I’ve started to become interested in minimalism. Just being content with having as few items as possible becomes somewhat freeing. It is therapuetic, because now I don’t care about my stuff, theres no attachment to any item I possess. It comes back to buddhism and the concept of desire and attachment, your not even attached to the items you possess. There is no item you can not easily replace, and so you feel better about what you possess. Everything you own has a purpose and no item is without reason for purchase.

In this day and age, people continue to try and find their sense of happiness through the items they purchase (Consumerism). I’ve seen this behavior in others and in the future they replace all the items they have purchased in the past with new items, it becomes a vicious cycle where they aren’t happy no matter what they purchase. They try to seek a sense of happiness through new items and it just doesn’t work. Just being content with what you have and finding a sense of happiness through other aspects of your life is alot better, atleast that is what I have found to be true.

So I have been focusing on my hobbies and trying to find a sense of contentment through my creative activities. Instead of trying to find contentment through purchases, I try to find contentment through spirituality and creativity. I feel better, because aspects of my spirituality like Buddhism and Taoism, help bring me a feeling of contentment, and through my activities in creativity, I can express myself and feel somewhat happy through my creative output.

I’m taking inspiration from the poets and painters from ancient Chinese & Japanese history; they put effort into their poetry, music, and paintings and found contentment through their creative output, that is what I am seeking too.

I will dedicate my time to atleast create one piece of art every day, even if its a small item, it could be poetry, or a small painting, or playing with my piano or dizi, just something created everyday. You can feel the progress through each item you create, it becomes a game where you measure and identify your output and see ways you can become better. I’ve already seen this through my art, and I wish to expand it to poetry and music.