10 Comments

Tyler, I too have experienced this same personal transformation. And I believe at its foundation, is a return to the heart; a return to the deepest possible connection with our souls. Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda wrote, "It is spiritual poverty, not material lack, that lies at the core of all human suffering." I think most people are quite soul sick. All that rushing around, the endless bombardment of information and marketing, how can we ever know ourselves authentically? Most people are terrified to know themselves intimately, because culturally, we constantly reinforce ideas of wrongness in order to sell products. It takes the brave among us to self-examine - to be introspective. And when we get deep, we realize that all the externalities are mostly just illusions and chasing after them will never be satisfying in the ways pursuits that feed our souls are. Philosopher Seneca wrote, "Natural desires are limited; but those that spring from false opinion can have no stopping point. The false has no limits." Getting real means needing less...and in western culture, a whole lot less. 🙏🏻

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My goodness, yes. A little cottage with a warm fire and endless hours of wandering and reading.

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Ohh! This is one of my new favorites. A wonderful reminder of appreciating the little things, the small moments, the right now. Especially this time of year, it always gets me feeling heavy with so many ads and commercials and buy, want, gimme! I’ll take the sunshine tomorrow & a smile from a stranger. 💜

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This rang true for me as well. I love the words you've combined. The longer I live the less I need. Perhaps this pandemic has taught us something. Let's hope so.

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My mantra...smaller and less. Every word of this one resonated with me.

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Yes, yes, yes, I feel this as well. Around this time of year, I always have so much trouble coming up with wishlists for gifts. Everyone wants to know what I want for Christmas, and the truth is, I don’t want things. If anything, I want experiences or just quality time with those I love.

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May your words reach out across the universe to the mankind that now exists and may that become the new mantra. Looking back on my 8 decades I can say, I have enough, now I too want Less.

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This one resonates in me like no other. It’s exactly how I feel...more and more each day.

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So feeling agreement with this. It's like breaking away from a cult of consumerism. It's a shifting of values and a recalibrating of mindset to say I don't want to have more. I have all I want and don't need more. That's not to say you don't buy anything, but the goal of the purchase isn't the same. It's not to demonstrate status, urge for collection, living from a mindset of lack, or feeding a hunger. On the other side of that is just simply buying minimally to meet necessities rather than acquiring more and more.

That being said, I just moved and I'm struggling with the "getting rid of" because I know the things I don't need could be useful to someone....and I feel like throwing away perfectly good items is as wasteful as buying more of what you don't need. Due to Covid, donations are harder to make right now. Finding someone who is seeking what you're looking to release is its own challenge.

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All I can contribute to this is “AMEN” brother! My heart is screaming at the top of her lungs for less and less. And my brain is finally listening (because it has no other choice)... The simple life, peace, and beauty of Vermont has been beckoning us away from the NYS of mind. It’s not the mindset I ever chose, I was born in NY, and my 40 years here has made me tired and worn. Worn from noise, speeding cars, inconsideration, chainsaws, the need for everyone in my neighborhood to keep it up, keep it up, more, more, better than the house before it. It has been fantastically cathartic purging our home of “stuff” in preparing for our move. It just come soon enough.

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