A couple of incarnations ago I had a charming friend (I will call him Harry) who was quite a colourful character. He developed a dedicated habit of furtively borrowing bits of money and stuff from people to keep the hustle and bustle going.

Needless to say he burnt a lot of people with his duplicitous habits but we got along quite well for the most part and had a long friendship. It only lasted because of a strong understanding: I never lent him money and if I gave him anything, I never expected it back. Simple.

In those early days of learning about the challenges of mixing with a great variety of personalities, I began to take on a ‘metaphysical impression’ of giving and receiving. It was all about embracing free flow. Not easy to master.

Free flow was the notion that all our collected material items have been borrowed from a great cosmic library somewhere and eventually; in some way, shape or form; are returned — even if they are bought and sold.

Harry also had this kind of Taoist understanding — it suited his life quite well indeed. I used to be amazed (and somewhat amused) as to how many people would freely associate with Harry and then complain when things didn’t turn out. They would jump up and down, angry, full of self-importance, exclaiming that Harry stiffed them for the $50 they lent him, or the book/tie/set of speakers/car tyre/drill set/iron etc etc.

But it’s not as if they had just met Harry on the street. They had an idea of what he was like — or an inkling at the very least. In fact Harry had a fairly distinct warning message tattooed on his forehead: ‘Don’t lend me anything’.

Recently a loved one was in need of cash and I was involved in helping out with some pretty decent money. A short time later the rules changed a bit and I wasn’t too happy about a portion of my funds going somewhere that wasn’t initially agreed to. I had to step back, take a big breath….and release. It was the best way forward. Let it go, let it go — that was my mantra for the week.

With complete strangers giving and receiving in free flow is kind of different. We have to protect ourselves. Probably not a good idea to give away our life savings to any charity that comes knocking.

Moreover, if you believe in the greater good of humanity, then it’s natural that some will take advantage of that goodness and you will get ripped off from time to time. You shouldn’t beat yourself up about trusting people too much if you get shafted. You don’t want to close yourself down to life’s opportunities and the good in the world.

Remember — if you have a thousand sheep in the paddock, occasionally you will lose a few overnight. People who can’t accept that spend all their time and energy accumulating and protecting their stuff. And I am sure you’ve met such people. It’s like they have a permanent grimace suggesting a proverbial wedged carrot.

I can understand that we may own things of strong sentimental value but there is nothing in our lives we can’t let go of. Nothing. It’s all stuff. The universe is a big place and there is plenty of material crap to go around so we can’t get hung up on losing it. If the neighbours want to borrow the drill set — give it to them, and if it doesn’t come back — upgrade, go buy a better one.

As we develop this philosophy of giving and receiving in free flow, it’s not long before we discover that the only people who end up asking for things are those who we want to connect with. It seems to happen quite naturally.

Every day is a new day. Let stuff go. Let it return to the cosmic library and then you create the space to borrow a new book if you choose.

That’s why I like MP3 downloads – they take up little space and are educational:

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