There's a wonderful brilliantly funny Sesame Street book called "The Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum" which makes essentially the same point as Steven Wright but in an even more wonderful and also hilarious way. I recommend!
I like to think of my neighborhood as an extension of my backyard. So I leave my mug on a concrete road barrier and my cereal bowl in the trees down by the river.
I collect things. Books, CDs, vinyl, DVDs. Lately I have been looking through a lot of my own writing collected over the decades in plastic tubs. And I am surrounded by all of this physical media that other people have created. And I know there is a considerable amount of ego in this, but the confluence of all these things I have created - the newspaper and magazine articles, short stories, and music - gives me some comfort that I am wrapped up in this world through creativity. However small my part has been, it is all mixed up around me.
During the pandemic, I did have a chance to look around me and wonder how long I would have to live to read all of the books I have around me, to listen to all of the music and comedy, to watch all of the movie. There is some disappointment in the realization that I won't live long enough to finish it all. But there is also comfort in the idea that there is so much, and so much more coming, that I will never run out. Everything around me and everything I create becomes part of an atomic structure. A tiny little thing. Too small to be felt by the whole, but hopefully strong enough to help bond the small patch of atoms around me.
And now this post has helped me to avoid being productive so we have maybe one or two less atoms. And probably a lot of people still reading this are happy for that loss.
A few days after I gave birth to my second child my husband gave me The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (from the library woot!). I didn't like the book as much as many people did but there were tidbits that I did like and have remembered (and kept!...in my mind.)
One is the idea that holding on to things is often a scarcity behavior. Subconsciously holding on to artifacts can communicate to you, "the past is better than the future".
Letting go of things is an abundant thought. All good things in my future. I want to make way for them and not be so consumed with my pile that I miss present moment gifts universe sends me.
In 2021 our family got rid of everything that wouldn't fit in the back of our car, put those items in a shed, donated our car and lived nomadically for a year. It felt really good to purge. This was a big time of purging what I no longer felt I needed, including my belief in the Mormon faith.
After that big dump I was primed to delete, donate and discard anything else that wasn't what I felt I really wanted because I saw it didn't destroy me not to have so much cargo.
A few months ago I deleted 200 stand up reels from my IG page. Maybe it wasn't a smart business idea (any more than living from airbnb to airbnb for a year was) but it felt good to me → and me is who I live with! and I'd like to keep me happy!
I think there's more good stuff coming than I know what to do with, because this present moment is so good. I trust each day will bear gifts and I'd like to be ready tor receive them - like this lovely article. ♡
I love this idea you acquired from Marie Kondo, even if it was the only one that sparked joy and you discarded the rest:
"...the idea that holding on to things is often a scarcity behavior. Subconsciously holding on to artifacts can communicate to you, 'the past is better than the future'.
Letting go of things is an abundant thought. All good things in my future. I want to make way for them and not be so consumed with my pile that I miss present moment gifts universe sends me."
There's a wonderful brilliantly funny Sesame Street book called "The Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum" which makes essentially the same point as Steven Wright but in an even more wonderful and also hilarious way. I recommend!
My friend, thank you so much for sharing this!
I just read the book! It is delightful!
Recommendation super appreciated!
Now I am that much closer to having experienced everything in the whole wide world, having read "The Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum."
How did you manage to read this book so quickly!?
Electronically
3. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver, best (library) book I’ve read in 5 years.
Thank you for this! I've heard great things and will add it to my to-read list!
Love the seashell collection! Thanks for sharing!
Thank YOU!
I like to think of my neighborhood as an extension of my backyard. So I leave my mug on a concrete road barrier and my cereal bowl in the trees down by the river.
Hahaha fun!
I collect things. Books, CDs, vinyl, DVDs. Lately I have been looking through a lot of my own writing collected over the decades in plastic tubs. And I am surrounded by all of this physical media that other people have created. And I know there is a considerable amount of ego in this, but the confluence of all these things I have created - the newspaper and magazine articles, short stories, and music - gives me some comfort that I am wrapped up in this world through creativity. However small my part has been, it is all mixed up around me.
During the pandemic, I did have a chance to look around me and wonder how long I would have to live to read all of the books I have around me, to listen to all of the music and comedy, to watch all of the movie. There is some disappointment in the realization that I won't live long enough to finish it all. But there is also comfort in the idea that there is so much, and so much more coming, that I will never run out. Everything around me and everything I create becomes part of an atomic structure. A tiny little thing. Too small to be felt by the whole, but hopefully strong enough to help bond the small patch of atoms around me.
And now this post has helped me to avoid being productive so we have maybe one or two less atoms. And probably a lot of people still reading this are happy for that loss.
Thank you for sharing! And as I wrote that I realized I can share this and then you would thank ME for sharing...
Hahaha you're right! Thank you so much for all of this!
I'll leave something here.
A few days after I gave birth to my second child my husband gave me The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (from the library woot!). I didn't like the book as much as many people did but there were tidbits that I did like and have remembered (and kept!...in my mind.)
One is the idea that holding on to things is often a scarcity behavior. Subconsciously holding on to artifacts can communicate to you, "the past is better than the future".
Letting go of things is an abundant thought. All good things in my future. I want to make way for them and not be so consumed with my pile that I miss present moment gifts universe sends me.
In 2021 our family got rid of everything that wouldn't fit in the back of our car, put those items in a shed, donated our car and lived nomadically for a year. It felt really good to purge. This was a big time of purging what I no longer felt I needed, including my belief in the Mormon faith.
After that big dump I was primed to delete, donate and discard anything else that wasn't what I felt I really wanted because I saw it didn't destroy me not to have so much cargo.
A few months ago I deleted 200 stand up reels from my IG page. Maybe it wasn't a smart business idea (any more than living from airbnb to airbnb for a year was) but it felt good to me → and me is who I live with! and I'd like to keep me happy!
I think there's more good stuff coming than I know what to do with, because this present moment is so good. I trust each day will bear gifts and I'd like to be ready tor receive them - like this lovely article. ♡
Thank you for sharing this, my friend!
I love this idea you acquired from Marie Kondo, even if it was the only one that sparked joy and you discarded the rest:
"...the idea that holding on to things is often a scarcity behavior. Subconsciously holding on to artifacts can communicate to you, 'the past is better than the future'.
Letting go of things is an abundant thought. All good things in my future. I want to make way for them and not be so consumed with my pile that I miss present moment gifts universe sends me."
Thank you for sending me this gift!
Love
Myq