<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Nomatic</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
I also very much like the concept of "less is more."
One of the more specific things I would like to do is spend less
and save more.
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Encouraging the concept of stewardship, which encourages self-respect, rather than accepting the rampant consumerism of the throw-away society ours has become would be a good first step for all of us, I think.
Lately I have begun watching television a little more ~ starting with the Christmas specials and cooking shows, of course! :smile:
But boy, by the time I sat through all the commercials, I found that I was more dissatisfied with myself and my belongings than it had occurred to me to be, before I watched those shows.
Strange, isn't it.
We're talking things like A Christmas Story and Paula Dean, guys.
I usually watch Grey's Anatomy too, but I hit the mute button during the commercials because I am actually sitting there watching the show. During the Christmas specials, I left the sound up through all the commercials because the television was just on while we went about our day.
And all that stuff about how my dullness, boredom, body odors or loneliness could be cured if only I sent away for this or that or spent enough on some other thing just set my teeth on edge.
Or that brownie commercial where the woman comes home, pops this mess into a microwave and
it off the fork like it was manna from heaven.
Even when whatever they were advertising did not apply to me (like getting my prostate checked or using Viva Viagra), I believe that listening to that stuff running in the backgrounds of our lives is a very bad thing for our psyches.
I am going back to playing music ~ no radio, no commercials in the background, no nothing like that for me anymore.
An intention toward an attitude of stewardship, toward self-respect and volunteerism.
I think those are the things which will make us most happy.
:smile:
Barbara
P.S. They say that, even if we do not accomplish our goals, our intentions will go before us, changing things just a little.
So, our intentions matter very much.
That is why I said an intention toward blah, blah, blah.
We always forget that it isn't necessarily the having of a thing that makes us happy, but the planning how our lives will be different, richer and more colorful, once the thing has been achieved.
Or at least, I do.
