Summer (and change) is in the air

It's summer time! And for some reason, it's always this time of the year (even more so than New Year's) that I feel the need to make goals and changes in my life. Yesterday when I was at the airport, I noticed the man in front of me walking on to the plane with nothing. For all I know he could have checked all of his luggage, but regardless, the idea that he took nothing onto the plane fascinated me. I always have multiple sources of entertainment for the duration of the flight - what I like to think of as the "essentials" for flying - a book, ipod, gum, gossip magazine, maybe a notebook to jot down ideas, and headphones in case a good movie is playing. And the fact that someone would walk onto a plane without any of that seemed intriguing. Let me rewind a bit: two hours before that I was stuck paying overweight baggage charges for one of my suitcases that was ten pounds over the weight limit. I think the combination of these two events was a reminder that it is time to rid my life of the things I don't "need." It's easy to get caught up in buying material possessions - I'll be the first to admit that I love a new pair of shoes, a purse, jewelry, whatever it may be. For some reason, shopping and acquiring new things is fun and exciting. But I think there is a limit. We don't need anything - as a matter of fact this reminds me of the weekend I spent at the monastery. The monks are living their life - fulfilled and happy - with zero things. I think they own the robes they wear and that's about it. And somehow they manage to get by. My point is this: I'm going to take note of the things that are cluttering my suitcase, and my life, and try to weed them out slowly but surely. I am not just talking about material possessions either - I've recognized that some of the things I need to remove from my life are poor habits or an over packed schedule. And there's no better time than now! I'm going to keep a running list of what I come up with and post it at a later date.

How about you - any clutter in your own life that you'd like to remove?

"The externals are simply so many props; everything we need is within us" - Etty Hillesum