Battling Between Excess And Minimalism And Learning Something You Need To Know
Things we own OFTEN hijack our inspiration and creativity
How do many of the things we own hijack our inspiration and creativity?
They keep us occupied, entertained, worried, ashamed, excited and/or confused.
For a long time I have been fascinated by our relationship to things.
We imagine ourselves using things
We want things
We buy things
We store things
We are slowed down by things
We are burdened by things
Ultimately, more than we know, we sacrifice our real lives and our dreams because of the things “we own”. Think about it.
There is a real chance that your things own you instead; as inanimate as things are, and innocent in that they don’t mean good or ill, it is the energy that we have given them that begins to possess us and misdirect us.
We, imagining that it is so wonderful to own many things, voluntarily march on that road, like soldiers, or like cattle on their way to the slaughter house, sporting our stuff, laughing and taking selfies all our lives long, while neglecting our dreams; leaving our real lives waiting to be lived.
In 2015 I decided to have a taste of not having where to live for a while.
It felt as an invitation. Thankfully this was a choice, and not a necessity.
I placed the belongings I didn’t give away in storage and traveled in my Sienna. I visited a few longtime friends whom I never had had the chance to spend time with, and most importantly, spent time with my oldest daughter with whom the relationship was frayed.
This only lasted four months, and it felt like a sweet relief to have a place again. I wrote an article about that experience; you can find it here.
It taught me something; but not enough, because subsequently, each time that I moved, I would quickly acquire more things than necessary, and soon found myself asking, “now what?”.
Every single item of excess eats away at your peace and ease.
The things in our environment are not nothing, they are something; they not only take up physical space, but more importantly they take up psychological space; mental, emotional and spiritual space, the most important of all.
Things will either give you a little something for your journey throughout the day, or they will deplete you of your finite energy that you have for the day.
When I lived in NYC, the part of me that loved things was like a child in a candy store. Here was a place where if you were willing to put in the time and effort, was like a free store. I have good taste, don’t get me wrong, my place got the praises of most people that walked in. It looked nice and it functioned well considering that it wasn’t huge. But…
When I moved out, 14 months later, I had so much to give away; it was kind of ridiculous. I had painstakingly put my home together, and now it was more work again to find homes for the things. The labor and toil involved is endless!
I had myself convinced that I was trying to make a go of a coaching career online at that time, but there were too many things to which I was giving my focus and energy.
I love to put a house together, to decorate it and make it my own! It is fun to know where each thing has come from, who made it, etc. It is a culture that you bring into your house, and it is fun, but what happens after you are done?
We are never satisfied with external things because satisfaction comes from within.
There comes, guaranteed: a sense of feeling undone, incomplete, unhappy. The mind tells you:
“the conditions for happiness at this moment have not been met, sorry”
You are left like with a screaming toddler (your mind), in the middle of the cereal isle on the store; frustrated, embarrassed, confused. What did you do wrong?
Things dazzle us
Or rather, the thoughts of things dazzle us
Before you get your credit card out, you already had many thoughts of yourself enjoying, wearing, eating, installing, whatevering, that thing.
It can be as small as a ring, or as big as a patio furniture set with grill, umbrellas and a fire pit included. You imagine all the times you will spend there, enjoying and making lifelong memories; wearing that dress, those shoes, perfume, ring, necklace, purse, on a romantic dinner somewhere nice. So you order it, or haul it home.
Fast forward a few years…
You may have worn it, you may have not. But all this time you have seen it there, wherever it is, in your closet or on your mantle, and unbeknownst to you, there are nano thoughts of guilt, shame and regret, that pile up and they form CRUST-LIKE things in our mind and our spirit; they are heavy and they weigh us down.
Things are not nothing, they are supposed to serve us, delight us, nourish us, inspire us, and in any way bless us. Nothing else.
Seven weeks ago I moved yet again, with only what fit in my Sienna van (my old faithful Sienna). I placed my things in storage 6 hours from where I live now. I mostly miss my piano, my inversion table, and my hiking shoes that I was imprudent enough to leave.
I recorded the contents of each of the numbered boxes in one of my electronic devices, box by box. There are over 100 of them all told.
And I miss less than 10 things.
My current place is very cute and functional.
I fit two floor lamps, 2 desktop lamps, 1 salt lamp, two nice canvas folding chairs, 1 rug, etc., etc…. and I am content, and above all, getting to understand something about myself and the human condition at large:
WE NEED LESS THAN WE DARE TO THINK.
I invite you to DARE TO THINK DIFFERENTLY too, and escape the prison of ownership of excess. Own the things that bless you, but don’t own the rest that derails your life. Excess stuff is poison, and it completely derails our lives.
Follow me here if you liked this article. There will be more of a similar sort. Also, please clap as many times as you want, up to 50 :-).
Thank you, and happy discarding all that does not bless you that you call your own.
Copyrighted 2022 — Viviana Rose
