Of samples and other stuff

Tiny reproductions or test tube like samples, mini versions of the original. Travel size versions and those magazine samples that you rip out absent mindly while leafing through the latest fashion... all these bits are pieces are now the focus of my "toilette" as I attempt to finish them off before the movers arrive. Its mostly fun but sometimes weird, especially when I use a perfume that really isn't me!

When in the news they mention the Diogenes syndrome (those people that accumulate trash in their homes) I think most people in first world countries suffer this syndrome up to a certain degree. We might not accumulate foul smelling trash per se, but in most homes we accumulate so much more "stuff" than we actually need or use!

When I began with this whole cleaning out project, it was as a means to keep busy during a period of time in which I was very limited as to what I could do, including attention span (physical pain does strange things to the mind) and mobility. Never would I have thought this would become such a healthy - and fun! - mental exercise. And, somewhere along the way, something strange happened. I stopped seeing this as a time filler and a bit of a sacrificial offering, and realized how liberating it was to get rid of unnecessary stuff! To find it a new owner who could make so much more out of it.

Not that I am ever going to turn into a hermit who lives off what she finds in nature. But I do think that, little by little, I will whittle down my belongings to a more rational amount. There are three things I'll probably always have alot of: books, clothes (even if there is no shopping in the near future what is currently in my cupboards can see me through many years) and, whenever I have occasion to start over, plants (they're like my pets, just that instead of making me sneeze, they help clean up the air in my home, making it easier for me to breath). Its hard to have to bid them good bye, but my friend Sam has helped find them a good new home - thanks Sam!

In the meantime I will continue finishing off those samples, one at a time. Its a tough job, but someone's got to do it! ;-)