September 29

  

Today's quotation:

If one changes internally, one should not continue to live with the same objects.  They reflect one’s mind and psyche of yesterday.  I throw away what has no dynamic, living use.  I keep nothing to remind me of the passage of time, deterioration, loss, shriveling.

Anaïs Nin

Today's Meditation:

If I'm not the same person I was a few years ago, then why do I continue to hold on to objects that were important to me then?  It makes sense that I would be finding importance in new things, and that the old things should become less and less significant to me as time goes on and I change more.

That may be true, but what about the memories?  What about the emotional ties that those memories evoke?  It certainly isn't a simple question, is it?

But how can I be helping myself if I continue to hold on to things and objects that are constant ties to my past?  My past is not who I am now.  These objects, in theory, are keeping me tied down to certain thoughts and ideas, and they may not allow me to move forward as easily as I might be able to do if I didn't live with the constant memories of what was.

Every fall, many trees and bushes and flowers lose the leaves and stalks and branches that they've had all summer.

These things have been important to them for a very long time, but they know when it's time to let go and move on.  Those leaves and branches are gone for good, and next spring new ones will take their place.  Just like those plants, our lives follow seasons, and at the end of some seasons, it's much better to shed those things that have gotten us through the season and move on to the next one.  Life moves on, always, and we can grow much more if we move along with it rather than fighting the current. 
Questions to consider:

What kinds of things do you hold on to that may keep strong your ties to your past?

How can holding on to things keep you from moving forward?

Why is it important to keep only those things that are important
for the season you're in now?
For further thought:

I think that all human systems require continuous renewal.  They rigidify.  They get stuff in the joints.  They forget what they cared about.  The forces against it are nostalgia and the enormous appeal of having things the way they always have been, appeals to a supposedly happy past.  But we've got to move on.

John W. Gardner

   
  

  

 

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