The Removal of Irrelevancies

From a Vedic perspective possessions are fun to have but we learn through our Vedic Meditation practice there comes a point when when we need to edit out what is no longer useful or relevant. The removal of irrelevancies instantly lightens your mood, you feel less encumbered by 'stuff' that is just sitting around and occasionally used, and there are often other viable ways of experiencing or using them such as a digital version or renting.

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful - William Morris

Over the past three years, as part of an ongoing attempt to adhere to Morris's exhortation, I have consistently reduced my belongings.

Sentiment is often the hurdle to be crossed in this exercise and I have noticed that things which I wanted to keep the first time round have lost their appeal on a subsequent inspection.

A recent example was my considerable collection of CDs ranging from opera and classical to world and jazz. Some of those CDs I had had for a very long time and were old friends helping me through some rough times, soothing me, others enhanced an existing lively mood but on every occasion those sounds were life affirming.

With so much emotion attached to many of the discs how could I throw them out? Ultimately the answer was easy. I took photos of the discs to help make Spotify playlists, editing out my least favoured tracks. Those useful CD racks have been re-purposed elsewhere and I now have more space and a digital reduced library of music I can listen to anywhere at any time.

The next step was to dispose of the CDs. Fortunately I have a 'music exchange' nearby and they were happy to purchase all of them leaving me with the funds to go to a live concert.

Meditation could help you manage the pressures of modern life better. Come along to one of our free introductory talks currently held online or in person, observing social distancing measures.