30 Days Of More: Less Is More

                                             Everyday is a brand new day,
                                              everyday is a journey.


A self-controlled mind is a free mind, 
and freedom is power.
 I call that mind free which jealously 
guards its intellectual rights and powers. 
I call that mind free which resists the bondage of habit, 
which does not live on its old virtues, 
but forgets what is behind, 
and rejoices to pour itself forth in fresh
 and higher exertions.
—William Ellery Channing.

When I was a young girl, I wanted so much out of life. I wanted a huge house, filled with many children and furnished with beautiful things. I would pour over the catalogs, circling every item I wanted to own and that was a lot.

Well, now I stare at many of these things, "the more of everything" and wonder what the heck am I going to do with all of it. What am I going to do with all of this jewelry I don't even wear? What am I going to do with a pantry full of all the latest gadgets? One of my pet peeves are all the cooking utensils we have like mixing spoons of every shape and size. Do we really need 5 or 6? Where did all these things come from?

I swear, I would have these purge weekends where I would go through everything and donate to charity the excess. A few months would go by and suddenly, the coffers are filled up once again. How does that happen?

I've finally come to realize that purging is a continual act that is never over. Never. We as a society love to collect stuff. Somewhere deep inside we must feel a success by the accumulation of merchandise. The more we have, the more successful our lives have become. That is our thought process.

I know that I feel very claustrophobic when the clutter becomes too much. I can't breath in a messy atmosphere. In fact, one of the things I do first in the mornings is clean up. I do this light sweep of the apartment picking up this or wiping that. The floor has to be swept and the dishes cleaned. I feel peaceful enough to then sit down and work on other tasks like my Ministry.

I often wonder if I ever will achieve the state of less is more. Maybe one day when I am alone? Even then, some people may look at my love of books or my yarn and consider that an excess. They may even consider it a messy clutter? Don't we all have something that may be viewed as too much? I may look at my mom's love of pictures on the wall as too much, but to her it is all love.

I guess it all depends on our perception of things. We all have our own opinion as to what is more and what is less. We just don't know how to combine the two into one as more is less. It's a work in progress that never seems to end.

Have a blessed day everyone.