Why do we hold onto stuff, and make the decisions we do?
I’ve recently been spending a lot of time organising and unpacking my new home, and one thing I’ve taken time to really exam is the shelf life of my belongings — whether they have a place in my new home and in service of the future going forward. It’s important to keep items which spark joy; which are useful and functional; which help us achieve our current ambitions, goals, aims, desires, hopes, dreams, aspirations—to keep the stuff we need for that which we are trying to get done.
Cosmetic companies make it easy for us to examine the shelf life of our products. So do food companies. They put expiry dates, best before dates, and used by dates on the packaging, boxes and containers, so we know how long they are good for. Our lives — both the tangible and intangible parts — are much the same; everything in them has a shelf life, including success and failure, money and possessions, and also our identities, goals, hopes and dreams. Each day we can cultivate our environments and create space to allow our future selves to appear; our true, authentic selves. Our identity encompasses the memories, experiences, relationships, and values that create our sense of self — who we believe we are. Our identity — which dictates our decisions and behaviours — is based on the future we see for ourselves. It’s important to think about our belongings & stuff as the tools, gadgets, environments and costumes our particular identities need to make things happen in our life, and to put a shelf life on them, and let them go when they are past their used by dates. Our future selves won’t see the world the same way we do. They won’t even be in the same world we are in.
