YOU have become a collector over the years. Memories, good and bad, you have them, by the bucketful, stacked in yellowing photographs in frayed and tattered albums.
You used to dutifully collect them, way back when printed photos were the norm. But now you have them in your phones, in your computers, in USB drives and external hard drives in gigabytes of digital images and now in terabytes in cloud storage.
Somehow you long for the printed ones. These are important specially when the neurons in our brains begin to malfunction, the myelin sheath of our nervous system circuitry begins to fray as a natural order of aging. Photos will become mental crutches as memories fade.
We became collectors of stuff as well. Admit it. There’s the spirit of a pack rat lurking in most of us. We load ourselves with stuff. Society encourages us. Witness the success of Costco, those warehouses and public storage companies. We buy as much or more than we really need or, in many cases, can really afford to pay in cash.
So we have far more stuff than we need: clothes, shoes, furniture, linen, décor, technology, gizmos and gadgets and collectibles of all sorts like baseball cards, guns, antiques, books, kitchen ware, cars and whatever else one thinks is valuable to collect. Our apartments, homes and garages are bursting at the seams that we even feel the need to rent public storage spaces.
Here’s a thought that may well be worth considering as we try to TRAVEL LIGHT during this segment of our life’s journey. We have been taught to invest early in real estate or in financial instruments so we can reap the benefits of investments over time in our retirement years. This is wise counsel for all and it pays to take heed. Keep resources liquid. But when it comes to stuff, you become a contrarian and do the reverse instead.
DIVEST EARLY.
Earmark those special high quality items that you have enjoyed but have no use for anymore and carefully consider giving to people in your immediate or even far-flung orbit who might appreciate it and use it and perhaps even remember you from time to time.
It might be that dainty English porcelain teacup set you bought in an antique shop on a whim that you have on display for decades in your china cabinet. Give it to someone who enjoys taking tea. Or it could be a piece of antique heirloom jewelry that you can give to an appreciative relative or friend or just an acquaintance. Or, how about giving away piece by piece, your collection of designer bags hidden away in your closet, forgotten and unused?
Okay, here’s the key. Divest wisely and choose recipients well. Give it to someone who can and will use it and not stash it away forgotten once more.
In short, filter out those whom you know have too much of everything and will likely shrug off the value of your gift. Don’t give to ingrates and spoiled brats. More than likely, this is going to be a hit and miss operation. But over time, with practice, you will eventually develop a well-honed instinct to find the deserving ones in your orbit.
If you can’t find anyone, giving to Goodwill, Salvation Army and other organizations of the sort is a good idea. It may be simpler too. Divesting early is a way of paying forward for all the blessings we have received even if sometimes we didn’t deserve any of it. The payback is that you get to see the smiles and the genuine appreciation from the recipients who will be blessed by the item while you are still around.
What do you get in return? Maybe nothing… Maybe some deep satisfaction only a genuinely generous giver gets when you find the right recipient. The circle of use for that special item begins to have a ripple effect of good over time.
In divesting ourselves of it, we clear the space it once occupied as the blessing of that special item moves to another. We will feel lighter too. Guaranteed. There is beauty and poetry in an empty space.
The Japanese, with their minimalist sense of beauty, order and composition, may be ahead of the curve on this matter.
Our space is limited and so is our time on earth. How we use these can define the remaining segment of our life’s journey.
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The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.
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Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya is SVP of Asian Journal Publications, Inc. To send comments, e-mail monette.maglaya@asianjournalinc.
