Sentimental Items Quotes

By handling each sentimental item and deciding what to discard, you process your past. If you just stow these things away in a drawer or cardboard box, before you realise it, your past will become a weight that holds you back and keeps you from living in the here and now.

The greatest gift you can give is your time.  Not money, not items, not food, not pretty cards with handwritten sentiment, but time.  People need your presence.  The way you can help a soul the most is to simply be there.

Fine Things are reservoirs for the heart.

By handling each sentimental item and deciding what to discard, you process your past.

I have a habit of being an archaeologist of my own past, a sentimental collector of personal artefacts which may at first glance appear random, but each of which holds a unique significance. As the years pass me by, I find that the number of objects within my possession begins to accumulate. A torn map. A sealed letter. A boat full of paper animals. Each item encapsulates within itself a story, akin to an outward manifestation of my inner journey.

When clutter is sentimental, you need to figure out two things: first, how to separate the memory from the item, and second, how to preserve the memory in a way that honors and respects it. This process takes the power away from the object in a way that is really liberating and enables you to live your life without the sense of fear and worry of future loss.

We are not our stuff.  We are more than our possessions. Our memories are within us, not our things. Our stuff weighs on us mentally and emotionally. Old photographs can be scanned. You can take pictures of items you want to remember. Items that are sentimental for us can be useful to others. Letting go is freeing.

Jason laughed and shoved another shirt into his suitcase. He’d already balled up the t-shirt from the first time he and Vale had mixed their come and shoved it at the bottom of the bag, much to Vale’s amusement, but he wasn’t done with it. He might have Vale all for himself now, but he wasn’t ready to part with such a sentimental item. “I

[A]ll the resources of our almost miraculous technology have been thrown into the current assault against silence. That most popular and influential of all recent inventions, the radio, is nothing but a conduit through which pre-fabricated din can flow into our homes. And this din goes far deeper, of course, than the ear-drums. It penetrates the mind, filling it with a babel of distractions - news items, mutually irrelevant bits of information, blasts of corybantic or sentimental music, continually repeated doses of drama that bring no catharsis, but merely create a craving for daily or even hourly emotional enemas.

By handling each sentimental item and deciding what to discard, you process your past. If you just stow these things away in a drawer or cardboard box, before you realize it, your past will become a weight that holds you back and keeps you from living in the here and now. To put your things in order means to put your past in order, too. It’s like resetting your life and settling your accounts so that you can take the next step forward. Another

It is important to note that we don't think that sentimental items are bad or evil or that holding on to them is wrong. We don't. Rather, we think the pernicious nature of sentimental items – and overt sentimentality in general – is far more subtle. If you want to get rid of an item but the only reason you are holding on to it is for sentimental reasons – if it is weighing on you, if it's an anchor – then perhaps it's time to get rid of it, perhaps it is time to free yourself of the weight.

as Aldous Huxley says, “news items, mutually irrelevant bits of information, blasts of corybantic or sentimental music, continually repeated doses of drama that bring no catharsis, but merely create a craving for daily or even hourly emotional enemas.

There is no room for sentiment. Everything must go to enable you to combat this manipulative technique. Photographs. Burn all of the photographs that I appear in. Remove them from all social media, mobile phones, PCs, laptops and tablets. Yes, you may look fantastic in that picture with me (I am sure you can alter it so you are preserved and I am not). As you remove the pictures say “I delete you (say my name)” and this process of exorcising me from a visual part of your life will feel uplifting. All gifts, mementos, cards, letters and those little trinkets that we so often send one another must be removed. Burn them, shred them and dispose of them. Where possible, sell certain items and you will gain increased satisfaction from having made some money out of it too. Do

He was looking for hidden facts. A sign pointing him toward what he should do next. Yet there was not a single photograph in the apartment. No squirreled away shoebox of sentimental keepsakes. No hidden diaries or items that could confess any aspect of his mother and Yung beyond what they portrayed to him. They existed only in the present. Their lines as brand new as their apartment.

Mentally, I found her to be a disgustingly conventional little girl. Sweet hot jazz, square dancing, gooey fudge sundaes, musicals, movie magazines and so forth - these were the obvious items on her list of beloved things. The Lord knows how many nickels I fed to the gorgeous music boxes that came with every meal we had! I still hear the nasal voices of those invisibles serenading her, people with names like Sammy and Jo and Eddy and Tony and Peggy and Guy and Patty and Rex, and sentimental song hits, all of them as similar to my ear as her various candies were to my palate.

Soon after World War II, a tired-looking woman entered a store and asked the owner for enough food to make a Christmas dinner for her children. When he inquired how much she could afford, she answered, “My husband was killed in the war. Truthfully, I have nothing to offer but a little prayer.” The man was not very sentimental, for a grocery store cannot be run like a breadline. So he said, “Write your prayer on a paper.” To his surprise she plucked a little folded note out of her pocket and handed it to him, saying, “I already did that.” As the grocer took the paper, an idea struck him. Without even reading the prayer, he put it on the weight side of his old-fashioned scales, saying, “We shall see how much food this is worth.” To his surprise, the scale would not go down when he put a loaf of bread on the other side. To his even greater astonishment, it would not balance when he added many more items. Finally he blurted out, “Well, that’s all the scales will hold anyway. Here’s a bag. You’ll have to put them in yourself. I’m busy.” With a tearful “thank you,” the lady went happily on her way. The grocer later found that the mechanism of the scales was out of order, but as the years passed, he often wondered if that really was the answer to what had occurred. Why did the woman have the prayer already written to satisfy his unpremeditated demands? Why did she come at exactly the time the mechanism was broken? Frequently he looked at that slip of paper upon which the woman’s prayer was written, for amazingly enough, it read, “Please, dear Lord, give us this day our daily bread!” —Henry Bosch

How much are you asking for it?" "It is a durable and dependable storage device. Many of my customers appreciate items that are incognito. With the size and craftsmanship involved, the price should be eighty platinum, but I am only asking for sixty," Vuitton said. Hugo winced. He didn’t have that much. He said, "That might be reasonable for a ring with ten cubic feet of easily accessible space, but this is eight separate storage spaces. That really limits its usefulness. I was thinking twenty-five would be much more reasonable." "I am afraid reason has left you then. I couldn’t part with it for anything less than fifty," the impundulu said haughtily as sparks of lightning danced across his hair. "Ah, I understand. It must have some sentimental value to you. I couldn’t pay more than thirty for it, since I am not a sentimental man," Hugo said. "Storage items never lose value. You can buy this today and your grandson will thank you for it a hundred years from now. Why not pay the forty-five platinum now and invest in your future?" he replied. "My grandson will need to eat. Let me keep five plat for him and I will give you the forty," Hugo said with a smile. "You drive a hard bargain, honored customer. Forty will suffice

We are not our stuff.  We are more than our possessions. Our memories are within us, not our things. Our stuff weighs on us mentally and emotionally. Old photographs can be scanned. You can take pictures of items you want to remember. Items that are sentimental for us can be useful to others.

Over the next two days we went through his things in the correct order of clothes, books, papers, komono, and sentimental items.

Collecting sentimental possessions would anchor me to my surroundings. If I let myself get attached, when I inevitably need to leave, it will only hurt more for every item I leave behind.

the trend has been established before the news is published, and in all bull markets bear items are ignored and bull news items exaggerated; and vice versa.”1

Photos Cherish who you are now If you have been sorting and discarding things in the order I recommend, you have likely stumbled across photographs in many different places, perhaps stuck between books on a shelf, lying in a desk drawer, or hidden in a box of odds and ends. While many may already have been in albums, I’m sure you found the odd photo or two enclosed with a letter or still encased in the envelope from the photo shop. (I don’t know why so many people leave photos in these envelopes.) Because photos tend to emerge from the most unexpected places when we are sorting other categories, it is much more efficient to put them in a designated spot every time you find one and deal with them all at the very end. There is a good reason to leave photos for last. If you start sorting photos before you have honed your intuitive sense of what brings you joy, the whole process will spin out of control and come to a halt. In contrast, once you have followed the correct order for tidying (i.e., clothes, books, papers, komono, sentimental items), sorting will proceed smoothly, and you will be amazed by your capacity to choose on the basis of what gives you pleasure. There is only one way to sort photos, and you should keep in mind that it takes a little time. The correct method is to remove all your photos from their albums and look at them one by one. Those who protest that this is far too much work are people who have never truly sorted photos. Photographs exist only to show a specific event or time. For this reason, they must be looked at one by one. When you do this, you will be surprised at how clearly you can tell the difference between those that touch your heart and those that don’t. As always, only keep the ones that inspire joy. With this method, you will keep only about five per day of a special trip, but this will be so representative of that time that they bring back the rest vividly. Really important things are not that great in number. Unexciting photos of scenery that you can’t even place belong in the garbage. The meaning of a photo lies in the excitement and joy you feel when taking it. In many cases, the prints developed afterward have already outlived their purpose. Sometimes people keep a mass of photos in a big box with the intention of enjoying them someday in their old age. I can tell you now that “someday” never comes. I can’t count how many boxes of unsorted photographs I have seen that were left by someone who has passed away. A typical conversation with my clients goes something like this: “What’s in that box?” “Photos.” “Then you can leave them to sort at the end.” “Oh, but they aren’t mine. They belonged to my grandfather.” Every time I have this conversation it makes me sad. I can’t help thinking that the lives of the deceased would have been that much richer if the space occupied by that box had been free when the person was alive. Besides, we shouldn’t still be sorting photos when we reach old age. If you, too, are leaving this task for when you grow old, don’t wait. Do it now. You will enjoy the photos far more when you are old if they are already in an album than if you have to move and sort through a heavy boxful of them.

That’s right. By handling each sentimental item and deciding what to discard, you process your past. If you just stow these things away in a drawer or cardboard box, before you realize it, your past will become a weight that holds you back and keeps you from living in the here and now. To put your things in order means to put your past in order, too. It’s like resetting your life and settling your accounts so that you can take the next step forward.

once you have followed the correct order for tidying (i.e., clothes, books, papers, komono, sentimental items), sorting will proceed smoothly, and you will be amazed by your capacity to choose on the basis of what gives you pleasure.

The solution is to allow a limited amount of space for sentimental items, such as a single display shelf or limited wall space to display your favorite collectibles. If you want to keep something, there needs to be a designated spot for it. This makes it easier to evaluate the importance of every possession.

Here’s what you can ask to put something through the Life Test: Do you love it? Do you need it? Do you want it? Do you have room to store it? Has this item been used in the last year? Does this belong to your fantasy self? Can someone else make better use of it? If you were out shopping today, would you purchase this item? Does this item have sentimental value? Is this a stand-in for a memory? Do you have/need more than one of this item? Will something similar that you have get the job done? Is it broken? Are you actually going to fix it? If so, when? Does this item fit you, your home, and your current lifestyle? Do you have a realistic plan to use this in the near future? Is this the best room for it? How long do you need to keep it? When can you get rid of it? Can you borrow or purchase another one if needed? Can you return it? Can it be digitized? Would you rather have the space that this takes up? If you want to simplify this process, you can ask yourself, “Does this item add value to my life?

People have trouble discarding things that they could still use (functional value), that contain helpful information (informational value), and that have sentimental ties (emotional value). When these things are hard to obtain or replace (rarity), they become even harder to part with. The process of deciding what to keep and what to discard will go much more smoothly if you begin with items that are easier to make decisions about. As you gradually work toward the harder categories, you will be honing your decision-making skills. Clothes are the easiest because their rarity value is extremely low.

One of the reasons we keep so many sentimental items in our homes is because there is no boundary to force our hand in making a decision. As a result, more and more boxes get moved into the attic to store this ever-increasing collection. Instead, set an arbitrary boundary: one box, one drawer, or one shelf.

Excessive attachments cause stress and pain. If you surround yourself with items that you have a sentimental attachment to, then you will never be able to let go of the clutter in your life.

I reached a point in my own life where I had enough. There was so much stuff around me that I just wanted to scream. I started to get really distressed when looking around my home at all the unnecessary things laying around. At first I took to “tidying up”, putting things away in neat little plastic boxes and lining these boxes up in perfect rows in my closets, desk and other storage areas. This didn’t do it for me, because the clutter would always return and I felt like I wasn’t getting to the root of the issue. I realized that my issue wasn’t just wasn’t the disorganization, but it was the matter of why I had all this stuff to begin with. In my mind, throwing stuff away became less wasteful than having acquired it in the first place. It was almost like this stuff I had acquired was a crutch. The expensive stuff I had was a way to tell myself that I am successful. The activity items, like cookbooks and sports equipment, was a way of pretending that I am consistently an active and dynamic person. The redundant items, like extra jackets and clothing, kitchen supplies, and books were a security blanket guarding against an unknown future (i.e. “you never know”). I suspect that the sentimental items from my past were also a way of holding on to what I know and a fear of moving forward.

Just as you can “feng shui” your office or home, I encourage you to “feng shui” your entire physical atmosphere. Pay attention to how things affect you. Get rid of anything that doesn’t feel good, serve, or uplift you. Don’t be sentimental—no matter how priceless an item may be, nothing is worth keeping if it doesn’t leave you with a positive, light feeling. If it irritates you, reminds you of something or someone who makes your heart close, or if it distracts you from recognizing the subtle energy of the moment, give it away. Trust your intuition, not your intellect, when making these decisions.

Who will be burdened with the task of going through your things someday if you don’t do it yourself? By reducing your belongings (including inherited items), you’ll save your own loved ones a lot of trouble eventually.

In many cases, emotional issues are tied to items that represent a lost dream. It can be quite painful to admit to yourself that something you once wanted very badly (and maybe still want) not only didn’t happen, but isn’t ever going to happen. Giving up the items is a permanent step that forces you to acknowledge the death of your dream.

how depressing is it to have dozens of items that represent unfulfilled dreams?

That meant we had to get rid of more than half of our possessions. Most of the stuff was items I kept because they had sentimental value to me. They were so hard to give up, because it felt like I wasn’t just letting go of items, but of memories and happy feelings as well.

When you put away items for “someday,” or to keep them safe for your heirs, you cheat yourself and others out of the opportunity to use and appreciate those items right now.

It’s amazing how many of what we remember as treasured items are really junk because they’re in tatters or faded, but we never realized it because we look at them through eyes of love. But when it’s in such bad shape that you can’t even donate it, you need to throw it out. Again, if you’re worried about losing the memories, take photos first. It’s better to have a lot of photos of sentimental items in bad shape in your camera or phone than a lot of actual sentimental items in bad shape in your house.

Instead, the Daily Mail’s editor picked out only the ‘brightest’ items of news, digested them, and rewrote them so as to turn them into ‘stories’. These always had to be short, strongly prejudiced in some direction, and either sentimental or sensational. The headlines were calculated to provoke, rather than merely to suggest what the paragraph was about; scandals and crime figured largely in its pages, and for preference there must always be some figure of hatred set up like a guy to be knocked down. It was a whole new concept of journalism, and it had met with severe disapproval from the penny broadsheets and those who read them. The idea was not to inform but to entertain, to tickle the palate and play on the prejudices of the domestic servant and the junior clerk, of that whole mass of the

I recommend you dispose of anything that does not fall into one of three categories: currently in use, needed for a limited period of time, or must be kept indefinitely. The term “papers,” by the way, does not include papers with sentimental value like old love letters or diaries. Attempting to sort these will slow down your pace drastically. Limit yourself at first to sorting papers that give you no thrill at all and finish the job in one go. Letters from friends and lovers can be left for when you tackle sentimental items.

By handling each sentimental item and deciding what to discard, you process your past. If you just stow these things away in a drawer or cardboard box, before you realize it, your past will become a weight that holds you back and keeps you from living in the here and now. To put your things in order means to put your past in order, too. It’s like resetting your life and settling your accounts so that you can take the next step forward.

follow the correct order, which is clothes, books, papers, komono (miscellany), and finally, sentimental items.

For me, minimalist living means keeping only what I actually use and enjoy on a regular or seasonal basis. Things I don't use and enjoy can go on to enrich someone else's life. I limit my sentimental items to one box so I can move without those things getting lost. The things that are important to my heart are people, not things.

This is the time to make those hard decisions and let things go. Ask yourself, “Is this item part of my past or my future?” If it’s sentimental, take a picture and let it go! Save the memory in a picture, but not on your shelf.