"Possessions possess"
I am all for having cool stuff that enables a "better" life, but here's what I know: every possession is a responsibility. It costs us money and you have to find a place for it, dust it, check its oil, clean it, heat it, move it, protect it from harm,…
Imagination
"The Possible's slow fuse is lit by the imagination." -Emily Dickinson Imagination is how we create, solve problems, design a better future, and plan. The young are good at imagination - they don't know the limits, so they ignore them. The old are good at imagination - they understand the…
Strength and Wisdom
Some people are strong. They tough out each day, take the blows, and soldier on in the field. Some people are wise. They learn and figure out how to avoid trouble, living the life of an observer. But strength and wisdom are not opposing values. Adopting both, we can do much…
Age of Miracles
Some books just resonate with me totally. Today, I offer a quote by Marianne Williamson, one of my favorites, directly from her book "Age of Miracles." "It is your thoughts and your thoughts alone that determine what's possible for you now. It's time to proactively reach beyond any predetermined formulas…
Being vigilant about freedom
Just because freedom is a natural right as defined by our founders, doesn't mean it's guaranteed. We must be vigilant in protecting it. Free speech is one area we must pay attention to. Is it more important that we be able to say whatever we want, or that nobody says…
Being a good neighbor
If you want to live in a good neighborhood, first you have to be a good neighbor. Would your neighbors say you were a good neighbor? Why?
Sow, Reap
Cause, effect. There is always a relationship between responsibilities and benefits. If you don't plant, you don't harvest. You can tell what someone has been sowing, by looking at their relationships, income, and self-esteem. How about you?
What do YOU want to achieve?
To understand someone, however young they may be, we can look at what they want to achieve and how willing they are to pay the price to get it. Desire is the starting point of all achievement. Those with strong ambition and corresponding determination will bring forth what they want…
We're getting better all the time
2017 was the best year in human history. Fewer people were hungry, impoverished or illiterate. Fewer children died than ever. Every day the number of people living around the world on less than $2 a day goes down by 217,000. Every day 325,000 more people get electricity and 300,000 get…
I pick up trash
Litter drives me nuts. I could ignore it like everyone else. But I just can't. So, once in a while, I'll stop my truck and get out with a few garbage bags and walk along 1/4 mile on one side, cross the road and walk back to fill them up.…
"Possessions possess"
I am all for having cool stuff that enables a “better” life, but here’s what I know: every possession is a responsibility.
It costs us money and you have to find a place for it, dust it, check its oil, clean it, heat it, move it, protect it from harm, insure it, winterize it, take it for walks, water it, store it, inventory it, house it, maintain it, pay taxes on it, register it, and then sell it, auction it or throw it away.
Stuff eats up our bandwidth.
“Possessions delude the human heart into believing that they provide security and a worry-free existence, but in truth, they are the very cause of worry.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906-1945
“Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.” – John Ruskin
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Imagination
“The Possible’s slow fuse is lit by the imagination.” -Emily Dickinson
Imagination is how we create, solve problems, design a better future, and plan.
The young are good at imagination – they don’t know the limits, so they ignore them.
The old are good at imagination – they understand the ingredients available and have some experience.
What have you been struggling with? What would you like to solve? What would be fantastic?
Sit down, and open up your imagination….
This reminds me of the “Brainstorming” I used to do with my team. No idea was discounted- all were collected with no negative comment, regardless of how “off the wall” they were. They let their fantasies fly! Everyone had a chance to contribute, so extrovert/introvert had equal say. It is amazing how one person’s idea would stimulate yet another idea. The the team collectively winnowed down the content to a workable solution satisfactory to all. They owned it!!
a good time for my imagination
How about young experienced old souls? We can not judge someone by their age because we never know what they went through or experienced just by looking at their appearance. Some people at 20 dealt with more than other people at age 50. Age should never be a scale we use to measure a souls capacity to contribute and make a difference in this world.
A body is a tool that could be reconditioned at any point if the occupier decides to change their thinking and take the necessary steps towards the reconditioning training.
Also, some rules are man made therefore only man/woman through their imagination and thinking are capable to change them.
And I am not thinking about gene splicing, cross breathing and DNA modification. I am thinking about social rules. All the pleasantries we were forced to accept because someone made it a rule or a custom.
For example, I do not understand why we need Valentines day to remind us to tell our chosen partner that we love them and spend time with them. Why do we have to express our love through buying a useless stuffed animal?
Why are we forcing ourselves to buy gifts at Christmas when it clearly diminishes the meaning of a true gift?
A true gift comes from the heart and manifests itself any given day of the year.
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Strength and Wisdom
Some people are strong. They tough out each day, take the blows, and soldier on in the field.
Some people are wise. They learn and figure out how to avoid trouble, living the life of an observer.
But strength and wisdom are not opposing values.
Adopting both, we can do much more than with one alone.
It is nice to have people around who help us adopt when we blow a fuse or feel helpless even out of tune. Thank you Larry
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Age of Miracles
Some books just resonate with me totally. Today, I offer a quote by Marianne Williamson, one of my favorites, directly from her book “Age of Miracles.”
“It is your thoughts and your thoughts alone that determine what’s possible for you now. It’s time to proactively reach beyond any predetermined formulas you or anyone else might have for ‘what’s possible’ at this time in your life. No matter what did or did not happen in your past, the present remains an endless fount of miraculous opportunities – the law of divine compensation guarantees that.
‘Endless possibility’ is not just an abstraction; it is a yearning of the universe, an active force of constant and infinite elasticity. It responds not only to your past but to your present state of mind.
It’s not what happened in your life so far that has the power to determine your future. It’s how you interpret what’s happened, and learn from what’s happened, that sets the course for your probable tomorrows.
Life doesn’t always, or even usually, move in a consistently rising arc of progress.”
Age of Miracles aligns well with the discussion I had with a very good friend yesterday. She is a stay home mother of two. We went for a walk and talked. She was thinking about becoming a yoga instructor. I was thinking about a different path.
We both are physically active, like yoga, believe in spirituality, are roman catholic, believe in karma, believe in spirit and the universe, we booth believe in angels and, do not understand why so many religions and lifestyles crash when most use the same type of teaching as their base on how to become enlightened, how to become a better happier person, how to live a healthier life.
Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Wicca, Taoism, Sikhism, Atheism, Sciences, and the list goes on and on …
I was thinking all the above when she asked me ” but do you believe in God?”
She asked me if I believe in God right after I was thinking to explaine her that everything has truth in it and that humanity does not look at the bigger picture and combine the bits and pieces to form a whole. We should always look at the similarities instead of getting hung up and fighting over the tiniest differences.
We all have the same type of power running through our veins. We are all spirits of light, proof for this is how our neurons fire up and transfer electrical impulses. And we all have a soul. A SOUL. A soul that is connected and is communicating with other souls on this planet. We are all connected and part of an energy field. We communicate through thoughts. We can read each other. We can connect and reach to a higher vibration. Our minds are super powerful.
Do I believe in God? was the question that was hanging in the air.
Why did that question create a knot in my throat and made me feel the shivers run through my body and become quiet, smiling at the perfect timing?
What is more, why was I asked that question?
Love the thoughts coursing through my brain right now.
Larry and Joel Osteen, both help me keep a positive perspective even when fending off the dark thoughts caused when things don’t go exactly according to plan.
Plan again and stay positive. There is a plan out there that allows you to grow to your greatest potential. Keep working!
Hey Larry thanks for your latest article about miracles the age of miracles. But I did want to challenge your thinking even as you have challenged mine. Is the universe a person or is it like the Sun a brilliant orb that Burns men’s skin or Dries the harvest for consumption without concern at all about whom it shines upon? Does the universe have eyes that see and a mind to comprehend or cannot speak to us? Does the universe have compassion Or ire? Does it Assign to us wi righteousness or condemnation? If I pray to it can/does it hear and answer ? Me?
Do you think your thoughts are valuable? Do you believe that your thinking is powerful? Do your thoughts result in action?
Did you ever walk down a street and realize you found an answer to one of your questions through a random strangers actions? Did you ever pick up a random book that explained something you were wondering about? Did a friend ever call or show up at your door when you needed help, company, comfort or just someone to talk to?
Lets take this a notch further.
Do you think your thoughts affect the plants in your house? Do you think your thoughts affect the animals around you? Do you think your thoughts affect other people around you?
What is a thought? Is a thought described as a process in our body? Is thought a form of energy, a force?
Why do elements react to each other? Why do elements attract or repel each other? How do elements from the periodic table determine which other element offers a good connection?
Why do elements break connections and reestablish them with other types of elements? Why do salt particles start forming and building a crystal like structure up in a space ship? Why does space exist? How do stars and planets form?
How can light rays travel in space?
Are we beings of light? Do our neurons connect and communicate through transferring electrical impulses?
Can you describe a scientifically proven and documented psychic connection?
How do dolphins communicate? How does a pack of wolves communicate? How does a flock of migrating birds communicate? How do animals know when to start migrating?
How do you explain a team of players being in tune and sensing each others next move without talking or seeing the other person?
Did you ever participate in a group prayer? Did you ever join a group of singing people opening your heart, ears and voice to the worship? Did you ever feel the power of the collective? Were you ever influenced by the collective power?
Why do people generate and maintain a magnetic field? Why does planet Earth have a magnetic field? Why are we connected and live in symbiosis? Why is mother Earth feeding us?
Did you ever notice and experience a miracle?
Would you even know how to interpret it or recognize it?
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Being vigilant about freedom
Just because freedom is a natural right as defined by our founders, doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed. We must be vigilant in protecting it.
Free speech is one area we must pay attention to. Is it more important that we be able to say whatever we want, or that nobody says anything that offends us?
If anyone can say “I am offended,” then the definition is subject to anyone’s interpretation; thus anyone can silence anyone. If we should be free to speak ourselves, then we must know that some will say things that we find offensive – or just plain rude, ignorant, stupid, and nonsensical. Should people be offensive or rude? No. But censoring speech is too high a personal price to pay.
Let’s protect free speech.
Strongly agree!! It concerns me that some of our institutions of higher learning, places where ideas, both good and bad should be debated, have chosen to raise up a generation of children who believe that we should have “safe” places where they are not exposed to any thoughts that run contrary to their personal opinions. And this generation will be the leaders of our country in the next decade or so.
Absolutely! If we want the freedom to be able to say what we want, then we must allow others to say what they feel also, without getting offended just because we may disagree.
Political correctness is killing free speech and this will be the death of freedom if the safe space crowd has their way!I pray they don’t.
I do not know about many of you but as a younger eastern european woman with a distinctive accent, often in a managerial position, I had my fair share of opportunities requiring to exercise patience and tolerance towards other coworkers and their self expression.
When I read today’s post the first thought that came to my mind was that I do not express my appreciation and gratitude towards my environment often enough.
Self expression is self expression but the choice of delivery and path of action is always ours. We will never agree 100% on everything. We will not.
But,
We can agree on having the same physical needs and main characteristics. We can agree on having the opportunity to make a difference and change the things that do not fit us or help us grow and build a healthier environment and life style.
Thank you for all your kindness and for helping each other in your unique way to make a difference, let that be handing out meals, pulling over on the highway to let the speedier drivers pass by, going over to the neighbors with cookies or writing and encouraging to think.
We all have the power to make a difference.
Perfect
Free speech is free speech, after that is meaning making machines. “Being” offended, hurt, loved, empowered, educated – we have free will to take what we want from it.
Totally agree with all the previous comments.
We have been heading down a path that will destroy this country.
We can never stop saying “Merry Christmas “, “God Bless
America” etc. if the unique American culture is to remain.
Keep spreading the word.
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Being a good neighbor
If you want to live in a good neighborhood, first you have to be a good neighbor.
Would your neighbors say you were a good neighbor?
Why?
Heck yeah! I do smokey burnouts when I leave the driveway and offer them a beer as soon as I see them coming up!
Ok, So, I don’t do that… much…
But I’m never home so… My lawn is mowed? AND I bring them cookies on holidays…
I am a naturally smiley quiet girl, and by quiet I mean that I keep my nose in a book most of the time but I act selfless in many instances, so being a good neighbor, since I lived in a couple different environments, means different things:
In the suburban area being a good neighbor means: I often house watch, spend a couple of days or nights sleeping at someones house while they are on vacation while I take care of their pets and water their plants. Help the old lady next door shovel the snow away from her driveway (it is good exercise).
In a city apartment complex being a good neighbor means: I water the plants hanging on the walls in the stairway, I sign for someones package or mail and deliver it later myself, help the elderly carry their groceries up the stairs.
In the country side being a good neighbor means: you offer a plate of food for whoever goes over to your house to visit, help them when they are stuck on the field or hand them a hand with a farm task or you give them a ride into the city or help them understand and fill out documents.
People and customs are different but just because someone lives in a poor more crowded neighborhood does not mean that they are not responsible for their own actions and environment.
Be a leader by example.
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Sow, Reap
Cause, effect.
There is always a relationship between responsibilities and benefits. If you don’t plant, you don’t harvest.
You can tell what someone has been sowing, by looking at their relationships, income, and self-esteem.
How about you?
Responsibilities and benefits made me think about the importance of sleep.
Neuroscientist, Matthew Walker, in his book called Why We Sleep states the following question:
Why are individuals so financially ruinous to the companies, and national economies, when they are under-slept?
An independent report by the RAND Corporation on the economic cost of insufficient sleep offers a sobering wake-up call for CFOs and CEOs. Individuals who sleep fewer than seven hours a night on average cause a staggering fiscal cost to their country, compared to employees who sleep more than eight hours each night.
Many companies are interested in enhancing key performance indicators (KPIs), or measurables, such as net revenue, goal accomplishment speed, or commercial success. Numerous employee traits determine these measures, but commonly they include: creativity, intelligence, motivation, effort, efficiency, effectiveness when working in groups, as well as emotional stability, sociability, and honesty.
All of these are systematically dismantled by insufficient sleep.
Proven scientific methods for enhancing sleep quantity and quality include exercise, keeping out electronic devices of the bedroom, and efficient bedroom climate control.
If you want to reap the full benefits of enjoying a tasty papaya, schedule 9 hours of sleep for each day and you will feel reborn and ready to rock or fly (depending on what the rest of your schedule says).
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What do YOU want to achieve?
To understand someone, however young they may be, we can look at what they want to achieve and how willing they are to pay the price to get it. Desire is the starting point of all achievement. Those with strong ambition and corresponding determination will bring forth what they want in the world. With no ambitions and no self-discipline, a person will not do much.
So – what do YOU clearly desire and are willing to pay the price to get?
Love this and all so true
What do I want to achieve?
Whatever I put down on my list will only be achieved with the cooperation of other people. Meaning, regardless how ambitions I feel or how self-disciplined I am if my surrounding, let say my in-laws, leave stuff constantly in the wrong place creating a mess than I have two options. I either spend the time to create harmony around me or I focus on my goals which could be hindered by the energy draining environment. So if I really think about it, creating harmony is really my only responsibility I constantly want to achieve.
Harmony is absolutely needed in anything you do or everywhere you go. Harmony is the rhythm of life.
Without harmony I can’t really achieve much or notice what I desire or have skills for.
Harmony also equals listening to yourself and your surrounding, the team, coworkers, strangers, family.
Harmony is recognizing and seeing yourself in the other person and helping each other.
So my personal answer to the question of what I want to achieve is: harmony.
Employment
This is a great ice breaker to use during employee reviews. It allows you to connect at a higher level with your staff. Thanks for the reminder. PS I want Andrea “Harmony” on my team!
Thank you for this Excellent reminder!
I’d like to be faster than Larry more often!!!!
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We're getting better all the time
2017 was the best year in human history. Fewer people were hungry, impoverished or illiterate. Fewer children died than ever. Every day the number of people living around the world on less than $2 a day goes down by 217,000. Every day 325,000 more people get electricity and 300,000 get clean drinking water.
As recently as 1960, the majority of humans had always been illiterate and in extreme poverty. It was the norm. Now fewer than 15% are illiterate and less than 10% live in extreme poverty. In 15 years, both will mostly be gone. After thousands of years, they are pretty much disappearing on our watch.
I feel great about that and lucky to be alive as it is happening.
How about you?
I have mixed feelings. A week ago I came back to America from my birth country (Romania) which for a long time was a communist corrupt country. The technological advancements are undeniable. There are a multitude of fancy new buildings being raised. Old buildings are renovated. The traffic flow and management are constantly upgraded. The advancements are great but the problems is that people forget or they (the younger generation) do not really appreciate or know how fortunate they are.
During my stay I did my best to drive my mom around because she does not drive. We visited the supermarkets many times. She picked up on my resentment and told me ‘You can’t be this sensitive, you need to learn to be like the others’.
I said Mom, there is nothing wrong with me. I just know how bad all these artificial perfumes and deodorants you spray around you are. (I studied the sciences, bio-chemistry, anatomy, physics, psychology…) You inhale the fumes of hairspray, the air fresheners, your skin and lungs absorb the chemicals and than you wonder why you got a headache or why you develop all sorts of health problems. Whats more, no one seems to care where the garbage goes. My Mom asked, Why do you care about that? Because I know that for a long time they buried the garbage underground and I read many articles about the garbage islands floating in the middle of the oceans. I care because it directly affects me, my life and my environment. That is one of the reasons I try to watch what and how much I consume. I know I am fortunate to have fresh food and shelter above my head. I also know that consuming equals expenses. The more I consume the higher my expenses are.
I am happy that I am alive and I felt great especially yesterday as I read all your individual post the way you contribute and try to make a difference in this world.
Thank you for fighting.
We truly are blessed to live in this age Larry. One example that we are getting better and living at an amazing time happened just yesterday. My daughter has Spinal Muscular Atrophy and is having stomach issues due to a compromised feeding tube location. We learned yesterday that she needed a specific surgery that had only been completed seven times and there was only one Dr in world who performed this surgery and he was working at our hospital, Johns Hopkins. Amazing times for sure.
Great change is made possible wen every one does dear part its a blessing for me to be a witness of this in hundreds of families we work with, some time it can take as long as 10 years of daily work to be successful both when one family that 5 years ago didn’t have electricity both now they are installing the electric post in front of dear home it bring joy to see the expectation in dear faces.
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I pick up trash
Litter drives me nuts. I could ignore it like everyone else. But I just can’t. So, once in a while, I’ll stop my truck and get out with a few garbage bags and walk along 1/4 mile on one side, cross the road and walk back to fill them up. It’s mostly beer cans and bottles, but there are coffee cups and booze bottles and all kinds of garbage.
I used to be angry – at the jerks who are throwing stuff out the window, and that I have to do this, and that nobody else does. All those ideas are certainly valid. But being angry is only hurting me. Instead, I just own it. It only takes 30 minutes on a weekend, and I do it when I have some open time. I listen to a podcast or audiobook when I’m out there, and I am getting some light exercise. (Watch out for the prickers!)
I just see it as me taking responsibility for what needs to be done in my community. When I drive along the road for the next few months, I take pride in the section I cleaned, and I feel good.
I have made a big change in how I think about cleaning up trash on the side of the road, and it made it a lot easier for me.
It may not be easy at first, but we can always choose our attitude.
What’s your thing?
I pick up trash at my son’s local street hockey rink. I have not witnessed one other parent picking up trash there and it is “their rink”, it makes me feel good too and I teach my children to do the same.
Love this! Gonna put a bag in my outback today
I love this, both the actual implementation and the lesson behind it.
I love this ! Not just the helping your Community idea, but the positive stress free thought of the task.
As you think, you become.
I pick up trash while kayaking and join in to the official river cleanup nearby in Shelton.
What’s my thing? I do not particularly enjoy clutter around me. I can ignore it or make peace with it but all it does is drains my energy. How often do you pick up trash in your own living quarters? How often do you get rid of unused items, organize drawers, cabinets, and closets? How often do you say I have way to much stuff?
I spent close to 2 months in Europe with a small backpack and a small shoulder bag. Laundry was done once every two weeks and I had plenty. More than enough. I came back to USA and even though I left my room neat and organized I realized I need to purge, organize and donate.
Simply life happy life.
Larry…my comment is just to say I love reading your daily blogs and hope you never stop sending them!
Thank you so much and I especially related to this article because I have done/felt the same!
I love this – I do it too and have taught my kids to do the same. Making “deposits”….
Grab abandoned shopping carts in parking lots and put them in their corral
Not quite the same but related to giving up time and anger. I am making a concentrated effort when driving. If I’m in the left lane and a jerk comes up fast behind me, usually flashing lights and occasionally hitting the horn, I’ve have given up the need t hold my own and stay there. That person is obviously in a hurry and willing to risk the drivers around him by being a bully. I just move over and I let it go. Even not calling him a bad name in my head. Letting go.
My thing is stream clean up!
When I am out fishing I carry a garbage bag in my vest and pick up trash left behind.
It makes me a little sad that others don’t value the resource the way I do, however it doesn’t take much effort and makes a big difference. It also enhances the next anglers experience.
My thing has been to trap, neuter, and release stray cats in my neighborhood. Like you, “I used to be angry.” I used to complain that a few people would feed the strays but that only “multiplied” the problem. Trapping is the only way to stop the process. Instead of being angry, I just started with one cat, then two, then three, and so it went. I even made new friends with neighbors around the area. One in particular offered to help me with the several traps I was trying to place strategically. He would call me at work to let me know when a cat was caught so that I could pick it up at the end of the day. A few animal shelters took the cats in and sent them to be neutered. Then they would either adopt them out or give them back to me to release. An incredibly kind friend of mine offered to pay for four kittens to be neutered before they were fostered and found forever homes. She did this in memory of her mother who loved animals. I’ve since offered to let anyone use our traps to catch any strays they may have in their neighborhoods. I’ve found it to be such an amazing joy to be able to change the lives of one cat at a time. On a side note, Charlie, one of our male strays is now a very grateful lap cat every evening and Nala, the mother of the four kittens lives conveniently in a heated cat shelter on our deck. The two pal around each day, but neither one strays off the property. Also, since both are fed extremely well, they do not bother the birds at our many bird feeders. Now that’s another “thing” my husband and I are into, but that’s another story…
I as well pick trash on a daily basis as our office and shop are at the end of the Fort Road aka long wind tunnel from the north ? But like you I get a warm fuzzy after doing it to go along with that feeling of civic pride ?
I volunteer on Wed nights and we cookout for people at our housing authority. For those that can’t make it physically we walk door to door and bring them food. It’s a pretty sketchy part of town. It’s amazing the conversations that we can get into sometimes… And for others, how upset they get at the chance for free food/cookout???. Most of them will probably live there the rest of their life and blame everyone else on their own circumstances, but if I can give direction or just an ear to listen, and a warm dinner, just maybe I can change 1.
Isn’t it amzing when people do something wrong it teaches us to always do the right thing!
“Time does not exist on its own, it is what happens in it that molds and shapes our life!”
good job Larry!!!
Thank you!
Thank you Larry for the reminder to do a little here and there to make a difference. I like to pick up plastic trash at the beach in Northern CA. where I live. There is always plenty of it and when my bag or box or maybe even a plastic jug that I have found is full of trash I feel great. Another thing I like to do when mountain biking my favorite trails is stop for a few minutes and pull up Scotch Broom, an invasive plant that seems to grow everywhere I ride. I’ve seen from my, and others efforts, native plants on the rebound and it shows we can make changes if we work at making them. Cheers!
I just make it a game….”What’s the drink of the week?” Lots of Bud Light being drank in TN!
That’s awesome. Love it!
I too am somewhat of a bug when it comes to litter. I have been known to ask people that have thrown trash out in front of me to please pick it up and place it in its proper place. This generally leads to several expletives and a few finger gestures, but it’s not angry I feel but sorrow that they don’t understand or feel the needs to maintain their space. I also understand that my OCD drives me to keep things clean, but I’m the first one to play in the mud and get as dirty as I can, but I can’t wait to get home and clean it all up and start it over again. Even my children have gazed out the window as we’ve driven through poverished neighborhoods and suggest we stop and get trash bags and help them clean it up. It’s difficult to explain to your children that in certain places you can engage neighborhood to follow through and in other neighborhoods you’re only making room for new trash.
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer…one of my hero’s. Murdered by the Nazi’s because his faith required him to stand up against Hitler.
This post resonates with my attitude towards possessions. I can recall only a few things my parents ever gave me yet I vividly remember almost all trips and adventures we shared. I believe in sharing experience’s and this how I am as a friend and parent today.
So if people were/are so aware of the effect possessions have on ones already existing life why do we go out of our way to reach out, buy, acquire, and possess a beaming shiny object in the first place?
Our programmed sens of need is what invoked the new devil to show up in the living breathing quarters creating havoc.
We either man up and clean out the house and get rid of useless old junk that we allowed to just sit there for years even though we stopped finding joy in their existence a very long time ago,
or
we ignore our discomfort and keep the shelves, closets, garage, attic stuffed with emotional garbage and occasionally stack another beautiful fancy object on top of the already existing piles.
Start cleaning so you can start breathing.
The easier you breath the easier you will find the beautiful self hiding behind a dusty mirror.
Hey Larry…you will never believe it, but we had 5 FEET of water (insert joke here) in our remodeled basement last week, due to flash flooding in our area. We lost a lot of “stuff”, just like that. I thought of you often and thanked the Lord it wasn’t our entire house. We will be displaced about 2 weeks, I again, can’t imagine what you went through with your fire. Needless to say, a lot of “throwing and cleaning” is taking place. Stuff is stuff, it’s not as important as you think it was. Side note: Drywall is disgusting when it’s soaked floor to ceiling. I see TBF down the road…..
I agree with Dave Drescher:
My memories relate to places I went or time I spent with people, not things I own. The things are sometimes required to pursue the adventure, but the Adventure is the goal, the memory and the accomplishment.
There are now books about how to do “Death Cleaning”, which you should begin by age 65. Your kids don’t want your stuff now, and for sure they won’t want it after you are gone!
“You don’t own things, things own you”,
But my dog (Porter) says he is okay with me because I don’t require much bandwidth, his ROI is good!
I would not have agreed with this 20-25 years ago, but now that I am old (49 LOL), I can say that I find this absolutely true in my life.
I absolutely love this. It is true, while some possessions are necessary some are just wants. Recognizing the difference is hard for some people. I don’t want to be held hostage by the things in my life.
I believe that truer words of wisdom have not ever been said – I find only that I wish I had defined this boundary long before reaching this point in my life (67 and still operating my construction company of 47 years) and it wouldn’t be such a job to deal with all of the accumulated stuff over the next three year period!
So True…..ego gets in our way with this one
The more money I make the more stressed out I feel. It really can make a prision out of you. However, it feels great no to worry or count pennies when it comes to pay my bills
I resent the “take it for walks” line.
Dogs (or animals of any sort) are not possessions, nor are they burdens. They are a delightful addition to a family and studies have shown that they actually lengthen a person’s lifespan. My dog has saved me from suicide on more than one occasion. I don’t need any of the other crap in my house, but my dog is a necessity.