Ownership

“Treat all things as if they were loaned to you without any ownership – whether body or soul, sense, or strength, external goods or honors, house or hall . . . everything.” Meister Eckhart

You don’t have to be rich to be possessive. We learn the word mine and what it means early on. It’s hard to learn to share. Ownership is an illusion of control, especially when it comes to people.

Material goods are one thing, but we can’t own people. Many centuries ago, women and children were considered property. How very sad. In some countries, they’re still considered property.

When people in our lives think we’re property, they lose sight of our value. They are our equals, no one above another. Ownership breeds anxiety, stress, misplaced responsibility, and exaggerated fear of loss. “If something happens to him/her/them I’ll just die.” No, you won’t. You may want to, but you won’t. We can only be stewards of our relationships and our belongings.

When we release the bad things that go with thinking we own another person, we can realize they are only on loan to us, to travel through life with. We are free to enjoy each other’s company, and experience each other’s growth while living as beings living freely.

Things will slow down tomorrow, as I continue to recover from this pesky virus. I certainly understand how the medical community is concerned about the winter being a triple threat; COVID, Flu, and Viral Illnesses. I’m not back to 100% yet, and thought I would be by now. It’s discouraging.

Tomorrow, I’ll plot out the first couple weeks of NaNoWriMo. I feel I need to get ahead of it if I’m going get to 50K words. The trick will be to do that, finish the quilts and keep my sanity. Hoping for a good night’s sleep and feeling better tomorrow. See you then!