Light stuff.

 

Stuff:  Physical stuff, body stuff, mental stuff.   It’s interesting how many of us are noticing this black Friday craziness and violence to get stuff the day after we celebrated gratitude for already having stuff.

When my mother started getting older I would observe her reactions when people gave her things.  It disturbed me back then that she was less than enthused but tried to express appreciation.  She simply felt that she had too much “stuff.” 

Personally, I feel choked when I have to move around in my house or any physical space with so much stuff.  I feel like I should be able to move better with less weight on my body.  I feel like I could think more clearly if I didn’t have so much clutter in my brain.

I understand and try to achieve the balance of having enough stuff to make life comfortable and beautiful and ending up with too much stuff that just gets in the way.  Now that it is the holidays, it seems like we are so compelled to “buy” each other more stuff whether we really need it or not, and whether or not our budgets can afford it.  What meaningful gifts can we really give each other instead of useless clutter?  How do we keep our body weights at a healthy level?  How do we keep our thoughts uncluttered?

The American culture is well-represented in a documentary I saw a long time ago entitled “Affluenza”.  The striking image is the pig face over America overeating, overdoing, over consuming…  There is also some footage in Ron Fricke’s Samsara that shows our tendency to overdo.

I used to joke about my fat being compiled memories of eating, drinking, and being merry, and while it is true that I have enjoyed “the good life.”  I really didn’t need to eat to such over-indulgence.  I remember sitting down to a few dozen chicken wings.  I’m not vegetarian, but now I feel a little weak in the knees when I think of all the chickens killed for me to sit down to that one binge.  The little life forms being taken for me to eat their wings.  18 little birds in one sitting.  Wow.  The healthful thing in nature is to only take what we truly need and I have been addicted to NOT doing just that.

I think of all the bankers and other people hoarding up their wealth in the Cayman Islands of which they will never be able to physically spend and the money that they do NOT deserve but which some weird lack of regulation and “greed is good” mentality has created a society so sick that they are getting away with it. 

I see in my own house redundant items and I wonder if I should get rid of them.  We’re trying to organize and simplify as we go along, but it is a process and it takes energy.  Not only that, but some things that have sentimental value are just hard to let go.  This is when I want someone else to come in and throw some things away or at least ask me, “Do you really need to keep this?”  “Can’t you remember this person another way instead of having this (fill-in-item-here) having to trip over?”

Also, there are local economies that it is good to support.  I recently bought a pair of earrings in New Mexico for personal symbolic reasons as well as an acknowledgement that it was good to support that Zuni economy.  It is a balance and while I’m trying to get out of this unreasonable debt, I still want to treasure life where some adventures cost money and money should go for local economies.  I like David Korten’s book on Agenda for a New Economy where he talks about a move away from Wall Street to Main Street.  I am craving more community and public places and beauty instead of parking lots with litter and the threat of being robbed or hurt.

Then I think of the desperate people – someone just robbed a local head shop and a comment was that someone else went to high school with the guy and she was shocked.  It seemed so out of character for him.   Desperate situations I believe are making people do atypical desperate things.  None of us like this.  How can there be so much “stuff?” while so many are struggling with trying to have homes, good food, health, education, artistic endeavor, and even …  water?  We all have to pay for water.  Everything that even sustains us is a commodity.  I suppose that beats having to kill and eat our own food, but it seems we have overdone it all yet again.

We inundate ourselves with information and mental busyness.  There is so much out there that is interesting, but when can we let our minds rest?  I know of so many people including myself who are seeking ways to get more restful sleep.  The day of information and technology leaves our houses with hums, buzzes, and light-emitting diodes.  The streets are full of bass boosting cars, noisy neighbors, and emergency vehicles attending to crimes and medical crises.

Why do we overdo?  Are we lacking something else?  Are we lacking passion and joy for simplicity and every day delights?  Do we feel that we need to go outside of ourselves to fulfill?  Is it because we feel we might not have enough in the future?  Are we concerned that someone has something or is experiencing something we’re not? 

How do we lighten up?  This is what I’m starting to do in these three dimensions of my life:

Physical stuff:  Before I buy, I ask: do I really need this or do I have something already that does the job to serve me?  I ask, just how much/many of this do I need?  Will I use it all?  Am I trying to satisfy some emotional need by this?  Is there a different way to satisfy that emotional need?  Is it something that I can buy an electronic copy of so as to not create more clutter?  Is there some way I can produce this myself and if I need to buy, is there some local place that has it?  Shifting to local businesses needs to be done gradually so as to not cause mass layoffs with the big guys.

Body stuff:  Checking back in with my body.  I’ve been working on listening to my body and one thing it said was, “you’re not listening if you expect to hear the same thing.”  What does my body really NEED?  Does it need rest?  Does it need exercise but not to be bullied at the gym?  Does it need light stretching?  Also, not just listening, but talking to my body.  Giving it loving encouragement as it is the soul’s vehicle.  Re-reading Zen-Body-Being by Peter Ralston.

Mind stuff:  Learning new things, but letting a nap happen to consolidate the new information.  Not beating myself up for not knowing something in the first place or having wasted my younger school years not learning or remembering.  Understanding that the fabulous brain is also faulty and responsive.  Feeding the brain high quality content.  Lovingly shifting my attention to old constricted negative recursions in to a focus of what creates joy, peace, and love.

I’m thinking these plans will make me feel a little more “light.”  Blessed be.