irritated over trivial things (think bad traffic, Telstra faults, football matches, lazy work colleagues and the like!).
It might also be about avoiding toxic people and places and holding onto the past.
Many people might also wish to subtract some of the following from their lives:
Our minds are constantly processing information, both consciously and subconsciously, and in today’s hyped-up world, it's easy to fall into patterns of overthinking, overstimulation, and mental exhaustion.
This can be especially harmful when our mind is flooded by negativity.
Bad news, negative media, toxic people.
Heck, even our own negative thought patterns.
If we indulge in any of these things, it’s hard to find any real serenity.
Some more mental habits/patterns to subtract might include:
The path of subtraction isn't glamorous.
But it creates space for our natural wellbeing to flourish, and it opens up space for the things that matter.
It can be hard to let go of things.
It can even be painful.
And often we will relapse into old ways.
But when you think about it, Lao Tzu might just be right.
Maybe the road to wisdom begins with subtraction.
Article by Jeremy O'Carroll
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