Skip to content

mindful minute

“We are freed and imprisoned by our thoughts”

October 14, 2011 Had Enough?

Mark Fontaine

More is better. Excess and decadence revered. We live in a consumerist society. It takes a great toll on our spiritual well-being. The push to overconsume is everywhere. Why have one when you can have three for the price of two?!  We gorge, then encourage all our friends to join in through social media.

The media makes overconsumption entertainment. Network T.V. programs feature obesity, hoarding, and reality quasi-celebrities engaging in self-indulgent excesses.

Do we consider excess a right?  If having more stuff fills our needs, why are we currently experiencing a cultural, spiritual and financial stagnation?

When more energy is devoted to material “stuff” than to tapping into the soul’s needs, it leads to an imbalance. When we fall out of balance, we don’t feel well emotionally, physically or both. Our lives stagnate. We care less about taking care of ourselves, others and our environs.

The drive to overconsume may be a symptom of “soul loss”. We may have suffered a trauma from which we feel we can’t move on. We use things to create walls that render our souls inaccessible. Symptoms of a walled soul are: depression, relationship problems and ignoring obligations. If we don’t have a soul, we attempt to fill ourselves with things that will temporarily make us feel alive. We get trapped into thinking that we can buy happiness. We fill our lives with distractions that distance us from what we don’t want to deal with. We don’t feel. We can’t heal.

What we don’t heal in ourselves we pass on to others–our children, our relationships, the planet.

When we become mindful of our lifestyle, we can stop the cycle of excess. We pursue what we need versus what we want. We become more aware of the needs of others.