This reminds me of one of the Five Remembrances - "my actions are my only true belongings..."
A good friend shared how she has been focusing on this particular remembrance as she gets rid of physical belongings in order to move to a new country.
I learned about them when I was taking Spirit Rock's Year to Live course. We would recite them each morning when we woke up and each evening when we went to bed:
I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.
I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape having ill health.
I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.
All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.
My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.
Life has a way of listening to what we choose, temporary, permanent, these are just notions of time. I love how time played with your choices, and feel for you in the letting go of books, so so many books, stacked two deep on shelves in every room, this will be a big letting go.
I am about to move to a smaller place and I am VERY attached to my things. This is the third or forth post today I'm reading about letting go or decluttering. Either the algorithm or the Universe is trying to tell me something… I'll go with the Universe. Thank you!
Letting go of things we’re attached to is hard, but surprising how good it feels when it’s done. I think it’s one of life’s lessons, to become less attached to things.
The older I get, the more I seem to want to simplify. I have Kindle unlimited on my iiPad so fortunately I can have my book fix while keeping it simple - just read them and and send them back.
I find with audio books that my attention wanders and then I've lost some of the plot. If this happens with an actual book, I read over the passage again but on audio it's more complicated. It would certainly make life easier if I could enjoy listening rather than eyes on page. Thank you for your input, Janice.
"There's always a reason to buy more books." Yes indeed! I can really relate to this one. I need to do a major clean out for my upcoming move, and I have so many books. I've been culling, but it seems like I've barely made a dent. And yes, I keep buying more because there's always a reason to buy more books.
It's scary, the amount of "crap" we are having to dispose of in this throw-away society. Yes, we need to reflect on our values and take a fresh look at the way things are going. Thanks Laura, for your insight.
No coincidences because of the dream I had last night. I was in a metaphysical shop looking at their merchandise. There was a beautiful crystal I thought about buying, but realized that I didn’t need it to just sit on a shelf.
I donated so much stuff this year before we moved into our new house. My sister wanted us to buy new furniture. LOL Not with 5 cats!
I kept some physical books. However, most are on my Google Play account. I also have a Kobo Plus subscription because I read at least one book a week.
Moving house is a good time to get rid of stuff we don't need. I wish I could enjoy reading books online - maybe if I read one a book a week I would learn to! That's quite a turn-over of books. Thanks for your comment, Pamela.
This reminds me of one of the Five Remembrances - "my actions are my only true belongings..."
A good friend shared how she has been focusing on this particular remembrance as she gets rid of physical belongings in order to move to a new country.
I like that. I’ve not heard of the 5 Remembrances?
I learned about them when I was taking Spirit Rock's Year to Live course. We would recite them each morning when we woke up and each evening when we went to bed:
I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.
I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape having ill health.
I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.
All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.
My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.
Thank you for letting me know what they are. They're very interesting, particularly the last one.
Life has a way of listening to what we choose, temporary, permanent, these are just notions of time. I love how time played with your choices, and feel for you in the letting go of books, so so many books, stacked two deep on shelves in every room, this will be a big letting go.
It’s a hard thing to do but necessary and you’ll feel better when it’s done.
I am about to move to a smaller place and I am VERY attached to my things. This is the third or forth post today I'm reading about letting go or decluttering. Either the algorithm or the Universe is trying to tell me something… I'll go with the Universe. Thank you!
Letting go of things we’re attached to is hard, but surprising how good it feels when it’s done. I think it’s one of life’s lessons, to become less attached to things.
The older I get, the more I seem to want to simplify. I have Kindle unlimited on my iiPad so fortunately I can have my book fix while keeping it simple - just read them and and send them back.
I find with audio books that my attention wanders and then I've lost some of the plot. If this happens with an actual book, I read over the passage again but on audio it's more complicated. It would certainly make life easier if I could enjoy listening rather than eyes on page. Thank you for your input, Janice.
"There's always a reason to buy more books." Yes indeed! I can really relate to this one. I need to do a major clean out for my upcoming move, and I have so many books. I've been culling, but it seems like I've barely made a dent. And yes, I keep buying more because there's always a reason to buy more books.
There speaks a true book lover, Daria. Hope all goes smoothly with the impending move.
Thank you Patricia!
The simple life is in all of use.
It just takes time to realize we don't need all the crap we have been told we wanted.
Sometimes it's a specific event or loss that wakes us up or sometimes, it just happens when you least expect it.
North American consumerism is rampant. Other parts of the world don't have or keep as much crap as we do.
Sometimes we need to travel and return to view our lives with fresh eyes to reflect on our values and let go of the unnecessary things.
It's scary, the amount of "crap" we are having to dispose of in this throw-away society. Yes, we need to reflect on our values and take a fresh look at the way things are going. Thanks Laura, for your insight.
And sometimes a simple repair will prevent a new purchase.
Absolutely, it will.
No coincidences because of the dream I had last night. I was in a metaphysical shop looking at their merchandise. There was a beautiful crystal I thought about buying, but realized that I didn’t need it to just sit on a shelf.
I donated so much stuff this year before we moved into our new house. My sister wanted us to buy new furniture. LOL Not with 5 cats!
I kept some physical books. However, most are on my Google Play account. I also have a Kobo Plus subscription because I read at least one book a week.
Moving house is a good time to get rid of stuff we don't need. I wish I could enjoy reading books online - maybe if I read one a book a week I would learn to! That's quite a turn-over of books. Thanks for your comment, Pamela.
The simple life is something a lot of us don’t value until we loose our peace.
There are lots of exciting companies that sell good quality preloved cloths. One of my favourite companies is:
Nearly New Cashmere Co.
I agree, Cliona. We don't have to buy new. Thank you for your comment.