Dumping the Fear

Way back in May of this year I had a personal revelation of sorts regarding fear in my life and how it motivated so many of my actions. It did and it still does to an extent, but its hold on me is less. I wrote about my feelings regarding this subject HERE but realized yesterday after watching Oprah and her bit on life in Denmark, that I still have a long way to go.

The recent economic situation in this country has left many folks realizing that the American lifestyle is a bit like lining up domino's, one thing falls, like your job for instance, and all the other things in life just tumble like that long row of domino's when the first one hits the next one.

Its your job, then your health coverage, next your house and car and soon you find that everything has tumbled into a depth of despair that is very hard to climb out of. Which in turn might be part of the motivation for this country becoming a nation of hoarders. We have houses full of stuff, then fill the garage, then we rent storage space or buy a storage building. And continue to shop, even if its just shopping at yard sales because there might be something out there that we might need sometime in the future or is just a deal too good to pass by, even if we never really need the item.

We have kitchens with cabinet space for a small army. We have pantry's full of enough food for a month and maybe even for a season, when we go to the store every week and often times more than that. Many have 4 sets of sheets for each bed, just because we want them, not need them.

We have closets so full of clothes some having a few sizes, just because we MIGHT want them if we ever loose that extra weight, only thing is, when we do loose the weight, we want to reward ourselves with NEW clothes, not drag out the old stuff. And then we have all the things we might need if that first domino falls.

Watching Oprah yesterday regarding the Danish lifestyle, it hit me straight on that they don't have houses full of stuff, because they don't live in fear, worried that if they loose their job, its going to be that domino effect. It just doesn't happen for them. They have safety nets in place, civilized options for folks that need a bit of help. There was a statement made by one of the Danish women when Oprah made a comment about Denmark being a Democratic country but with many programs that are of a Socialistic nature, and the response was, that they didn't see those programs as socialist, but as civilized ! Its civilized to want to take care of people.

I looked around my house, and all the corners are peppered with things I might need some day. The shower has a couple kinds of shampoos in the corners, not one, but more than one. I really only need one bottle at a time ! My sewing room is full of fabric I bought because it was pretty and MIGHT use some day for some project I MIGHT have in the future but was afraid they might not have it when I might need it. I have baskets of pretty yarn I MIGHT use some day but had to buy it because I was afraid they might not have it when I wanted it. AFRAID, is not a good motivation. Fears, both silly and grounded on what ?

Many of us have homes that need to be cleaned before guests arrive, and we take photos of rooms only after we have cleaned and pose things for the camera away from the chaos that somehow just seems to have appeared from our need to HAVE something just in case we needed it someday.

What freedom it would be to live without fear and live in the moment, and concentrate our time and energy on life at hand, on living this one day. That sounds quite civilized to me. Personally, I want to live with less fear as a motivator for my actions.

Here are a couple links from yesterdays Oprah Show

Living Simply In Denmark

"For the past 30 years, scientific researchers and survey results have all reached the same conclusion—Danes are consistently happier than the rest of the world."