Are you a Citizen or a Consumer?

I watched a presentation by Lynne Twist the other day and boy did she hit the nail on the head, she said that we live in a deficit culture. What this means is that we live in a culture of 'not enough', for example how often have you either told yourself or overheard; I don't get enough sleep, I don't have enough money, I don't have enough time, I need more space, more clothes, the list is endless.

And what has happened since we are all seemingly deficit somehow, we created a buzz word, abundance. Abundance meaning a very large quantity of something, do we really want abundance? All of the marketing ads have us convinced that we need abundance and more of everything. Just look at how big the storage industry has become, it's a $38 billion/year industry in the US. There was a time when on Sunday's nothing was open and we all went to church, as citizens. In present day, the shops are all open for your business and we are all out there consuming, no longer do we call ourselves citizens, but consumers.

What if we focused on changing our mindset to sufficiency, meaning having an adequate amount of something essential. If you change your mindset to sufficiency, I promise you that a huge weight will be lifted from your shoulders and you will feel lighter, and happier.