How do we decide what is important?

How do we decide what is important?

It is something I have been pondering today. There is nothing like a critical illness and needing to pack and move to get you thinking about things.

I look at so much of what I have and ask myself if I really need it. For many things the answer is no. That is likely the answer for most things, except that my mind finds reasons to keep stuff.

Even if I live to be 100, I will never get to do all of the things I want to do, or think I should do. There is so much that just ain't gonna happen. I think about my aunt who passed away. She had so many things around her that she loved. And now? I don't know what will happen to them, but they likely won't ever belong to someone who values them the way she did.

Is the "stuff" worth valuing?

Over the years so many books have crossed my hands. Each time I have moved I have paired down what I have only to build on the collection in my new place. The fact that I have a Kindle Reader has curtailed that a bit. But the fact is that I like the tangible. I like the things in my hand. I like being able to flip through the pages, and I like not being on electronic equipment of some type all of the time.

a pizza I made today - from scratch

It's a good thing we can't cook virtually, or we'd be in trouble. Of course convenience meals and microwaves do a good job of getting us pretty close. I read somewhere recently that many of the younger generation don't know how to cook )from scratch). If they're just eating healthy and raw, that is one thing. But the fact is that it isn't that.

There was a time in my life when I played a Domestic Goddess. I did everything a good housewife should. And for the most part, I would say I enjoyed it. I liked cooking and baking and did what I could to find interesting recipes. I found so many that at one point my then boyfriend joked that if he said he liked something he'd never see it again. He liked to have some consistency in what we ate. But i wasn't having it. :P

Of course, in retrospect I might have considered that a bit more, but at the time I didn't see what the problem was. It is interesting to note that we both grew up with the same types of foods on a regular basis. For him it was comfort. As for me, i wanted to find variety. Same type of thing, but two different desires and reactions.

In so many ways we were different. But that is not what this blog is about. But what exactly it is about, I am not really sure. Just like what happens so many times. I sit down to write with one thing in mind and it brings up other things.

So...

Back to the beginning.

How do we decide what is important?

Funny.

I went back to the beginning to see where I began. Apparently it was important to me to stay somewhat on track - or at least get back on track...but I had forgotten where I started.  Isn't that what much of life is like?

We start somewhere, and wind up somewhere else, forgetting where we began. Sometimes in the process we lose our way. At other times we may find something special in the process. If we are stubborn and stick to a plan we might just miss out.

How do we know what is the "best" way to go? I ask because I really am not sure. I think my logical self likely "wins" to the expense of the unconscious, intuitive self. Do you know how many times I have kept something to never touch it again? To forget that I even had it?  There is such a pull on me to simplify my life, but I am not being as cooperative as one might be. There is so much I could probably get rid of and never see again, and it would likely be no big deal. It might be a little one, though. But it is not like I wouldn't be able to get over it.

And the thing is...

One day, I will be joining my aunt. And most of the things I leave behind probably no one else will care about, either.

In the end, I suspect there is very little that really, truly matters. As a result, a lot of the stuff we have just gets in the way of what really, truly is important.