{"id":37108,"date":"2017-08-11T12:29:47","date_gmt":"2017-08-11T19:29:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=37108"},"modified":"2017-01-21T20:47:25","modified_gmt":"2017-01-22T04:47:25","slug":"dont-prefer-anything-else","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/11\/dont-prefer-anything-else\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Prefer Anything Else"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hanoi,
Hanoi, 2016 #cindyproject<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t desire anything besides what you have, better yet\u00e2\u20ac\u201d don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t prefer anything from what you already have.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What you have is perfect.<\/p>\n

You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already bought all these different things to satisfy your desires. You spent a lot of time researching the things you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve bought. When you first bought (whatever you own) you loved it.<\/p>\n

Yet over time, it has become old and outdated. You no longer have a passion for it. It has collected dust, or out of fashion. So we think that by buying something new or by \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcupgrading\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d it will somehow give us lasting pleasure.<\/p>\n

In reality, all fades. All the things we buy will eventually fade into dust. Or rust.<\/p>\n

That goes for everything. Our cameras, our computers, our devices, our loved ones, and our lives.<\/p>\n

The secret to living a wholesome and happy life is to prefer what you already have, and not desire anything else.<\/p>\n

The more we find blessings in what we have, the more happy and content we will be. And the more restrictions we have in our everyday lives, the more innovative we will be. Because creativity breeds on constraints, not unlimited options, and unlimited things.<\/p>\n

So as an assignment, each day, try to figure out 1 thing to remove from your life. It can be a pair of shoes or an old sweater you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wear anymore. It can be an old electronic or camera. You can throw it away, donate it, sell it, or give it away. Just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let the thing burden you.<\/p>\n

And for the few things you do already own, learn how to cherish them, and find pleasure in them.<\/p>\n

And lastly, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t prefer the life of anybody else. Regardless of what you might think, others are probably more miserable than you, no matter how rich, powerful, or influential they are.<\/p>\n

Seek to tend to your own garden, find inner-peace, tranquility, and happiness, and prefer your beautiful life.<\/p>\n

Always,
\nEric<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t desire anything besides what you have, better yet\u00e2\u20ac\u201d don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t prefer anything from what you already have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36730,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20161221-E0002213eric-kim-street-photography-ricohgrii-hanoi-cindy-project.jpg?fit=4928%2C3264&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}