How attached are you to your things? How much time pass until you buy something new? How often do you throw stuff away? How often do you play with or use the things you've bought? Do you have clothes that you've bought but it still hangs in the closet with the price tag on years later? If you do not use it at least once a month, why do you have it? Why do you crave for more when your shoe rack is all full of shoes not used?
Do you have things you just bought to impress and show of to others? Isn't that a bit embarrassing to think of? You bought it not because you wanted to but because you thought this was a way to be admired and liked by others? So you buy things to feel loved? Friendship should be based on real love, not on fake material ground. At least thats the kind of relationships I cultivate. But that might just be me. Would be so too tiring just thinking about all things I needed to buy and use just to feel accept from the people I'd really want to like me. Thats not a healthy friendship. Is it????
I've got this friend who recently started her journey towards a more conscious lifestyle and she decided to document it all on social media (www.siriabrahamsen.com), which is super interesting to follow and I guess she inspires many. At least some as she has loads of followers. These days she is throwing away all of her stuff, she is selling her house, she recently started eating healthier and taking lots of small other conscious parts of actions. I'm actually a bit envious, because I'd like to share my journey too. The only problem is that there is none to share because I started living consciously long time ago, actually all the way back into child hood. I never wanted to buy anything or spend any money and I rarely ate meat and used all my clothes until there was nothing left. So there is really no voyage to be shared. When I was young it wasn't because of the feeling of responsibility or sense of awareness of what would make me and others healthier, it was simply a natural choice. I didn't want to live otherwise. But later in life I see more clearly why I had this urge because I know today that this is what makes me happy and gives me a graceful and joyful life.
So, when I started living by myself it continued. It got even more conscious as I now took all of the choices myself on what to eat, how to live, what do do, what to buy etc. At this present time I own practically nothing, rarely buy other things than food unless things are broken and impossible to use (like a new phone or computer) and I eat no animal products, and use my clothes until its all just big holes.
Hence, I've got no story to share on how I felt when I did all these because this way of living consciously is apparently hardwired in my DNA, apparently. The only thing I can relate to is if I envision a non conscious life, full of things I do not need, way too big of a house, driving a gasoline car, eating all kinds of crappy food, working in a job just to earn money for things I do not use etc. That thought and visualizing process makes me feel sick instantly. I could never do that, not towards myself, others, the planet and animals.
I can not be owned by things, I can not live a life true to my heart, I can not live a life doing something just to for the money I need to love what I do every second, we got so little time on our visit in this body on earth. And eating animal products that our bodys are not made to digest(we are the only one next to monkeys having color vision, and there is a reason that we see this and not only see movement). Immediately I get the sensation of being enslaved to all the stuff, chained to a several rooms in a large house, that is in constant need of cleaning and fixing. My time is holy and I'd rather see someone else fix that than having to spend several hours a week doing it. (okay if I randomly was super rich and could hire someone to live in my house JUST to clean and fix things any time of the day, fine, but I'm not sure I could do that either, I have too much empathy. I'd rather spend all these money on something that gave value into the world, like funding research or funding startups).
So no thank you to that. And no thank you to sitting at a desk 8am-5pm everyday just to work towards someone else's goal and earning a big fat check. I want to be the master of my time and what I spend it on. Doing something I don't love is out of the question.
All I can do is share with you my sense of freedom this way of living gives me. And I highly recommend it to you too.
I'm excited to see how it all goes for my friend Siri, will it make her happier? Will it give her an easier life? Sense of Freedom? We will wait and see. Meanwhile you can follow her on instagram @siriabrahamsen
Will you do anything to change the way you look at things? What do you enjoy the most, time to think about fun stuff and time to do things you love. Or do you like spending time in worry of not have cleaned the house, someone ruining your car, or someone spilling on your expensive clothes or shoes? Hmm
One year ago I wrote another blogpost on this topic. For further learning click here.