Don't get obsessed with possessions or they will possess you!

Having stuff leads to clutter. Having clutter leads to stress. Stress can KILL you. I used to have a lot of things. I realized just how much of it was useless crap after my husband left and after I got rid of the junk (which is what it was), I went through a period where I accumulated a lot of things that I thought I wanted. I learned about FlyLady and realized how hampered I was by clinging to all of these things. I shed what I didn't love. In the process, I realized what was important to me. But then the economy crashed and I had to whittle my things down even more. I went from a 3 bedroom house with a basement, attic and 2-car garage to my bedroom and a storage space (usually another room). And with each move I made, I (unintentionally) lost more because I couldn't move it. The last was the worst-I lost a lot of stuff that was irreplaceable. And after this last move, I don't want to go through it ever again. Now I don't value things nearly as high as I used to. I can replace a book, a camera, a piece of clothing, but I cannot replace people. And over the last few years, I've learned that if I'm out of sight, I'm out of the minds of those I once considered friend. And that's how I changed my attitude.

Back in the '80s there were three women in my office who all had BMW's. Every Monday they would sweep into the office talking about where they drove that weekend in their cars. They would even say things like, "Oh, I drove my BMW to the grocery store yesterday." Of course, they were trying to impress the rest of us with their financial status. Later in the week, if we were told we had to work on Saturday, they would have all kinds of fits complaining that was the only time they had to see their children. I never said anything to them, (we didn't run around in the same group)but I use to think, "Why don't you quit your job, sell your BMW, get a Ford, and live off your husband's salary. Then you could see your children all the time." Their desire to impress the office cost them time with their children. Maybe if we think about what is lost in our desire to impress, we'll realize what is really valuable, especially when we're the only ones who are impressed. I never saw or heard anyone else wowed by these women's cars, only them.

In a highly pervasive commercialized society, materialism is the life style for most of its habitants if not all. Each individual is judged by his/her peers not base on character but from the number of possession he has and often is look at as a symbol of personal riches and achievment by the society at large. The materialistic attitude a person has usually reflect on that person's degree of maturity and level of sound mentality in the pursuit of happiness in his life. Whether he will be possessed by these materials or not is immaterial as far as he is cncerned, as the more he has in possession, he happier he will become. It is sad but true that such sattitude is commonly found in some of the most restrictive country and totalitarian society control tightly by repressive regime.

Having more things is probably a better case, but we still need our traditional values. The web cam and the phone is simply an outcry for reconnecting yet we use it for other mundane uses. Even earlier, Charlie Chaplin said that the planes and the planes and the radio were an outcry for humanity. Where has everything gone?

All you have to do is see someone's (or worse your own) house burn down to the ground to understand your actual feelings about possessions. A few years back our nextdoor neighbors' house burned down completely - everything gone! Luckily their dog that was tied up on the front porch was discovered and saved. Their cat escaped but no one knew that until a few days later when he/she came back. Our neighborhood got in disaster mode and did our best to help them out but there's so much that you can't replace - photos of the children as babies, heirlooms, etc. But they knew, the whole family, that the important thing is everybody was safe. Things are just things no matter how much you paid for them. I think it just takes a little experience to really know their value.

In this generation people are more particular with possessions, I was wondering why. I dont get it when some of them buys a new model of iPhone when they have their old ones. they just want everything updated just to go with the thing of being updated and in. I read a page on one of my favorite inspirational book called "Daily Bread". it is said there "What you Have Does make you who others think you are , But it does not mold you into what God wants you to be". People thinks tha having greater possessions brings them real happiness, the truth is, the most worthy thing we could ever possessed is HIS LOVE:)

All we can really do to induce change honestly is change ourselves. Mass merchandising has instituted mass change in people at large, by studying our psyche, hidden desires, and fears, and molding them to make us into better consumers and possessors. By recognizing this, exploring oyrselves, and paying attemtion, we can change or control that impulse in ourselves and be an example to others who decide to do the same.

Actually, for me, we cannot question people buys expensive things they want. In the first place, it's their money they uses to buy. But yeah, you got the point that they're too much depending with those.

It's very good to be particular about what you possess. I was always a very self-indulgent person. As a child growing up in the 50's I had a lot of stuff. From the time I was about 35 until about 6 years ago I bought myself whatever I wanted. Whether I had room for it, could use it, needed it, didn't matter. The only relevance it needed was that I wanted it. Yes, I was a compulsive shopper. Then an extremely sad, traumatic thing happened in my life. I felt myself change inside. What happened had nothing to do with shopping, but from that day on I have never bought another thing unless I absolutely needed it (clothes,etc.). Now, I'm trying to get rid of everything. I don't want anything anymore. I find it ironic that I spent all that time buying everything I loved and wanted and now I can't get rid of it fast enough. I have a house full of 30 years worth of stuff. Do you know what a job this is? I have myself to blame. So, do not get too sentimental about your stuff and only buy what you really need or have room for.