The Good Heart Project: Give it Away

I have always wanted to follow the impulse to give away all of my clothing and live with a basic set. I wanted to become some aesetic and live in a complete modest manner with the hope that a bare minimum will give me appreciation for what I had, what I have, and no longer judge myself on what I do not have. Honestly, a girl likes to accessorize and wear heels on dress up days so this is not an easy feat.

Yesterday I did laundry and I sat in my living room ALL day sorting through clothing. Pretty shirts, shirts I’ve outgrown, pants, sweaters. I kept a laundry basket full of pants/shorts/shirts/sweaters for myself and placed over half of it in a pile to be given away. I believe I have 3 pairs of slacks left which means I’m going to be doing laundry periodically and keeping the combos to a restricted limit.Some of the items went back and forth between “keep” and “give” a couple times. Then I asked, do I REALLY NEED this? Most of the time the answer was no.

I want to give away things that I LOVE not just discard things that no longer serve a purpose. There’s no real heart in giving away what you do not want anymore.

It’s a practice that I’ve heard a lot of elders use. This idea of permanency of material objects was not solid, it was fluid and non-permanent.

Someone says,” I love those earrings that you’re wearing.”

and that is your cue to take them off and hand them over. Whenever I travel, I bring some of my extra necklaces and if I feel that a certain necklace fits a certain person I give it to them. I’ve given away a beautiful multistranded necklace from Nicaragua, a button necklace from Guatemala, necklaces I’ve accumulated on my travels… Poof! gone. Try it sometime, give away something that you love. It feels good if you let it feel good. 🙂

(PS I have tagged depression in this because, I may seem to have it altogether I still struggle and this is a part of my journey back)