Wumen Huikai was a 12th century Chan master who wrote many beautiful lines of verse. One of my favorites, called 10,000, delivers a poignant message:
Ten thousand flowers in spring,
the moon in autumn,
a cool breeze in summer,
snow in winter.
If your mind isn’t clouded
by unnecessary things,
this is the best season of your life.
What exactly are unnecessary things that cloud your mind? Maybe the better approach to take is to ask what the necessary things are. If you’ve ever woken up in the middle of the night, pressed on from all sides by thoughts, worries, fears and hopes, you are likely in need of a concentrated review of the necessary and unnecessary things you carry with you in your mind.
As a father, business owner and concerned citizen, there are many things on my mind. One of the ways I seek to organize those thoughts is to determine which I can do something about now and which I have absolutely no ability to change. Deliberately setting aside those which I cannot do anything about, I focus my thinking energy and my doing as well on the remaining list.
There is a Chinese proverb which says “That the birds of worry and care fly over you head, this you cannot change, but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent.” Life is full of unknowns, uncertainty and unpredictability, but to focus on those elements is to miss an opportunity to deal with something that is ripe in your experience.
Force yourself to center your thoughts and efforts only on those things which are ready to move. It may be challenging at first, but as soon as you stop pushing everything in your world in an effort to get it to comply with your timing, you begin to rediscover the sensitivity to the invisible forces at work in your world. It is that sensitivity that makes people who are good at managing their worlds exceptional at managing their worlds.
The people around you will notice as well, for this is the key to earning the compliment “you make it look so easy.” Everything in life moves from greenness to ripeness in a cycle. Making a job change or a major shift in the business you run at the wrong time is akin to eating unripe fruit. It will leave a bad taste in your mouth and if you’ve taken it far enough, you’ll get a stomach ache.
Look to bring order to those cobwebbed corners of your consciousness that remain cluttered with unnecessary thoughts, worries and concerns and take a few minutes to sweep them out today. Write them down on a piece of paper and burn the paper if you have to…whatever it takes.
And don’t forget…have a great day!
Gregory Hake 
Powerful idea and loved the poem, thanks.
LikeLike
Simple yet powerful. Thanks for your comment and have a great weekend.
LikeLike
So I guess one of the main points here is to stop trying to push an unnatural agenda on your world. I think that not having to worry about so many things and trying to force the things when they aren’t ready takes a lot of worry out or life. Thanks for writing about these things that should be common sense but that so few people seem to know!
LikeLike
Well summarized, Colin. Thanks!
LikeLike
Pingback: Tweets that mention A Mind Free of Unnecessary Things « Gregg Hake's Blog -- Topsy.com
I appreciate your words on timing and business and how important it is to let things ripen, this is a good case of good ideas gone bad due to impatience or just plain lack of sensitivity to whats happening around you. I have seen this happen first hand. A great exercise is to take deep breaths and breath out all of those things that are outside your circle of control, then breath in all the strength to take on those things that are within your rightful influence. Thanks!
LikeLike
Excellent tips. Thank you.
LikeLike
Awesome start to what will be an awesome day!
Thanks Gregg, Perfectly timed as always….I will find that hidden webcam….
LikeLike
Even if I had the time…thanks Joshua.
LikeLike
I’m often responsible for having many projects in the air at a time and your thoughts are very helpful.
From a task standpoint, I find that a way to approach the things I can’t do now is to make a list – it’s a great way to get something out of my mind on to paper and and then I can relax better knowing it won’t be forgotten.
LikeLike
Good points, Kolya. I’m a big fan of not trying to store unnecessary things in my head, a system that is easier said than done. Sensitivity, or perhaps better put, discernment, is the key to separating the mental wheat from the chaff.
LikeLike
Thanks for the beautiful poem and practical words. It’s good to do some “Fall” cleaning. Have a wonderful day!
LikeLike
Sure thing!
LikeLike