I saw a credit card commercial that implied the card was a passport to a better life. There was a sense that the card gave you freedom to acquire and own the things that will make you happy.
It plays on the idea that having the right things in our life is the key to our happiness. That we are less without these things.
But our basic experience is we get something new, we are excited for a brief moment, we acclimate, and we're back to who we were before.
We can try and live our life according the credit card fantasy, and keep buying more things. We can surround ourselves with all the stuff that is supposed to "do it" for us. But in the end we are buried alive, frustrated and exhausted, in debt, and feeling lost.
We can't escape ourselves. Which is a good thing.
Who we are is basic and special. There is an inherent beauty in us that doesn't need accessories to be better. It's our unadulterated selves. I see it in people after they let go of their clutter. It's an aliveness that requires no thing to enhance and maintain it.
This quality is presence. We had it from birth. It's what makes babies so adorable. It's what shines out naturally.
As we start letting go, we can experience this presence. It's the feeling of being okay again. Not, 'okay because I have something.' But okayness. The sense that, "I'm enough."