Some Thoughts on Stuff
I’m sitting on the front lawn of my friend’s house, and I’m watching as my possessions fly away in a rush of bargaining and transactions. Each thing that leaves feels like another pound of wasted potential leaving my life forever. Garage sales are a wonderful way to reenergize the systems of your life.
More than the few bucks I am making by getting rid of stuff, I enjoy seeing the way in which things that slow down my life are filling with potential in some one else’s life. There is no doubt that some of what we sale will end up showing up on eBay, and some will be used or read (I have lots of books). Maybe others will end up in some one else’s garage sale.
I am sure that there is an lesson in economy somewhere in the process, but for me, it is about the promises objects make when we buy them. Many of the books I’m selling are going unread, even though when I purchased them, they seem capable of changing my life. A lot of the boxes the other families brought (it is a multifamily sale) are new and unused items. In my end, it feels good to let them go.
My hope us that the items I’m selling will deliver the promises I required from them at one time. I want for people to read them, and to use them, and to enjoy them.
Letting go of stuff liberates us from stagnation, and opens up space for making new things in our lives. Before the sale, the small one bedroom apartment I share with my wife was choking with the broken promises and expectations. Books stared at us from full shelves, and yarn skeins yelled to be turned into something wearable. Sketch books and art supplies went unused, reminding me that I’ll never be like Picaso. Some things were put away so that we wouldn’t have to think about them.
It’s not that stuff is bad, we just want to really enjoy and use what we have.
The garage sale wasn’t the beginning either, gradually, over the past few weeks, we have been getting rid of stuff, and we are discovering that we are using and enjoying the things that we have more and more every day. Loving what you have is the best way to enjoy it, and to truly appreciate it. There is something comforting about being able to hold a mental image of the things you own in your mind, and there is nothing like empty space and simplicity to fill your life with true potential, and to free your mind to pursue what you love, and love what you’ve got.
