Journey is You

Before stating anything else I want to make clear that this post isn't about getting rid of anything. Nor is it about tidying up. It is about analyzing the value of what you own to you.

Most of us live lives with a great deal more than those in the past owned or could conceive of owning. We are blessed in ways that we can't understand, because it is normalcy to us. The same could be said for many generations preceding us as well. 

There is nothing wrong with having and enjoying things, even if those items aren't interesting or desired by anyone else.

However, sometimes our possessions become our possessors. That happens when the item is no longer wanted by us, and instead ends up taking up head and physical space. (Some "things" can end up taking up only head space, ideas, worries etc). 

That to me is the essence of Konmari method, at least as I understand it. (Um, not affiliated with Konmari in anyway, just really like her book even if I haven't put her ideas into full effect). 

This exercise is based on the Konmari method, but it is a bit different. 

Take up any item you own, and begin to write about that item. Ask yourself these questions.

• Why did I purchase/take in this item?
• Does this item fulfill its mission?
• What is my emotional reaction to this item?
• Does it have a new purpose, different than its original usage?
• Can it serve someone else better.

For example, I have an old red shirt. It is an all cotton, button down, red shirt. It has been worn so many times the material is thinning. I can only wear it over something else, and even then..

It's usefulness has sort of gone. But seeing it makes me happy. It is such a lively color, joyful and odd for red, somewhat innocent. It makes me think of the country, wide open fields, farms, the smell of hay, sheep, goats and cows. Sun on my back and wind in my hair.

I can't remember now why I purchased the shirt, or even how it came into my possession. And since it really can't be worn it has no 'purpose' in my closet. But the joy I experience seeing it means it still has value to me. 

It is just a shirt. And I'm glad I have it in my life.

Yet there are other items I have laying about that no longer give me that feeling, yet if I gave them away or tossed them out I would feel guilty. For whatever reason I feel as if giving them away is some sort of betrayal.

Those would be objects that possess me. And I want to be free. 

By analyzing why I'm keeping an item, and allowing myself to recognize that the item isn't doing me any good, nor doing any good to anyone else by sitting there taking up space, I can let it go easier. Perhaps it will find a new home, or serve a different purpose. A gardener may appreciate a broken kettle for example, to display a unique plant. And maybe someone has the "Volume 1" to partner with the "Volume 2" book that was sent to me by error. 

Perhaps, by analyzing something that you own you will find its place within your own sphere, or recognize that it will serve another better. 

And you will not be possessed.