As you progress through life, you may begin to notice that the more you own, the more your life tends to be influenced by those things. And in many cases, restricted and controlled.
It has been said that the more you own, the more what you own ends up owning you.
“He who buys what he does not need, steals from himself.” – Swedish Proverb
So it is wise to ensure you don’t fall into the trap of acquiring possessions for the sole sake of simply having them or assuming that acquiring that one more thing will finally be the answer to the happiness you seek.
The truth is, we rarely make full use of what we already have. And much of what we own sits in a closet, an attic, a garage, or a storage unit where it is nearly never used and simply takes up more and more space year after year.
“People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. The reason why the world is in chaos, is because things are being loved, and people are being used.”
We have been fooled by a consumer-driven society that more stuff equals more happiness — or is a sign of “success” — but it has been shown, the opposite is closer to the truth.
The less you own and need to be responsible for, the more you are able to exercise your free will, and the more you are able to appreciate and make use of the things you have.
“There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.” – G.K. Chesterton
Be careful not to judge the value of your life by the material things you own — or you’ll find that you never have enough. The real measure of one’s wealth is not how much one has, but how much one is worth when they have nothing.
You can’t measure some of the most important things that matter most in the world. And yet, this has no impact on the tremendous impact they have on our lives.
It’s not the having of something that’s powerful, it’s what you choose to do with it. When one simply collects things that ultimately go unused, one not only uses up their valuable resources to keep it, they waste a tremendous opportunity to make a significant difference in someone else’s life who could actually use it.
Your greatness is not measured by how much you’re able to gain in life, but by how much you’re able to give.
