- Knowing others is wisdom;
- Knowing the self is enlightenment.
- Mastering others requires force;
- Mastering the self requires strength;
- He who knows he has enough is rich.
- Perseverance is a sign of will power.
- He who stays where he is endures.
- To die but not to perish is to be eternally present.
- From the Tao Teh Ching
- (chap. 33, tr. Feng and English) The way I read the Tao is you need to persevere to overcome the negative habit of alcohol abuse. One only needs to decide sobriety is the most important state of mind to nurture and begin the process of not drinking, one day at a time.
- When you find yourself tempted to drink alcohol, repeat this powerful statement, "I do not drink alcohol anymore now.". You may find yourself facing many triggers and urge to drink everyday, at first. Keep forefront in your mind the dire need to end the insanity of using alcohol to alter your moods.
- If you are like most people who have abused alcohol, you have probably tried many ways to moderate your drinking with little success. Your internal chemical reward system is fighting your every effort. Once you begin to drink, one drink is too many and 100 drinks are not enough. This is a classic pattern of the addiction to the substance of alcohol. You can overcome these urges easiest by abstaining completely from alcohol drinks of all kinds.
- This type of mental awareness can be applied to other troublesome habits like collecting clutter in your environment. The first step in removing clutter is to stop adding to the existing clutter by shopping and buying unneeded items at places like Thrift stores. Books can become a big problem, if you are continuously buying bargain used books. Often not reading the books you buy before you read the books you already own.
- Tell yourself, it would be nice to add this book to my collection. I do not buy books anymore now because I already own many books yet unread. When you have made a habit of resisting the temptations to buy more "things" books or music CD's, more clothing etc. you begin the process of going through your possessions and culling items of clothing that no longer suit your needs. This will take time but keep in your mind a picture of a minimalist decorated apartment.
Minimalist Apartment
