"Experiences" vs "Things": Maybe It Isn't Always a Choice

I don’t spend a lot of money on myself.  I’ve prided myself on this.  I have nice clothes with pretty good style, but I spend very little on clothes for myself.  I drive the same car I’ve owned for over ten years.  I rarely go out to eat and I own very little “stuff.”  I have some crystals (okay a lot), but they cost almost nothing.  I don’t own the tech “stuff.”  Occasionally I’ll spend for some training or something educational, and if I spend money for pleasure it’s generally on travel or experiences. 

As I’ve been clearing out that “holding on” energy, I realize I’ve probably taken this too far and actually gone too cheap on myself, which instead of being frugal and life-nourishing is actually stifling my energy.  This weekend I spent a small amount to get some Bluetooth stereo equipment.  Some of it I kind of need for the car, because of the new laws (cheaper than one ticket, so kind of a no-brainer), and some just makes obvious sense. 

I realized immediately a few things in doing that.  First, as I’m going deeper into Natural Grounding resources, I notice a huge difference in the quality of the experience with the higher-quality equipment.  When the sound is more rich and clear and surrounding, it deepens the level of experience.  Even lying on the couch at home listening to NG music feels different now, my body would absorb the experience instead of listening more passively. 

It’s not like I splurged – the whole investment was considerably less than the cost of a usual long-weekend vacation.  But the payoff was immense.  

I had songs in my phone I thought I was “sick” of and couldn’t listen to anymore.  But I was inspired to create another playlist with these long-forgotten songs and listened to them through the new speaker – it was like listening to them for the first time. 

I also bought a few pieces of furniture – one of which I still need to assemble.  It makes a difference, it frees up the energy and brings some order to the chaos that develops in the apartment. 

Because my value is on the experiential and not the physical, I tend to overlook the value that the physical can bring to the experience.  This weekend was a reminder that the physical can play a valuable role in enhancing the energy of the experience.  Being too frugal on the “stuff” could actually be short-changing yourself and the full value of the experience. 

I should add also that the process of obtaining those “things,” and assembling the furniture, were valuable experiences in themselves. The entertainment value of the experience of waiting for my car stereo to be installed was worth a good fraction of the money I spent for the item, to say nothing of the listening and driving experience.  So maybe it isn’t a “things” vs “experience” duality as much as a challenge to be mindful of what “things” to bring into my life and how to integrate them with the experiential in a way that best serves.