“Not what we have, but what we enjoy constitutes our abundance.” –Epicurus

I’ve already written a brief essay about learning to be satisfied with fewer possessions, so I will try not to belabor the point again. Although I will say, that it is probably (probably?) much healthier not to be, oneself, possessed by one’s possessions. Al things are transient. There will be times when we have abundance, and times when we will suffer scarcity. We will both acquire treasured possessions and lose them over the course of our lives.

But now, is this exhortation one to the giving up of things? Or simply advice to enjoy whatever you currently have? It feels to me like a materialistic version of “living in the moment.” Appreciating in the moment, perhaps? I guess one could say, “Enjoy what you currently have at the moment. Thoroughly enjoy them, but do not let them possess you; for ultimately, they are but temporary.”

I have always had a bad habit of storing away treasured things in order to “protect” them. Rather than take them out for use and pleasure, I have tried to keep them safe, for whatever sentimental reasons might have occurred to me. Books…tableware…objects d’art…pens…notebooks…record albums…clothes…. But whither the enjoyment? What good is anything if you don’t use it?