Quote:
Originally Posted by ramonesfreak
regarding......"fear of death really is just the result of being too attached to things in life—and that if you weren’t at all attached to these things, death might indeed not be very frightening"
i think there is some some truth in this. 25 months ago i lost my job. i was forced to sell off my belongings just to survive...thanks RPKESQ for buying my watch which helped me pay my health insurance for 3 months! ( i had a different screen name then).
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Hey, I remember you. The former attorney with great taste in music right?
It sounds like you have hit a bad patch. But losing everything and learning from that might be the best thing that's ever happened to you. And maybe learning to let go is part of that.
Here's a nice story:
A friend of mine was a truly big-swinging-dick M&A lawyer in Asia. There was hardly a mega-deal done in Asia in the last 20 years in which he wasn't involved. You'd probably even recognize his name.
Well he was wasn't watching his portfolio, and Oct.2008 completely wiped him out. 200 to zero in just a few seconds. His wife then left him for a French banker. The two teenage daughters were pulled out of their expensive European boarding schools and are now in public school in Atlanta. They hate their father for allowing all this to happen, and refuse to speak with him.
The father meanwhile has a massive coronary and a quadruple bypass. To recuperate he books himself into a small guesthouse in the Alto Adige where he once stayed with his wife. The owner is a master carpenter, and one thing leads to another, and my friend becomes his apprentice. He gives notice to his law firm, and doesn't even bother going back to Hong Kong to clean out his flat. He's a quick study and a natural hustler and becomes very good very quickly. He befriends some people in Verona, and in short order receives a large and lucrative contract to restore the ancient woodwork of a major cathedral in that city. Bingo!
I visited him three weeks ago. He's dropped two stone and looks twenty years younger. He lives in a small stone cottage high in the Dolomite Mountains—very close to the tree line—and drives a little Fiat truck. (Aston Martin in Hong Kong!) He has a small two burner stove in his cottage, a collection of books and a small CD player. That's about all. And he has never been happier in his life.
Oh yes, he's courting the woman who delivers the mail. Hasn't quite succeeded yet, but he's definitely getting there.
As the Chinese always say: in every crisis there is opportunity.