What Owns You.
February 6, 2012 § Leave a Comment
It’s been a few weeks since Christmas and I’d imagine that’s long enough to put aside our attachments to the emotional side of the gifts we received and do some serious thinking. The meditation is simple, but can be difficult for sure.
What owns you?
Take five to ten minutes to ponder this. If you’ve got a second and are reading this blog during your lunch break, etc., write some things down. Your most favorite things.
Speaking of favorite things, I’m sitting here on the couch with the latest family member in my arms, my Edric, editing this post and remembering how good it felt to write this. To really sit down and think about what is important to me in this life. So here goes…
How do you decide on your most favorite things?
• If your house burned down with everything in it, what would you be crying about the most?
• If you lost this or that, would you be able to let go?
• Do you actually use your favorite things or are they more sentimental in nature?
There are no right answers to these questions. I’m not sitting here–on the other side of my iPhone writing this post–up on my high horse of minimalism or total materialistic and consumeristic control laughing smugly at your inability to not need “things.”
On the contrary, like a religious evangelism to some, I’m sitting here with fingers crossed that this meditation practice brings you freedom in your ownership. It’s not in the owning that we drown, but in the ownership of those things over us that’s a brick. I’ve seen too many beautiful friends–inside and out–that are constantly thinking about the next “thing” they’re saving for, can’t live without, needing/wanting, or going to get. And judging by the popularity of last years post, The Needs Discrepancy, you actually like thinking about this stuff (no pun intended).
So what around you has a hold of your heart? And what do you need to let go of? What are you gripping in the palm of your hand that is keeping you up at night, causing you to loose sleep? Where has your stuff gotten you? To need a bigger living space? To have so much that you lose things and can’t find what you need when you need it? Can you not keep track of what you have? Do you just keep getting more and more? When you purchase something or receive it as a gift, do you get rid of another thing at home to make space for the new? Do you keep things even though they don’t meet needs? Are you always gaining and never losing? Do you purge stuff only when absolutely necessary (like those holes in your socks)?
Just some thoughts to consider. We only have the capacity to fill our brains with and deal with so much. I’ve realized more and more that I stink at, get overwhelmed with, and would be better off with as little as absolutely possible. My addictive personality gets a little creepy with too much anyway. That being said, I personally have very little to my name. My daughter and hubby have more clothes and things than I, because I get too overwhelmed with and loose track of too much. Less is simply more to me.
All I’m asking is that you know yourself. Know your capacity to deal with things. If our place burned down, I would miss a few of my favorite things, but I would deal. And I would heave a sigh of relief in hopes that we wouldn’t have to replace it all. So, what owns you? What owns you. It makes all the difference in the world.
Photo: “Hmmm? What does own me?”
