So part of this project has been the one-in-one-out policy, which has been making me a little fanatical. I have been trawling through the house looking at ’stuff’ I can get rid of.
The surprising result has been the re-discovery of some really nice, and useful things. Knowing what we actually have has also made me feel very grateful for the many things we do own, and has lessened the urge to buy more.
This has started me thinking about the role of gratitude within consumerism. I wish that I had started the project last year by being more grateful for what I owned already as this, I now believe, is an essential foundation for beginning to re-define my relationship with stuff, consumerism and modern lifestyles. So often, projects such as this start from a place of sacrifice and deprivation – to go without, to cut back, to have less. It becomes ‘work’.
Whereas if the mental mindset was of abundance – being grateful about how much we had, rather than what we lacked, the urge to have more, to consume, would have been less.
-Tammy
