“If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never truly be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” ~ Lao Tzu ~
My eldest daughter, Alexis, has begun a new blog and new way of being in 2013. A committed and inveterate shopper she’s giving up her Visa for the year and wearing only one of the 26 (and counting) pairs of Wunder Unders she owns (only Lululemon could come up with a name like that for feetless leotards and make them a must have fashion statement!) For the next 363 days, (she’s already lived day 1 and 2) Alexis will be clad in only stretchie lycra paired up with some clever topping that she currently owns in her overflowing closet. Rather than spend, she is delving into her inner resources to find the joy in what she has, where she’s at and who she’s with.
I’m inspired. Like a deciduous tree shedding its leaves to conserve energy as days shorten and sunlight weakens, Alexis is shedding the need to find her fulfillment through emptying her wallet and filling her closets. She is awakening to the truth, ‘there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.’
And I wunder…
Where am I seeking happiness through the acquisition of the latest, greatest, newest object of my desire? Where does my consumerism lead me away from inner peace?
My friend Kerry Parsons and I were talking about this very subject just before New Years. Where once she decked the halls in boughs of everything, Kerry has simplified her Christmas and gone all Zen. She’s stripped the season, and her decorating, down to the bare essentials and in the process, found the gratitude that radiates at the heart of keeping it simple. Surrounded by just a few cherished decorations, she had more time to enjoy each one, and to spend time simply being present to the moment and the people filling it with Love.
I was thinking of the beauty and serenity I experienced at Kerry’s as I took down Christmas last night. It took the whole evening, and I’m still not finished. And, while I love the glitter and glitz of holiday decorations, while I treasure the memory of each ornament as we hang it on the tree, I do not love all the clutter that comes with reindeer and angels parading across the piano top and Santa Claus’ cavorting on the coffee table or any other surface I can find to mix the sacred and the non-secular display of Christmas.
If I am to rejoice in what is, perhaps it’s time for me too to strip down to my Wunder Unders and keep it simple this year.
But wait, and my critter mind explodes into vociferous action. That would mean you’d be wearing lycra out there, in the world, for other people to see. You know you’re over fifty, right? You know your thighs are no longer like mighty oaks and more like weeping willows? You know…
I get the message. No Wunder Unders for this middle-aged dame unless I’m wearing them to that yoga class I’ve been meaning to take since before Santa Claus’ beard turned white.
Wunder Under-less or not, I can simplify my life. My well used credit card needs a holiday and I need a break. We’ve become too intimate, me and that little plastic card with its cute little shiny chip that tells me whether I’m approved or not. It’s time to stop getting approval from a little card. It’s time to put some distance between us so we can reassess our relationship with the clarity that comes with time apart.
It’s time to strip out the unessentials from my daily living. To quit filling every nook and cranny with more and experience the joy in what I have.
It’s time to rejoice in what is all around me.
Yup. I’m goin’ commando. I’m going out into the world sans plastic anything to make it all right.
I’m excited! It’s a great way to support my daughter and the perfect way to simplify my life.
And while I won’t be wearing Wunder Unders, my world will be shinier and brighter as I strip off the clutter all around and stop feeding my acquisitive nature with more stuff. There’s no meaning to be found in more stuff. What makes my life rich and beautiful are the people I love and the relationships that bring such amazing grace to my world.
Namaste.
To visit Alexis’ blog, click HERE. And do tell her I sent you 🙂
Dare Boldly 
It’s amazing when we finally see the gift that is in each and every one of us and there is nothing we can buy ourselves or someone else that can make us better at being ourselves, with the exception of maintenance and knowledge of course! I have finally had that long hard look in the mirror and realized that keeping weight on is almost the same thing. Imagine my shock when I figured that one out. I am not motivated by how I am going to look, but I am motivated by how I am going to feel. Being slimmer is like throwing away all that (emotional) stuff I have been hanging on to, even though that just doesn’t “fit” me anymore.
Reading your blog reminded me of how enticed we are to always HAVE more and better, even that effortless slim perfect little body that is promised to us if only we buy this program or that product and then it sits on the shelf because it really did nothing like it promised. BUT, what if I promised myself to have the body that is most healthy for ME and not someone else? And not motivated by being a Beauty Starlett and the perfect size 4 to have the approval of others. And so what if it is lumpy? I happen to love lumpy people, who look as though they can take a hit or two and still stay standing strong in themselves.
I really think it’s more about who we are and what deeds we performed, at the end of the day. Few will remember what we have.
What I know about you is your huge heart, your beautiful self that grew out of the ashes of your pain, your awesome smile, and that mischieveous nature of yours. I could say more about who you are than what you have. You are love in action.
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What a beautiful and inspiring message Sheryl. thank you. And so true — few will remember what we have. You are a beautiful light. Blessings my friend.
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I am going over to check out your daughters blog and will tell her you sent me now that is out of the way…………..Lycra…………is not something this short fat middle aged woman would wear out in public no way no how………………I do not want to cause accidents and lets be honest here if someone saw me in Lycra they would stop point laugh and if the didn’t stop they would run into something or someone because they are laughing so hard see there you have a accident………….lol
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LOL — I hear you Joanne! Me too — seriously… lycra in public. hahahahahahaha 🙂 Love your attitude.
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Pingback: Rejoicing in Less is More. « A Year of Rejoicing — Welcome!
I take that back!! I bought a new winter coat this year and tossed the 15 year old one. 🙂
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Wow Diana — whenever I see you, you look fabulous and ‘hip’! I just assumed you were always shopping! 🙂
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Oh wow if only you were a man I’d marry you!!
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Well, if I were a man, I’d marry you too! 🙂
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I love it! I haven’t bought new clothes in some time and I don’t miss it at all!
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Good stuff!
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🙂
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Wow Mark — those are great ideas. I’m going to do it — throw out one thing every day. That, I am sure, will lead to my rejoicing in the things I keep! Cool.
Thanks.
L
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LG,
Less was more for Lao Tszu
And is remarkable for all of us when we try it.
Sadly, too many of us don’t learn by making a conscious decision as we do from adverse events – job loss, bankruptcy, marriage failures etc … that alter our ‘style’ as well as standard of living against our will. I’ve had my share of those.
A year ago I moved to a smaller and less expensive place. I had many reasons. I sold, gave away and tossed out a lot of things – furniture, clothes etc. Then came the move and what was ‘reduced’ was still ‘too much’.
I began a process of throwing away something every day until my ‘excess’ was cured! After a month I’d done the easy things. I got tougher to discard something when it was the last/only one of its kind or type. But I kept at it. The daily toss morphed into ‘regularly’ looking in closets and cupboards to rid myself of things I neither need or use.
In part it has been a ‘reduce my footprint’ exercise but it has also been a ‘shop less’ transformation. Part is austerity, part is living as well or better with much less. Maybe it is a middle-age thing, but I think this can work for anyone.
Mark
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