You must be thinking I am crazy to call us all hoarders — right? Well let’s spend few minutes on this topic.
I live in Ponderosa Park neighborhood of Sunnyvale, pretty decent people live in our street except for one home that stands out in the neighborhood. Everytime my attention goes on that home, I slightly get aggravated. My neighbor is a hoarder, a hoarder of trash. A quick glance from outside shows trash filled home through their windows. I can let anything slide by but due to my OCD issues, I just can’t bear the uncleanliness.
One day, I went on a long walk, and I started thinking that we (human beings) are all hoarders of things — e.g., material things can be clothes, utensils, house hold items, money, jewelry, etc…and then there are non-materialistic things such as emotions, thoughts etc..
Wrt material things, we accumulate, we never throw them — always have an excuse “I might need it sometime in future”, the future which never comes! We are never happy with what we have, we may have 20–30 pieces of clothing but still we are constantly shopping! We have enough money to live happily but yet, we keep chasing for more. It’s natural human psychology but this psychology can be curbed. Some might think why should it be? I can afford it or able to earn money easily. Well, hold that thought!
Two years ago, we went to Rwanda to watch Gorilla habitat; during this trip, we also visited some poverty stricken areas — only to see piles of branded clothing in their markets. I inquired, most of them are the stuff people donate which make its way to Africa and other such countries. The left overs from these countries are either burnt or thrown away into trash. Every action we take, it has a huge environmental impact. Also recently I watched the documentary “True Cost”, this movie shows the impact of fashion and also cheap clothes (or as some call it **fast fashion**) has on mother earth. Next time you buy anything think twice!
Growing up years, my mom always said never go for the cheapest, you will end up having to replace it in a nick of time, buy something which lasts a while! This lesson remains with me & my siblings to this day. We are all minimalists!
Recently Vatsal read a book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing”, it talks about methods of decluttering and organizing so one doesn’t revert back to hoarding. It also talks about, how decluttering the home and being organized will help you build positive energy in the home as well as in the mind.
As for the mind, what can I say, it is even more messier than physical habits :), everything is controlled by mind and keeping it clear, and uncluttered can only be possible by meditating regularly or sticking to physical activities such as running (which I heard clears the mind similar to meditation).
End of the day all of us need to spring clean our homes as well as our minds! Purging old thoughts, emotions will head way to newer and better thoughts — do this every day, and practice not to leave a humoungous footprint on mother earth so our future generations can have better lives too!