#Dickson Idlier Blog

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98% of the problems are all in your head but never happened. Overthinking leads to anxiety disorder. Wasting time and energy over meaningless thoughts. Calm your mind down and get rid of those thoughts and you will be fine.

—— Dickson Idlier

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Thoughts can be dangerous. They are seeds of all goodness or evil and can appears any moment in your mind. A thought is a thought and most of the time it never happens in reality. Eliminate weeds of negative thoughts of anxiety, negativity, desire, greed and lust before it gets a strangling hold on you. Have a beautiful garden full of flowering positive thoughts of compassion, joy, freedom, and peace.

—— Dickson Idlier

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In this rat race society, everyone seems to be in a rush. Only by adopting slow living or simplicity lifestyle, can anyone get out of the rat race, since ultimately in the rat race, it all ends with nothing but regrets and dissatisfaction.

—— Dickson Idlier

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Life has too much uncertainties. Enjoy your life as you live. Don't let your desires distract you from living a more fulfilling life.

—— Dickson Idlier

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Why compare yourself with others? It is not an apple to apple comparison at all. Each of us has different lives to live and a purpose to fulfil. Just be who you are and be good at it as well. You will be surprised what is the outcome. 

 —— Dickson Idlier

You are who you are. Life is unfair but it is up to you to do what you can do. Be content with what you have and you will be one of the happier people against hordes of unhappy people in this society. I believe to get out of current society (rat race) is to create your own or join others' simplicity society. 

—— Dickson Idlier

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I do agree with this quote. Only when you have enough money to survive then you can say "Money is not everything." How much is enough? It depends on you, actually. I only need little to survive and I have been living a simple life for more than 3 years to say this. Some things cannot be bought with money but with money, it sometimes makes things easier if you are struggling with life.

—— Dickson Idlier

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Mr Thomas standing in front of his thrift shop (St. Isidore Centre). Image from Willing Hearts Orphanage website

Desires are bad but are they all bad? Desire breed from greed brings endless stress, anxiety, and hurt to yourself and others. however, if the desire benefits others rather than yourself, then it is a desire worth pursuing, even as a lifetime mission.

—— Dickson Idlier

I chanced upon this charity on a TV program (Neighbourhood Fixer 邻里来爆料) in Singapore on 16 March 2021. Mr Thomas Wee runs a thrift shop in Singapore and supports the Willing Hearts Orphanage in Bulacan, Philippines. Similar charity like the “Filiporean Project” by Colin Lau.

I am not acquainted with Mr Thomas but just want to applaud his hard work. He collects items from donors and sorted them to be sold in his shop or give to maids. The profits from his shop, fund, care for and educate Filipino orphan children, who are vulnerable without any adults looking after or guiding them. He established an orphanage and a thrift shop in the Philippines and travels there with volunteers to visit and teach the children there.

Mr Thomas is already in his 80s and mentioned that he has no one trusted to take over his thrift shop and his charity work in Singapore during the show. It is very disheartening to hear but with limited contacts and desire to keep his charity operation size manageable, there is little he can do. Succession planning is always an issue since it is not easy to find the correct people to continue such charity for the long term. I hope with the airing of the show, Mr Thomas may find a suitable person or organization to take responsibility for his hard work.

Source Info:

An article from Our Better World on Willing Hearts Orphanage Founders, Thomas Wee and Maria.

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You don’t have to be rich to donate. All it takes is having a little compassion and willingness to give.

—— Dickson Idlier

The “Filiporean Project” is started by Freegans In Singapore co-founder, Colin Lau. The project collects small usable items (details in posts from “Giving and Taking Free Stuff“ Facebook Group) from public donors or dumpster-dived stuff from Freegans In Singapore (FIS) and donates to Filipino maids in Singapore. The main reason is shipping cost is cheapest to the Philippines. This project has caught up in the news and media, so more donations have been pouring in so the maids (numbered to 300) are kept very busy.  

Colin saw many usable small items when dumpster-diving around his neighborhood but has no use for them. When he found that Filipino maids wanted these items to bless their family, friends, and neighbors back in their village, he started collecting them and storing them in his spare room. Then invites maids to collect from his house. Then more and more maids wanted to come to his house to collect items but there is a limit he can support. His charity got into news and he created a Facebook group for donors to donate their items. As the project gains popularity, they started collecting big donations from the donors' house as it was feasible for the extra transportation cost (split by the maids) and more maids can benefit. Now they have 9 drop-off locations and 5 team leaders for house pickups of big amounts. 

The maids collect and pack these items into big carton boxes. Then ships them back to their hometown in the Philippines. The cost of the shipment is split within themselves or from donors. These shipped items are given to their family members, relatives, or church members. Some items are sold to pay for food, electricity, funeral, medical bills, etc. Practically zero cost (except shipping and transport cost) and sustainable charity as it distributes large amount of unwanted or donated items to needy people.  

I think this is the first charity of its kind. It channels unwanted items to the people who want them. This project is very sustainable as little cost is involved in procuring items, only transportation and shipping costs. This is a win-win situation for both giver and takers. Such ideology for such charity should be more widespread. 

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You don’t want to waste time and effort convincing someone who JUST DON’T GET IT. No response is to keep your peace and let the foolish continue to be. Your peace is more important than anything else.

—— Dickson Idlier

Keeping silence when someone is expecting a response is the best response. Eventually they will not bother you anymore and your peace is restored. Life is good and quiet.

—— Dickson Idlier

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You can never outrun your problems. You must face them head-on or seek help from others if the problem is beyond you. Never hold on to problems until it gets too big. Learn from the Chinese saying, turn big problems into small ones, and small problems into no problems at all(大事化小，小事化无).  

—— Dickson Idlier

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Speak only to those who want to listen. Else silence is the best response. Getting rid of some people not worthy in your life is inevitable. You need to let go to free yourself from them. So have you let it go already? 

—— Dickson Idlier

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Contentment is a bliss. You will find happiness with what we already have so there is no need for any external influence. You will realize that you only need so little to be 'rich' in your own way (memories, experiences, etc) so you don't waste too much time earning money. 

 —— Dickson Idlier

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After you got something, instead of enjoying it, you desire better ones. Is an addiction mentality or a bottomless pit of desire and greed. It can never be satisfied. What you can do is enjoy it when you can and with what you already have. This reduces stress and you don’t need to earn more money for this.

—— Dickson Idlier

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People you love may be the ones hating you the most. Don't because of the minority makes you give up on the majority who still loves you back unless everyone hates you. Then you are the problem.

—— Dickson Idlier

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Desire for a better life gets us more entrapped in the web of desires to overspend. Only by cutting away these threads of desires can we free ourselves and live a less stressful and more rewarding life by spending below our means.

—— Dickson Idlier

There are two ways to live life:

1. Live in a way that we spend less than we make.

2. Live in a way that spends more than we make.

Spending exactly as you make does not happen as emergencies happen all the time, so is still in the second group. People would rationally choose spending less than we make but most don't.

In our civilized society, we are constantly bombarded with advertisements promising a better life than you have... if and only if, you are willing to spend to get it. This is so ingrained in our subconscious, from the moment we become sensible, we subtly and unintentionally fall into this trap. Increased income doesn't quench our desires. Offers for better life grow with our income... nicer cars, bigger houses, fancier meals, more luxurious vacations... the temptation to overspend never ends.

The promise of a better life always lies just outside our current income. So we chase it, endlessly—always spending just a bit more than we have.

However, living cheap under budget is better than living luxuriously in debt.

Living within or below your means results in:

Self-satisfaction that cannot be purchased at a online store.

Restful calm at the end of the day can never be experienced at any fanciest hotel.

Genuine self-confidence that can never be purchased on a clothing rack.

Ever-present enjoyment that can not be duplicated with any fancy vacation.

Example for your family that can never be purchased with self-help courses.

Life well-lived with fewer regrets.

Try this small change and make a big impact to your lives as I did.

Sourceinfo:

It’s Better to Live Cheap Under Budget than Luxuriously in Debt

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Translated as:

What is happiness?

Poor people said: Being rich is happiness

The disabled said: Being able to walk is happiness

Blind people say: To see is happiness

Beggar said: Having food is happiness

The patient said: Being alive is happiness

For different people, happiness is usually to obtain what they don't have. The happiness we want can be very simple and straightforward. However, when you have it, you don’t cherish it but wanting something better or more. Greed clouds your sight from happiness. Thus, happiness is simply to cherish what you have, not keep chasing something better.

—— Dickson Idlier