I stopped by my local cheap store yesterday, you know the kind, lawn ornaments for every occasion piled sky high in claustrophobic isles and out dated processed food labeled in bright colors and metallic wrapping beckoning coyly from the shelves.
I think it odd, in this day and age something so bright and flashy pulls us in and it's so poisonous for our bodies. How do we fall into that trap? Our predecessors new better than to eat things encased in a flashy coating, wild animals know to leave such things alone, they mean danger and death, but here we are as a society merrily ingesting such things.
But I digress.
I am not a hunter or gatherer but a consumer, so head long into this madness I traverse. My ultimate goal is to grab some storage containers, giant plastic boxes with lids that click soundly into place so I can keep the things I want to retain safe.
I grab four and head for the door, mission accomplished.
I come home, lay them out on the floor, ready to put my most valued treasures in them. What do I want to keep?
This should be easy, I think, but as I wander through the lanes of memory carefully constructed in my humble abode I can't seem to find the first thing.
Suddenly it seems like I can do without any of these things.
I pick up my favorite mug, and think, really? Do I really need to open a box in God knows how many years and find this, will I be glad I kept it?
I look at my shelves of books, a life time worth of collecting, will I really want them?
I don't know.
It makes me think of this quote:
“I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of. Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in. Who made them serfs of the soil? Why should they eat their sixty acres, when man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt? Why should they begin digging their graves as soon as they are born?”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods
It's odd, something I thought would be so easy is turning out to be quite difficult really.
I am faced with yet another choice, and God knows being a Gemini choosing isn't an easy thing for me. Do I let it all fall into the hands of others, happy we had our time together? Do I hoard objects saturated with my past, do I hang on? What are my most prized possessions and why?
On a separate note, any of you out there with experience in storing clothes and books long term are there words of advice you can pass on to me?
I think it odd, in this day and age something so bright and flashy pulls us in and it's so poisonous for our bodies. How do we fall into that trap? Our predecessors new better than to eat things encased in a flashy coating, wild animals know to leave such things alone, they mean danger and death, but here we are as a society merrily ingesting such things.
But I digress.
I am not a hunter or gatherer but a consumer, so head long into this madness I traverse. My ultimate goal is to grab some storage containers, giant plastic boxes with lids that click soundly into place so I can keep the things I want to retain safe.
I grab four and head for the door, mission accomplished.
I come home, lay them out on the floor, ready to put my most valued treasures in them. What do I want to keep?
This should be easy, I think, but as I wander through the lanes of memory carefully constructed in my humble abode I can't seem to find the first thing.
Suddenly it seems like I can do without any of these things.
I pick up my favorite mug, and think, really? Do I really need to open a box in God knows how many years and find this, will I be glad I kept it?
I look at my shelves of books, a life time worth of collecting, will I really want them?
I don't know.
It makes me think of this quote:
“I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of. Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in. Who made them serfs of the soil? Why should they eat their sixty acres, when man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt? Why should they begin digging their graves as soon as they are born?”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods
It's odd, something I thought would be so easy is turning out to be quite difficult really.
I am faced with yet another choice, and God knows being a Gemini choosing isn't an easy thing for me. Do I let it all fall into the hands of others, happy we had our time together? Do I hoard objects saturated with my past, do I hang on? What are my most prized possessions and why?
On a separate note, any of you out there with experience in storing clothes and books long term are there words of advice you can pass on to me?
I am constantly in the process of de cluttering but for different reasons. I am now 60 years old and thinking about my remaining years ahead. I basically don't want my family to have to have the task of dumping a lot of old rubbish on my behalf because I remember how sad it was to do that for my mother. I do however have a trunk full of clothing, not crappy pieces but good quality fashion pieces from the 70's and 80's. I also have a small number of books that I have treasured since my childhood which made a difference to my life(usually magical,imaginitive stories) and which I can now tell my grand children about, although I am sure the titles will probably be available for many years from somewhere! Drawings and cards the children made for me will always be kept and any of my thoughts or poems I wrote, its interesting to see how I thought many years ago and the progress I have actually made as a human being.It will always be hard to let go of items but they will always remain in your memories and who knows, they may turn up to greet you again in the future! De cluttering and letting go is very therapeutic.
ReplyDeleteI can't help you! I never do that but Mihrimah Ghaziya, another dancer in the road can, I guess!
ReplyDelete