And then the flood comes and washes it all away!

Material possessions will rust away, wear away or depreciate, but your inner resources, character must never depreciate - Elizabeth Dole

My grandmother always say to me child you keep thinking you are in control.I would laugh and then something like an earthquake would come up on the T.V. and she would say can you stop that? I would still laugh and say Sheils (I call her Sheils) relax I am not even trying to control that! She says you try to control everything else but you are not in control of nothing but you!

 I thought of Sheils when yesterday in my home country I saw scenes of unparalled destruction from floods and landslides, literally washing away some people's homes and possessions! No one in control here baby! My heart went out to the people who were affected by this.

Then I started thinking about material possessions and how I totally identified with having them, don't get me wrong I love nice things and by no means I am trying to trivialise the enormity of yesterday's events, I think everyone should have them but when is enough enough, when do we start becoming what we have?  I have learned that everything you own does not define you. I learnt that the things that you think will give you freedome most times keeps you in bondage!

Dr Jill Bolte Taylor reminded me of this in her book A Stroke of Insight, she had it all, a Harvard trained brain scientist who had "everything"  then one morning had a stroke and as she said considered now that she lost "everything". Can you go out and buy your speech and movement after its been  lost? No! Puts things in perspective. She says "in one fell swoop the rosiness of life and my promising future evaporated, I watched my mind completely deteriorate. I could not walk, talk,read,write or recall any aspects of my life"
Now fully cured she says she us a totally new person. Do we need to have a stroke to start over? No, Some of us get life experiences to start over, maybe this natural disaster is a wake up call. Be more compassionate to your fellow human being, worry less about material things that you own that can be replaced, plant more trees, stop littering and respect the space you were gifted on this earth with!
So what did I learn today?
Human beings are programmed to resist that which they fear, that they cannot control. In the end fear and resistance knocks you flat on your behind, detach the emotion of a situation, integrate what you can use and discard the rest. Everything you want is a part of you. Everything you own does not define you, everything you need is right where you are.
Peace!!

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