#possesions

We're one month away until the grand opening of Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving. Advance tickets are selling fast, so book today to transport yourself to an oasis of Kahlo's artworks and personal possessions. Don't forget that the exhibition is open seven days a week for even more viewing opportunities, and Brooklyn Museum Members can see it for free! 

Video description: Home movie footage showing a city view from an airplane, view of a Mexican countryside by car,  Frida Kahlo wearing a red dress and standing against a blue and terracotta wall, and a field of orange flowers. Footage: Nickolas Muray Home Movies: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera (about 1941). Digital file from 16mm acetate positive. From the collection of George Eastman Museum. © Nickolas Muray Photo Archive

More and more I’m starting to believe the more we have, the more we spend on maintenance, repairs, replacements and excuses to buy even more things.  For example, several months ago I sold and extra car I had. When asked about it, I said to my friend that I didn’t really need and it was somewhat controlling my spending via random expenses.   When I owned it, I had to get an oil change for a car I wasn’t even driving that much because it was past due and I didn’t want to damage anything in the engine.  So I felt like it owned me and I didn’t like that feeling. If we go through our home, slowly and methodically, I’m sure we can find several things that we can donate, sell, or just throw away because we may be hoarding onto them; perhaps for no good reason. The point is to let go of things that we think we may like, but instead the reality is those things actually own us.  

Sold an Extra Car 

    It felt like my car was controlling me and I wasn’t in control. It was a 2009 Mercedes C-300 4-matic. Fortunately, I didn’t need to or get any major work done to it for the almost two and a half years I had it. There were just oil changes and a couple of new tires. During the time I owned it, I got an offer in the mail for free wiper blades from the dealer. I knew that if I went to the dealer, sure they would put on the wiper blades but they’d also give me an estimate of all the additional work I should get done.   And sure enough they did and it didn’t seem that critical to me. One of the items they recommended to replace and I kid you not was the HORN on the car! The horn was working fine, but according to them, it had a “dull” sound and should be replaced – are you kidding me?! Nevertheless, guess what?   It was at this point that I decided I don’t really need this car,  I don’t really want this car, I don’t really want this car to own me, I want to own myself (wait does that make sense). Anyway, so I sold the car invested the proceeds in an ETF and never looked back! six months later, I’ve made over a couple hundred in dividends, in contrast to probably a couple hundred or more I would have lost in depreciation and probably some other kind of maintenance.   A study mentioned in Time magazine suggests that material possessions may be obsessed if you lack love from others and for others in your life. It made sense to me as it stated “when someone suffers from “social deficits” (i.e., loneliness), he’s more likely to grow attached to possessions. This sort of love may, in turn, lead to further “deficits,” causing a chicken-egg situation for those in the throes of materialistic love.” It’s interesting because one cause mentioned is that you can control the material possession, but instead unknowingly it ends up controlling you!  

Other Items Donated (hello tax deduction), Sold, or Straight Up Trashed

  Donated – Two large trash bags of gently used clothes Donated – Two VCR/DVD combos Donated – Brand New Laser Printer (I already have a printer). Sold – Entertainment Table (5 years old and I got $10 more than what I originally paid) Trashed – Three worn out suitcases   One item I currently have on Craigslist and Offer-up is my leather couch set. I’ve had it for more than 5 years, didn’t buy the best quality I’ll admit and now it’s falling apart, literally. I’ve patched it up as mentioned above and am trying to sell it.  But at the same time, since I’ve patched it up, it doesn’t look half bad, is still totally functional (can still recline to almost 180 degrees) and comfortable. Usually we put a red blanket on top to hide this too. Take a look at this picture (back and head rest on the right side):  

  Trashed Useless Things From The Attic

  Yes! This was one of my goals for 2017 and I can proudly say it’s done! I ended up throwing away an old bike, some beat up chairs, three suitcases (where either the handle or one of the wheels broke off), and a few empty boxes that I didn’t need (e.g., big Dyson vacuum box which I bought years ago had the box just in case). I’ll say that it definitely feels a bit liberating to get rid of things and simplify your home a bit. Now that I don’t have it, the area is nice and uncluttered and it makes my mind feel a bit nice and uncluttered well.   Recently I came across a very interesting video from the Minimalists. They talk about how less in life equals being more happy and rich in a sense of fulfillment. Check it out:   Even though I’m not quite at the minimalist level, I do see how having less can translate into happiness. Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich authors of Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes discuss the conundrum of do we own our money or does our money own us? Particularly in terms of spending, they go into the psychological reasons as to why we spend on so many material things and decide to love them as illustrated in the endowment effect and then the logical reasons for why we shouldn’t or at least scale back a little bit. So is there something you value so much that it may be controlling you a bit? Have you freed yourself from a material possession and as a result felt liberated?   The Things You Own End Up Owning You – Tyler Durden, Fight Club   __________________________________________________________________________

In the blockbuster adventure movie, “Raiders Of The Lost Ark,” Indiana Jones scoured the world for the fabled 'Ark of the Covenant,' however once he found it he was thwarted by evil enemies seeking the same prize, and in the end lost it again to a burial of bureaucracy.

Whether you realize it or not, you also are on a treasure hunt seeking the desire of your heart. It could be being accepted to a particular college, finding the perfect spouse, landing that huge job, or having great business, financial, or social success, but even if you do get what you hoped for — like the ark which was wheeled away to obscurity — whatever you had so desperately longed for will eventually pass away.

However like the ancient ark of Israel, there is a treasure that is more precious than anything in the world, but just as the nemesis that were continually seeking Indiana Jones’ demise, there is an enemy that also seeks to keep you from ever finding this priceless treasure, and that is your ETERNAL SALVATION.

You see, as today’s scripture says, where your Treasure is what your heart desires most, so the question is, “What Is That Treasure In Your Life?” and when you come face to face with that, what you treasure most will always force out what is TREASURED MOST, and that is your salvation and redemption from sin and death.

Like Indiana Jones’s adversaries, the devil seeks to keep that treasure from you, but the good news is if you put your heart on CHRIST — the greatest treasure of all — all the evil in the world can never steal it out of your hand.

What is your heart’s desire today?

God Bless Your Day Jesus Loves You NotesOnLife.org

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What Do You Value Most?

it has been having battery issues for ever now, and it might be a little slow but i love it so

and i'm probably gonna have to replace it this year because windows 10 support is ending (it's literally incompatible with windows 11) and just now i was watching youtube and drawing at the same time on it and it froze, started audio glitching (it was making the type of sound you'd hear on a corrupt tape in a horror game or something), and completely restarted itself oughhhhhhhh