We spend so much time beautifying this body. We wear jewellery — both men and women adorn themselves with jewellery. We take care of our hair. We grow it long or cut it short, or colour and perm it, constantly fussing about it. Before I was ordained, I used to imagine, if I die now and they put me in a casket with my long beautiful hair, people will look and say, “Oh, she has such beautiful hair.” It is this absurdity that finally got me mentally okay with chopping off my locks. What good will my beautiful hair do for me when I am dead? Zero. Yet so much time and energy are wasted.

We think about the shape of our body and our weight. If we are too thin we want to beef up. If we are too fat, we want to slim down. How much time do we spend when we want to go out to eat? I do not know if your family is like my family. First, we talk about what food to eat — Italian, Chinese, Thai? Maybe Pizza Hut for something quick and cheap. We spend so much time discussing which restaurant to go to. Then once at the restaurant, we spend another half an hour discussing what to order, or giving specific instructions to the waiter or waitress. We do all these just to nourish this body. But when the food comes, we eat it without paying much attention to it. Except we may say it is really good. Then, after the meal, we say, “I ate so much, I feel sick. But it was so delicious.” That is to nourish the body. That is dining out.

What about the time we spend going to the grocery store and cooking the food? We check ads for discounts. We cut out the coupons, then visit a particular supermarket to save money using these coupons. Then we spend money on petrol and pollute the universe more by driving across town to the other supermarket with different coupons for other things where we can save another nickel, dime, or maybe a quarter. We should look at the amount of time we spend just keeping this body alive with food, clothing and other things

“365 Gems of Wisdom” e-book is out now!