Living abundantly in an over-consumption economy

We've all heard about living abundantly and being able to have everything you want in life, but what if your goal to live abundantly conflicts with your values relating to over-consumption, wastefulness and ecology?

To some, living abundantly means a fleet of cars, multiple large properties, a private jet and every luxury item they can dream of. This is not really my goal of abundance when I think about the law of attraction. Being abundant for me might well mean being a millionaire and having the financial energy to make certain choices, but accumulating assets that I cannot make full use of would seem wasteful to me. Esther Hicks rather amusingly said once that she had become so good at manifestation that she needed to work on her de-manifestation skills! You can only use so much 'stuff' in your life, and if you have houses that aren't lived in, cars that aren't driven and other stuff that you hardly use, it will clutter up your life and make you feel burdened.

My own dream for an abundant life is to have the freedom of choice. To work when I want to work, to go where I want to go and to be free of reliance on others. Money, of course, can create that freedom easily, but also lifestyle choices can also provide freedom. Living a somewhat minimalist life, free of debt and assets that cost you money can bring freedom as you require less and less money energy to live a free life. I realised this when I lost my job last year. It was a stressful and worrisome time, but once I got used to living frugally I began to realise I didn't need so much stuff. I had already been saving for some time before the job loss. I had paid down my debts and built up an emergency fund. For the last 8 months I've been blogging, building up a business and spending time relaxing and enjoying life. The job related stress has all but disintegrated and life feels good. At some point I will need to create an income but in the meantime I'm beginning to get a taste of living abundantly with less as I feel free for the first time since being a child.

We already live in an over-consumption economy where people buy stuff in an attempt to bring temporary happiness to their lives. Spending money on 'nice things' however often results in buyers remorse. You've bought a thing, owned it for a few weeks, and realised it doesn't really bring happiness at all. You've essentially traded in some freedom so that you can have a nice pair of shoes sitting in the cupboard or have a new model car in the garage.

If more people could learn to live abundantly with less the world could be a better place for everyone. There would be less waste, less debt and more freedom. Billionaires could channel their wealth into the betterment and development of humanity and we might see a fairer distribution of wealth.

Peace and Love.