You may feel once in a while that it is time to declutter your life. Simplify it. It is good to think about the things you want to keep and the ones you want to let go off. How can you avoid making the wrong decisions?
We cannot know what we may need in the future because we live in a changing world. However, people generally worry less about material things because they often are bought or borrowed. But what about the emotional things? Why do we emotionally attach to physical objects or relationships? Relationships can provide us with meaningful interactions, but a material object cannot. It is because the material objects can trigger feelings in us which we may long for. A talisman or any other physical object we carry around because it helps trigger something in our memory may give us comfort and a sense of security, or any other positive emotion one may feel.
Not getting attached to material things can make life easier. There is no worry about something getting lost or stolen, and life may seem simpler. But we do get attached to things. Important is to become aware of what I am feeling when I am looking at the object and where this feeling belongs, and why it may be important to me. Maybe an object reminds me of a journey I particularly liked or of a situation, such as a meeting with friends, that made me feel particularly good.
Why do I need the object? Why can I not just treasure the memory? One reason may be that it is easier to use an object because we feel we have full control over where it is and when we take it into our hand. Our mind may not seem as reliable in that regard. But that need not be the case. We can practice the mind to be more under our control. This is, for example, what happens in meditation. Important is just to be more aware of your thoughts by observing what goes on in your mind, letting go of distractions, and playfully experimenting with your thoughts. If that seems like a tall order in a busy world, it may be good to take some time out for yourself, even if it is just fifteen minutes. It will help to declutter the material things around you because you find out more about where the attachment to them comes from.
© 2021 Christian Jonathan Haverkampf. All Rights Reserved. For more articles, see www.askdrjonathan.com. To contact me, please see www.jonathanhaverkampf.com or www.jonathanhaverkampf.ie. I am also a guest on www.wordnets.com. These are just my thoughts. I may be wrong.
