Wednesday, July 15, 2009

"The lighter your rollerboard, the better!"


One of my personal quests in the last year has been to "die while alive". When my mom passed away , I was surprised by a gift she gave me. She had given me this gift all along but I didn't realize it until she was gone.

This 'dying while living' sounds a bit wacko until you delve deeper. Wayne Dyer writes about the concept which he lifted from the Tao Te Ching. My mom Sparky was a woman of surrender and material things were at the bottom of her priority list. I have a hard time following this act. I'm not sure if buying a kindle while giving away my books fits this concept but I have been simplifying and downsizing. I'm used to living out of a suitcase and having to lug that thing around, the less it weighs, the better.

The task that has driven me to lighten my material load was going through my mom's possessions after her death. It was difficult emotionally but in no other way because my mom didn't accumulate things like I have and would give away things easily. In a few hours, I had 2 bags of clothes to donate, one photo album and a few momentos. It occurred to me if my daughter had the same task, it would be horrific.

Another beautiful thing about unloading stuff and not easily acquiring new things is the time it frees up. Warren Buffet talked about the fact that he could have the big, fancy yacht but then you have to manage the staff that goes with it. My friend Hal Spolerich is fond of saying that "even a book requires maintenance" so I'm trying to use that one to justify my own purchase of a Kindle and dusting off one device instead of an entire library.