What do we actually need?

🎧 Ahead of Tuesday's post, here's a short audio preview of what early settlers and modern nomads taught me about matching approach to purpose.

What is your summer goal?

Mine is getting a trailer where I can park at any Provincial Parks and spend some quality time in the wilderness. I have been imagining how my trailer would look like…

I imagine my trailer to be very cozy, some nice soft rugs, a sofa, plenty of string lights to set the mood, and perhaps a TV. It will expand as I do not like to sacrifice my living space even though there are plenty outside in the park. I will also have a few pots of plants indoor as I like to invite the nature into my living space.

Taking a sip of hot chocolate in the fall evening, snugging in a blanket, watching the red and orange leaves dancing and twirling in the wind. Listening to raindrops tapping on the glass while gazing at the long trails they left behind as if they are racing to the bottom of the window frame.

I wonder if it was because my phone has been eavesdropping, I have been watching more and more of related reels on my feed lately.

I have seen videos of people in China living in a trailer for several reasons. There are some who doesn’t like the idea of daily commute to work, and they have decided to purchase a trailer and park somewhere close to their office. There are others where they simply reluctant to become slaves to mortgages, and thought living in a trailer offers flexibility in life. There are also some in particular are vloggers who travel a lot and a trailer suits their lifestyle.

Either way, there are no right or wrong choices. People pick their lifestyle and choose whatever works. In the past week, I visited a museum, a village that tells stories about early settlers in Ontario. My daughter and I went from door to door, exploring different houses, learning how these early settlers lived, worked, and rested.

The simple layout of the houses got me wondering what space meant for these early settlers? As we stepped into the house, we were in a kitchen/dining area, and to the right was a bedroom and there were stairs leading up to the second floor, which had a bedroom and an open space for another bed. Perhaps the museum has arranged these spaces to become bedrooms, but it doesn't downplay the idea that these houses were mainly used as living quarters.

I remembered watching a short video about these settlers building their homes with limited technologies and supplies. They used what was available to build their lives on this land, to live, to settle, and to survive. What if this approach held its own wisdom?

Standing in that simple settler home, I recognized something familiar in my own journey. I have been learning from both Daoism and Buddhism, and sometimes I would debate whether I should focus my learning on one over the other. Then I realized, maybe I was overthinking and created an invisible divider that sorts insights into Buddhism or Daoism.

But I already had everything I needed. The tools to recognize patterns of reality were there, regardless of their religious origin.

What I had learned in the past had already helped me weave insights from both traditions. All I had to do was position myself as an observer, using them as tools to examine the patterns of reality and learn about the truth of 'going with the flow'.

I remembered visiting my Daoism teacher in the past week and we chatted about BaZi—a Chinese system that maps your personal energy patterns based on your birth time, and how one key structural point can shift your entire life dynamic. In both Daoism and Buddhism, they taught us that the structure of self depends on multiple elements around us — our cultural background, knowledge, age, and so on.

Standing in that settler house, this insight suddenly felt practical. If our sense of self is shaped by what surrounds us, maybe our needs are too. Perhaps the key was to use the right elements that best support the situation.

Settlers needed shelter, not entertainment rooms. Modern trailer dwellers need flexibility, not status symbols. I need understanding, not religious authority.

Circling back to my summer travel goal - trailer homes. Like settlers, perhaps when environment and conditions change, our needs change. The trailer home becomes merely a place to rest, to eat, and to shelter from the weather or wild animals.

Perhaps our needs were never greater than what we already have?