What can I live without?

This pending move to Florida is changing my perspective on a lot of things. The entire time I have lived in this particular apartment I have been downsizing. My Feng Shui project motivated me to get rid of clothes, knick-knacks that no longer held any meaning, many kitchen gadgets, books, records, tapes, linens, SCADS of things. My move to Florida has encouraged me to take another look at what I don't use anymore.

I sat on the couch last night and looked around and started pointing out things I haven't used since I moved in here. My cassette player, more knick-knacks, one of my file cabinets, some of my placemats and napkins, candles, some dishes and cookware... so many things that I can easily live without. And having lost all the weight I have I can surely get rid of more clothes.

The book, "Gift from the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh is a good read to get in the mood to purge belongings. The wife of Charles Lindbergh, and the mother of one of the most famous kidnapped babies in the world... talk about someone who had to get used to "living without" something! Loss and abandonment have always been two of my big issues. They still are, in many ways. But how great it is when I can sit down and look around and make a list of things I am going to get rid of. "Things" are not going to make me safe, or happy, or whatever it is I think I need to be. If I lose my "things" I am not going to die, or become less of a person - although there are those that think I will. As long as I love myself, validate myself, and stand up for myself I don't need much else. If I do all those things for myself there won't be any holes in my soul that I will need to fill with "stuff". The hole will be filled by the love I give myself.

What can I live without? Almost anything. Hell - almost everything! I will still want people in my life; people are a big part of what life is about. We're talking about THINGS, here. STUFF. America is stuck on consumption. I can't help but think if America were more spiritual (not religious) we would be such a better nation. But this is crossing into another subject, and another blog for another time.