For my own intro I'll mention how Erik Erikson speaks of the "furniture of self," and says to lose the "sum of one's possessions" is to lose evidence of who one is. Over these years I've lost so very much that hasn't rewoven and regenerated no matter how generously I parse and reconstruct it, I suspect I'm still hanging on to quite a few material objects I'll be able to separate from with at least a little equanimity as soon as a place of community, acknowledgment and participation – a place of life – finds me again. Oh, I've been looking for a long time yet still I suspect it has to find me. Is it not about grace? 1. I like to hang on to anything with great color combinations so ceramic mugs (also a few stoneware and a couple of china), quilts, textiles, etc.
2. For the hard to let go of things, although I've parted with lots of my textbooks and other assigned reading from university and professional school(s), I still have many of my notes and notebooks that I haven't looked at since the last century.
3. Easy to give away is the 5 or 6 big bags of clothes I seem to be able to collect every 5 or 6 months. They then go down to the nearby thrift store (ok, not by themselves; I take them there).
4. My answer to (2) is part of a kind of stumbling block connected with cleaning out, but also, in ages past I've found when my life is full and happy I've made relatively serious mistakes of giving away far too much that later I regretted. Clearly during those times, friends, relationships and opportunities for service have given meaning to my life and world so I haven't felt a need to try to construct meanings from external stuff.
5. Way back pre-kindergarten I wanted to design textiles or teach art, and I'm still easily enamored of color, pattern, line, texture and design. Therefore, I like to collect, hoard, and/or admire things that have an interesting spark of color, pattern, line, texture and/or design. Pottery, ceramics, textiles, sweaters, skirts, etc.
For my bonus "about recycling or whatever you can think of that goes along with this muttering about cluttering," I've recycled lots with the local freecycle and happily haven't had anything to post to the group for over a year now. You might call that through-cycling since who knows how much further stuff travels after leaving us?
Your collection of colorful things sounds like something I would like, too! My barrier to letting go of things is needing to find them a home rather than just throw them out. So, thanks for the freecycle idea!
ReplyDeleteI love the new look of your Blog! I have also hung on to text books and have referred to them from time to time:)
ReplyDeletethanks for your thoughtful, thought-provoking play.
ReplyDelete@Sara (I still am ecstatic, amazed, surprised, etc. that you are having a girl!!!!!): thanks for the blog-look compliment--I love these new features and probably will change out the background image now and then. I've referred to some of the books from school, too and have even looked up things I remember writing in papers, so it's not quite totally crazy to hang onto them. But for example, I finally parted with my basic, non-high end copy of The Federalist Papers, which is such a classic everyone needs to have because I found it online. Similarly, not that you don't hold and read your own copies of the scriptures, but I love how you can (accurately!) copy and paste chunks of scripture to use in your own writing and blogging.
ReplyDeleteYay for recycling. I am all about doing the R<RandR in anyway you can.
ReplyDeleteThus my love for beads made from recycled bulletins, magazines, and posters.
I love colors too!
Good play