Why It Is Totally Healthy to be a "MATERIAL GIRL"
1.15 Nonattachment is the manifestation of self-mastery in one who is free from craving for objects seen or heard about
Whenever I think about NON-ATTACHMENT, the Madonna song…”Material Girl,” starts playing in my mind. And here’s where I may get some jaws to drop…I AM a MATERIAL GIRL, living in a MATERIAL world aaaannnnddd I ENJOY it damnit and so should YOU! For the longest time, ESPECIALLY after getting serious in my yoga studies, I would feel GUILT and SHAME because…I JUST REALLY ENJOY decorating my house with beautiful art and textiles and… I JUST REALLY ENJOY a good shopping trip with my Mom! I finally came to understand that we are here on this physical plane, as physical beings, to enjoy playing with physical things!
The ISSUE occurs when ENJOYING shifts to NEEDING. The moment that I NEED that insanely gorgeous, handcrafted, macrame dream catcher, to experience JOY, is the very same moment I am no longer actually “in joy”, I am very clearly, “out of joy.” Why? Because the NEEDING implies that there is “SOMETHING” already missing, and that “SOMETHING” is the dream catcher, the relationship, the cocktail, the Gucci purse, or the promotion. When it feels like we NEED something outside of ourselves to FEEL the joy, it is then, we have become lost in the maze of the material world and disillusioned with what JOY actually FEELS like.
So let us FIRST get clear about what JOY does NOT feel like. It does NOT feel like: grasping, wanting, anticipating, hoping, pleading, struggling, or stressing. Joy DOES feel like: relaxing, loving, accepting, understanding, balancing, refreshing, and invigorating.
The first set of adverbs all imply future, while the second set all indicate present. If we are fooled into believing that JOY lives out there, in the future somewhere, we have been DUPED, because, unless Michael J. Fox is picking you up in his ‘Back to the Future’ mobile, it is IMPOSSIBLE to actually BE out there, in the future somewhere.
Joy is already HERE, at home…she has been ever so patiently awaiting our arrival with arms open wide, dinner, hot on the table. We have simply forgotten HOW to FEEL her, nor are we concerned with learning, because we are so damn convinced that she lives just up around the corner. But then, we get up around the corner, and are TOTALLY convinced that she is just up around the NEXT elusive corner, and so on, infinity times over.
If we can’t knock on the door that is DIRECTLY in front of us and see JOY’s beauty in her current home, what the heck makes us think we will have the eyes to see it when we get up around the next corner?!?
Let us knock on the home of our current hearts…stare in awe as JOY opens the door with pure excitement and embrace HER, even if she happens to be wearing her pajama pants! Look into her encapsulating eyes, smile at her contagious smile, and laugh out loud with tears of ecstasy as we REALIZE the eyes we are staring into…. are our OWN, the heart that is so magnetizing, is your OWN, and the one that you have been dreaming of….is YOU.
My dear friends, you are your OWN savior, your OWN answer, and your very OWN Spirit Guide. Peace will never, EVER, exist in ANYTHING or ANYONE outside of you. The only logical direction to go is IN. Here’s the thing that no one told us….life ACTUALLY is a treasure hunt, and the X you see on the map, is stamped right over YOUR very own heart. So go inside. Find out that YOU ARE the treasure, buried right here into THIS. VERY. MOMENT.
As ALWAYS, I am humbled and honored to have received your attention. Start to notice what “controls” you, or what feels like you JUST CANNOT live without and if that’s ACTUALLY true. I bet you would surprise yourself with just how adaptable you REALLY ARE. Allow your heart to guide the way and NOT your attachments.
All my LOVE,
Andrea Dawn
