We have found a house we will make a home & we move in on Friday of this week. It is a simple home with a lovely view of the ocean - a sea change. It is a move I'm looking forward to with the anticipation of new resolutions - because I always make them with a new change - new perception; 'cause I think that naturally happens when you physically change places & I have fresh hopes. I know that the beach is really good for you, especially when you walk along the shoreline. The ions are negative - a good thing for the human body - they give you that really alive, fresh, aware type feeling.
This will be our local beach & isn't the exact view from our house. I will show you one once we are there though.
We have been packing, sorting, recycling, discarding, selling, giving-away & cleaning both physically & mentally. The children have been also moving things around, hopping in & out of boxes, finding long lost little items around the house, oh & fighting. They have been cared for but also left to their own devices a bit more than usual. This often causes a few more conflicts & of course some tears. I found them standing in the fridge yesterday & realised that, yes it was dinner time & they were simply feeding themselves because they had to. They found milk, Dutch biscuits & apples. What did I think? Resourceful. Self-sufficient. A balanced choice ; )
In terms of what we are taking materially, I have packed boxes according to need. The ones marked G will stay in the garage until they need to be opened or recycled. It is simply the attachment I have to these things that make me hold on to them. But looking at all our stuff in boxes all stacked neatly next to each other I think, 'how do we have that much stuff?' But, do you know what? - instead of being overwhelmed by it, I'm choosing to be grateful for it & I'm also choosing to remain equanimous about it all. & relatively speaking we don't have an embarassingly large amount of stuff. At a recent green study of our home I was able to say, 'no, we don't have the following'; plasma tv, microwave oven, boat, multiple tv's, towel warmers...
We have streamlined our possessions & I want to do a bit more. One of my favourite movie scenes is when Jimmy Stewart has to leave his home. He goes over to a cupboard, takes a suitcase off the top of it, opens it, puts in a couple of shirts, closes it, puts on his hat & turns to leave. This is my ultimate idea of moving. I pride myself on living on very little - also I'm a little bit lazy & I don't want to carry anything heavy - on my last trip to India I took 7kg. But how much did I bring back? Yeah, good point, lots!!! Embroidered, gorgeous fabric is so heavy!
