Santosha (Contentment) and Challenging What You Need

If you have five shirts, give one away. – Swami Sivananada

I read the above quote many years ago when I started yoga. At the time, I understood that the reasoning for it was to be content and live with less. After a visit to a third world country for a funeral in 2010, I came back and edited my possessions drastically a second time. However, the focus was wrong because it was a for a desire to clear away. Looking back, it was healing for me to do that as the death was a very painful one. The deceased was someone I loved dearly and had not seen for years, and had been distant with not on purpose, but due to being busy. I felt immense guilt that my activities and possessions had taken me away from showing care to her. Yet, the possessions crept up again.

Lately, I have looked around my possessions, and rather than think about how many to keep or what I would use them for, I wonder to myself do I need this or want this? It has led to the deeper question of what do we really need. The answer is that we need very little. In that third world country, people needed very little, but they wanted much. They scavenged the house of the deceased for old wood and even empty cans. Yet, these were people who were in poverty and had very little to begin with. It was not so negative that they wanted more. Their discontent could be understood. In fact, their resourcefulness of using old items made me have difficulty discarding my own possessions because I thought of the waste when they had little and because I have always enjoyed creative ways of up-cycling old items. Yet, there comes to a point where we have to examine what we really need even if our intentions are good. I presently have more up-cycle projects than actual clothing and linens. I don’t have the time to complete all these projects, and even if I did, I really don’t need all of that clothing, linens or curtains.

Once I let things go, I feel a sense of freedom. While I have them and am deciding what to do with them and worrying about the waste or environmental detriment, it actually weighs me down. Worry and guilt is not something we need either. So, from now on, as I look at my items and ask my self how much do I really need, the decision to let go becomes easier. The truth of the matter is that we have laundromats at our disposal, and jobs more bountiful even in a bad economy than in other countries, so we really do not need so many clothing, kitchen gadgets, etc.I have come to drastically confuse our needs with wants. In turn, I have bound myself by thinking that I  need so much to be happy and successful. The reality is that you feel more free when you challenge yourself to want and need less. That feeling resounds when you let each item go. The space that is cleared where that item once was is a reminder to me of a space of freedom within that I have just gained.