the paradox

An excerpt from Zen Digital Makeover: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Tech:

Use effort to design an effortless life.

Use willpower to create a life where you don’t need it.

Be victorious by dissolving the need to fight.

Strive for perfection, knowing it cannot be reached.

Take total responsibility, knowing you have no control.

Empty yourself to be filled from within.

Learn more by consuming less.

Give away all to receive the treasures inside.

Be wise by admitting you do not know.

Disconnect from the noise to reconnect with yourself.

Break yourself down to become unbreakable.

Discover the light by plunging into the darkness.

Be pure by dredging up your dirt.

Let your old self die to truly live.

Find freedom by limiting choice.

Create a structure within which you can flow.

Be spontaneous through careful planning.

Control your mind by letting it roam free.

Unlock excitement by leading a ‘boring’ life.

Satisfy your desires by letting them go.

Seek the ordinary to unearth the extraordinary.

Don’t punish yourself with treats.

Mastery without perfectionism.

Wasting no time without rushing.

Immaculate without obsessive compulsion.

Care without attachment.

Intention without tension.

Instinct without impulsivity. 

Respect without reverence.

Acceptance without settling.

Stillness without stagnation.

Patience without hesitation.

Humility without hiding.

Fluid without being blown off-centre.

Forgiving without making excuses. 

Surrender yourself without losing yourself.

Work tirelessly to get nowhere.

Change others by not trying to change them.

Influence without being an influencer.

Be the greatest without comparing.

Make the most of life with out expectation.

Master the physical to reach the spiritual.

Plunge deeper to realise how shallow you are.

Find the solution by dropping the question. 

Find the middle way by knowing the extremes.

See the universe by closing your eyes.

Doubt everything to discover what is true.

Develop the vision to see what is under your nose.

After complete action, complete rest.

Retreat into silence by saying all that need be said.