Jan 10

Jan 10 Found Objects

When I was in my own personal therapy at a low point in my life, my therapist gave me a packet of resources. Attached to the stack was a lavender paperclip. It might have been small but I took comfort in looking at that paperclip at age 19, in the early hours of the morning when I couldn’t fall asleep due to depression. I remember that the night before, I put it next to me on my nightstand next to my bed, which allowed me to hope for a brighter tomorrow. I was grateful for a piece of metal, which ultimately represented my therapy work with that particular therapist. It became a symbol of my own resilience in the face of what I was going through.

A year later, I performed a simple ritual to commemorate the end of that stage in my life (my therapist was moving on, and I was transitioning to a new school); I walked to my favorite Malibu beach and dropped it in the waves (to be clear, I don’t condone littering, even though it was a powerful moment in my life).

It’s funny how people can ascribe meaning and healing to certain objects in their lives. For example, your father gave you a baseball on your 7th birthday or when a favorite aunt passed away, you listened to her favorite CD or music over and over. These special objects become treasures ascribed with meaning and powerful memories that stay with us for as long as we live. In a way, that previous object becomes a lens in which our deepest desires are reflected back to us, memorialized, and/or assimilated as part of ourselves or our identity, our heritage.

In mindfulness, there’s often a misconception of what non-attachment means. It does not mean “detachment” from things that are clearly important to us. Non-attachment means to be in the world, and to experience things in the present, which can mean experiencing things, people, places deeply and therefore full of love and compassion. What kinds of objects as part of your life experiences have you found to be layered with extra meaning? Meditate and enjoy the nuances of the experience that item brings you!

After all, in the movie “Titanic,” [spoiler alert for those of you who have not seen it], Rose held on to that purple heart necklace for a reason - to remind her of the promise she made Jack and for him to exist in her memory: to live life fully and to “make each day count.”