Closed For Inventory

Greetings, all...

I read this article in Google Alerts from the Orangeville, Toronto newspaper about taking stock of one's life, and how we live our collective lives as a community.

The author began by noting a convenience store that was closed at 9 am in order to take inventory. And he went on to mention the Christian season of Lent. It's a season that most people are very uncomfortable with for many reasons. One of which is the concept of fasting or giving up something for the forty-day-forty-night time-span. Not many like the idea of giving up something. I was raised as a Christian Protestant, and we never really did much for the Lenten season just because my parents perceived that they were struggling to make ends meet as it was. Yet...my father and mother have been carrying around 30+ years' worth of belongings, 50% of which my mom is more than willing to let go (heirlooms notwithstanding), but my dad has no interest in getting rid of, or giving up anything that he's acquired. And taking stock is not his favorite activity.

I am not unfamiliar with the most basic concept of taking stock, however. I do it quite often. Not because my Pagan path demands I do it, but because I want to be a better person and help reduce suffering. Taking stock is part and parcel of living life as consciously as possible. For example, from an ecological perspective, if I did not take stock of my life, my views, my perceptions, I could not rightly call myself an environmentalist, let alone a spiritual being.

But because I adore animals, plants, Mother Earth in Her majestic entirety, I *want* to take stock and have personal goals that further the cause and necessity for being a guardian and steward of the land upon which I walk. I *want* to feed my body and my soul with the healthiest things possible. So I take stock of what I eat and the things I experience.

Taking stock, however, is not solely relegated to being an environmentalist. Taking stock can mean looking at how we treat each other, and making amends to those whom we have sometimes treated not so nicely. The list could go on. The point is, whether or not you are of any faith path in particular, if you wish to be a better person in general, going within, soul-searching and tallying up what's gone on in your life so far...things completed, things not completed, things that you've not even begun to tackle...these are key to helping your life get better. And this can be a successful discipline to have, regardless of whether you are Christian, Pagan, Muslim, Jewish, etc.

BB,
Rev. Kat ^.^