On a good day I've been known to question the world's chances of survival, and maybe it's because I'm getting older (as opposed to just plain old) that I find myself wanting to simplify my life. Not surprisingly, this desire to simplify began with the tsunami that was later followed by hurricane Katrina. Being an empathetic kind of gal, I had no trouble imagining myself losing everything I had and being unable to return to my home - which got me thinking about those things I'd want to take with me if I could, and in general my attachment to things. It even got me thinking about what matters in the bigger picture, given the fragility of life that we spend so much of our time consciously avoiding.
While most people would think that visions of catastrophes are not a particularly positive thing to be focusing one's attention on, for me it had quite the opposite effect - it made me seek a connection to what is significant and eternal, and a healthier detachment from what is not. So I started cleaning out closets and donating or selling things I did not use, want, or take joy from. I started visualizing myself unencumbered and free to move about life with the knowledge that what is of importance we take with us on the inside. I started being free with expressing how much people mean to me. Last Christmas I wrote letters to everyone I was spending the holiday with just to let them know how each of them has uniquely impacted my life and how much I treasure them.
These are interesting times we're living in, where most people seem to be grasping at the straws of uncontrollable consumerism to fill an internal void that no supersize flatscreen could possibly fill. There's no toy that can take the place of spending time with people and genuinely listening. There's nothing more fulfilling than giving a child your undivided attention and receiving in return their unwavering trust in you and love for you. Taking the time to enrich your soul with a trip to a museum or by reading a good book, the benefits of which are invisible to a superficial world, but exist nonetheless - these are things that fill voids. A lifetime filled with individual moments of authentic living is not only personally fulfilling, but leaves behind a ripple effect of memories and experiences in other people's lives.
We all want to feel like our existence matters. And it does, but not to the Blackberry and the iPod, or to the flatscreen or the automobile. It matters to those whose lives we touch, and so if we're to race the clock to acquire anything, we should race it to acquire moments of value - that time spent with an elderly parent, or looking at the sky at sunset that will never appear the same exact way twice, the sensation of holding a child's hand, or listening to a piece of music that moves you to tears...or laughter. These are all simple gifts and not in danger of being swept away with the turning tides of progress or calamity.
So take a moment out of your day to stop and appreciate something or someone you've been oblivious to or neglecting, and maybe, just maybe you will find your life as I have found mine - overflowing with the things that are truly of value.
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