Thoughts from some readings

Gandhi said "There is enough in the world for man's need, but not for man's greed".

Recently facilitating a course on Voluntary Simplicity has made me see my needs and wants in a different light. Now we still consume but our buying is more conscious. Next weekend our new couch comes in. This is the second piece of new furniture we have bought in seventeen years together. Our home has been blessed with some really nice hand me downs and good second hand finds. With new awareness I want to get rid of having a lot of stuff and instead have only a few nice quality things. My daughter recently lost a purse her birth mother gave her and she was so upset. I took her for a walk and said if I die that car over there (my car) is not me its just a thing. Things are not people, people live in our hearts when they are not with us.
Now I believe in having some mementos and I myself have some things I am not using that I need to get rid of. Its hard because they were my grandparents but I have decided that as we clean I will keep only what I can display or use. All of the things wrapped in paper from 1984 that I have hauled around for years may have to go.
There is a Buddhist belief that letting go of things and giving them to someone who needs it is empowering and uplifting to the giver. I am trying to realize that someone else can cherish those things as well if not better than me.

Namaste'
Courtney