Thursday, January 1, 2009

4 Sale



I feel I'm bogged down with possessions. I want to get rid of "stuff." This is very difficult. Each piece I pick up thinking "I've got no need for this," something jumps and grabs and calculates inside of me, its possible dollar value, and how cool it is, and how its mine, mine, mine. I can't get rid of it. I have an office full of a myriad things I "like" but which bring me little more than abstract, "idealistic" comfort. A link to an idea, a memory, an admiration of design. I have got to cut more, but its more than just cutting and clearing material things that is at play here.

I don't want to get rid of something just so I can say I have an empty room, and imply I am now a better person because of it. There is clearly something at work in me that collected all this stuff. That helped me "survive" because I have all this stuff. My therapist has led me to see that all behaviors, even 'bad' ones, serve a supportive, protective, purpose for me. I've got to suss this out for myself regarding stuff, or the room with be full again in another year or so.

5 comments:

MyoChi said...

Hi Lauren,

I can relate to this..:) I am a zen student myself and went through major decluttering a few times in last few years. I know the dilemma you are talking about. What helps me is to ask myself if I am using the thing enough or do I think that someone else can make a better use of it. I was able to give away few of my nice clothes that I was hanging on to in hopes of loosing weight. I figured I will buy new clothes if I could ever shed few pounds. Another thing that helps me reduce clutter is that the less I have, the less I can loose..:) I found this great website, http://www.freecycle.org/, it has a local listing for my city and we exchange a lot of stuff here. Good luck with decluttering!

- Taru
http://myzenexperience.blogspot.com/

SlowZen said...

Lauren,
I live in a house full of collectors...Me being anti accumulation(if you ever had to carry everything you own on your back you might be a bit Spartan too) this has become and issue (point of practice) for me.

Let me know what you come up with...I need the help!

Thanks,
Jordan

MyoChi said...

It is interesting that Jordan said that this has become a point of practice. Made me think about what things in my household make me practice..:) My big challenge is that my DH cannot recognize clutter..:)

Lauren said...

Taru,

Thanks for the encouragement. I've joined the local freecycle. We'll see how it goes.

BTW what does "DH" mean, "Dear Husband?"

Jordan,

My wife is the non-accumulist in the house. I've heard it said that a long term couple will tend to share the emotions of a single person. That is, where a single might tread some "middle way" in accumulation, in a couple it may turn out that one accumulates and one does not. Between the two there is a "normal" person. That seems to be the case with my wife and I on many fronts. And causes mucho friction from time to time. To quote the right hand, "that left hand has everything backwards, what good is she?" I think it makes my wife a little nervous to see me try and change in this regard. It upsets the balance.

Striving to Persevere Brightly
-Lauren

MyoChi said...

LOL..yes, DH means Dear Husband..:)

-- Taru
http://myzenexperience.blogspot.com