Stuff, Stuff & Stuff ~ by Cynthia Land, LMT, RYT

I was recently surprised/not surprised to see Marie Kondo capitalizing on the fame of her decluttering books by selling items to, wait for it, clutter your house.  

Here's a recent article about it in The Atlantic. I get that she's pushing out her brand but it sure looks funny from my end.  

We in the West seem to be susceptible to all kinds of buying strategies.  If you tell us it's good for us or will help us to lose weight, we're likely to buy it.  Marie convinced us to buy her book to help us bring more joy into our lives.  The idea was to help us get rid off all the clutter in our homes, the things we were no longer using that had simply become a burden.  

In the practice of Yoga, with a capital "Y", we approach this idea of decluttering from the very first limb of the eight limbs of yoga.  The first limb has five parts and one of them is called Aparigraha, or non-possessiveness.  Sometimes it's translated from Sanskrit as non-attachment.  Many of us become attached to "things." "Don't take my Cuisinart, I can't live without it."

I confess to a deep desire for a Maserati Quattroporte.  I had this desire imprinted even deeper when my ex-brother-in-law bought one and I got to ride around in it.  That said, I realize this desire is unfounded and that my budget is no where near the reality of purchasing one, so I don't linger on this desire.  I just admire them.  Now you Tony Robbins types may say, "but Cynthia, anything is possible, you could start thinking big and saving for that car." And I will tell you that while I would love to have a Maserati, the owning of one, doesn't run my life.  I think of it in passing, occasionally.   I'd really rather think big on other things.  

On the other end of the spectrum, I see women blindly attached to the idea of relationship bliss that they destroy themselves to be with a man. Their notion of being single so abhorrent that they will attach themselves to men so deeply unhealthy just to prevent themselves from being single.  We are only starting to foster a woman's individuality and that she doesn't need a man/relationship to define or value herself.   Yes, I recognize I just compared my desire for a car and a woman's desire for a man but I wanted to show that one attachment can be manageable and one can be damaging.  So how do we get out of this mess?

Yoga suggests we practice letting go.  Let go of these attachments so strong they drive us to distraction, attachments so strong they cause us pain.  Obviously this is a practice, not something we just drop like a hot potato.  I too used to throw myself at men because I thought that's just what you did.  I felt so strongly that I HAD to be in a relationship or somehow I was less than my fellow woman.  My self esteem was lacking, that's for sure.  I sought counseling to put my mind in the proper perspective but I also meditated on letting go.  This is a process I have by no means perfected, but I keep meditating and my mind no longer holds on to things like it once did.