things.
i was helping a friend move some of his things when it really made me stop and think how weighed down we are by these pieces, collections of memories that we carry around with us for so long. I have recently been reflecting on my things.. what am i carrying around that i don’t need?
after reading a blog post by kendall ruth at the ink he quotes frederick buechner “it was the silence, which we usually find so awkward. We’re embarrassed; we’re afraid of silence because we use words so often not to reveal who we are but to conceal who we are. We hide behind our chatter. In silence is a kind of sense of being stripped naked.”
reading those words haunts me. carrying around all of these things because i feel like it is a part of me. that i will not be who i am without them..that the more things we have and hold on to the more we will be. the more we will leave behind. the less we will be forgotten.
i want, at the end of my life, to not look around and see all the peices that i have collected but remember the moments that mattered. they way your heart feels with you look into your lovers eyes, not by looking at the diamond on your finger but the feeling in your heart.
i want too to spend time in silence. have less things. breathe deeply. sit alone. really listen to what a friend is saying. just BE. the question now is, how?
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Awesome love! That quote is striking and amazing!
I used to be such a squirrel. I hoarded so many things that had memories. Moving was a bitch every single time. Then I moved country and shed half my stuff because I could only afford to ship half of it. Then I moved country again, I was broke and was down to 2 boxes which I mailed and a laptop I brought with me on the plane. Then I moved into an RV and traveled this country. For the past 4 months I’ve been living out of a wheelie-bag.
Last night I watched “Up In The Air” which left me with a lot to think about. I can see the direction I’m headed in here… a backpack… which used to be my ultimate goal. To be living permanently out of my backpack, to carry my home wherever I go. But now I’m wondering about that.
It’s not a balanced way to live. Or is it?