Letting go

Letting go.  Hum!  What a concept!  It’s so easy to say for some, yet so hard to do. Nonetheless I try.  Every day I try to enjoy the moment (thank you Frick & Frack, you guys really help keep me in the now), and I try to look forward.

 

One of the things that I started doing this year is purging on a regular basis, and although I don’t consider myself either a rat pack or a hoarder, it’s amazing how difficult letting go of crap can be!

 

I set a 6 month rule for myself.  If we haven’t used it, it’s gone.  I donate, I sell it, I’ll regift it, but it’s outta my house.  Yet, I really have to reassure myself as I purge that I won’t need it in month 7, or that I’m not being ungrateful for giving something away that was given to me and went unused.

 

But I persevere and I purge.  It is momentarily challenging, but freeing.  It reminds me that we really don’t need a lot of “stuff” to have a full life, so with letting go of the stuff, I also let go of the notion that “things” and “happiness” should coexist in the same sentence.

 

At the end of the day those things only clutter my mind, my life and my focus. I am reminded of the Costa Rican urban legend of this incredibly beautiful and wealthy woman who had everything her heart desired.  She became terminally ill and made a promise to God (as every latina/latino has done at least once in their lifetime).  She swore that she would give everything away if her health was restored.  It was and she did.  She kept a simple black dress, her health and – of course – lived happily ever after.  I too would be willing to let go of the unnecessary and embrace that which is essential.  Something that’s hard to do in this consumer-driven society, where the holidays are about shopping and toy lists (start ’em young!).  But, I digress.

 

Stay strong.  Let go of the unessential.  Let go of the fear of loosing and embrace the joy of having a great and wondrous life!