I made the decision out of an outward emotion. I was tired of the non-stop cleaning and rearranging my things they so needed. I was tired of living with wanting and not having enough. And I am starting to get frustrated that I could not find the time and energy to do the things and be with the people I like and mattered most. I did not noticed that somehow my want to own many things was the cause of this discontentment.
Maybe I don't need more stuff!
Now I am starting to breathe a little, owning less has started to give me less time and money running after those things I used to like to have. It had given me more opportunity to redirect my time, energy and cash to things I most value.Another is that it provided me with even bigger opportunity to change. The external change of behavior has with it the chance for an inward change too. It has allowed me to change and adopt value that I have always liked in others.
So, take how the decision to live with fewer possessions allow hearts to embrace the following:
- Contentment, simply being mentally and emotionally satisfied with what we have as they are. Most discontentment in our lives lies in the material things we have and how we compare them with others.
- Generosity, our willingness to give away our time, energy and something extra. When our hoarder-mentality is slowly being removed from our minds, we can be free to use our resources for other purposes.
- Gratitude, or a feeling of thankfulness or appreciation. It is important that we experience gratitude by thinking less about the things we don't have and focusing on the things we own.
- Self Control, or our abilities to stop ourselves, our feelings and impulses, reactions. Many of us go on with our lives without any clear visions of our true significance. Instead, desires are made by culture and not to mention advertisements that we see each day. The result is that we become inconsistent in our lives. No control.
- Honesty, being right in our beliefs, principles, intentions and actions, being fair and upright. We often believe in the lies and misguided truths that are being circulated in our society which is based on the need to get ahead and acquire more. Finding contentment rids the need to be dishonest.
- Appreciation, the move to estimate the qualities of things and giving them their proper significance. If we just stop looking on others and what they have that we do not, we are able to appreciate other people's successes and accomplishments, the beauty that they share to the world. We can fully appreciate others without being jealous of them, or worse wishing them fail.
Okay, one thing though, please do not misread me. I am not saying that having less necessarily breeds out contentment, generosity or even honesty. I myself is not even halfway but am working on it. There are many generous people who would not live having less, and there are also people who enjoy having less but might score high on selfishness. And I would never claim to have mastered even fully understood any of the characteristics I just mentioned, but it's worth to try. I believe in my heart that the less we have or the intention of owning less can allow an opportunity for these traits to grow in our hearts. What we do with that opportunity is our own call.
Well said, Carlo. Sometimes after I read your thoughts I think, he should be a writer AND a photographer. Your writings resemble a lot of the writings of my country's inspirational speakers. I live with very little...as in, you won't believe how very little and let me tell ya, the less you have the less you have to lose. I'm pretty content. I see folks driving their big cars and wearing fancy clothes and I can't help but think, "well, there's your outward man, but, how's your inward man?" In the end, it's all about the heart and soul. All the "stuff" won't matter in the grand scheme of things. Just my opinion. But I won't change my way of living so I can acquire more stuff and surround me with misery and possessions. God bless you Carlo, you're a wise soul.
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