If we are not piling on the pounds, we are filling our pantry to the brim, the freezer is bursting at its seams and our clothes bought just a month ago are stashed away behind an enormous pile of “to be worn”. It’s the age of “Amazon” and “Online shopping”. Running out of maple syrup, hang on a minute, you don’t need to wait till the weekly grocery shop, just “Amazon” it! Got a birthday coming up of a friend relative nephew niece, oh sod it who wants to get to the shops or even deal with socialising with them not to mention watching the toddler whack the spaghetti on the walls, we can just “Amazon” it right to their doorstep!
The last ten days here in our gaff have been all about letting go of the “excess” and identifying that there is a building of not already established addiction to “excess” disguised as:
- the sales are on I must grab that
- Oh my toddler might enjoy that
- Oops run of out of cacao hmmm will get it on Amazon it’s cheap in bulk; ermmmm things keep falling out of the cupboards hmmm but it’s cheaper oh sod it let’s just get it
- We need to keep up the appearances so we must send a gift to the family we haven’t even seen for more than a year
You can add so many more little reasons we give ourselves to keep filling the pantry, our cupboards and whatever else we keep obsessing with. Okay, maybe not obsessing with, but definitely finding any excuse to spend that money so you can get the little kick it gives you – the click. You can get anything at a click. You want medical advice? Just click. Even a friend to talk to, just click.
So we love a white cardigan, big do we really have to have about ten of the same kind? How about if we had just one quality decent white cardigan?
What is it that is creating this excess? Can we compare this do an addiction? One that brings home the feel good hormones and neurotransmitters?
And it doesn’t have to be a binge shop. Just anything that is “excess”.
Some of us may “binge” on television, gadgets, baking ware, even household items. You want to find something out, just “Google” it. The romance of getting into a library and locating a book that might have the answer is simply asking for too much.
Why have we suddenly become hamsters on a wheel?
Can you identify the excess in your life? Are there things in your house you haven’t used for at least a year that you simply cannot let go of? What are the reasons you have given?
We hold on to “stuff” even though it’s sat there gathering dust taking up space, to avoid dealing with the “void”. We don’t want to feel the “void”.
We hold on to “stuff” even when it’s past it’s expiry date, because of “lack”. We don’t trust providence. We want to hold on so tight to “things” that are just “things”.
Do we also then hold on to people in our lives past their stay whether they are dead or alive?
Excess comes in so many forms and is just one more way of filling a hole in us – an unmet infantile need. Or an unresolved trauma.
When we feel full at the brim we have no space for “excess” and no excuses either to entertain for keeping the “excess”. This includes anything that feels icky and grating on your space. It’s a trigger- it’s telling of our mind space. It is not the thing itself but rather our attachment to it, and interpretation of it.
Excess of itself is not dangerous – it is the space it fills in us that keeps us from us that is risky business. Having that excess rids us of the space we need to create a void of potential.
The potent creative force within needs space to explore what’s latent.
Can you think of anything that needs to go?