TurquoiseB wrote: > Packing up one's stuff is debilitating. You learn > very quickly how much of your stuff owns you, as > opposed to vice-versa. I've got eight boxes of books > just on the Cathars and medieval stuff! Teaches one > a bit about attachment. > Oh I can really relate to this. When I bought my house 7 years ago I got rid of tons of stuff in my apartment. I couldn't believe it could hold all of that. Still boxes of crap moved with me as I am a low energy kind of guy and it took about a month for me to get ready for the move which might take the average person a week. Now I've been spending this summer "downsizing" so my house is very minimalist except for things that aren't that big a deal to move or get rid of during a move including the 53" HDTV which I would sell at a bargain price and replace it with a new one.
I'm not ready to move but it would just be nice to have less clutter. Thing is I'm a creative person and creative people are not known for anal retentiveness. What's that old saw? "A clean house is the sign of a wasted mind" or something like that. My garage has a wall lined with boxes from my move 7 years ago. Someday I will start sorting those. Everytime my garage door is open the neighbors wince but I don't know why. I can park my car in my garage and theirs is so full of stuff they can't. :) And these days in the US you just can't throw stuff into the trash can. No, no, no, it has to be all sorted out and then you have to shred anything that has any personal info on it. That really slows down the process. If you put stuff on the sidewalk for free it usually justs sits there until the cops come along and tell you to move it. I know my neighbors tried that and it didn't work. I often see people putting out old computers and monitors for free trying to avoid the $25 charge per unit for disposal. Even throwing AAA batteries in the garbage can get you a prison sentence. Only recently have the stores that sell batteries offered to take them back and then they only put out a chincy little box for them. I had a couple bags of clothes to give away and there is a Goodwill van at the top of the hill. Problem is the van is usually full and the attendant (who is there so people don't just leave stuff outside anyway) has no idea when an empty one will show up. I lucked out last Monday it had been emptied so was able to leave two big bags of clothing and some old drapes there. My neighbors have garage sales about twice a year (two a year is all you are allowed in this town) and the last one a week ago I asked them where do they get all this stuff? Seems they have a storage shed in back full of stuff. The spiritual angle on this is interesting as I know both packrats and spartans who are on spiritual paths. Ayurveda can frequently explain this as the spartan folks are usually the vata types and the packrats kapha (or are running these imbalances).
