Payday.

Payday and en route to my condominium, I find myself adding this and that, subtracting that and that, and ending up, not calculating, but thinking the worth of money. I remember what my boy told me a day earlier, something about expressing yourself through your lifestyle and I thought that maybe money is not there to put boxes on ourselves, to restrain ourselves, ending being greedy and fearful of losing money. Maybe money is there as a tool for expressing ourselves, money is there not to be spent on unnecessary stuffs but in contrary, on stuffs that purely expresses who we are, adding value to our inner selves.

You use money not to eat a bunch of food you do not even savour for every bite; use it to enjoy every taste that touches the palate of your tongue. You use money not to buy unnecessary stuffs shown on every advertisement on TV; use it to buy things that can help you see life - a bicycle for travel, a photograph to save each moment, or a ticket to 'we never knew'. Trace back the very reason why you wanted to earn money and ask yourself if it will bring you happiness, not pleasure, if the lifestyle brought with it clearly echoes the enthusiasm and eagerness within you. Do not fear of losing it, let it fly from your hands, let it roll back to zero, do not let the money define you, let the 'what you use it from' define you.  As for me, I will use my extra cash for today's payday to buy a canvas and paint; an expression of myself.
 

More.

Do eat more. Do work more. Do buy more. Phrases we often whisper to ourselves. Phrases that controls us and left us feeling tired and empty. In the end, we should ask ourselves if what we needed was really more? 

When we think in this 'more' way, we tend not to appreciate the things in the present, we are automatically visualizing the future, thinking what to do next, what to buy next and this is not healthy. In the end, we have void ourselves of the feeling of relaxation and fill our minds instead of anxiety and dissatisfaction. We tend to overlook that being content is savouring each step we make and stopping for a while, celebrating what we have done or acquired. We have imposed to ourselves that having more, doing more will make us happy when in the end we will realize that asking for more is a limitless demand and does not direct to contentedness. 

It is not wrong to aspire for more, to have a better life, to buy the things we want but we should practice taking things a step at at a time, savouring and celebrating each. When you are working, instead of wanting to do more work, aspire to do more quality work, love your work like it was always a new invention and celebrate ever completion of it; When you are eating, instead of greedily eating more, indulge yourself with every bite and be thankful for the food currently in your hands. When you buy the things you want, instead of thinking what to buy next, appreciate what you have bought and the days you work hard just to earn the money for it.

I want to share a 'Minimalist Mantra' I have read in Pinterest and I hope it will also impact the way you live your life today:

Stop buying the unnecessary.
Those half your stuff, learn contentedness.
Reduce half again.
List 4 essential things in your life, do these first, stop doing the non-essential.
Clear distractions, focus on each moment.
Let go of attachment to doing, having more.
Fall in love with less.