Good Morning, SuperForest!
The picture above shows a rather gruesome image of a monster that was living in my closet for about…six years (give or take.) What you’re looking at is a photograph of sixteen pairs of jeans (16! Jeans, mind you, this count doesn’t include the other type of pants found in my closet.) Nasty, isn’t it? Inspired by Amy’s “100 Thing Challenge” I decided to start this fresh new season by going through my closet and collecting all the clothes I felt I could give away. And as I pulled these sixteen pairs of jeans out of my closet, one by one, I was both shocked and borderline disturbed by the amount of excess that had been accumulating in my own bedroom.
I’m not sure how one even accumulates sixteen pairs of jeans, and the worst part is, I don’t even consider myself to be much of a shopper, but there they were, sitting in a big pile on my bed, conjuring up a strange mixture of feelings ranging from guilt to liberation to inner reflection. You see, as it turns out, the thing that makes it possible for a single person to accumulate so many pairs of pants is simple: a lack of accountability. And at a really macro-level, my pant problem kind of beautifully illustrates the flaws we have as a civilization:
We exaggerate what we need to have.
And we don’t know the extent of what we already have.
Apparently, I wanted jeans. I felt I needed to have new jeans. And eventually, I lost track of how many jeans I had. But lucky for me, this whole “pant” situation didn’t only illustrate the flaws we have as a consumer civilization, it also opened my eyes to a pair of mindsets that could help fix these flaws. Because once you sort of take the time to dive into your closet or cupboards and really take note of everything you’ve collected over time (much like Amy suggested) and you do this often, you start to develop two really handy skill sets.
1. You learn to let go of fake needs: Fake needs. This is something we all are probably guilty of creating from time to time. Be it the “need” to be wealthy or trendy. And it doesn’t even necessarily have to do with the material needs in our life. Do you need to check your email every few hours? Your tumblr dashboard? All those blogs you keep up with? In most cases, when you take the time to analyze these needs, you’ll find that they were created by society or by yourself. Which, generally, is a great thing, because that usually makes it possible for you to eliminate those needs. All it takes, is the willingness to let go. And letting go of excess, in most cases, feels all kinds of awesome.
2. You learn to love less: Letting go of fake needs is not only awesome in the liberating sense, but it also turns out to be a major facilitator to help us appreciate and really take care of all those needs we’re left with. Because when you focus on loving less, essentially you are focusing on “full, savory enjoyment”.
Socrates put it wonderfully when he said: “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” And in a really strange and mixed up way, I probably have sixteen pairs (16!) of jeans to thank for helping me appreciate the wonderful glory of that very simple sentence.
Love!
Carla
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