Letting Things Go

Dear Family and Friends,

My friend Izumi is a collector. (Her mother was exactly the same.) Not particularly of things of value, but pretty much anything that appealed when she first laid eyes on it. That means her mother’s two-storey home, her rented house, three storage units, her office, and her car are jammed packed with things.

However, because of relentless trouble with a neighbor, Izumi has decided to move. She has a friend who is a kind of psychic. This woman seems to be able to sense if something has positive or negative energy. Izumi has been following her advice, quite literally, for about a year. That is, until it became time to clear out the rental home. 

Her psychic friend has very strong ideas about this situation. “Every single piece there has negative energy. You must get rid of everything! That is the only way positive energy will have more power than the negativity surrounding you now.”

As I said, Izumi has devotedly followed her friend’s advice. But when she and her husband started to clear out the rental place, they realized they could not follow what their friend insisted upon. 

Izumi explained why she was choosing as she was. “I bought these things and I never used them. This shoulder bag’s purpose is to be a shoulder bag. I never allowed it to fulfill its function. I want to bow before each piece I treated that way. I want to apologize and ask forgiveness. Then, maybe, I will feel OK about getting rid of it.”

Izumi seemed to feel genuinely bad about neglecting her many belongings, and also about letting them go. So, I said, “You can also thank them for being what they are. You can visualize them being used by someone else. That way they will have another chance to fulfill their purpose.”

Izumi slightly smiled and said, “Yeah. Maybe.”

As I listened to Izumi’s respectful way of dealing with her belongings, I was reminded of the words people worldwide supposedly say as they are dying. 

Thank you.

I am sorry.

Forgive me.

I love you.

With Profound Thoughts,

Anne