Take it easy.....
The Taoist alchemist and herbalist Ko Hung described one of the benefits of
nonegotistical awareness: contentment.
"The contented man can be happy with what appears to be useless.
He can find worthwhile occupation in forests and mountains. He stays in a small
cottage and associates with the simple. He would not
exchange his worn clothes for the imperial robes, nor the load on his back for a
four-horse carriage. He leaves the jade in the mountain and the pearls in the
sea. Wherever he goes, whatever he does, he can be happy - he knows when to
stop. He does not pick the brief-blossoming flower; he does not travel the
dangerous road. To him, the ten thousand possessions are dust in the wind. He
sings as he travels among the green mountains."
He finds sheltering branches more
comforting than red-gated mansions, the plough in his hands more rewarding than
the prestige of titles and banners, fresh mountain water more satisfying
"than the feasts of the wealthy.
He acts in true freedom. What can competition for honours mean to him? What
attraction can anxiety and greed possibly hold? through simplicity he has Tao,
and from Tao, everything. He sees the light in the 'darkness', the clear in the
'cloudy', the speed in the 'slowness', the full in the 'empty'. The cook
creating a meal with his own hands has as much honour in his eyes as a famous
singer or high official. He has no profits to gain, no salary to lose; no
applause, no criticism. When he looks up, it is not in envy. When he looks down,
it is not with arrogance. Many look at him, but nobody sees him. Calm and detached,
he is free from all danger, a dragon hidden among men."
More Peace and Quiet