Before I left for the monastery I surveyed the things I “own” in this life. I came to the satisfying conclusion that basically everything I own in this life, with the exception of my car, could fit into one bedroom.



Every once in a while, like today(12/2/14), I revisit that fact, and to be it brings feelings of great joy. The more I give away, the more free I feel. Even the small things that I’ve collected over the years, and there is still plenty yet to give away.



I’ll give an example from today. A visiting monk from Germany is here and asked to charge his iphone on my laptop because the computer here at Bhavana doesn’t have any usb connections(yes.. it IS that old). I of course said no problem and allowed him to use one of my usb connections.



Later on in the day up in my room I was organizing and going through stuff and I found a wall plug in I had from my old Iphone that a usb can connect to. I asked Bhante if he had one of these and he did not so I gave it to him. SCORE! one less thing to own and even given to someone else who could use it.



It’s a new year! Out with the old, and out with the old! Try this in your own life. I don’t mean give up everything and move to a monastery, I mean every 6 months or so do a purge. Go through your home, especially places where tons of stuff accumulates like a basement, and go through everything, throw stuff away, give stuff away, have a garage sale.



Then notice the feeling of lightness, or freedom, you’ll feel when there is less stuff in your life, almost like you are Atlas holding up the world and the burden just got a little lighter.