"Challenge Stuff"

Ran into this article on Time about the "100 Thing Challenge." Basically, a blogger decided he was going to whittle down his possessions until he only had 100 things. Quite an idea. He writes about it on his blog here.

A few good quotes:

My buddy Todd summed it up better than I could today when we were talking about it. He said, "Things are to be used. People are to be loved." The crazy thing about our consumer culture is that we so often reverse it.

I believe that run-away consumerism is making many of us narcissistic jackasses. It dulls our wits. Keeps us from thinking and acting like we understand what's really important.

But you know it as well as I do, life is more important than the things we accumulate. Challenge stuff!

When we found out we were moving to Milwaukee this summer, Leah and I committed to getting rid of stuff we didn't use. We had a garage sale this spring and got rid of a lot of "stuff." We didn't go nearly as far as the 100 Thing Challenge, but it is a helpful exercise to consider what things in your life are actually useful and what things actually take away from your ability to attend to the things that matter.