We are not our Stuff…

THE MEANING OF LEGACY IS NOT TO PASS ON WHAT WE HAVE, BUT TO CREATE THE FOUNDATION ON WHICH FUTURE CAN BE BUILT

Now this one is a bit offset to the things I usually write or advocate for. This is a small drift from emotional world to practicality, which is important. It is very well within the framework of an individual even like me, so the attempt is to make me and us a little stronger. Even if you completely resonate with the essence of this blog, please keep in mind that you are still second to me 😊 What this means is, I am worse than you to have practiced this below anecdote since I started remembering things. I have not come across any individual in my life who is not living with this practice. The extent and intensity can vary with people, but this does exist within us.

I read an article today named “The Swedes know the secret to Happiness: You are not your stuff”. This article talks about a typical human behavior wherein we attach ourselves with the material or tangible things we possess. As we start living with the belongings, we kick start the process of finding us in it or establishing a relation with it. If I talk about me, forget about my people, I get extremely attached even to my belongings no matter how small it may appear. Just because we have those things, we make that thing a part of our life. Instead of keeping the memory of how we bought it or how we inherited that or how our parents/grandparents managed to earn that, we immediately stick to that physical entity.

I understand the symbolic meaning of having things physical as it can establish a direct connection between us and the incident. But the point here is, there is no meaning of keeping that thing in front of us after that point of inflexion where we have injected that memory or instance within our heart and mind. Remembrance of that person, that moment is important not the forever way to reach this remembrance. This is because we will not be able to create and collect new memories until we make room for them. This is an analogy to a human tendency.

Undesired and unacceptable responses and treatment keep piling up in our heart so much so that there is no other option for it but to explode one day. Though much heard and even endeavored for, we are not able to liberate the behavior of people towards us which we think was inappropriate. I do not second that thought of not feeling dejected at the circumstance when it happens, but I do believe that if it is very rare from that person, we should aim to respond and not react. Again, we may have secured grudges for someone, but we must understand that we should not allow things as cheap as grudges to load our heart. I also do not ally with the thought of gelling up with every individual we meet. We can not, as our framework is different mentally and spiritually. Living in harmony and sharing the same ideology are two distinct things. The solution is not to be superficial but to live while keeping a safe distance that makes us and others comfortable.

Liberation is not for the other; it is for us to make peace. It is a weapon to strengthen us, not to weaken the opponent. Liberation is painful yet empowering, it is difficult to embrace yet abundantly rewarding. The notion is not to detach or have less, but to add more value to what is important. This can be our way to provide justice to things and people that matter the most.

Every relation demands regular cleaning of the junk stored in the heart for no future reasons. Everyone makes mistakes, no one can be right all the time, nobody can be bad always, nobody can please you all the time, we can underperform, others can outperform; everything is possible, and all these deserve a benefit of doubt. Let’s not assume or judge people with a single bad encounter with them. There could be stories of people we have not heard of and struggles which we are unaware of.

Let us pivot our focus from things to memories and BAD feelings to GOOD emotions. We are not in the substance we possess; we are in the stories we create :)