Letting go can be a difficult

This weekend I have been letting go of many possessions of mine that I have been keeping for years. So I finally decided to give them to someone else In my garage sale this past weekend. Some of these possessions I have had for many years only using them a couple of times, if even that. Other possessions/toys of mine I had played with more at a younger age but now I am not inspired to use them in the same way that I use to; Yet its been difficult to let go of them because of the emotional memories of how they made me feel in the past. So they have just been sitting in boxes in the garage ever since then. It's ok to keep things when you know how and when your going to use it in the future but i think it prevents growth if the only reason your keeping it is to not lose that past part of yourself. These are some of the things that I have learned during this process as I master the art of letting go of my material possessions:

1. The value that we find in our possessions is based on our experiences of how we've interacted with it through out our life, not the object itself

After having so many emotional positive experiences connecting with a certain thing that we feel close to (even a person, pet or place), we began to subconsciously associate that thing and that emotional experience as the same thing; Creating a conditioned response every time we interact with it. Then when something happens and we are never able to connect with that thing again, we are sad because we feel like we lost those emotions that we had when we connected with it. In the classic experiment made by Pavlov he would ring a bell (CS) every time he fed his dogs (UCS), eventually he taught them to salivate (CR) as a response to ringing the bell (CS). He did this by ringing the bell (CS) while he fed them (UCS), causing an unconditioned response to be directly correlated with a conditioned stimulus, thus turning it into a conditioned response. My point is that we often do this with possessions; Connecting a feeling or an emotion (UCR) to something we connect with (CS) that is precious to us, eventually this becomes a conditioned response (CR) with the possession that we connect with. The weakness of this is when the the possession gets lost, broken or is no longer useful to you, it becomes difficult to let go of it.

2. you owning something of high value in the eyes of other respected peers does not make you a classier or better person

We desire material things that are most talked about and respected by our peers in the groups we hang out with. This can be anything like the new video game that just came out or the fanciest designer clothes that everyone is wearing now, all depending on the friends that you are staying close with. Often there is a rush for these items to create a feeling of being equal to or better than your peers. Now that social media exist this happens even more often through out the day, since its not longer necessary to be with a person to connect with them. People constantly posting pictures of the newest and best thing they have acquired. Receiving attention in large amounts from all there friend and followers, creating one big ego stroking circle.

Sometimes people can be so desperate to fit into a group, that they will do anything it take to fit in, Including sacrificing all there money on that one expensive thing that everyone else has. This type of mentality leads to an endless chase that goes no were, constantly trying to catch up with all of the "popular peoples" lifestyles. Instead, stay centered in your self and create the things that you wish to see existing in the world, then you will be the one looked up to and followed.

3. Having possessions creates a lack of full freedom within our inner being

The more we collect possessions through out our life, the more we are weighed down by them. Creating feeling like we have to guard all of the things we own in some way. Do you have a house or business that you have to run? Maybe even pets or a garden to attend to? Well now you are not fully free to be anywhere without first thinking about how to take care of all those things in your absence. Of course there can be a fine balance between these two things but one who is really free of all possessions can be anywhere, at anytime and does not even need to give a second thought about it.

4. Playing the collecting game is a game that never ends.

Since all of us our constantly expanding, unless you define the borders of that which you want to collect, it is an endless game to try to collect things that you don't actually need. If you enjoy the pursuit of that which you are collecting then I encourage you to continue to do so, otherwise it's best to stop now. In my experience, one of the greatest examples of this is with Pokemon; I once was a Pokemon master, because I did indeed collect them all (1 generation). Then I collected them all again when the second generation came out and still enjoyed myself while doing it. But it never ended, they always seemed to "discover" new Pokemon

By the time the 3rd generation came out I was already bored with doing the same thing each game, so i decided to quit. Time passes, the next time I check out Pokemon they had come out with six generations. That's more than 600 fucking Pokemon. Poor kids of the new generation, they have an impossible task ahead of them, yet they follow the same propaganda like slogan "Gotta catch them all!"

The same is true about all creations. There will always be new inventions, new fun things to acquire and collect. But in the end that which stays with you is the experiences and knowledge. Cherish these things most and put them before anything else.

5. Using things as a crutch and inevitable creating a handicap for yourself.

This is such a common occurrence now that we've reached the technology era. The more computers start doing extra task for us the more and more we will see this occur. The less we do these tasks and the more dependent on technology we will be, in the end using it exactly like we would a crutch Almost all the people I know have a smartphone (a mini computer) in there pocket almost at all times. Using it for talking to people, remembering phone numbers, calculating numbers, playing games, pictures, video, audio recordings, notes, text, directions, internet, using it as a search engine resource to all questions thought, and many more things; The list literally does not end.

While reading a great blog post by @inforvore on human cyborg augmentations, I talked about being nervous when cyborg implants exist everywhere and the possibility of it being forced on us by government. While reading the comment section I saw @burnin present an idea that I never thought about.

Smartphones may not be implanted in our bodies, but are almost unremovable appendages of modern humans.
The wearables and internables you mention are mostly about hardware and sensors, but I feel there's a lot of power on the cloud, processing and storage wise.
People stopped memorizing phone numbers, schedules and facts and depend on their almost cyborg augmentation to look these things up on demand. Looking forward to see where that ends up as people get more and more connected.

It's really true what he says. I guess we really are more interconnected with the possessions we have (especially technology) than I originally thought. Smartphones and computers are just one of the examples of many other technological invention that have caused a dependency handicap on a high majority of us. This happens so much that we actually create more machines (like workout equipment) to help us overcome the weaknesses that happen by not doing as much because of all the things that technology does for us now. Here's a few more quick examples of things that cause this: Cars, dryers, washing machines, riding lawn mowers, lighters, chainsaws, etc. These are the first things that I can think of off the top of my head.

Still learning to become less attached to all of my possessions

Throughout my life I have had many things and stuff that were mine. I feel very fortunate to receive all these things that I have acquired over my life time. I still have trouble letting go of my possession because of how many memories each one of them has. One day I would desire to know what it was like to absolve my self of everything that I own, but at the same time I really don't want that. It's a very conflicting desire that I have had for a long time and still confuses me to this day. I'm still trying to find a balance between both of these feelings.

How do you feel about your possession and all the things that you own? Do you feel they are weaknesses or strengths?

-ballinconscious

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Image Sources:
(1)-(2)-(3)-(4)-(5)-(6)-(7)
Articles referenced:
Pavlov's Dogs at simplypsychology.org
the rise of the human cyborgs outsmarting smartphones and the internables trend

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