Life is but a thought: Nan Huaijin's 15 Life Wisdom Lessons

Chapter 4
"Know" before you can "stop"

Facing the vicissitudes of life, you should always remember the four words "satisfaction and happiness", cherish everything you have in front of you, and enjoy the happiness you have already obtained.

There is a saying in "University": "Knowing stop and then having steadiness, steadiness and then being able to be calm, being still and then being able to be at peace, being at peace and then being able to worry, and then being able to gain after thinking." It roughly means that people should not move their minds rashly and know where they are. , in peace, without being influenced by the outside world, in order to have a comfortable and leisurely life.But things often backfire. If desires get out of control, you will overstep the rules, and if you are too smart, you will become stupid.No matter who, if you don't know the right way to stop, you will have to pay a heavy price.

Mr. Nan Huaijin once said: "Content without disgrace, know that stop without peril." That is to say, those who are content will not bring embarrassment; and those who know enough is enough will not encounter danger.History has never lacked historical lessons of disasters caused by greed for power and profit, and striving for favor and favor.Just like Fan Li's success and retirement, he moved three times with honors; Wen Zhong fell in love with power and power, and eventually became a ghost with a sword.Wealth and splendor obtained through busy work are blessed only if you have life. Obsessive greed will only speed up the pace of the end of life.However, if you want to be successful and famous, but also want to retire safely, then you must learn to stop greed, arrogance, falsehood, and blindness properly.Excessive demands, extravagance and lust are not the right way in the world.

Throughout the ages, it has been extremely difficult to "know and stop".Qian Decang, a colleague in the Qing Dynasty, once wrote "Poetry of Insufficiency": "Running around all day long is only for hunger, and just now I think about clothes when I am full. I have enough food and clothing, and I want a beautiful wife. Marry a beautiful wife and have children, and hate having no land. Less roots. The farmland is so vast, and there are no boats and few horses to ride in and out. The trough buckled the mules and horses, and lamented that there was no official position and was bullied. Immortal art, I want to fly across the sky. If you want people in the world to be satisfied, you have to be in the south.” In today’s society, there are also many people who are not satisfied, and they don’t know where the “good” is. People who "carry the shackles" abound, and they will continue to succeed.If you don't know the way to know and stop, and blindly ask for it, you will only end up in disasters and even sacrifice your life in the end.

During Song Renzong's reign, there were only mother and son in the family. The mother was old and sick, and she relied on her son Wang Wang to sell grass for her livelihood.One day, Wang Wang went to the north of the village to pull weeds, and found a small piebald snake covered in wounds, so he took it home to wash and apply medicine.Under the careful care of the mother and son, the little snake gradually recovered.One day the little snake felt too bored, so it crawled into the yard to bask in the sun. When the sun shone, it became as thick and long as a big beam.It turns out that this snake is not extraordinary.

Song Renzong ignored the government all day long, and wanted Ye Mingzhu on a whim one day, so he posted a notice that whoever could donate the Ye Mingzhu would be promoted immediately.

When Wang Wang saw the notice, he went home and said to Snake. Snake pondered for a while and said, "You have saved my life, and you have taken good care of me in the past few years. Now I finally have the opportunity to repay you. My eyes They are two luminous pearls, you only need to dig out one and present it to the emperor, and you will be promoted and rich." Wang Wang was very happy when he heard that, he was so cruel that he dug out one eye of the snake, and presented it to the emperor the next day.The civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty were amazed to see this pearl shine.The emperor's heart was very happy, and he appointed the king as a high-ranking official, and rewarded many gold and silver treasures at the same time.

Empress Xigong also wanted one after she saw Ye Mingzhu, so Song Renzong once again issued a list to find the pearl, and promised to give the person who presented the pearl the position of prime minister this time.Wang Wang thought, as long as I get the other eye of the snake, wouldn't the position of Prime Minister be within reach?So he went to the snake for the eyes.But the snake insisted not to give it, and bluntly persuaded: "I have already rewarded you with one eye. You have been promoted and made a fortune, but now you come to ask me for another eye. Don't be too greedy." He could hear it, but he still insisted on taking the snake's eyes.Seeing that he had become so greedy and cruel, the snake was very angry, so he suppressed his anger and said, "It's okay to have eyes, but you have to let me go to the yard, and I'll give it to you." Put the snake in the yard and go back to the house to get the knife.By the time he returned to the yard, the little snake under the sun had already turned into a large spotted snake as thick as a beam, swallowing him in one bite.

Facing the vicissitudes of life, we should always remember the four words "satisfaction and happiness", cherish everything we have in front of us, and enjoy the happiness we have already obtained.Contentment is just a kind of small wisdom, and knowing and stopping is a kind of great wisdom in life.Contentment depends on others (external cause), knowing and stopping depends on oneself (internal cause).It can also be simply understood as: contentment is how much others give you, and you are "unsatisfied, but acceptable", knowing only means that others give you more, but you reach out to block it, saying that it is enough, I don't need it anymore.Be content and not be greedy, know what to stop and not follow.

When you are young, people in the world often seek to add to life, to pursue fame and fortune, to pursue knowledge, to pursue success, and to pursue wealth. Of course, there is nothing wrong with these.But as you grow older, you should understand that subtraction is more important in life, and learn to stay away from fame and wealth, be indifferent to success or failure, and be content with indifference.Lin Bu of the Song Dynasty said in "Wangxinlu": "Those who are full, fat, sweet, and ignorant of restraint will lose fortune; But it is saying that life needs subtraction, you must learn to choose, and you must know how to give up.

Know how to block desires and desires; know how to stop troubles, this is "knowledge and stop".Happiness is usually short-lived, power and fame will not always follow you, if you don’t know how to stop, then pain will often follow, troubles are everywhere, and for you, there are only endless troubles and sorrows left.Therefore, in life, people must have the wisdom of "knowledge and stop" that "going to power depends on opportunity, and stepping off depends on wisdom", so that they can better move towards the end of happiness.

Life can be poor, but not worry

"Life is always unsatisfactory, and everything is common, but it is no different from others." Most people should have experienced such a scene.However, in the face of unsatisfactory things, joy is also a lifetime, and pain is also a lifetime. Why affect the peaceful and comfortable state of mind for all kinds of reality?
Mr. Nan Huaijin has a very interesting friend. This friend used to be at the ministerial level. At that time, he had a great reputation, and his status and prestige needless to say.After retiring, he lived a poor life. His relatives were not around, and only his old servant who had followed him for decades volunteered to serve him for free.One day, he wrote a letter to ask a friend to borrow money, and the friend immediately generously took out more than 1000 yuan after seeing the letter.So this old friend of Mr. Nan Huaijin took the money and went to the restaurant to eat, ordered some of his favorite dishes before, and brought a pack of high-end British Garrick cigarettes that he used to smoke most.He just sat in the dining room and ate slowly, puffing out smoke rings leisurely, spending the afternoon leisurely.When it was time to check out, he took out all the money, and the restaurant staff quickly waved their hands, saying that the money given was too much, and his total consumption was only three or four hundred, but he insisted that there was no need to change it, and he just gave the money away. All tipped out.It turned out that he used to be generous in spending money, and he was used to being extravagant, but now he suddenly forgot that the present is different from the past, and he has no money.

A friend praised him for his demeanor after learning about it. He just smiled and said: "I am poor now, but when I am poor, I must not worry. If I add the word 'sorrow' now, So now I am poor and down and out, it sounds very miserable. So I am not worried, and I am happy every day when I grow old." Mr. Nan Huaijin admired this friend's behavior and thought very much after learning about this. Today's society is hungry and cold. There are many people who are oppressed, but there are very few people who can see through it and not allow themselves to be blocked.Most of these people feel that they are too poor now, and this kind of life is really miserable, so they spend every day in self-pity.In fact, not only the poor, everyone has times when they are forced by life and entangled in unsatisfactory trivial matters in life, so they always feel unhappy in their hearts, and seem to always have a kind of boredom that has nowhere to vent.Under such persecution, he finally compromised with material desires, and finally did things that deviated from morality and violated nature.Mr. Nan Huaijin quite disagrees with this.

"Life is always unsatisfactory, and everything is common, but it is no different from others." Most people should have experienced such a scene.However, in the face of unsatisfactory things, joy is also a lifetime, and pain is also a lifetime. Why affect the peaceful and comfortable state of mind for all kinds of reality?Things are never smooth sailing, but you can choose how to live, you can choose to survive and spend every day in poverty, or you can live hard and spend every day happily.

Some people are lucky, and their lives are smooth and colorful, while others are not so lucky, and they struggle with diseases and pains all their lives.

Little Turner didn't start talking until he was 3 years old. The family had always thought he couldn't speak, and they were ecstatic.But it was also when he was 3 years old that he suffered a car accident. Since then, various diseases have followed him like a shadow, tossing this little life all the time. Even so, Little Turner still did not give up, and his fighting spirit was high.

At the age of 10, Little Turner, who was going to participate in the festival parade, found that half of his face was not moving, so he was sent to the hospital because of facial paralysis.On the way to the hospital, Little Turner asked his mother innocently: "Is there really a God in this world? Why is he always so cruel to me? Can he help me, even just a little?" Resisting the sadness, he touched his head and told him softly: "My child, the illness is only sent by God to test you." Since then, Little Turner has firmly believed that he must be brave!
Little Turner grew up amid such frail and sickly childhood memories. Although he was issued a critical illness notice by the doctor several times, he never gave up the fight against the illness.Because he accidentally heard that playing basketball can strengthen his body, so he started his long basketball career.As everyone knows, playing basketball is also difficult, but no difficulty can stop his basketball heart.Friends thought he was weak and didn't play basketball with him, so he asked his brother to join him; he couldn't afford to go to the basketball court or buy a basketball stand, so he built a simple basketball stand in the backyard by himself.In this way, day after day, he insisted on his basketball dream.

Apparently, long-term physical exercise has had an effect.As time went by, Turner's physical fitness became better and better, and he was able to converse fluently with others. Later, he was admitted to Ohio State University early, and he also began to make his mark on the basketball court. He has shown his strength.

The hard work paid off, and Turner's basketball dream that he had insisted on since he was a child finally came true. In the summer of 2011, Turner was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers because of his superb skills and signed a huge contract.

Life is a turbulent river, and the road ahead will not always be calm, but we are just sailors bravely surviving in the waves. Some sailors can still "hang the clouds and sail straight to the sea" in the turbulent waves, while some sailors will be beaten by giants. The waves overturned.Maybe the road ahead is bumpy and full of thorns, so just imagine, when you stand at a fork in your life, what will you choose?Do you hold back because of fear and insecurity?No one voluntarily walks into a rough life, and no one wants to suffer misfortune, but such things happen every day in every corner of the world.Instead of being afraid to shrink back, it is better to turn the fear in your heart into fearless courage. If you don't fight hard, you will never know what you will get.

Life is like a test paper, which is displayed flatly in front of you, and there are test questions on it. You can choose to give up and not answer the questions, or pick up a pen and write down your own life answers.There is no standard answer in life, no matter how you fill it in, life will give you the answer in the end.

People always make many choices inadvertently. According to research, people have to make more than 200 choices every day. Others are all in your thoughts.You can decide your own choices, but you cannot control the wishes and choices of others.Therefore, sometimes you don’t need to pay too much attention to other people’s deliberate difficulties, or to your kind help with bad words. You have already done your own thing, and other things have nothing to do with you.As for the weather, earthquakes and floods, these are beyond human ability. Even if you worry unfoundedly, it will not help. You might as well resign yourself to fate and deal with it calmly.

(End of this chapter)