Thursday, January 28, 2010

Labyrinth of Possessions

I was going to wait until the end of the month to do an update on how my resolutions are going, but since its on my mind I will do it now. Lets face it, although I have made some minimal efforts, my goal of becoming organized this year is progressing slowly. I was reminded of this when I recently rented and watched the movie The Labyrinth, just for old time kicks. This is a 1980s movie featuring David Bowie as the goblin king who steals the main character's (a whiny, stereotypically misunderstood teenager) baby brother. She has to attempt to get to the Goblin Kings castle and rescue him before time runs out. It also features Jim Henson puppets - note, NOT the traditional puppets, just that style. Anyways, I enjoy it even though its pretty much on drugs. I wonder, it must be based on a book. But I digress.

At one point in the story, the main character finds herself in a garbage dump populated by old women with large mounds of scrap on their back. They take the main character's hand and lead her through a door to her bedroom. In her bedroom, the junk lady picks up some of her prized possessions and hands them to here. "Oh, don't you love this teddy bear? your dad gave her to you", they keep handing her things, she is trying to hold more and more, and soon they are stacking it on her back, she is becoming one of them, a junk lady, distracted from her mission and unable to move around or move ahead in life because of these sentimental items that she places priority on. If this does not say something about materialism, I don't know what does. What a perfect metaphor, we surround our selves with objects, give them so much importance, and sometimes they take over our lives.

That recognized, I am still not ready (or simply not the type) to go on an extreme purge and drastically reduce my material possessions, as is relatively popular right now. It sort of reinspired my organizational goals. It did make me think about the fact that I should only be holding onto items that I either use, or that have great meaning for me, and that these items are only useful to me if they are not holding me back - if they are organized, accessible, and serving their purpose, whatever that might be. So, it re inspired my organizational goals. I think I have to start by organizing my time, and then move on from there, because at the moment, I am being kept so busy by my self-imposed schedule that I am not finding time to tackle the house. Onward to reconsidering my schedule!!

1 comment:

Sarah Dee said...

The book on the opening of the library website last week was "Throw out 50 Things". And, it has inspired me to throw out my socks with holes in them. Only after I've worn them 'one last time' :) Gotta start small.

I wonder how many useless books there are out there on the subject.