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!

- ELIZABETH DENLEY

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.

Why do we want things?