...hoarding is when you keep WAY more than what you need. This is different for every person in most cases. However there comes a time when you have far too much. The Waltons have too much ~ and they are never satisfied with too much, indeed they cause horrendous suffering in order to sit on all they have and make even more for themselves to sit upon. THIS is too much.
And there are differences. A person with 6 kids needs more than someone who has none. A disabled person may need more than a person who is not. A person who shelters kitties may need more than the one who does not, etc. However I am noticing I know when I have too much, my heart tells me so. If I have 2 coffee pots (saving one for the time the other one breaks and I can't afford to replace it), and someone I know does not have one, my heart tells me to give the better one away. After all it is sitting on my shelf gathering dust while my neighbor has none. In that case I am "considering the lilies of the field" trusting that, when the time comes my coffee pot breaks, something else will have come along. It usually does. As a matter of fact I cannot think of a time when I did not have one when I needed it after I gave something like that away.
Also I listen to my friend Bapu Gi, a Hindu priest, who taught me a long time ago the REAL meaning of the Christian "Loaves and Fishes" story. He helped the group of many faiths I was in, to perform the same miracle. In case you don't know it, it is a story where Jesus had a huge crowd of people and had only 5 loaves of bread and 3 fishes to share among the thousands that were there. When he shared it, it just "grew" until after everyone ate their fill, and then there was 12 baskets left over. Really this is not a miracle, it is what happens when you share with love. I cannot tell you how many times Bapu Gi's message worked! Like feeding three hungry teenage boys and their friends while I am looking at sharing a dinner with four pork chops and some salad. Oh sure, I do "throw in another potato" and open a can, but I can tell you these boys should not have pushed themselves away from the table full, yet they always did. With leftovers (that they gobbled for a midnight snack later, or I took to work for lunch, lol).
Bottom line is our hearts know when we have too much. Hoarding is a sickness of fear that encourages the illusion we don't have enough when we do. The suffering it causes not only within the greedy person, but in the world, has GOT to be a karma I would never want to live. I bet when a friend with one of the same critters you have says they are out of whatever their critter needs and cannot afford to replace it, you would share with them. If you do this with love, you can bet your own critters (and you) will also have enough.
My 2 cents,
Cat
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