That's the whole meaning of life -- just trying to find a place for all your stuff. --George Carlin

We love our stuff.  Women especially love to shop -- but guys -- well, we love our toys: table saws, boats, riding tractors, hand tools, power tools.  Guys love their stuff so much that we have to build workshops and garages to hold it all.

All this stuff becomes a tollbooth to our happiness.  If we're depressed -- go shopping. If we want to have fun -- buy more toys.

Large items like cars and houses even carry require us to pass through the tollbooth every year for as long as we own them. At least, this toll is paid in every jurisdiction with a property tax. 

How about you? When's the last you tackled the Garage Monster? Did you really throw away everything that you don't need?  Maybe this is a better test: Did you toss everything that you haven't used in the past, let's say, two years?

When we focus on objects for our happiness they become our demanding lovers. Cars, houses, boats, tractors etc., all require maintenance and rob us of our most precious resource -- time. Even items that require little maintenance, if any, such as clothes, shoes, accessories, take time to shop for and require storage.

I have friends who are minimalists and although I deeply respect their life choices, that's not mine. I live in a community where a car is a necessity (and I love it here so I don't want to move to a community with a good public transit system).  So for me owning a car is good thing -- it gives me freedom to enjoy life and to connect with people in neighboring towns. But, do I have to own three cars?

So what's the proper balance? I do think that there are times when more is better. All of my work is done on the web, whether it's writing this blog or building ecommerce sites. I've found that having two monitors has resulted in at least a 25% increase in productivity.

But let's be honest here. My workshop is full of items that I don't need (or at least haven't needed for the past 10 years). Time to clean out and clean up.

On the positive side, I am no longer driven by the need to acquire more. Quite the opposite, actually. One day at a time, one small step at a time, I am simplifying my life. This allows me to better connect with people and to deepen my spirituality.

This is giving me more time for the things I really love. Here's a sampling of the things that I've been able to do in the last year:

  • Took Aikido and Tai Chi classes.
  • Helped start a non-profit called the Living Well Center.
  • Befriended and counseled people who seek recovery from substance abuse.
  • Built a guitar.
  • Met lots of awesome people, some from my neighborhood, others from around the world.

Suggestions for more life, less objects:

Inventory your life and your objects.  Ok, you're not going to appear on Clean House, but how much time do you spend working so that you can acquire more objects in your life? Does it feel balanced? How might you restructure your life to gain more time?

Keep the stuff that brings you joy. My favorite tool is a small Lie-Neilsen block plane. It fits in the palm of my hand and shaves a sliver of wood with each stroke. I can see the perfect smoothness and smell the curl of the shaving as it rolls off. This one is a keeper.   

Simplify your life by releasing your desire for more.  When we feel depressed or lonely, we sometimes we seek to quell our emotions with substances, sometimes drugs, sometimes alcohol, sometimes food, sometimes objects. In any case, it's addictive behavior and it's liberating to be free of its hold. Like food, we do need things, but also like food -- do we need so much? There's a choice here: Keep the stuff that gives us joy or makes us more productive and get rid of the excess.  

Connect with others. I not talking about through twitter or facebook or by phone. I mean connect with a real live human face-to-face. Have a cup of coffee. Take an old friend to lunch. Listen to what they have to say. Really pay attention and seek to understand them a little better. The way to connect with anyone starts with listening (For an excellent discussion of how connect and make lasting friendships go here).

Realize that in the end love is all that matters. You're not going to bring all of your possessions six feet under so start releasing some now and start living. You really have precious little time left here on earth. By using it wisely, you can strengthen your connection with the higher power of your own choosing, create lasting friendships and give back through random, and not so random acts, of kindness. These are the things of life that give me joy.