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While driving this morning, I heard that debt is becoming an increasingly dominant factor in our lives leading to all sorts of health problems including high blood pressure, stress and heart attack. If you add the imminent threat of recession to this news, a rather worrisome depiction of our society emerges.

It’s an astounding revelation that spooked me to think that debt has power to take our lives yet we do so many things that attract this dreaded daemon to destroy our dreams and to throw us in the state of despair without a hope to an ultimate salvation, a nirvana.

How can one achieve the ultimate salvation? Few thoughts sparkled my mind.

  • To be happy, I have to abstain from the habit of spending for the hedonic bliss, a pleasure that is external and as treacherous as a mirage in the desert. Happiness comes from within with simple and life forming pleasures by the act of utmost kindness and generosity. Happiness is not a thought of consumption, it is a thought of giving, a thought of charity.
  • I need not obsess over HOW to please my desire to impress others, only a clear conception of WHAT it is I want to achieve and WHY I want to achieve it to please my inner-self.
  • I need to define values in my life so that every time when I spend money, I need to ask myself this question, “Is this spending congruent with my values?”

More tips to recover from the consumption addiction.

Debt in a simplistic view, spending beyond what we can purchase with our cash. It’s a substance abuse in the form of an instant gratification that has no consciousness. It’s a mind fogged with thoughts of possessing clutter that drains our life energy.

I’ve had a humble beginning with limited capital to launch a new life thousands of miles away in a nation that still promises hope to anyone who can dare to dream. I’m often asked as to how I came up with capital to embark my journey as an entrepreneur. It’s all rooted in the power of simplicity - to define what is important in life, to squash the bug of external pleasures and to focus on every action with abundance of consciousness. Life of simplicity not only is a pathway to our purpose but also a nirvana from the debt ridden life.

  • Live within your means.

I have to know what I can afford before I contemplate thoughts of consumption. The mantra of living within means simply teaches me to wait until I have money to buy what I need. It teaches me the core concept of conscious living by prioritizing what is essential and non-essential in my life. It teaches me value to anticipate my needs and patience to save enough cash to purchase my essential needs. It prepares me to squash the bug of instant gratification by avoiding any purchases by using the plastic cards.

  • Use plastic cards as a life line.

Credit cards can be devastating for their intended function of building good credit. I keep few credit cards with me only as a last resort to pay when cash is not accepted. Wise use of credit card usage and timely payment can build a great credit score but unwise abuse can bring daunting clouds of misery.

  • Anticipate your needs.

Clutter that we accumulate is a byproduct of magic of advertising that whets our appetite for the stuff we don’t need. When we don’t know what is essential for us, we squander our hard earning on clutter that attracts habit of numb spending without consciousness. When I walk into a store, I know what I need. I tend to walk away after purchasing my essential and not paying attention to those items on sale that I do not need.

  • Use it till you lose it.

How many pair of shoes do we need? How many wrist watches we need? How many pair of sunglasses we need? Most things that we throw away have a great deal of shelf life left yet we convince ourselves that those things are out of vogue. We strive to collect clutter to simply impress others. I can save a great deal of my money by applying a mantra of buying something only after it becomes useless. Even useless things can be used creatively to save even more by their creative usage.

  • Become a prudent buyer.

If I anticipate my needs, I allow myself to clearly define what I need and then use the power of internet to research the best buy. By researching price gaps between new and used, I can make conscious decision to purchase a new or slightly used item to save a great deal of my hard earned money.

Final Thoughts

We do not need a lot to live a life of abundance other than a clear, conscious awareness of what is essential for our happiness. When we squander our hard earned money on things that we don’t need or, even worst, when we spend money that we have no means to repay in the near future, we put ourselves at the cross road leading to unending misery. When we spend money with numbness, we trade our life energy to purchase things that enslave our happiness.

Photo courtesy of onephoto


To Your Success,