Nature tells us so much about life doesn’t it? Today I’ve been thinking about breath; many different groups - mindfulness, yoga, meditation within various religions - suggest that to bring us into a place where our mind can let go of the chatter of competing demands in our thoughts, is to breath; to pay attention to our breath. In and out, deeper and longer, in and out. So I’m wondering what we can learn from this; right now I’m thinking that our bodies are teaching us that we are designed to take things in and to release them. Stay with me here.
How is it that we have become such accumulators? At the first sign of Covid19 people rushed out and filled cupboards with supplies and emptied the supermarket shelves. They hoarded food and toilet rolls and didn’t seem to care that this meant other people went without. Then I ponder on why rich people never seem satisfied with their wealth and are driven to accumulate more.
What if our breath, in and out, is showing us that we will be healthier people, mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually, if, following accumulation, we distribute - we share? If we fail to breath in or to breath out, we will die. So what is the negative effect upon us when we keep wanting and striving to get more?
The more could be money, belongings, knowledge, fame, love etc., etc. but let’s stick with possessions/money for the purpose of this blog.
What stuff do you have in your cupboards, attic, shed, garage or in boxes under the stairs, that you have not used in the last year or two or ten?
Now imagine getting rid of anything you have not used in, say, two years. How do you feel about that?
If the idea terrifies you; what lies behind that fear?
How would it feel to be satisfied with enough?
How would it feel to declutter your home and life and give what you don’t need to people who do?
What time might you reclaim in your life if the drive for more were eliminated?
What pressure might be lifted if you decided you had enough and that you are enough?