Jordan Patrick’s Reviews > The Dharma of Fashion: A Buddhist Approach to Our Life with Clothes > Status Update

addictive cycles are not ab the objects (shoes, food, cigs), but a desire to conceal negative feelings from our awareness.

must learn how to tolerate negative affect, not conceal it. mindfulness creates a safe place for these feelings

Balanced ascetism if often misunderstood, seen as a type of self-punishment or denial. It’s actually a search for true joy and happiness by putting aside, where possible, what we don’t need especially when we’ve become addicted or dependent.

our culture celebrates youth, beauty, success, and a type of homogenized happiness based on accumulation of greed. we hide the elderly in assisted-living facilities and nursing homes, the sick in hospitals. The dead are whisked away and dressed up to look like they’re sleeping and the poor are ghettoized.