Thursday, October 22, 2009

Boundaries Give Greater Freedom

EVENING:

I need one more overwrought series on the importance and value of boundaries, understanding, setting, and maintaining them.

I said I need "one more." That's a boundary I'm setting for myself. It's bad form to go on and on without limiting yourself.

I haven't always given much thought to boundaries as a valuable thing, but we all instinctively know they're valuable.

Instead, I've tended to see boundaries (and transgressions) as dangerous, negative, like with heresy trials and witch hunts.

"The wages of sin is death" is one good way of declaring the penalty of crossing boundaries in a broader existential way.

But boundaries are valuable, just thinking of one reason I touched on this morning: They enclose what you have, so they're informative.

To have limited things and range is strangely freeing. You can appreciate and savor instead of endless tending and surface attention.

I haven't been good at setting boundaries as they relate to possessions. My boundary has been my level of spending is equal to my income.

I'm definitely going to think more about the positive aspects of boundaries, setting them for myself, then respecting the limits.

Who couldn't use a little more freedom courtesy of limiting yourself in a reasonable way?

Have you ever heard of this concept? --> If you can't own every single thing in the world, there's really no reason to own any of them.

Practically there's plenty of reasons to own things, of course. But think about it ... It's a thought piece.

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