The pleasure of reading is self-evident. Although many of the essays in the collection have more or less been seen on public platforms, I still can't help but draw lines on the pages of the book paragraph by paragraph during the process of rereading. Those beautiful words, extremely intermediate feelings and insights, are like a flash of light, mapping into the reader's heart.
The phrase "to be happy and not to be sad" comes from the classic Qing Dynasty book "The Book of Yangzhen", and its previous sentence is "the immortals have no other method". For the world of mixed happiness and sadness and the normal life of nine times out of ten, it is very difficult to reach the realm of only joy and no sorrow. Lin Xi said the reason why she chose this sentence as the title of the collection is not to say that there is no sorrow in the world, but to say that you have to go and choose your own life, even if there are all sorts of things that are not as good as you would like them to be, you still have room to choose, to leave boredom, and to move towards love and joy.
Lin Xi loves to play, and her naivety and frankness is evident from the pen name she gave herself, "Lin Dushu". Drinking tea, running, watching movies, listening to music, playing the piano, and traveling take up a large part of her life. She writes in her book, "Spring is my busiest season because I love to see flowers in spring, and throughout April, I stayed in all the big parks in Beijing, enjoying the flowers in full bloom. While some people may be attached to flowers, I am so in love with them that I sometimes chase the blooms and see them in Europe.
Her favorite is the state described by Li Yu in "Puppetry of Idle Happenings": treating all the leisure pleasures of life, including such small details as napping, as something to be savored over and over again, and the elegant things like songs, dances, costumes, flowers, architecture, grooming, food, and artifacts are even more important to be savored. I've heard that begonias will be in bloom tonight, so I'm going to go there right now, and I'm going to take a candlelight tour of the city.
But even such a fun-loving person, when it comes to work, he is not sloppy at all. After graduating from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and studying ink painting since she was a child, she founded the Xuan Tong classroom in 2011, when she was just 28 years old. The classroom has been open for seven years, and the response has been overwhelming. Many students fly to Beijing from other places to attend her classes every week. The promotion of the online course started at the beginning of the year, which made her reputation spread far and wide, with a large number of followers. Although the original purpose of founding the classroom was very simple, just because she wanted to communicate and share with her fellow enthusiasts from time to time, and not be too isolated while maintaining her own life.
She not only insists on waking up at 6:00 a.m. every morning to practice calligraphy and painting, but also requires all students to write for no less than half an hour a day. She said that half an hour a day is a basic amount, the more the better. Without the accumulation of quantity, there can be no qualitative change. She repeatedly emphasizes to her learners that it is not just your skill that is consistently practiced, but also the determination to finish, not to be perfect.
Lin Xi likes to talk to people about the joy of being a craftsperson, which she sees as a kind of confidence. Because craftspeople can gain a kind of freedom that doesn't pretend to be something else, and can live without having to please others. You just need to be a person to concentrate on the skill, hands are busy, but the mind is relaxed and enjoy, and the concentration itself is to nourish the spirit and health, which will form a virtuous circle.
She also has her own philosophy about the human interactions that plague us all. She said that it is a waste of precious energy to spend on "dealing with", you make a move, I make a move, bargaining, the love and beauty of life are demolished one move at a time. Demanding others is a disappointing and laborious thing to do, but demanding oneself is much simpler. In this simplicity, she has an indescribable panache and pleasure.
Some time ago, an old friend confided in me that he was very frustrated and annoyed because he had helped his relatives with good intentions, but the results were not as good as he had hoped. I then took Lin Xi's philosophy of life and advised him that your original intention of helping others was right, and you worked very hard in the process, but as to how it ended, it was something beyond your control. In this matter, the part that belongs to you has already been completed, just put it down. In all interpersonal interactions, almost all of the boxing method given by Lin Xi applies, put their own set of boxing beautifully in the mountains, then put on the bag, hiking, see the scenery of the good place, and then alone to practice boxing, you only need to feel that this time than the last time to fight better on the line. Regardless of other people's right or wrong, good or bad, to do their part to the best, but to ask for a clear conscience. In this way, "favor" is not very complicated.
In the book "Only Happiness, Not Sorrow," the author earnestly suggests to readers that, as life changes, there is always a need for one thing to be able to rely on, to live and to travel. Learning a trade is one solution. The reasoning lies in the fact that doing things with your heart can make you more focused, and this focus will inevitably bring rewards to the state of mind. This craft is not necessarily writing and painting, Warren Buffett reading statements is a craft, making cakes is a craft, dill flowers and grass is a craft, the roast pork is also a craft, dancing in the street until you are very happy is also.
Lin Xi said her craft is writing and drawing. Even if the sky is falling, spread out the paper and dip it in some ink, I will feel the world is quiet. In fact, no matter what this craft is, in the end it will become you itself, your protector. As Mr. Lao She once said, literature is not my pontoon, but my life.