Sunday Firesides: To Have It, You Must Be Able to Do Without It

Give up your life. Give it all up. Do not base your life on what can be taken away from you — wealth, possessions, health, family, friends, fame, respect, even your own life.

This is the balance we want to strike. If we aim for the trophy in life—be it recognition or wealth or power—we’ll miss the target. If we aim too intensely for the target—as Kenzo warned his students—we will neglect the process and the art required to hit it. What we should be doing is practicing. What we should be doing is pushing away that willfu

you must train yourself to desire only what you can always have,

In short, don’t try to fulfill your desires; rather, control and manage them. To avoid having our inner contentment overthrown by the inevitable loss of things, do not become too emotionally attached to anything.