Your mind and Self-direction
People who wish to take care of themselves is expected to have own self-direction. With own self-direction, people is able to justify the correct direction without the anger or the irritation, thereby make it easier to bear the desire. But if people lack their self-direction, then they act indiscreetly for not being able to control the anger and desire.
- Patience and taking care of yourself -
Whatever the matter would be, if you have pleasant sensation doing something, that sensation could cause the trouble later. It is like having alcohol as you wish to taste the pleasant sensation and feel good momentarily, but it would bring you serious illness later. If you have patience you'd feel good later. It could be tough to consume energy or eat just the right amount to keep you going, but it would make you possible to stay in health and enjoy longer life span. A Chines poet once said that there is the pleasure over the endeavor. What this phrase means is that you would have pleasure after controlling your desire a while.
Active blood stream is the base for your power distribution
The power is in heaven and it moves by itself so that the four seasons, namely the hot and the cold cycles smoothly and that the all things mature smoothly. If the cycle shifts to one side it won't form smooth circle and there will be the stagnant that would generate irregularities as such, hot winter or cold summer, wild wind, too much rain and etc.
Similar matter happens in human body. Having smooth blood stream ensures your smooth power distribution throughout your body and there won't be any illness. Having bad blood stream makes you ill. In case of the blood stagnant occurs in upper side of your body, there will be the head ache or spell bound by dizziness. If the stagnant occurs in middle of your body, you will be having the heart diseases, stomach ache, heavy stomach and etc. In case of your lower body, you will be having lower back pain, beriberi, abdominal pain, hemorrhoids and etc.
Those things suggest that we will be better to watch blood stream and make it active so that there won't be any stagnant spot in our body.
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You'd notice that there were no knowledge of vitamin at the time. But then do we know all about DNA? If we don't know our own well, there is available knowledge that fits to the age, or let's say the word that express the concept nicely at the age. And that does have the power, don't you think?
Some differences between to be wealthy and live longer
There are many people who pray for wealth and flatter others who might be of help to gain status and power. They would not work. It is rare to take care of oneself in hope of not getting any sickness and to live longer. Those wealth, status and income are outside of you and you won't be able to get them unless you were fortunate and take effort for them.
It is inside of you to live longer without any sickness. It can be realized if you try, and no fortunate involved. Why does people try to get that is hard to get and not to try to be in health that is easier? It is foolish. If you were fortunate enough to acquire great wealth, you won't be able to enjoy it with illness or with that shorter life span.
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It depends how you see your inner life. I had traveled a lot. Especially, I could say that I had traveled throughout America than most Americans do. Did I enjoy it? Not at all. It had been stressful and lonesome road. I had so many girl friends who were 20-30 years younger. Did I enjoy it? Well, it was nice to kill time. But . . .
You will Live out your natural life span by taking good care of yourself
It is the know fact that if you were young and full of energy and born with strong body, you will be dead earlier for not taking good care of yourself. This is not the misfortune but you yourself is the party responsible. We won't say it that this person has lived out the natural life span.
The healthy people usually won't pay attention to their health for being healthy since their birth and often leave this world earlier than the people who were born rather weak.
It is an irony that the people who were born weak, eating less, getting sick often and seemed to have less energy does live longer. Its reason is that they abstain from desire to protect own health. Those things seem to suggest that one's life span does not depend on the strength of one's body, but it depends upon if you would control your desire.
An ancient poet of China, Bo Juyi Po said, "Happiness and misfortune is of your discretion and indiscretion" and I agree with this notation.
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How can you be so thoughtful. Don't you think? Being young and energetic means you have full of fortune. And you have to realize that everyone of us can't be a king. King needs the guard, cook, sweeper and lots of other people to take care of him. What the world could be if there were kings of all kinds and no mere normal person around? Then there's no meaning you being the king, right? Well, I'm afraid that I may not be able to sleep for this problem tonight. . . .
Stop smoking, smoking is the illogical desire and it develops to . . .
There is an archaic word; "A little patience could have prevented the disaster" If you cannot tolerate your desire it may lead to disaster. It is quite possible to suffer from serious illness for not repressing your desire of drink and lust a little while and it may lead to life time unhappiness.
You may get sick for not withholding from a glass of alcohol or a loaf of bread. If you do as your desire pleases you may be hurt seriously. For an example, it is like a glow of a firefly causes the fire of your resident and it further develops to the fire of you town.
There is another archaic word; "It may seem a bit when you commit and you won't see its further development. But the result may easily turn to the serious as immovable big mountain disaster.
This archaic word is logical. You may have seen so many big disaster has come from a little thing. It is ordinary that a little sickenss develops to a disaster. You must bear your desire.
It is recommended to remember those two archaic words and obey their sayings.
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Do I bear? No, I smoke. Being close to 70 years old, I don't see big value of repressing my desire. But to tell you the truth, I worry a lot. My only hope is that I die without any agony. Sometime I imagine the agony of taking breath, the agony of chest pain, the agony of laying down flat on the bed. . . on and on.
It is agony just to think about it. Life is full of unexpected, right? So, a morning my wife find me on the bed not breathing with smiling face, 'cause I had delicious dinner the night before. Isn't it a dream?
Shut your mouth
It is the best to stay away from tall and long talk. It is better to avoid decorative talk. Your inner power would fluctuate with your long talk. Consequently it would hurt your power. It is the way of feeding your virtue not to talk much.
For us Orients, silence is the gold and eloquence is the silver. There was a TV commercial saying "Man drinks this beer without a word". This beer has been Sapporo. Do you know what would happen from this kind of mentality?
Well, ladies are much more talkative. They cannot shut their mouth. They need to talk about it from the start to the end. Or they need to talk just to hear and feel that they themselves are living, right? Don't take me wrong. I am not fed up listening to girls talk. I am not the believer of gender role. But you see girl talks much more than boys do.
After living so long, I currently see it rather nice to be able to talk much. We do not have the power of seeing other persons' mind. If you see anxiety on your friend's face, you have no way of knowing its origin. Is it possible to have the person talk? If you are not accustomed to talk persuasive, you may easily miss the point. So ?
Sleep or not to sleep that is the question
Old people has said to control three desires. Three desires are, the appetite, lust and sleep. It is to bear food and drink, bear lust and sleep less. It should be well known to control your appetite and lust but it is not known that it is the way of taking care of yourself to have less sleep.
They reason why it is better to have less sleep is that the inner power shall circulate better and consequently you will have less chance for illness. You have larger chance to get sick if you sleep too much for your inner power will stagnant.
It is good to go to bed late at night. It is utmost hazardous to take nap during daytime. If you go to bed early in the evening your dinner won't be digested enough. It causes the stagnancy of digestion so that your inner power won't circulate well enough.
It is quite understandable that the old people has defined those desires as the three initial desires that had to be controlled. As you acquire the habit of sleeping long duration, it becomes unbearable not to sleep. The control of your sleep is quite identical with controlling other two desires. The hardship to bear sleep is identical to bear other two desire. You cannot bear unless you are accustom to bear.
It becomes natural to sleep less as you making sleeping less to be your habit. If you make effort to stay within less sleep, then it becomes habit to sleep less.
It is important to make it habit to sleep less.
I am objective with this opinion. Because I need nap frequently as I have passed 60. At the age of Ekken, there were not many people over 60. But mind you, he wrote this book of Yojokun at his age of 83. Probably he had get tired of taking sleep for living too long. Well?
The age was of Confucianism. And its doctrine tells that hard-working is the goodness.
By the way Japan is the only country where Confucianism ever prospered. It was not well accepted in China where the doctrine was born.
The wise person values the honor.
There may be some people who would have such doubt as; a person who takes too much care of keeping own life cannot be considerate to the others.
But wise person values the honor. For this reason, wise person won't care about own life and gives one's life for what is right and die for the crisis of integrity. If one thinks of taking care of oneself and oneself alone, and tries to avoid to hurt a hair or to have scrape, this person would surely try to avoid hurting oneself when this person faces to the crisis of integrity. That is the possibility, but I'd answer to the doubt as followings.
There are status of static and dynamic. In static status you do statically and you act dynamic when you are in dynamic status. You act upon status of the honor. It is the correct behavior to stay in static while the status stays in static and you take good care of your life. It is the behavior of honor not to take care of your life while in the status of dynamic. What is required here is that you respect the honor as the status tells. And you can throw away the doubt brought up.
It is the best to follow the way as the situation or status tell and to be flexible with it. It can be said that you wear thinner in summer and wear thick in winter. The core is that you cannot behave same and you should not cling to the customs.
It is impossible to fight whenever necessary unless you keep your body in good condition and none of the bad health can fight at all. Then it is the best to take good care of yourself while in the status of static so that you can show your courage whenever required.
Know the real meaning of taking care of yourself
A person says that the art of taking care of oneself may be good for the people who has retired or is living detached from the neighboring people.
But it is not that easy for Samurai who has to be loyal to the lord, to be obedient to their parents and to work their body by learning military arts, and for the people who earns for their living by working days and nights. If those people tries to persist the art of taking care of themselves, their body as well as their skill of living may become weak and rust away their dexterity for living . But these are the doubt that people who does not know the way of taking care of themselves has.
Don't take the word wrong. The art of taking care of oneself does not mean that you stay away from the reality and lay sleep all day long. It means that you keep your mind calm and work your body. Relaxing too much of your body may induce the sickness by the stored and non-circulating inner power.
The drifting wood never decay and the axis of a door will stay. Anything that keep taking a certain load will live long and anything that does not take load won't last long. Then it is recommended to work for living. It is wrong to live playfully. This is the art of long life span.
And those are the holistic tip that keep you staying in anti aging healthy life.
It is not easy to learn the art of long life span
There are so many things that a human being is expect to accomplish and we call it the art to accomplish them. Every art has its specific way of learning. It would be difficult to accomplish if you do not know how you do it.
You won't be able to make living by singing unless you learn how to sing. Although it is not that difficult to produce a toothpick, you cannot make them a lot without learning how.
We are a part of the three that composes of this world along with the heaven and the earth. Then we are more so to keep our life with constant caring of our own body. We have to have the art. How could we survive without learning the art of living?
We seek mentor to learn such small matter as singing and cooking and learn the art of it. The reason is that we cannot make living without learning it. As the human being is the utmost existence by itself and as it is the utmost importance to keep our own body in good shape, how it would be possible at all to live without knowing the art of living. How would we be able to complete our life span given by heaven without the mentor, the guidance and the learning of it, namely without knowing the art of pursuing life span but living as you desire. Those are the reason why we must grab the art of living our life span if we wish to live and complete the life span given.
The art of living is the great tactics and is not the cheap tricks. It should be very tough to acquire its core knowledge unless you make yourself ready for it. If you were able to learn it directly from the person, it worth a trillion.
Despite the fact that your body is given by your parents, heaven and the earth as well, it is of utmost foolish if you loose your life earlier by the diseases caused by your poor behavior like taking alcohol, too much eating and the likes. It is of treating your parents as well as the heaven and the earth disrespectfully.
You would not be able to taste your life unless you live long with healthy body. It would not worth a penny if you accumulate wealth and live only a part of your given life span.