Valuable Possessions

What do your possessions say about you?
How attached are you to your things?
Are you defining yourself by the things you own?
You are more valuable than your possessions.

Hello, My Friends

Hubby and I experienced a first this week.
We watched as the heavens opened’ and dumped a heap of water in a very short time frame.
Intrigued we watched as the water began to flood into the culvert at the corner of our property.
It took a few minutes to register that the culvert was not coping with the run off.
Within 30 minutes the road was under water, which was gushing in torrents from the hill, and swiftly exiting down the driveway of the property over the road.
We remained calm and unconcerned, until the water began to fill our front yard, swallowing the driveway, drowning the gardens and eventually surrounding the house.
That feeling of fear crept in when we realized we were going to be flooded out, and had to elevate the things we deemed important, to protect them from water damage.

I’m so glad I have been working with my brain, teaching her not to panic.
Training her that everything that happens to me is for my benefit, and if we were flooded then something good will come from it.
We could calmly go through the house deciding what is important and what wasn’t so important.
I remember when we sold our bigger house, to downsize to this little space, we chose to (at the time it was a have to, and that didn’t feel good at all. So I’ve changed the script to something that feels better and gives me back my power.)
Anyway, we chose to sell a lot of our bigger bulky furniture, which to me it was valuable, however, to the purchaser, it meant nothing, it was a bargain to be had.
My self-esteem was tied to my possessions. The process of selling, almost giving away the furniture that had taken me a long time to find, and pay for was heart wrenching.

The silver lining in the downsizing was that after about six months of fuming, raging and telling anyone who would listen how unfair the buyer was, who unfair the process of down sizing was, I began to realize I had made a decision.
I was not forced to sell, I could have chosen a different way of handling the excess furniture. AND holding onto the anger was not serving me, everytime I thought about this situation I got angry. AND gave my power away.
The best part of all, was the growth within me. I discovered that I was purchasing beautiful things for the wrong reasons. I had purchased the beautiful furniture for the status I received from owning them.
My self-esteem was wrapped in the stuff I owned, when we took away the stuff and I was left emotionally naked.
I didn’t like what I saw, I found the unworthiness staring back at me very uncomfortable.

Coaching 101: embrace the uncomfortable, it is an opportunity to learn about yourself.

So, back to our near flooding experience, I was able to choose those items that meant a lot to me, without the money bias, without the self worth triggers.
I could choose those things that I valued for the memories they possessed, for the difficulty in replacing them, for the beauty factor.
I found this process so interesting compared to five short years ago, when I was flipping out over my stuff.

Sometimes we don’t realize how far we have grown, or moved on our journey until we have something to shine a light on the differences between then and now.

If you were in a situation similar to this, (I hope you aren’t,) what would you want to save and why?
What are your valuables? What do these valuables say about you? What about the valuables you’d have to leave behind?
Everything we own, tells a story about who we are and what we believe and value, about ourselves, about our finances, about society, about what we accept and what we don’t.

Today’s challenge is …
If you could retrieve five things from flood waters at knee height, that threatened to run through your dwelling, what would those five things be and why are you choosing them. (All people and animals are automatically safe in this scenario.)

Until next week, be safe, and explore what you value and why you value it.

oxoxo Linda

As a certified Life Coach, I help you to help yourself, so you can create a well lived life your way. 

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