知足

The morning tea break chit chat shifted from the more serious talk about meetings, policies and MSK to the more casual talk on bonuses, which made many people happy (and got many people spending) this month.

The thing about topics such as promotions, salaries, bonuses is that no matter how much better off a person is when compared to previous years, there are bound to be others who are even more well off.

More and less.

Long and short.

Big and small.

High and low.

These are all notions that are relative in nature. 一山还有一山高. There is never any end to such comparisons, which therefore become not only unnecessary but also meaningless. He who always compares upwards ends up finding himself drawing the short straw all the time. And he would surely be one very dissatisfied dude.

"知足常乐", I remarked over the coffee table.

One chap nodded fervently in response. "Yah yah yah! My friend used to tell me what it means to be '知足'. He said '知足' is to

不要比较

不要计较 "

True.

As the rest of us nodded in agreement, he added "Of course, that doesn't mean we should all be Nuah lah!"

Also true.