possessed by possessions

Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions. ~ Peace Pilgrim

I was afforded the opportunity to learn a valuable lesson. What's that? The freedom of liquidating all possessions in order to follow a dream.

Purging our possessions to move overseas was an exhausting process. I remember during one of the many sessions of going through "stuff," I was listening to Pandora when a song by Erykah Badu began to play. It is titled "bag lady." It is about letting go of emotional baggage, but it was VERY relevant to my circumstance at the time. Her message - let the bags go, pack lightly, don't let those bags hold you down. It was a revelation - purging = freedom.

At the end of the process, we were free - more free than I had been in my entire adult life. Free to go anywhere and do anything. Go. We did.

Now we are back. We are again accumulating stuff, though nothing near previous levels.

I have had a number of conversations with people since returning. Conversations about their dreams. I hear so many say, they cannot follow their dreams because of the stuff they possess..."I can't do that because I would have to sell the house"..."I can't go there because we have too much stuff"..."that isn't a possibility for me because I couldn't part with..." On and on and on. The stuff has a hold on their heart and is dictating their life.

Sometimes, in the quiet of the morning I look at our apartment. It is comfortable. I look at the stuff and I ask myself, "could I leave it all behind again?"

I pray the answer will remain "yes" all the days of my life. I don't want stuff to grab hold of my heart (and subsequently my life) the way it had in the past. I don't want to be possessed by my possessions.

This is not a post of condemnation, but one of reflection.

Could you leave your possessions to follow a dream, or is the stuff holding you back from pursuing such a life?

just Sheri, a sojourner at heart