Little is much

These three words have a very deep meaning. Why is little much ? This defies the logic and common sense that the more we have the better. That is the reason we enter the rat race or strive to earn more and more money as we feel the more the merrier.  There is no motivation to have little and not enough.

The true meaning of these three words is the less we have, the more we will appreciate the little we have. In other words, if we have abundant of  something, we do not appreciate it  and there will be a lot of waste and no focus or awareness of its importance and sweetness.  The more we have, the faster we eat and less appreciative of the abundant things we have.

Just imagine a simple analogy. If we have only one dish on our table, we tend to be more focus and conscious of what we eat as we have not much to taste it . We will eat slowly and bit slowly so that we can enjoy the little we have , spoon by spoon. When it is in our mouth, we will chew it slowly and gradually and enjoy each bite as we have not much left to enjoy.  We will tend to be conscious and aware of the process of eating and the taste of our food. On the other hand, if we have 10 dishes on the table at once, we tend to eat faster and in massive mouthfuls and we lost control of the process of eating .  Not only we do not enjoy it but it is also a waste as we tend to eat too much.

This bring me back to my trip to China , three years ago.  I was on a package tour with my family covering Shanghai, Soo Chow, Hang Chow  and Wuzi. During the whole trip, the tour operator have arrange all the lunch and dinner for us.  The routine is all the same for the full 6 days.  Breakfast, tour, lunch, tour , dinner and shopping at night and return to the hotel.  This routine is like the circle of life revolving round and round.  At each lunch and dinner, we are given 9 to 10 dishes in big portions. All the food is brought out at the same time.  The dessert and the main course. You just eat , eat and eat and mostof the time is tasteless and routine , just make yourself overeat.  Here much is greed and wasteful.

If you have eaten traditional Japanese food, you realize that the food comes out in small portions and in very small places and  you will feel that it is not enough. Yes, the intention is only to make you 70% full and make you slow down in your eating process and to enjoy each bite more fully and let the taste sink into your palate. This will make yourself more mindful and aware of each process , like eating in meditation.

By having less and yet we are in contentment is a self discipline and only when we behave our self, we become more manageable  and in this way, we are in control of our mind and our body. 

Namaste.