material whirl

I began to know I have too much of everything when it occured to me that some of my possesions have possessions. I have a brush brush. That is, my brushes have a brush of their own, a brush for keeping the other brushes brushed. I began to wonder, when is it too much "stuff"?

The answer, of course, is that when your stuff owns you and not the other way around, it's too much. If you are spending all your time getting things, caring for things, then clearing out and making room for more things, you are over the line, stuff-wise.

For example, I have a 5-room house that contains 10 tables of various sizes and types, 7 chests of drawers, 3 couches, 13 chairs, 3 tall china cupboards (full of china and other stuff), nine bookshelf units containing at least 1,000 books, 2 televisions, 5 radios, 3 DVD players, a computer and an ipod.

At last count I had 52 sweaters (the vast majority red, my favorite color) 28 pairs of shoes, 12 coats. 30 bras (and I have just the regulation two boobs) 19 wallets, and 23 purses.

How did this happen? I, like many others I know, enjoy the "thrill" of something new. Retail therapy, I've heard it called. Feeling a little blue? Go shopping. Shell out hard-earned bucks for things you don't need and feel better - for a very short while.

Same logic applies to eating stuff that you don' t need and isn't good for you - feels real good for a minute or so. Then there's bloat, guilt and excess weight.

My life is bloated with possessions and I have begun to crave space more than anything.
Big purge coming - I will whittle it down to 10 wallets by summer, I promise.

This material quicksand is not just my own situation. Even little, little children I know have thousands of possessions. Toys so numerous they can't stay young long enough to play with all of them. One of my young friends had three battery-operated driveable vehicles before he was four years old. (He can drive them, too. He can back up and parallel park like a pro.)

So is that where we are in the world? You are what you have. Lotta stuff equals very successful? Here is where this all breaks down. I know lots of people who have an uncountable amount of stuff and they are not happy. What they already have hasn't made them happy and getting more doesn't ever seem to do the trick, either.

I will try to combat this obscene excess in my life. I will examine very carefully whether I truly need any new purchase. After unlearning the more,more, more consumer model I now practice, I will tackle the other issue of letting go of the stuff I already have.

This may be harder, since I am pretty attached a lot of my stuff.