Squirrels

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Often in life, like squirrels with nuts, we accumulate all kinds of physical or virtual things. The difference between us and the squirrels is squirrels collect nuts to eat to survive.

We collect stuff often without thought as to why we collect it.

I had for example collected over 900 connections on LinkedIn, quite a small network compared to pro-squirrels, who may have amassed 1,000’s of connections.

We had accumulated at home, randomly, more plates, cups, glasses, cutlery and stuff than we could need for many families or lifetimes.

We need to consume or do something with all the needless stuff we have accumulated.

For example, I am now reaching out personally to every one of 900 people on LinkedIn that I am connected to, simply to see if there is something we maybe able to help each other with. No sales pitch, no future invoice in mind, just connecting with another human because I can and who knows where it might lead.

At home, we are reducing everything to what we actually need and giving away what we do not need.

There are many more examples you could all find in your own lives where you have simply accumulated something and not to stopped to question why.

Removing physical clutter feels great and so does removing mental clutter too.

Use things, gather only what you need and don’t be a squirrel unless you like nuts and living in a tree.

Having your cake and eating it

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Rather than getting off the fence, we all too often want our ‘cake and eat it’.

Simply put we want the best of both worlds, we don’t want to feel like we’re missing out on something. So we try hard to achieve too many things all at once, hoping that we can have everything all at the same time.

The thing is, you can have your ‘cake and eat it’ if you focus on what you already have. Most of us already have all that we need in life, yet we expend a huge amount of energy on trying to get things we don’t have or actually don’t need.

What we need, is not more money or possessions, it’s belonging, love, kindness, to feel worthy, people, friends, family and memories of activities we did with the people who matter.

If you realise you will always have the ‘cake’ every day, it’s there because you are choosing happiness and contentment with what you have.

Then you can ‘eat’ and the next day it will be replenished by your mindset, there will be another ‘cake’. We can create all the ‘cakes’ we need. We just need to accept that, be content and enjoy what we have.

Discontent is the tool of the industrialised system to lead us to constantly want more, it is how we feel we are able to reach contentment and happiness. Keep getting more and more. It’s a myth.

Happiness and acceptance of what we have are the perfect antidotes to discontent and feeling inadequate.

We only want the best of both worlds when we are striving for things we don’t have and actually don’t need.

Accept what you have and be happy.