Detachment

I have lots of 'stuff' ~ not unlike most of the people I know ~ yet somehow I find myself wondering how I got to the point of owning so much that I often feel owned by it.

When I was younger (not so very long ago), I lived fairly simply in a studio apartment and I was happy. It was a simpler time in my life, a more reserved time, a slower time.

When I think about nothing owning me, another sensation passes through my being: this is not only about 'stuff.' It's also about the ideas and beliefs that I have. When I get caught up in them, tangled in the web of 'being right,' I am owned by these notions. I am attached to how right I am in my particular thoughts or beliefs.

What I like about Ali Ibn abi Talib's statement is that it reminds me of the importance of detachment in my life. It reminds me that nothing is important enough to own me; that I need less than I insist on having, no matter what I choose.

What do you insist on 'owning'? How does that ownership in turn own you? What are you willing to do to change that?