Life is simple: a farmer's speech that will change your day

How many times during the day do we have time to stop and think in which direction we are going? We are too busy with commitments, worries and work. The story of this farmer gives us a lesson in life, explaining why every now and then, it is important to say enough and start over to be happy.

Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerous

Jon Jandai is a Thai farmer and builder, his teachings have now been around the world.

Man starts from a very basic concept: 'Life is simple and fun'.

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Life is simple

Here is Jon Jandai's speech.

Life is simple and fun. I haven't always thought so. When I was in Bangkok I thought life was hard and very complex.I was born in a very poor village in northeastern Thailand and when I was a child everything was easy and spontaneous. Then came the television and from that moment the people around me changed. Suddenly they began to tell me: you are poor, you have to pursue success in life. You have to go to Bangkok to be successful.

I felt uncomfortable, I felt poor. I had to go to Bangkok. It wasn't much fun. They told me I had to study and work hard. They told me it was the right thing to do and then I could be successful.

I worked hard, 8 hours a day, but I could only eat spaghetti and rice with vegetables. And I was in a really bad place, I was sleeping in a small room with so many other people and it was very hot.

I started asking myself questions: if I work so hard why is my life so hard? Maybe there is something wrong because I produce many things every day but the quality of my life decreases.

Life is simple: a farmer's speech that will change your day

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It all seemed so complicated to me

I tried to study, to attend university but it was difficult for me, not only because I was bored but also because the knowledge was destructive, not constructive. They wanted engineers because they needed them to destroy mountains or build dams or concrete nature. And if you go to the Agricultural University they teach you how to poison and poison the earth and water. Continuous destruction, no creation.

It all seemed so complicated to me. Life was hard and I felt very disappointed. I was wondering: why do I have to stay in Bangkok?

I thought about when I was a child: in my village nobody worked eight hours a day, we worked two hours a day for two months a year. Rice was planted for a month and rice was harvested for a month. For the next ten months, everyone had their own free time. That's why there are so many festivals in Thailand - everyone once had a lot of free time.

When I was little I remember that every person had a lot of free time. Even today in some areas of Laos it is like this: after lunch everyone takes a nap and when they wake up they chat about this and that with others. People had a lot of time once and so everyone had time to be alone with themselves. And so he had time to understand each other. And if you look inside yourself, you understand what you want in life.

Most people want to be happy

Most people want to be happy. He wants love, enjoy life. People see a lot of beauty in life and express it in different ways. Once upon a time there were those who carved the handle of their knife to make it beautiful or those who wove wickerwork to create a wonderful basket. Today this is no longer the case. Today we buy continuously and only plastic is produced.

I decided to drop out of university and go home and resume living as I did as a child. I went back to work two months a year: in this period of time I collected two tons of rice and in my whole family, as many as six people, we ate less than half a ton of rice a year! So we could sell the rice to make some money.

Then I created two fish ponds, so I could fish all year round. Then a vegetable garden, I spent 15 minutes a day taking care of it and I had 30 types of different vegetables available. Six people couldn't eat everything I made, so I sold the rest at the market. So we had an income.

I thought: so life is simple. Why did I have to go to Bangkok for seven years to work hard and eat little or nothing while here with two months of work a year and 15 minutes a day in the garden I can feed six people?

I used to think that stupid people like me couldn't be successful because there were much smarter people. Yet I realized that people smarter than me were studying and had to work for 30 years to be able to buy a house. I who hadn't even finished university, how could I have a house? It seemed impossible to me with such a low level of education.

I took a step back

But then I said to myself: life is easy. So I built the house myself: I worked five days a week for two hours a day, from five to seven in the morning. In three months I made my home while a friend much smarter than me bought a ready-made house but had to go into debt for 30 years. So, let's make a comparison: we both have a house but I have 29 years and 10 months of free time more than him.

Life is easy because I never thought I could build a house and instead I found it easy. I started doing it every year, at least one new house a year. Today I don't have a lot of money but I have a lot of houses. My only problem is: which house will I go to sleep in tonight?

Anyone can build a house, it's simple. After school, 13-year-olds can sit down for a couple of hours and build bricks. Even children can build a house! If you don't believe it, try it and find out for yourself.
In Bangkok I wanted to dress like a movie star because I was sorry to look poor. So I worked for a whole month just to be able to afford a pair of jeans. When I put them on, I turned left, then right, and looked in the mirror: the person I saw reflected was always me. An expensive pair of pants can't change your life.

I felt crazy: why had I bought them? I had spent a month of my life getting them, but it made no sense. Since that day, for the next twenty years I have not bought any clothes: all the clothes I have are scraps of other people who no longer use them. I have tons of clothes. Life is easy. Before buying something we should ask ourselves: are we buying it because we like it or are we buying it because we need it?

When I get sick what will I do?

This is the hardest question at the beginning. I was very scared because I thought that being poor I would not have the possibility to cure myself. Then I started thinking about it. Illness is usually a good thing, not a bad thing. It is our body's way of telling us that we have done something wrong. This is why we get sick. So when I got sick I just wondered: what did I do wrong? I have learned to use water and the products of the earth to heal myself. I have learned to listen to my body and prevent disease.

And I want to say one thing: I got food, a house, clothes and medicine by myself but they should be available to everyone. They should be a right of every human being. How can we define our society as “civilized” if we do not guarantee food, shelter, clothing and medicine for everyone?

I felt free

When I realized that life is easy, I felt free. I felt the freedom, the real one. I no longer had to worry about anything, I could do what I wanted. I was free. Before, I was very afraid, I saw obstacles everywhere. Now, however, I think that if I were the last person on earth I would not need anything else: I can rely on myself.

We need to teach people that life is easy. Because we grow up convinced that it must be hard and complicated, always and in any case. It's actually easy but we don't know it because we just complicate it.

We should learn to simplify, to be with others. Because we have been taught to disconnect from other people and rely only on money. We are told that money is all we need, so we don't talk to each other anymore, we're not together anymore.

To be happy we have to go back. We must rediscover the connection with the earth, with people, with our body and our mind. We can be happy. Life is easy.

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