Positivity TM Power

I remember as a child, my mother's ritual fall housecleaning - scrubbing walls, washing windows - even vacuuming behind furniture! I assure Mom I'm catching up on my fall housecleaning too - from 2001!

Indeed, this is a good time of year to sort our "stuff" before the clutter of the holidays is upon us. Sometimes I wonder though, whether the collecting of all our "stuff" keeps us from living our priorities. I often hear women, and even men, bemoan working long hours, insisting that they must, to keep up with all the payments due. They admit their desire to spend more time with their families, but feel "stuck" with the need to provide.

This reminds me of a tale about how African native children are said to catch monkeys. They carve the center out of a gourd, leaving a hole just the size of a monkey's extended palm. Then they fill the gourd with all of the monkey's favorite "stuff" and hang the gourd in a tree. Sure enough, the monkey comes, reaches into the gourd and grabs a fist full - but cannot remove his clutched hand! Will he release his favorite "stuff" to save his life? Never! And he is captured.

Are we sometimes "captured" by our "stuff?" Do we hold on to our material things, refusing to let go, until we are "stuck?" If we let go of some of our possessions, would we be able to better live our priorities?

When I was a childbirth educator, more than once I watched new moms and dads sell their 3 story homes and move into a simple ranch so they could both work less and care for their baby. I learned a lot from them.

If you owned less, could you work less - and play more - with those you love?

Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness. - John Ruskin (1819-1900)

In this world, it is not what we take up, but what we give up that makes us rich. - H.W. Beecher