Give it away.

Lighten the Load

“The Desert Fathers and Mothers understood that clinging to possessions, no matter how precious or beautiful, is a form of servitude. We cannot easily move when we are burdened by the things, however lovely, we carry on our backs.”
Paula Houston (Simplifying the Soul)

Native Americans tribes once had a tradition called the ‘give away’. If the tribe grew too large there was danger of over-hunting the territory. Part of the tribe would then move sufficiently far away to provide new hunting grounds. The families who moved to new territory gave away all but the bare essentials. This practice served two purposes: it lightened the load of the travelers, and it provided the beginnings of a household for new couples and young adults just starting out.

While visiting an art museum in Fairhope, Alabama, I saw the wood sculptures of Craig Turner Sheldon. He had lived in a handmade castle-house and created whimsical creatures with names like, ‘The Resentful Two-Footed Tortoise’ and ‘Twistroufus Hysterious’. The docent at the museum told me that they had received the collection quite by accident when an Arizona couple wrote to ask if the museum would like to have them. Mr. Sheldon had kept no records of his sales, so no one knew where his work had gone. I was told, “He might sell one sculpture for $20,000.00, and then just give another one away to someone who liked it.” The gift from the Arizona couple had provided almost the entire collection of “Lost Critters.”

Another Native American belief was that when you gave something dear to you away, you accrued the positive energy of that gift. One was increased, rather than diminished, by giving away. The rest of us might take a lesson from this. Today, give something away; preferably, something that you are not using but feel an emotional attachment to. Give it to someone who really needs it. You may find that the simple act of giving away a precious possession feels a lot like liberation.

In the spirit,
Jane