YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU

I’ve been reflecting on something - a truth about abundance, attachment, and the way we sometimes hold on long after our hands have grown tired.

Abundance and the Flow of the River

Abundance is like the flow of a river.
The river doesn’t force itself into a straight line. It doesn’t insist on moving in the “right” direction. It curves when it needs to curve. It widens, it narrows, it drops into canyons. It simply flows where the flow is possible - where there is space, where there is openness, where nothing is blocking its natural movement.

I realize that abundance works the same way. It moves toward ease. It moves toward clarity. It moves toward whatever isn’t weighed down by what we’re still gripping.

The Baskets We Hold Too Tightly

Often times the things we hold onto are like empty baskets. There is a desire to refill the baskets, but your hands refuse to let go.

We try to outmaneuver this truth. We try to juggle. We try to balance. We try to carry the old and the new at the same time. But eventually, we lose our balance. We stop moving forward. We become weighed down by what we insist on carrying simply because it’s familiar.

I realized how often we do this internally. We cling to roles, identities, objects, expectations, memories - not because they serve us, but because they anchor us to a version of ourselves, we’ve outgrown.

The Barge at the Edge of the River

There are many things we hold onto because it brings enjoyment. Like a slow barge moving down the river, staying away from the rapids and the swiftest water. Clinging to the edges, where we can keep control and easily maneuver, keeping the boat in the gentle part of the flow.

There is always risk, of course. If you move the barge - full of things and attachments - into the fastest part of the river, everything could be turned upside down.

There is comfort in attachment. There is familiarity. But the truth remains: you cannot take any of it with you. When your time on this planet is complete - in this life or any life - you do not pack it up and carry it with you. It is heavy, cumbersome, and anchored in this world. Anchored in place. Anchored in belief systems and physical forms that are not even real. It is all an illusion.

Set Free the Clutter

Allow the things that clutter your life to drift away. Slowly, more and more will join them, and you will feel lighter. You will feel yourself moving closer to the rhythm of the water.

Look at a river: the center runs freely, quickly, with speed and intention. It is clear and clean. At the edges, where things cling to the shore, to the reeds, to the rocks - where debris slows the flow - the water becomes murky, cloudy, stagnant.

It may feel safer there with your things, but it is not clear.

Climbing the Mountain with Only What’s Needed

Think of the one climbing the mountain seeking beauty at the summit. They don’t focus on what is in their hands. Their hands hold what is needed only until it is no longer needed. A walking stick, water, food, shelter - these support the climb.

But at sunrise or sunset, when the colors are brilliant and the view is breathtaking, nothing is needed in the hands. Leaving it all behind allows you to see everything - to take in what cannot be held, only perceived.

This is not a call to release everything at once. But as you climb, you will naturally discover what you no longer need - the picture, the lamp, the baubles. Leave them for someone else.

Once you’ve reached the top and begin your descent, you have no desire to pick up rocks along the way. You are light. You are moving. You are thinking only of the beauty you’ve witnessed.

What Do We Release?

This is the question I’ve been asking myself, and now I offer it to you:

What are you still holding that keeps you at the edge of the river?

You don’t have to release everything at once.
You don’t have to make dramatic changes.
You don’t have to burn the house down.

Start with what feels ready.
Start with what feels heavy.
Start with what you’ve already outgrown.

As you release, you lighten.
As you lighten, you move.
As you move, you find yourself drawn toward the clear water - the place where life flows with ease.

The Truth That Frees Us

The phrase that keeps echoing in me is this:

You can’t take any of it with you.

Not the objects.
Not the roles.
Not the identities you cling to for safety.

What remains is the essence you carry within.
The part of you that is weightless.
The part that climbs mountains.
The part that knows how to flow.

A Final Offering

So here is what I want to leave you with:

Release what you can.
Trust the river.
Move toward the clear water.
Let your hands empty so your life can fill.

You don’t have to know how.
You only have to begin.