Ownership VS Experience

I got new shoes today.

Yes, the ones in the picture

High heels. Beautiful. Fun. Colorful.

They make me feel extra playful, feminine, gorgeous, passionate, sexy, sensual, pretty.

Or maybe I got them because I’m feeling that now.

Don’t know. Don’t care.

Guys are definitely looking. Girls too.

Instead of looking away, or trying to look like I don’t notice, or I don’t want people to look, or like I couldn’t care less — I looked people in the eyes, I smiled with kindness and appreciation, with playfulness and all the things I was feeling.

I used to think people look because they judge. Guys look with lust. Girls with jealousy.

But what if not?

…

Why do we look at beautiful flowers? Or graceful animals?

Why do we love to appreciate beauty? In any form — art, vistas, gourmet meals, exquisite arrangements of flowers, monumental architecture, small cute puppies, intricate details on a piece of fabric?

Why?

Is there anything bad about it? To be drawn to things beautiful, things cute, things carefully arranged with love and attention to detail?

I fall in love every time I see beauty. And why shouldn’t I? Why shouldn’t everyone?

Are we humans fundamentally any different from other kinds of beauty we love to appreciate?

When we see a person totally FULL of themselves, in themselves, totally in love with appreciation with this amazing gift we were all given at birth — our physical selves, when we see someone “arranging” themselves with love and attention to detail, with kindness — is there anything wrong with looking? Staring? Loving what we see? Appreciating? Giving compliments from our heart?

I don’t think so. Do you?

That’s how we should be. Appreciative of beauty we notice in any form. Saying compliments to the person making it possible — a beautiful woman, a handsome man, a mom who puts so much love into making her daughter looking so adorable, a father so gentle and loving with his kids it makes you stop and cry almost. Giving compliments, tokens of appreciation, flowers, gestures of kindness.

And we shouldn’t be all resentful, guarded, almost hostile getting those gestures of appreciation. Instead — feel grateful, say thank you, return it if you feel like it now, or pay it forward some other time. Don’t be afraid to compliment people — it’s not gonna make you any less valuable.

Feel grateful. Say thank you. Appreciate beauty in return.

People say compliments to me more often now.

And it has nothing to do with the way I look. Nothing changed really. It all changes all the time but nothing major happened.

What changed then?

I started to appreciate myself, what I was gifted more.

I love it.

I take care of it.

I’m grateful for it.

I’m not resentful, not shy about it.

Is an orchid or a rose shy about being so gorgeous?

Why should I?

And we ALL are beautiful when we notice, when we pay attention, when we appreciate our own beauty just the way it is — different, unique, not fitting into any box or standard, beauty, that is not really about anything physical, beauty that is about our whole selves.

Our smile, our kindness, our love shining through, our beautiful intricate personalities, all the limitless facets of our being, so deep, so endless. We are all beautiful beyond any measure. And the deeper you look, the more beauty you find.

Made me think. What is falling in love? With a person, with a piece of art, with a flower?

Falling in love is looking deeper. Deeper. And deeper.

Looking underneath all the layers put on top of our essence, seeing more and more intricate details and patterns.

Will you fall in love? — Are you ready to invest your time and energy, attention into appreciation of the depth? Of the true beauty?

That what falling in love is.

That what life lived in awe is.

That what life fully lived, NOT rushed through is.

…

The shoes.

I bought them. I put them on right at the store. I walked them home. In a different mood.

My mood had nothing to do with the purchase. With ownership. With more stuff.

It was an experience.

I enjoyed walking in my new playful heels.

And maybe I’ll never wear them again. Maybe I’ll give them to one of my girlfriends. — I didn’t buy them to own. I bought them to love. I bought them to have an experience. I don’t need to own them. There is always something to fall in love with. Something else to experience. To appreciate. To be grateful for. To share.

I used to think buying things makes my life full of stuff, makes my life heavier. Makes me feel heavier.

As I found out — it was just a state of mind.

I don’t feel a need to own — I don’t feel I get heavier when I buy things anymore.

I buy to experience, not to own and add another definition to self.

I don’t need a fancy car — I’d love to race a Ferrari one day.

I don’t need a Ninja Kawasaki bike — I’d love to race one through Japan one day.

I don’t need a huge air balloon — I’d love to go in one around the world. Yes, just like Richard Branson.

I don’t need to own a rocket to go to space — I’d love to take a ride in one to see the Earth from out there and whisper, “Home…”, sending air kisses and having tears in the corners of my eyes.

I don’t need to own a young rocking body my whole life — I’d love to rock a stage of bikini competition once though. Just for the heck of it.

I don’t need to be a best-selling author — I’d love to know, that someone somewhere read my book, smiling wide, because what I wrote — they got it, they felt it, they recognized it.

I don’t need a fancy yacht — I’d love to sail across the ocean one day though.

I don’t need a fancy dress and expensive jewelry — I’d love to dress up for a ball one day and look like a princess.

I don’t need a big private plane — I’d love to cross an ocean in one a few times, when I feel like it.

I don’t need a huge wardrobe full of clothes and shoes — I love dressing up, playing with my image and style though.

I don’t need an art collection — I make art, I give art.

I don’t need to own anyone, to call them mine — I’d love to enjoy that one special person daily discovering, re-discovering what they are now.

Freedom — has nothing to do with ownership, with purchase, with having or not having stuff.

Freedom is choosing experience over ownership.

Receive. Experience. Let go.

Freedom is to know what you are, who you are, it is to know, that you change and things don’t define you — YOU define you.

Daily. Hourly. NOW.

Buy.

Receive.

Experience.

Share.

Give.

Let go.