“To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.” Buddha
It seems like my whole life I have watched people build a life of material objects to fulfill their happiness. They will obsess over material things and get what they want only to be bored and move on to something else. It’s not that I don’t value the material things in my life – I do. However, the obsession with having the right look, the right car, the perfect furniture and the shallowness of thinking I am superior because of what I have in a material way has never been me. My husband and I are blessed to be able to afford the house that we live in and I enjoy the fact that I have a roof over my head, but when I really look around, I see four walls, four walls everywhere. I don’t think this house represents who I am as a whole person, nor am I going to find some bliss of happiness by spending a ton of money to fix up the house to make it appear as if I live in the pages of magazine where surely no one could live happily as magazines display a perfect order an order I don’t believe exists.
The older I get the more I am simplifying my life. I am simplifying my life in every way. I eat simple, cook simple, play simple and love simple. I follow paths of simplicity by simply enjoying nature, enjoying simple laughs with my children and my husband, casual conversations that don’t necessarily lead anywhere other than simple enjoyment of another person. I want to take the time to get to know people, not what they do for a living, how much money they make or what kind of car they drive. I really don’t care for any of that and the truth be known I find it incredibly boring. I want to know what a person likes, what makes them laugh and who inspires them.
Interesting because in this social media frenzied world everyone is talking about how perfect their lives are and living with abundance but their interpretation of abundance is full of material things to make their life rich and abundant. The truth is we could live with less than half of the material things we have and live an incredibly rich life. The more we have the more baggage we carry and the more baggage we carry the less our spirit soars.
If you are thinking I have a house with hardly any material things, check yourself because I have way more material things than I need. I live with my husband, two children and a mother-in-law, all who carry emotional baggage that translates into material objects. I want it all gone and if I had my way I would back up my truck and trash it all, but I have to respect other people’s personal property and honour their wishes. As time moves on and I have started to live in a more simplistic state, I am finding that slowly but surely the pack is following. In the last five months my husband has been on a roll to get rid of his clutter and material baggage and my youngest is almost ready to give up the rest of his childhood toys that he no longer uses. Matt and I have gone through his toys and gotten rid of most things but he is having a hard time letting go of his lego – several huge boxes of lego. I keep telling him that another child would be so happy to own this lego and he might as well let it go and make someone else happy.
A natural order as the energy flows from an older child down to a smaller child bringing both to a happier place. My son doesn’t quite see it like that yet, he sees it as letting go of a period in his life that is gone and he’s holding on to that period with everything he’s got. Slowly he is coming around as we talk about letting go and moving on, plus he sees that if he gets rid of all that lego, his personal space would open up giving him more room and freedom for his paints, more room to draw and be creative using a different medium to broaden his artistic ability.
The shift is happening, we are all on the path to abundance through a more simple life. I also have to learn patience because the life shift is not happening fast enough for me but I know that shifts in lifestyle and attitude take time and in order for me to truly find abundance in simplicity, I have to respect everyones personal space and property. A lesson in humility for me as I continue on this journey we call life..
MOMWHEARINGLOSS 