These are not questions with straight answers for me since nothing is cast in stone and it was not only one thing that made us move over here or causing us to stay.
Now comes the big explanation of the why we have moved to Thailand in the first place. We lost everything in South Africa due to, let’s just say ‘corruption of high end people’ and had our fair share of crime related incidents. But, that was not what made us board the airplane. It was more the way we were treated by our own. People are so afraid that you are going to ask for help or money or even just their time. And that is something no one could afford because they are all so busy running the rat race. The last straw was when we asked the church, in which we played an active role, if they could provide us with something to eat and got ‘we will put your names on the prayer list!’ Hallelujah.
We came to Thailand with only our backpacks and started to work. And we did work hard indeed but we did not go hungry one day and the way the people treat us is so different from what we were used to. Here you are not valued on your belongings, house or car or even what job you do. Everybody is equal as people and you do not even know if people do have money or not because they do not flaunt it. (Saying that, that goes for the Thai people and not necessarily for most Westerners who live here).
We actually had a good laugh last weekend at ourselves. We had to move house and it took us only two trips in a pick up to get all our belongings to the new house. Man, do we enjoy traveling light.
Do we want to go back? The answer is a clear ‘No, not if it is up to us.’ If you want to know why, I can tell you it is because we now live the life accordingly to the principles of emptiness. Just give me a chance to explain to you what I mean by that:
• Have you got into the habit of hoarding useless objects thinking that one day, who knows when, you may need them, just in case?
• Have you got into the habit of accumulating money, and not spending it because you think that in future you may be in want of it?
• Have you got into the habit of storing clothes, shoes, furniture and other home supplies that you haven’t used already for some time?
• And inside yourself? Have you got into the habit to keep reproaches, resentment, sadness, fears, anger, hatred, envy and more?
Don’t do it! You are going against your own prosperity!
It is necessary to make room, to leave an empty space in order to allow new things to fill your life. Get rid of all the useless things that are in you and your life, in order for prosperity to arrive. The force of emptiness is one that will absorb and attract all that you wish.
• As long as you are materially or emotionally holding old and useless feelings, you won’t have room for new opportunities.
• Goods must circulate. Clean your drawers, the wardrobes, the workshop, the garage…
• Give away what you don’t use any more.
The attitude of keeping a heap of useless stuff ties your life down. It is not the objects you keep that stagnate your life, but rather the attitude of keeping it. With that idea you are sending two messages to your brain and your life… That you don’t trust tomorrow and you think that the new and the better are not for you!
Get rid of what has lost colour and brightness and let the new enter your house and yourself.
This was the most difficult adjustment I have ever done in my life. Coming from a culture where you always have to think of tomorrow and that you have the right to many things in life, I had to made radical changes. And, I know for certain that this type of lifestyle will and cannot fit easily in South Africa.
So to sum up, I am living life to its fullest by doing the things I love with the people I love, really loving my neighbour and thanking God for everything so beautiful I have in my life.
Can I leave all this behind and go back to being only a rat that maybe one day can win the race… or living the life of a victim again? Although I do love South Africa, I don’t think so.
Do not let your life slip through your fingers, by living in the past nor for the future.
By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.
