...things! what to do with all the things?

One of a collection of angels I have 'painted' by my artist and friend joanne Burgess...

After 9/11 our president asked us to go out and shop…

he told us to go out and buy things.  

Now, in what is labeled the Age of Austerity, that doesn’t seem like such a good idea…..

and for many not even a possibility.

Except for a brief period of time in the 70’s and 80’s when I embraced the American Dream of more is better, I’ve lived a pretty austere life, if austere means simple…

It isn’t that I don’t enjoy shopping and I enjoy things too…

it just that they don't give me a high .  

I think I have always believed the philosophy of travel light and keep it simple.  There was a time when I could get up and go with just my backpack and my cat Walter…

Walter was a very cool cat, he knew how to hitch-hike…

He lived with me on the beaches of Mexico and in a mountain top teepee near Tahoe.  

While we were together we called many small towns and large cities home…We didn’t need a lot of things and it was easy.  

And we made memories, Walter and me.

Walter...my traveling companion...

And as I sit here thinking about the freedom of having few possessions,  
I realize I have 30 years of things gathered around me….
I wonder where they all came from?  

I've gone from room to room…..looked at all the things…a lot of them are guilt things…

 guilt things are the things I bought but  didn’t really need, they were momentary wants…

guilt things are also the things someone has given me but they don’t speak to me, yet somehow it feels unloving to let go them…so here they are.…….

and clothes…I have 2 and ½  closets and 4 dressers filled with clothes.  I don’t wear most of them…but here they are cluttering my life.

I have a friend who lives in a wonderfilled home…

she has 50 years of  fine art and whimsy around her…

including years of family memorabilia…It was joyful to have her take me from room to room, telling me the stories of her things…

My friend truly enjoys her things…each one of them speaks to her….

they are not clutter or about guilt ..…

One day my friend got a letter from her bank offering to lower the mortgage payments on her home……she is a widow, and semi-retired,  it seemed like a good idea like a good idea to her, the program to help people stay in their homes…and she wanted to stay in her home.  

She filled out paper after paper…did everything asked of her by her bank and then she waited for her new improved loan….and was stunned when word came that They, the ones who hold the wealth of the world, had raised her payment beyond her capability to pay.    

She is moving, the bank will take her home..……

she will move to a much smaller place…far from here…she will have to part with , many of her beloved and beautiful things…Her things hold memories…they are the good things.

Lakshmi and Krishna tile...a gift

So many of the things around me hold no memories…..they are clutter. …

I mean really, I have a doughnut  maker, an ice cream maker, some kind of funny sandwich maker, a horrible to clean juicer,  none of which have seen the light of day in many years.  I have a bread maker in a guest room closet, with some of my clothes, and there are several unlabeled boxes in that closet.  I assume they have things in them…

but I don‘t know what, and apparently I haven‘t a use for them.  

And mingled among the mystery boxes are some of youngest daughters things and probably 100 record albums , you know music on vinyl.  

OMG, so many things….

it’s time to go beyond the occasional bag or two of things 

dropped off at the local thrift store…

it’s time to go through these things and find the ones that serve a purpose in my life, hold memories, or are beautiful….it’s time to let these thngs that don‘t serve go.

….and while I’m at it I can let go of those things that give me negative emotional hits

…..yes, I have some of those too.

My studio is another realm....

Luna

If I want to continue this artist path, I would have keep most everything in my studio…

The he things I use to create are there...everything there has a reason.…and many of the things I love and inspire me are there...

gifts from my friends, family, some favorite family photos, my music, books, movies…

still things, but things that are useful and loved.  

There are no guilt items in my studio…

they are things I carried in myself...opened the door too..

But still they are things...things keep us tied to our lives...

I enjoyed that freedom with Walter....

the not needing much ...

Doing the actual cleansing....well, that is a whole other issue..and in many ways it takes courage to look at all the things of a good part of a lifetime....evaluate them

but it is time to look at what needs to be gone in my life...feel the freedom of less...

and those things...

someone else might really value them.