Addicted to Simple Living

This is your brain.

This is your brain on shopping.

The official term for being addicted to shopping is oniomania. It is probably more common than we care to admit.

It sounds like a funny name, but the situation is absolutely humourless, despite common light-hearted enabling phrases like "shop till you drop", "shop fearlessly", or "when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping".

Also known as Compulsive Buying Disorder, it defines the buying everything approach that business people love so much. 

They would like nothing more than giving us all a case of CBD. 

Human nature is susceptible to addictions generally, making shopping and spending money a potentially dangerous activity for many, perhaps most consumers. 

It has devastating effects for individuals, families, and the planet.

Better to develop what author William Glasser calls positive addictions.

He says that positive addictions can strengthen us and make our lives more satisfying. Two examples he uses are running and meditation.

"If more of us gain strength," Glasser says, "maybe we will make a better world; there is little chance we will do so if too many of us are weak."

Positive addictions, unlike their unhealthy counterparts, enhance our lives.

An addiction to conspicuous consumption, and the daily grind of competing for fewer and fewer resources, is keeping us weak. 

Speaking from personal experience, simple living can become a powerful positive addiction. 

An "addiction" to simplicity can help one overcome negative addictions, and lead to an integrated and rewarding life.

It is the basis from which to recover and start building a better world for all.

Just say YES... 

...to the calling of the simple life.