When Less Really Is More

Gleaned from O Magazine (May/June 2000) article by Rachel Naomi Remen

Rachel wrote about how she used to play with a friend’s 6 year old son. He owned 2 Hot Wheels, and they used to spend a lot of time playing with them together. He enjoyed them so much that she devised a method to accumulated every available Hot Wheels car and gave them to the young boy. They filled every windowsill in the living room, and then he stopped playing with them. Puzzled, she asked him why he didn’t like his cars anymore. He looked away and in a quivery voice said, “I don’t know how to love so many cars, Rachel.” Ever since, Rachel has been careful to not have more Hot Wheels than she can love.

Rachel also wrote about a cancer survivor who told Rachel that before she became sick she had always felt empty. She kept accumulating more and more goods, more and more books and magazines, and more and more people, which only made everything worse, because the more she accumulated, the less she experienced. “Have everything, experience nothing,” When she finished chemotherapy, this woman held a garage sale and sold half of what she owned. Her friends thought she had gone crazy, but scaling back enhanced her life. “I had no idea what was in my closets and drawers. I have fewer things now, but I am not empty. Having and experiencing are very different.” She added, “Perhaps we only really have as much as we can love.”

I personally have learned that accumulating “stuff” does not lead to happiness. Scaling back actually can give me a sense of freedom. As Einstein once said, “Every possession is a stone tied to your leg.”