In A Rapidly Moving, Changing Everything...

Since childhood, I have always accumulated many things from the previous year--books, notebooks, pictures and souvenirs. Now, you can imagine how much stuff I am always left with at the end of the year. And how much stuff I have accumulated over the years.

I try to keep less and throw away things that may not be important, yet, I still end up with a lot of things in my "to keep" file. How do you throw away letters or notes from friends? How do you just let go?

However difficult it is to let go of things, it is much more difficult to let go of people or the past. Change is inevitable, but it is never easy. People change, things change, situations change. It is a fact of life.

Many times, I have gone through situations where I have been left behind. I cling on to memories and experiences, spend too much time thinking and reliving them. I wallow in my emotions, even if this is not the way of the world. This world teaches us to go very, very fast and let go of things in a flash.

Do you feel comfortable in a world of fast food and instant everything? I am not.

I know that it is not good to hold on to things past, to things that are no longer there, no longer valid, no longer true. Yet, I cannot cope fast enough to live in a society where things are discarded so easily. Along with fast and instant everything, we are so quick to grow tired of things. Thus, things are built not to last. We have plastics and non-repairable things, to keep up with our ever-changing and easily-swayed ways.

The downside is that our wasteful ways are taking a toll on our earth. We keep getting and discarding things, meanwhile, our world is not expanding. We live in a finite planet, yet we are consuming in rapid speeds for more people than are actually living.

Yes, there is value in letting go. But things must run their course. It is difficult to imagine that we were meant to use things only once or twice, then just be done with them. In the same way, we can have our things, cherish our memories, then let go in due time. There is no shortcut to letting go. This depends on each individual. Some can do it so rapidly, while others need a bit more time.

Each person is a work in progress. Yet we are not so powerless as not to have control over at least some part of our lives. "Waste not, want not," they say, and that is a good adage to live by. Use things and experiences as best you can, and then, when you are ready, let go and more importantly, let God.