How much stuff do we really need to accumulate in our lives?
When folk have heavy life changes such as when they move to a different house, divorce or remarry, become empty nesters, or retire, it is common to get rid of a lot of stuff. They have garage sales, give things away to family, and bag up items to give to charity.
If many of us look around our homes, we will be able to simply see countless objects that we do not need and are just using up space and gathering dust. We have trinkets of all kinds like outmoded and superfluous electronic widgets, varied pieces of cooking equipment that really were not that required after all , bits and pieces from wannabe pastimes or interests that we shortly bored with, bits of costume jewelry, clothing items that were never worn, must-have products advertised on television, for example. We all have them. The question is why?
For some things that we see around us there had been a good reason for their purchase. Those items were required at the time and received a lot of use, but have way back become a white elephant in our home. Some items are particularly dear to us for their sentimental price. We have to scrape our heads about other items as we try to remember their usefulness and why we found it so important to get them. Some of the things, naturally, are gifts from long ago xmas's, birthdays, anniversaries, etc .
However it happened that these dubious items appeared in our lives, they are symbols of a culture of spending and amassing just because we will be able to. It might be interesting for the average household to add up the cost of the unnecessary items purchased as a reality check. This figure could be weighed against different selections that would have been made such as making an investment in things that give bigger personal value . These would be things that will open doorways to a more meaningful and purposeful life like education or coaching in a selected area of concern, spending precious time with family and friends, or healthier eating and lifestyle selections.
Gift giving in itself is a convention that too often leads to things that sit on a shelf with no purpose. Everyone knows that. We've all given these sorts of gifts. We have all received these types of gifts. We've all done last minute shopping and purchased something, just anything, so that we had something to give. Everyone knows in our hearts that there are better gift chances, even things that are free, for example giving of our time and ourselves.
These are things that will not gather dust on the shelf, but will accumulate true price in the guts of both the giver and the receiver.
Niles's First Journal
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