学进去

The house had been cleaned and staged elegantly. The air smelt fresh. Little labels on all we saw around the house provided important details: date of purchase and the current selling price. We were at a garage sale. There was no talking or bargaining. Buyers could pick up at the listed price.

All efforts that release cash that is locked into stuff touch me deeply. If they break conventional ideas, I will like them even more. It is my view that people love to follow suit and end up with emotions they ought to feel, rather than being true to themselves. To say that one does not care for one’s grandmother’s necklace is considered rude, so one would simply keep it in the locker and pass on the keys to the next generation.

No longer so, I am guessing.

It’s not always about money, but perhaps about considering one’s choices. My argument always is to use stuff, if you like it so much. Wear those pieces of jewellery; use those pieces of furniture; take home those piles of old-time bedsheets. But if none of them fit into your current home, allow someone else to take them home. Turn those properties over instead of leaving them unused.

Hoarding is not a virtue. It is a waste of the money that is locked into the property you are hoarding. I may use it sometime in the future, say some. Give that a time frame. If you are holding something you haven’t used even once in five years, ask yourself if someone else may need it. Don’t sell if you don’t care for money; but do give it away.

All else needs to earn their place for their value and usefulness for you. Celebrate the liberation from hoarding and let there be light!