ZenDonut

I’ve heard that babies who are getting potty trained sometimes have difficulties “saying bye-bye” to their … “waste”.  Fortunately, this issue gets resolved for most children, and therefore, we don’t have children walking around with pockets full of stuff that should have been flushed.

This unusual behavior in toddlers made me wonder if we (as human beings) are born with materialistic instincts or whether we learn to be this way? I have a two year old son who has given me insights into the reality of materialism. Quick opinion … I think we are born with the instinct to share our possessions. Nature endowed us with the desire to share that which gives us happiness. However, some children have learned that giving something away means that you will no longer have that item to give you happiness (seems obvious in hindsight, but for a two year old, it’s new stuff). Therefore, it’s easier to keep those items yourself. Thus, it seems the materialistic world rears it’s ugly head at a young age.

Can the materialistic instinct that we learned as small children be eliminated? I assume if you learn something, you can unlearn it. In a typical blog / Zendonut fashion, I have three steps to break your materialistic desires:

1. Give stuff away’

Insightful? Nope. But if you want to learn how to walk, you need to learn how to take steps. Start small. Give away (or throw away something). Do it again. The “uncluttering” of your life can be contagious and can “snowball” (for those of you in snow free areas, I am referring to “snowball” as explained in definition 6 of this link).

2. Suffer happily

When you really want something, practice restraint. It is hard … especially at first. However, you begin to realize that what you really wanted is not critical to your happiness. Deprive yourself of every little whim and you’ll find that your suffering is not as bad as you originally thought it would be.

3. Understand the concept of impermanence

Zen time … Everything is impermanent. How much “crap” have you kept in your life? (I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve kept too much, but I’m working on it). Understanding the Buddhist concept of impermanence helps you realize that materialistic desires are not “what is important” in your life. It helps to keep this frame of reference when you see your neighbor’s shiny new car.

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