We are so blessed.
We have pretty much everything and at our fingertips.
Not just things that are essential to life, like water and food. Also everything else. And if the store around the corner doesn’t have it, just order it on the Internet.
And mostly there is more than one version of what I need.
Just the other day I was standing in front of the refrigerator of a big supermarket and only wanted to buy one liter of milk – and had to choose between 8 different versions.
If you don’t know what you want from the beginning, you spend more time buying one liter of milk than it took to milk it . 😉
So is more always better?
More choices ask for more decisions.
Good decisions ask for more information.
Getting more information asks for investing more time.
(Of course I can also just grab one or follow the consumer advice – marketing would love me ;-))
Having more things often has similar consequences.
Having more means taking care for more.
More cleaning, more maintenance, more care.
Having a beautiful garden is wonderful. But it also means regular gardening.
Or to need even more – namely a gardener.
Then I don’t have to look after the garden, but I have to make sure I am able to pay the gardener – and maybe I will have less time to sit in the garden?
The more I want to afford, the more I have to perform.
Does having a lot really mean more freedom?
I have recently moved.
When you move, everything you have usually passes through your hands again.
I thought I didn’t have a lot of “stuff” – but I was surprised how often I asked myself the questions “do I still need this?” and “should this move with me?” And I was proud of myself, how often I answered those questions with a No.
True, the moment of letting go is strange – but afterwards I felt so much lighter.
Same applies to the furniture in my new apartment. Not everything is furnished yet and I now ask myself the question: how much furniture do I really need?
What if I just leave more space?
To my opinion, space and time is today’s luxury.
So, let’s make sure that we give our lives more space and time.
Simplicity on the outside also clears the mind.
No masterpiece has yet been created on a canvas that has been scribbled all over.
Where in your apartment (or your life) could you clean out or part with something to feel lighter? To create space?
Isn’t there that shelf in the basement…?
Or books from your studies …?
Or the “maybe-I-need-this-again”- closet”?
By the way, you can also let go of habits, thoughts or people that are not good for you.
Less is more.
Go for it.
And afterwards enjoy the ease and the room you’ve created for new things.
Just like a dear friend of mine said to me the other day:
“If there is no room to grow, nothing can flourish.”
Have a light Sunday,
Birgit