This year I decided to challenge myself to reflect on various Yoga and Buddhist aspects throughout the year. The challenges come from a variety of places including readings in Deborah Adele's Yamas and Niyamas and Thich Nhat Hanh's Heart of the Buddha's Teaching and Happiness.
This week's challenge was to look at the things I've surrounded myself with. Do they make me feel free and light or are they weighing me down? I like this one. I've thought about it a lot over the years. There are two sides to this coin.
The first side is that the less I have, the more free I feel. I know that material goods do not bring me happiness. I know that when there is less clutter, I feel lighter. I also know that often the goods that are produced are taking away from limited resources.
The second side is that I already have a lot of stuff, I'm sort of used to my stuff and I don't live alone. I'm happy to give away what I don't use, but I'm less likely to give away things I still use (even if I didn't really need them in the first place). And I certainly can't give away something that someone else in the house uses.
How do I find balance?
When I can I try to do without. I try to make use of what I have, rather than buy something new. I remember it's just stuff. I remember that the things I truly need are more along the lines of food and shelter and not along the lines of new shoes and video games. And I don't beat myself up when I get it wrong. I try to put more of my focus on what I'm doing with my life rather than what I'm filling my house with.
No comments:
Post a Comment