Awakening to the fact that your life is priceless
There are many people out there who say that they don’t own anything – neither money nor property nor assets. But in fact, everyone has lots of things. For example, relationships with others are one such thing. As I discussed earlier, certain types of relationships can become a source of worry, but I’m sure you have many other types of relationships that can help you.
Also, we can certainly be grateful for having a body of our own. Organ transplants have become a common practice nowadays. Some parents in impoverished parts of developing nations are selling their children’s kidneys, eyes, and other body parts to survive.
In other cases, parents cut off one of their children’s arms so that they can live on as a beggar.
It’s a blessing to be able to walk on our own legs, eat with our own hands, and work. What do you think would happen if we asked people in affluent countries like Japan and America to sell their arms? How much do you think they would be willing to sell them for? Would you sell one of your arms for one million dollars and both of your arms for two million dollars, or two arms and two legs for a total of four million dollars? Probably not. This means that your arms and legs are actually worth more than that. And if you were asked to sell your right eye or your brain, how much would you sell it for? I doubt you would ever want to sell it, no matter how much money you were offered. You would simply refuse to sell your eye or brain.
As a side note, when medical science advances further, we may be able to replace our brain one day. The time may come when we can remove an impaired part of our brain and replace it with an intelligent person’s brain to improve our memory. This kind of brain transplant may become popular among people who need to take exams. Considering the progress medical technology is making today, this might happen within a generation. Wealthy parents who performed poorly in school may believe that their children were born unintelligent and may wish to have their children’s brains replaced with the brains of children born to intelligent parents. Even if such a thing becomes possible, however, I don’t think anyone would be willing to sell their brain, no matter how much they were offered, because it is priceless.
The point is that we are all living a priceless life, and we are actually blessed with a lot of things. Air is indispensable to all living creatures, and we can breathe it for free. Imagine how awful it would be if you were told to pay for the oxygen you breathe over the course of your lifetime. It would be terrible, for example, if the government introduced an “oxygen tax” because they needed revenue. If the government claimed that the oxygen in the country’s territory belongs to the country, citizens would be stuck paying a tax to the government for the oxygen they breathe within the country’s territory (although if such a tax bill were passed, no one would stay in such a country). Sunlight is also free. We don’t have to pay a certain amount per hour for exposure to the sun’s rays. I ask you to please remember that humans are already given the essentials of life for free.
Instead of thinking only about yourself, wish for the happiness of others
Humans have the duty to live happily or to strive to live a happy life. But if you want to live happily, you need to wish for the happiness of many others. When you do this, you will become happy. It’s hard to find happiness when you are only seeking your own happiness. It’s when you try to bring happiness to others that you find happiness for yourself. Strangely enough, those who worry about themselves can’t become happy. You can probably see this when you observe others. Those who are constantly worried about themselves – grumbling, complaining, criticising others, or picking on others’ faults – don’t look happy.
These people are not happy because they see things from a self-centred perspective. Conversely, those who don’t think much about themselves but instead busy themselves with looking after and caring about others often find themselves happy. Put simply, those who spend a lot of time holding negative thoughts or worrying about themselves are not very happy. The more time you devote to others – whether through your company, your religious organisation, or other activities – and the more you realize that you almost didn’t think about yourself all day, the more moments of happiness you’ll experience.
Occupy yourself with work and finish your work quickly
A proper break is necessary to de-stress. We also asked in the questionnaire how people relieve stress, and the answers included sleeping, getting a massage, having a big meal, and drinking a moderate amount of alcohol. These common methods for de-stressing are generally effective. Getting rest is another effective way to relieve stress, so taking a proper rest every now and then is also important.
To stop worrying about the little things, it’s also essential to stay busy and make sure you have things to do all the time. For instance, if you focus your mind on things you have to do tomorrow and occupy yourself by preparing for them, you won’t have time to worry about other things. It’s important to keep ourselves busy, because issues that trouble our mind often seem to grow bigger when we have a lot of time on our hands.
However, if you are suffering from too much work, you probably need to learn to make quick decisions so you can complete your tasks quickly. Doing this will enable you to decrease your workload and free up your time so you can be ready to take on a new job at any time. This will not only open a path to promotion, but also eliminate your worries. In general, when you have to handle more than one job at a time, you’ll be torn between conflicting demands, so my advice is to finish your work quickly. I hope that by practising these methods of relieving stress, you’ll be able to sleep deeply and peacefully all night.
Excerpted with permission from Worry Free Living: Let Go of Stress and Live in Peace and Happiness, Ryuho Okawa, Westland.
