From The Desk of Maverick Brenton.
Subject: The Things That Really Matter In Life.
Paint had peeled off the sides of the fireplace in our living room.
And there was a small crack in the glass door that squeaked loudly when you opened it.
During the winters out in the countryside - that fireplace kept us all warm.
I would cook stews for my dog, mum would use it to boil the kettle and my siblings would curl up before it, while gazing into the flickering flames and enjoying it’s warmth.
On dark and rainy nights when lightning filled the skies and thunder shook our world, we would huddle around it.
I loved that fireplace.
My dad installed it himself, when he built the camp we grew up in - and he built it with nothing more than his own mind and his tools.
It was a mining camp.
And he was mining for a substance known as Opal.
A colourful rock worth a lot of money.
Walking out the front gate of our home, you would see cement mixers, trucks, digging equipment, and behind a small fence, the 80 foot hole and tunnel system that my father worked inside each day.
Growing up out there, with nothing other than the basics - was a time rich in memories of adventure.
All we had was all we needed.
Freedom. Time. Family. And fun.
My childhood left a mark on me that will never go away - a mark that I would never want, to go away.
It taught me the value of simple living.
And it instilled in me, particular qualities that have made my life better than it would be, without those particular qualities.
I’m not bothered by things that don’t matter, I’m happy with the simplest of foods and I don’t care about expensive things: I own two pairs of worn out jeans, I’ve purchased one phone in my entire life and I have had the same watch for eight years.
I own everything in my life, I owe nobody anything and what worries normal people does not worry me because I’ve mastered the Art of Selective Caring.
When I was in my early teens, we left the countryside and moved into town.
This put my parents into debt.
Now, Dad worked all the time and mum worked most of the time.
Our simple lifestyle became a ‘normal’ lifestyle - driving distance between my parents and eating away at our freedom like a cancer.
When mum came home at night, dad went to work.
And when dad came home in the morning, mum went to work.
Later in my life when I left home and marched off into the sunset - I began to notice something bad that everybody believes is good.
I noticed that almost everyone lived like this.
They spent all of their time working at jobs, trading their time for money, in order to pay for their houses, their cars and to stay on top of all the bills that their lifestyles demanded - they had no freedom, no time for the important things and they were chronically miserable, yet they would lie to my face and say they either loved it or had no choice.
Everyone I met, who lived like this - was convinced that it was normal and that no other life was possible.
They would say things like:
“Another day, another dollar.”
“Thank god it’s Friday.”
“Gotta pay the bills somehow.”
I could never understand why they lived like this or how they lived like this - until I objectively looked at the world in which they existed.
When I objectively looked at the world in which these people existed: I seen a system that required money in order to survive within it.
And that system used advertising to convince all the dumb people to buy material possessions from all the smart people, with the aid of something called debt.
This allowed the dumb people to have everything they wanted, on the spot - even though they could not afford it.
But.
In return - they had to pay interest on their debts, so the smart people could make money, on the money they let the dumb people borrow off them.
Therefore the dumb people were required to work all the time to be able to make their repayments and the smart people got to enjoy income while they slept.
Everywhere I went - I seen this.
And in the rare moments that I would sit on the couch and watch television, all I ever saw was advertising for cars and phones and bullshit.
So I never understood how people could let money ruin their lives until I became aware of all the traps set for them by the smart people in the world.
Those traps were pointed out to me by a millionaire when I was 14 years old and he taught me how to avoid all the traps that had been set for me.
Funnily enough, he lived just like I did growing up in the countryside and because of that he was a man rich in time, money, health and happiness, who did what he wanted, when he wanted to do it.
He owed nobody anything. He had money to live his life. He owned himself and he was free.
Let me say that again: He Owned Himself.
If you don’t own yourself and you cannot do what you want, when you want to do it - then you are owned by something else, someone else, or both.
And this brings me to a very important question that you must ask yourself and answer honestly:
If you don’t own yourself, what is it, that actually owns you?
Is it your car? Your house? Your expensive toys? Your job?
The sad reality of the modern world is that most people are owned by all of the above.
They are slaves to the things they think they own, and they spend almost all of their valuable time, working at jobs - to pay for these things that actually own them.
If you haven’t cracked the shits and slammed your computer shut because I hurt your feelings with the truth - think seriously about the answer to the question above.
All of us are owned by our habits and our subconscious beliefs: this will never change.
But..
You don’t have to be owned by bullshit that sits around and does nothing but make you look like you have money - when you don’t.
Why do people do this to themselves, in the first place?
Why do they give away their freedom in return for toys that make them appear to be wealthy?
Here’s why:
Everybody wants to look like they have money because money brings status and attention - which are things that human beings crave.
Generally speaking, the men want the money to attract the women and the women want the money to take care of themselves and their children
So..
If people (guys) can look rich now, most of them will, so that they can reap the benefits of looking rich now: which is primarily increased status and increased attention from the opposite sex (gals).
Why do you think people shit their pants when they see are Ferrari and why do you think they treat the person driving it differently?
The answer is simple:
A Ferrari is a symbol of wealth and power: it’s the equivalent to the best looking male peacock.
When most women see a man driving one, their attention is on him and they wet their panties - despite what they will tell you.
Apart from being fucking stupid, this is also known as Evolutionary Psychology and you should read this textbook if you want to learn more about it.
My study of this world over the years has made the following fact very clear to me:
We humans think we are sophisticated beings, but really we are just apes who have learnt how to live together in relative peace. All the primitive desires and the aggression of apes still exists within us, it’s just buried underneath the layers of subconscious moral conditioning that keeps us ‘civilised’.
If all you did, was remove our supply of food and upset our perfect little world: you would be absolutely shocked at what lies beneath the masks we all wear.
Moving forward..
Once you become aware of how evolution has designed you and how the smart people of the modern world take advantage of how evolution has designed you - you won’t fall for the traps.
But until you build that awareness and educate yourself financially, you will just continue to be a puppet on invisible strings.
Now ask yourself this:
Wouldn’t you rather own a few things that actually have meaning, while being free of debt and able to live your life with plenty of time to do the things you care about and enjoy?
I think you would and that’s what Simple Living is all about.
It is more so a philosophy, **than a lifestyle.
**And it’s not about eating plain porridge all day or throwing away everything you own to live like a monk.
It’s about removing what does not matter in order to make more room for what actually does matter in your life: like the things that make your life better, and not worse.
“Stuff” does not make your life better, it makes it heavier.
Increasing your freedom by making more money while reducing expenses, fixing your health and improving the quality of your relationships - that’s the shit that will have you waking up with a smile.
It’s about simplicity.
And quality over quantity.
It’s one good razor that you shave with every morning.
It’s one nice watch you can wear with everything.
It’s paying cash and never going into debt.
It’s the old but reliable truck that you own.
It’s a clear mind and a free spirit.
It’s being free to pursue what you enjoy doing:
Producing art. Writing music. Exploring. Reading. Working out. Building a business.
Loving, living and learning - that’s what life is really for.
So..
Savour it.
Instead of becoming a slave to your toys - become an adventurer.
And at the end of the day, we all want the same thing.
We just want control over our time, we just want purpose and we just want the ability to spend our days doing what we want to do - instead of what we don’t want to do.
That’s the aim of living simple.
Until next time.
Filed under · Motivation
