Dealing with our own garbage

I grew up on our family farm, located out in the boonies of southeastern Washington. We lived far from town or a landfill. So, we had a garbage pit on the farm. It was a large hole in the ground, where we took all the household garbage. Every couple of years, Dad would push dirt over the hole. I cringe to write that bit of my history

On one hand, we were conscious of not creating terrible amounts of garbage, because none of us wanted to live in a bunch of crap.

Anyway time passed and between society getting on board with community landfills and garbage dumps becoming more accessible, we did stop burying our own garbage on the farm.

When I moved off the farm and into town, I put my garbage outside the apartment and a big truck drove by to pick it up and haul it to the local landfill. Wow, to have others deal with my garbage was handy.

But was it so handy that I got slack in dealing with my own garbage? Did I create more garbage than I should have?

Probably.

Thankfully, when recycling became the fad, I was already on board. Recycling keeps me aware.

I also wonder about mental garbage. Anger, resentment, ridiculous expectations, narrow mindedness…

Am I dealing with my own mental garbage, or am I leaving it around for other people to deal with?

I don’t want to live with my own mental garbage. I don’t want to make others deal with my garbage. I can create the least amount of mental garbage possible. I can sort through it and recycle that which can be used again. For example, my ability to develop good habits may have been packaged in narrow mindedness, or focusing, but after my good habit was developed, I could throw the narrow mindedness into a bin to be broken down and re-created as paying strong attention in some other area needing improvement.

If I have resentful thoughts, I don’t need to talk about it and litter other people’s minds. I can throw it out by disliking the evil that brought about the resentment, while still loving persons or places involved.

I want to be aware of frugality and wisdom. I want to be aware of my own garbage and not expect someone else to deal with it.

moon and snow