In my last article, the topic was how to give more attention to what we possess. The idea behind was to get more nourishment from what is already in our life, instead of accumulating more and more stuff. Consuming less helps us – in my opinion – to be more attentive to what is already present in our life. It may move our attention from what we possess – materiality – to something immaterial.
Instead, consuming maintains the sensation that we lack of something. That what we have is not enough. Sometimes we even feel that we are not enough, that we should solve a problem by acquiring the “right stuff”.
Now, materiality is important because it gives a real security: shelters, food, social contacts. But it can become a curse when it is an automatic pattern telling that it is never enough, that we are not enough and that more should be done or possess.
When I started to learn how to promote my services – a never ending learning process 🙂 – I was told many times that I should convince people that they have a “problem” that I can solve. I personally never liked this approach for several reasons:
First, problems may be precious experiences that allow us to learn and grow. If we take them away, the learning they offer is also gone.
Second, other people can help and support us, but finally – in the optic of being independent and responsible – we need to go through the changes that will bring a better balance in our life. Nobody and nothing else can do this for us.
Consuming implies exactly the opposite perspective: it pretends that we always need something new/more and that we can not be just satisfied and content with what it is now. Also, it implies that the solution is outside us and will be provided by the action of buying.
These provoke some major imbalances:
1. We are trained to look for “problems” even if not all of them are always “real” ones.
2. We are constantly distracted from what is already present, what is near to us : relationships, nature, activities….
If you would like to valorize more your immaterial wealth, you can increase your attention. There are no fixed recipe to feel good. But something in common to all recipes is „taking time„. Taking time allows to create a conscious space, a space where to feel and to appreciate what is in our life. And one way to take time is to write!
I still find that writing is a very powerful practice (1), so my recommendation is to describe by writing what is part of your life and is not a material possession. Think about relationships (friends, family, colleagues, people you meet regularly), activities (sports, hobbies, being part of a club, volunteers engagements), contact with nature (the trees in the city, the forest, the lakes, …), spirituality.
Describe then the benefits theses activities are given to you.
If you need support, contact me: I’m experienced in this learning process !
1) Writing is a very powerful practice because it slows down our brain and allows us to take time to formulate the sentences we want to write. And it allows to feel more.