Take the consumer challenge

ELIZABETH DENLEY shares some insights on reducing wants, cutting costs, and in the process living more sustainably on the planet. Even if you choose one tip and do it for a month, you will make a difference!

For most of us, the cost of living is going up month by month, and it is not matched by an increase in our incomes. We are being squeezed, and while that is challenging, it is also forcing us to live more creatively and more sustainably on less! We can no longer justify the consumerist throw-away culture, even though all the advertising we see thrives on selling us the latest and most trendy goods. Our current economy is built that way, and it will take a bigger shift in consciousness to transition to a truly sustainable and regenerative way of living.

When I first started meditating, over three decades ago, one principle that jumped out of the Heartfulness literature was, “Do not purchase a new thing if you can manage to carry on with your old belongings.” I soon learned that it is a fundamental principle of yoga – reduce your wants.

Since then, I have personally experienced one of the great side benefits of meditating – meditation reduces your wants. How? Let’s wind back a step.

“Do not purchase a new thing if you can 
manage to carry on with your old belongings.”

Why do we want things? 

Wants play into our need to belong. If all your friends ride bicycles, you will want a bicycle. If your neighbors all wear a certain brand of jeans, or cook with a brand of rice cooker, you will be tempted to buy that brand. If someone says something is good, it is natural to be curious about it. We are social learners, and that has many survival benefits. But it also leaves us open to suggestion from advertisers, and sees us succumbing to peer pressure, and that is not so healthy.

Wants also play into our wish to feel happy and avoid pain – our likes and dislikes. Likes and dislikes drive so many of our choices, even leading to addiction and other avoidance behaviors when we are struggling. The media tells us to be happy, healthy, successful, beautiful, intelligent, and the list goes on. What happens when we fail, when we are sad, lonely, ill, or when we don’t feel beautiful? We don’t like those painful feelings, so we try to avoid them and fill our lives with external distractions and pleasures. The truth is that the world we live in is full of dualities – with health comes illness, with pleasure comes pain, with happiness comes sadness, with good comes bad. It’s unavoidable. So best is to face life as it is and come up with simple solutions to reduce wants and wishes.

Here are a few that have served me well:

Inner tips

It is how we respond to the ups and downs that determines how well we navigate life, and that’s where Heartfulness helps. 

• In Heartfulness Meditation, we learn to dive deeper into the center of our being, where the ups and downs don’t affect us; like the eye of a tornado, it’s perfectly still.
• In the Heartfulness Cleaning, we remove the complexities and heaviness in our system, so we don’t hold emotional entanglements and sources of angst. Each new day is a fresh start where we feel content within ourselves, with fewer wants. 
• In the Heartfulness Prayer, we build our resilience and self-mastery, so that our inner life is stable and not so easily swayed by outside pulls and pushes. 
• These three simple daily practices provide a natural antidote to the lure of wants.

Outer tips

• Take the contentment challenge! Don’t buy any non-essential items for a month. 
• Make a list of what you are grateful for every week, and let it replace your list of wants. 
• When shopping for food, take your own shopping bags, stick to a prepared list, buy in season, eat vegetarian, ditch the takeaway, and buy generic rather than branded.
• Slow-cooked meals like casseroles, stews, and soups are economical, and can be stored easily in the fridge and freezer. They also use up whatever vegetables you have at home. 
• Share food with neighbors, friends, and extended family. A good potluck meal is usually fun and very cost effective. Or prevent food spoilage by getting together and preserving foods, e.g., pickles, sauerkraut, passata, stewed fruits, and dried herbs.
• Grow some of your own food, even if it is as simple as herbs on your kitchen windowsill. Let your children plant the seeds and take care of the plants as they grow, and they will also learn some valuable skills.
• Learn from your grandparents. What did they do during tough times to exist with less?
• Declutter – eliminate unnecessary things from your life!

The world we live in is full of dualities – 
with health comes illness, with pleasure comes pain, 
with happiness comes sadness, with good comes bad. 
It’s unavoidable. So best is to face life as it is and come up 
with simple solutions to reduce wants and wishes.

Illustrations by ANANYA PATEL