Do you display or use your keepsakes?

Do you display or use your keepsakes?

I have a beautiful keepsake that I cherish and have kept. It is one of the few meaningful things I intentionally have hung onto. Having curated and let go of so many other keepsake items over the years.

This cherished keepsake is a voicemail message from my Mom singing Happy Birthday to You. Less than a month later, in October 2020, she passed away. Her voice was rough and scratchy as she sang, yet it was music to my ears, especially now that she’s gone.

I listened to that beautiful message on my birthday in 2021 and will do so again this year. It brings such sweet sorrow and beautiful memories of my mother. She always remembered special days with cards, gifts, and telephone calls. My birthday that year was no different.

However, with her passing, she left behind an apartment full of furniture, clothes, jewelry, knickknacks, wall hangings, technology, and piles of papers, to name just a few. There were so many things I could have kept; however, I was intentional and clear I would only keep a few.

Many of her things we kept boxed up for a few months to deal with later. I made a commitment to myself that those months would not creep into years, which they did not.

Was this easy? Absolutely not. Yet, I knew most of her stuff was not something I would use in my home, nor was it aligned with my lifestyle or tastes. 

And, I was determined that whatever I kept, it would be displayed or used. If not, I let it go.

Many people I have talked to or counseled over the years have kept volumes of stuff in attics, basements, garages, closets, rooms, and storage units. However, when asked what much of it was, the answer inevitably was other people’s stuff. In other words, keepsakes, memorabilia, or other supposedly essential items.

I have great compassion for how challenging it is to part with items left behind by loved ones. We hang on dearly to those things for fear we’ll lose the memories of those people or events. We make up rich stories that make it even more challenging to let go or pass them along to someone else.

Unfortunately, what ends up happening to many of those keepsakes is they get stored hidden and out of sight. Boxed up, piled in a closet, stored behind closed doors, often never seen again. Those supposed cherished items get relegated to dark corners gathering dust.

We continue to tell ourselves these things are far too important to give away, pass along, or toss. Yet, those precious things sit ignored, unloved, unused, and not displayed.

How can we continue to believe those things are worthy of keeping when they get relegated to the pile of the unwanted? 

What if, instead, you displayed or used those items?

I know what most of you would say – I have no place or use for those items. Or, like with my Mom’s stuff, those items do not align with your lifestyle or tastes. Because if they were truly treasured and valuable to you, they would be on display or used with joy and love.

Could it be time, to be honest about those keepsakes and family items you keep? I do realize this is not easy.

I’d like to suggest as one of the first steps is to detach from the stories you have attached to the stuff. Even the name we call it keepsakes “keeps” you hooked.

Open your palms upward and let the energy flow in and out of your palms as you stop grasping and holding on so tightly. You cannot let go of anything until you stop holding your hands so tightly. 

Give it a try. Open your palms upward towards the sky. Feel the energy flow into one palm and out the other. That is circulation – the giving and receiving of life force.

After all, that is the flow of life, just like the easy in and out of your breath—the blood circulation throughout your body. And, yes, the give and receive of your stuff.  Nothing is meant to be clung to as if it were life or death.