Over the last 20 years or so, our society in general has been on a quest to obtain stuff. Bigger houses. Flashier cars. Debates have been conducted in many staff rooms on which is better – LCD or Plasma TV’s. We don’t go to the Gold Coast for our holidays anymore. We go to Thailand, Bali, Fiji.

 

We are trapped in a consumer cycle of buy, buy, buy, which means we have to work, work, work. The more stuff we accumulate, the harder and longer we have to work. We have credit cards, interest free loans, buy now pay later schemes which make it even easier for us to buy more stuff. We have become trapped in a system that feeds us externally. The problem is that this is only a short term solution.

 

More and more people are realizing that all this stuff that they are accumulating isn’t really making them happy. While it feels good at the time to buy these things, it doesn’t take long for that feeling to turn into stress when we get the credit card bill in the mail. Then we ask the boss if we can work some overtime and next thing you know your average work week has been extended. That means there’s even less time to enjoy the very things that put you in this situation in the first place.

 

AAAHHH!

 

Our problem is not the things we buy. We’ve become addicted to the feelings associated with buying stuff. We walk out of the store with this humongous TV which is so big that the family have to find their own way home from the shopping centre because they can’t all fit in the car. Then, we arrive home with our new TV and spend the afternoon rearranging the entire lounge room to fit it in and then we finally get to sit down and actually watch it, feeling fabulous. We feel elated, excited, proud. We have a ‘look at me’ moment. It’s everything we’ve dreamed of. Now, because we want those feelings again, we make more purchases. It’s a cycle. Buy it, feel good, buy it, feel good …

 

We’re starting to realize that once we have bought everything on our list and we really don’t want anything else, that we’re left feeling empty. We’re starting to shift from an externally driven validation to an internally sustainable foundation. We’re starting to realize that nothing of the senses will satisfy the soul. Nothing we can taste, touch, smell, see or hear can fill the void that is within us. If we do happen to find something that satisfies the senses, it only tends to be short lived which means we’re left wanting for more.

 

If you were to take away all of your stuff, what would you be left with? Scary thought? How would it feel to know that you didn’t need all that stuff to know who you were? That who you were came from a place inside of you which is full of potential and possibilities.

 

The lesson here is that the more stuff you ‘need’ to buy, the greater the need for internal fulfillment. So, next time you’re looking to purchase something, ask yourself this: “Am I buying this because I truly want it or is it because it will make me feel better?” It is from that space that you can really make a choice to buy because you want to, not because you’re trying to fill a need.