Don’t go to the mall with friends. Go alone, and make it a business trip. Know exactly what you want before you go to the store, buy it, and leave the premises immediately. Use a 30-day list. If you decide you really want to buy something, put it on a list. Now tell yourself you cannot buy that item for 30 days. When the 30 days have passed, if you still want the item, go to the store and buy it. This waiting period can help you determine whether or not you really want or need the item. Remember happiness comprises two elements. One is the momentary emotion of joy, and the other is the satisfaction derived from living a meaningful life. So it is essential to work on both aspects. [3] X Expert Source Guy ReichardExecutive Life Coach Expert Interview. 20 September 2021.
Internet services such as Craigslist and E-Bay make buying used items much easier than before. The direct exchange such services provide can get you out of the cycle of extreme consumerism. Buying used at thrift stores and flea markets usually means you are dealing with another human being, face-to-face, instead of dealing with a faceless corporation.
Force yourself to shut down all TV viewing for one week as an experiment, and if you can’t handle this, shut it down for three days. Figure out how many hours of TV you watch per week. Then determine what you would truly miss if you cut out TV viewing altogether. Watch only the shows you would truly miss, and forget about the rest. Watch TV only with other people, never alone. Figuring TV as a communal activity can reduce some of its materialistic overtones as you interact with your fellow viewers instead of sitting inert and allowing yourself to be bombarded by endless ads.
Even more than TV, internet use encourages self-absorption and a solitary life style. Instead of becoming a hermit, participate in real social networking—make new, non-virtual, friends—rather than participating in Facebook and Twitter. Cut out one internet function. Most people use the internet for more than one function. They use it to play games. They use it for getting news. Or, they use it for buying stuff. Cutting out one of these functions is easier than cutting them all out, and it can help you get a handle on your overall internet usage.
Recognize the connection between environmental degradation and a materialistic way of life. For example, buying bottled water produces millions of plastic bottles that end up bobbing up and down in rivers and lakes, not to mention the oceans. Make recycling your religion. If you really make recycling a way of life, you will see how foolish it is to assign value to objects based on how much they cost. [7] X Research source Human beings are natural process too, in a sense. Going green can help you reconstitute your identity.
Read a book instead of a magazine. Magazines stopped making their profit from subscription fees and store purchases a long time ago. It’s all advertising now! Reading a book can provide a respite from being bombarded by magazine ads. Get to know your neighbors. Get to know them in the way your parents and grandparents used to know them; that is, actually spend some time with them. Have lunch with them, have dinner with them. Find out what bothers them about your neighborhood and what they really like about it. You can nurture positive emotions by practicing appreciation and gratitude. [11] X Expert Source Guy ReichardExecutive Life Coach Expert Interview. 20 September 2021. Attend non-professional sports events. Attending professional sports events has become so expensive as to exclude a large part of the working population, especially families. For a family of four to attend a professional baseball game, for example, you can expect to spend as much as $400. 00 or more when you consider tickets, food, souvenirs, and parking. Alternatively, many communities have nearby colleges that play high-quality baseball, and attendance is usually free. The point is to enjoy the game itself, and what does the game have to do with $12. 00 cups of beer. For that matter, what’s wrong with attending a Little League game and watching 12-year-olds play out of the love of participation? Learn that everything in life has to go once - your attachment, be it of value or emotions to an object can make it a part of your life. And concentrating on these things, you forget to live your life without concerning. Where concerned word is bounced, happiness word is erased. So, live happily and don’t make any kind of greedy, emotional, or valued attachment to anything. Pursuing meaningful goals helps to improve your life and makes you happy. [12] X Expert Source Guy ReichardExecutive Life Coach Expert Interview. 20 September 2021.
