LET IT GO!

How do we let go of a beloved treasure from our homes without feeling attachment?  How do we let special family items pass out of our hands and into the hands of others without wondering about the item's future?

Last week’s blog post considered a question from a recipient’s point of view.  How do I find the balance of saying YES and NO to my parents as they ask me to TAKE items? (See Gratitude: Sometimes We Just Need To Say Yes).

This week’s post is a companion piece.  As the giver of an item, how do I truly LET IT GO? Especially those very special items.

I have come to believe, in this work of helping people downsize, that those of us who give away our special items need to give them without expectation of their future use.  We cannot expect reports of their place in a new home nor whether the recipient actually kept the item for longer than a short while. 

We simply may not know what happened to the set of china, the side table, Grandma’s wedding dress, Grandpa's old Massey. Perhaps it is not our place to ask. 

A friend suggests that when we are letting something go, we need to acknowledge its place in our lives, give THANKS for the role it played, set-it-down, and move forward.

Another friend says of set-it-down, “It is just time that ‘it’ went and lived with someone else."

Sometimes easier said than done.

Here is another blog post that might help you move through this process: Gift-Giving Expectations: Roots and Wings.

May your giving go well and without expectation!