The Crazy Zen Monk

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it!

2010-12-24T15:09:00.000-05:00

I would like to wish everyone who celebrates it a Merry Christmas. May this season be good to you and may you be filled with love and compassion.

Do you have too much stuff?

2010-12-22T14:43:00.000-05:00

For most people it is a sure YES. Society has people believing you need material items to be happy. This is just not so. For example, I have no television, limited material items and a tiny netbook. However, I'm happy. I don't need a television or a big fancy laptop. I don't need a hundred pairs of shoes or a months supply of cloths that I'll likely not wear much. Everything I own (besides my vehicle) can be fit into two duffel bags and a backpack. I aim to take it down even more to maybe one duffel bag and a backpack.

I'm sure at least some of you reading this may think I'm fibbing about how much I own but I'm not. I actually used to be a pack rat of sorts. I then made a 3000+ mile move from North Carolina to Northern California with only two duffel bags and a backpack. It was liberating and scary at the same time. However, that wasn't my only move. I moved from California to Texas again with just two duffel bags and a backpack. The fun didn't stop there either, I moved BACK to California and then finally moved back to North Carolina... all while fitting everything I owned into two duffel bags and a backpack. Did I enjoy my moves? I would have enjoyed it more if I had only one duffel bag and a backpack. I may end up taking a "long vacation" to Japan someday. When I do, I hope to have at the most one duffel bag and a backpack.

I bet 99% of everyone reading these words have enough material items that they wouldn't dare move out of their state. Thing is that when you own a lot of stuff, that same stuff ends up owning you. It will drain you of your happiness, money and time. If you move, you need a bigger home just to hold the stuff. You may even have to pay storage fees to store some of it. I have the bare basics. It's liberating that I can pack up and move to anywhere I want within hours so long as I have enough money to do so.

If you're like most people and have too much stuff, you can either keep it like most or start to remove the "clutter". It will be hard and in some cases even traumatic. When I first removed my clutter for my move to California, I had so much anxiety and even some depression over the loss of so much stuff I had collected. However if I had it to do over again I'd still ditch the stuff.

Simplest way to remove the crap is to first change your mindset. Once you no longer WANT a lot of stuff, it wont be so hard to get rid of the unneeded things. After you get the right mindset start with one thing at a time. Look at it and think "Do I really need this?". Chances are if you haven't given it thought in 2 months, you don't. Eventually you will find you have much less stuff and will find a sort of freedom with less.

Less is indeed more.

Making a living from your passion...

2010-12-22T14:19:00.000-05:00

In an earlier post (What do you love? What is your passion?) I covered how to find your passion in a simple straightforward manner. Now that you know what your top passions are, it's time to make a living doing what you love.

When you love doing what you do, it no longer is work.

So how exactly do you go about turning a passion into an income source? There's no exact answer. It takes a lot of work to get started and tends to be as some would say, a pain in the butt. However it gets easier with time.

First step is to learn as much as you can about your passion. Most people already have this part covered, but learn more anyway. Get off your butt and start doing it. Example, if your passion is gardening and you decide you would enjoy owning a plant nursery then get off your butt and get into one. Maybe start by getting hired at a nursery so you can see how things are done (again with learning). After you have saved up enough you can start your own. Important thing is to get out there and start doing. Once you have your own setup, start charging for your services. Do some freebie service for family and friends to get some references. A lot of learning is needed to find out how to run a business so learn learn learn.

Ok so now you have your setup... what now? Improve it. Keep going and don't stop. You may also want to build more income streams to supplement your main passions income.

Best of luck and wishes and feel free to comment when you get there.

What do you love? What is your passion?

2010-12-22T14:08:00.000-05:00

To many that question is a hard one to answer. You like a lot of things I'm sure and some you may like more than others, but what are you passionate about?

Here's how you find out. Take a look at the things that you are good at, the things you read a lot about, the things that excite you and the things that you daydream about. Take a look at the blogs you subscribe to and the websites you visit most. Take a look at the videos you watch the most and enjoy. Make notes of them and go over your notes. Narrow it down one by one until you have a list of the three things that fit the above the most and you likely are looking at your passions.

Say for example you spend a lot of time reading about gardening and you enjoy being in the garden. Say you could see yourself spending hours and hours in the garden and enjoying every minute of it. It is likely a passion of yours.

Find what you love and seek out how to make a living doing it. Then work won't be work anymore.

Keep an eye out for my upcoming post on how to turn your passion into a living.

Is there reincarnation? Have we lived before?

2010-12-22T08:13:00.000-05:00

Many believe there is just this one life. You come into this world and only live this once. After death, some believe that's it. You're gone. Some believe you will end up in various places like hell or heaven. However some believe in reincarnation.

So the question here is, have we lived before?

I have my own experiences with past life memories. I have "remembered" a number of things that couldn't have happened in this life. I've not have the drive or time to verify what I remembered but there has been others who have.

Take for example the case of Sweet Swarnlata (full story). She gave enough information to enable Dr. Ian Stevenson to locate the family of the deceased person she remembered and she gave more than 50 specific facts that were verified. Now just stop and think about that for a second. If this life was all there was, how could this little girl possibly give details of a previous humans existence that actually could be verified? Maybe it was a freak occurrence and she's the only one who did this? NO! There has been many cases of kids remember past lives and the details being verified.

Another case, 6-year-old James Leininger (full story) comes to mind. Essentially he remembered things that ended up being verified and shows he may have once lived as 21-year-old Navy fighter pilot James Huston Jr. who died in World War II.

There are many cases of kids remembering lives they once lived, could it be possible they did in fact live before? Maybe we all lived before but just don't remember.

Most of my "memories" are short and usually the last moments of that life. Most recent (in order of time lived) was of me in the woods in what I suspect was Japan. The woods looked a lot like the "Japanese Suicide Forest". I was in front of a noose that I had made. I stuck my head through it and jumped. In the near total quietness of the woods, everything faded to black. Another I fell off the top of a castle wall to my death. Another I died in a battle which seemed set in medieval times. I've had others but I will not share them at this time.

So what do you think? Have we lived before?

The story up till now...

2010-12-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

It all began a little over 26 years ago in central North Carolina. I popped out into the world and didn't know what was going on.

Fastforward roughly 20 years: I began to realize that there was more to life than just existing and getting by. I despised following the crowd. It was depressing to think that all there was to life was working, sleeping, eating, fucking and more working. I began to wonder, why are we here? What's the purpose? Do I HAVE to follow the crowd? MUST I labor and toil the remaining days of my life and be in misery?

Since then I have been on a quest to learn much and to live. I have been to many places around the United States, been married, been divorced, worked, lived, explored and loved. I regret none of it. Correction, I regret not knowing what I do now sooner. I may not be the best educated and I may not be successful in the eyes of society, but I strive to live and be happy. Don't you agree that happiness is important?

Here I am age 26. My years up till now have passed and hopefully I still have many more years to come. I have plans and goals but I loosely stick to them. Why? If you hold onto something too hard, it will fall apart. You have to live life in the moment and just keep in mind what needs to be done.

This blog is essentially my ramblings on a number of topics and may contain useful information for some. I'd like to help others to achieve happiness as I myself am trying to achieve.

Be sure to subscribe to my feed for this blog and maybe check out my YouTube channel. It may not have anything on it as of this post, but there will be more content.

It all begins...

2010-12-22T07:09:00.001-05:00

With a single step, some love and determination... it all begins.