We live our lives surrounded by stuff, knickknacks, useless objects, this, that and things, things, things. I've been on an ongoing operation of 'clearing' my surroundings of things that I'm not passionate about (I don't have much as it is). When you come to think of it, if you forgot you had it, then you probably don't 'need' it in the first place. When you're bound by things around you, you can't think clearly, your energy is stagnant, you become uneasy, you become unpleasant, you become someone that even you don't want to be around. Why? Because stuff that you're not passionate about is hovering over all the 'potential' ways that you can have a clear mind, a mellow disposition and a general happy state of being. It's easy to get siphoned into having more things because it's very tempting to want the latest trend, gadget, item or pointless paraphernalia. When we fall for this we express to our children all the ways that we put more attention to 'stuff' than to the simple things in our lives. We teach them to want more, have bigger, collect this and save that. All for what? We end up with a house full of things, not memories.
To counteract this 'more madness' we must first start with ourselves. One day at a time, one moment at a time and one project at a time. We can clear the way to create a path to peace with ourselves by peeling away the useless layers of 'stuff' we've accumulated (and I know that we all have useless things lying around). Make it fun! Don't think twice about discarding a thing or two, or three of four. Give yourself permission to 'free yourself' of things. By doing this, our children start to see and experience being content with less and feeling grateful for what they do have. They'll start to understand that more isn't always better. Why? Because they'll see all these feelings in us. We'll emit our sense of satisfaction and they'll follow. There is no need to be forceful or coerce them into it. They will naturally come to this realization by seeing and feeling it simply by our actions toward our own 'things', or lack thereof. We are our children's first hand source of a living example. So I say, K.I.S.S. Keep-it-simple-silly because less is more.
