Teaching Oneself Not To Want More

 NOT TO WANT MORE IS UNAMERICAN...

NOT TO BE GREEDY IS UNAMERICAN...

Yes...  it is hard to believe that someone living in the US of A does not feel this way (see above)...  but, let me assure you that I do and have felt this way for a long, long time.

My first job after college, I really did not care about making more than I needed to pay my bills and take a couple of week long vacations and a few extra presents for the Holidays and Birthdays; but, as my daughter increased in her age, I found myself wanting more so that I could give more to her...

That desire for GREED and WANTING MORE stayed with me until I was in my 40's and moved from the Piedmont of North Carolina to the Valley of East Tennessee and began to witness first hand that wanting more was not all that it was cracked up to be...  and so, I gradually started cutting back and becoming debt free.  My first selections were quitting smoking and drinking alcohol.

While it may seem quite obvious to you, it was not yet to me that wanting less allowed me to earn less and not be pressured to moving up the ranks so that I could move up the ladder and increase my income...  although, there were still things that I thought I wanted or needed so money became a necessary evil.

UNTIL...  at the age of 60, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and shortly thereafter had a serious heart attack due to heart arteries being blocked 100%, 90%, and 90% and reduced my ejection fraction to right around 20...  now...  many of you may not realize how serious it was...  but, let me share what the Cardiologist told me...  if I had not been so damn healthy and my heart created separate little blood vessels to bypass on their own the bad ones, I would not be alive today to tell my story.

FINALLY...  GREED and WANTING MORE was absolutely no longer important...

I did not need 

• a new car every 5 years
• a bigger house
• a vacation home
• trips to Europe or Cruises
• new clothes or shoes
• concerts, sports events, or movies
• a whole lot of food from the grocery
• at the most expensive times

It did not matter what my neighbors did or the things that my friends purchased to make their lives more meaningful nor did it matter what my siblings had or were able to give to their families...  things are nothing more than things...  and, after a few months of use, all these things just sit around and gather dust.

At 73 years of age, I find just how little out of life that I really need to be content and satisfy my happiness.

1. I need my faith
2. I need healthy 5 small meals a day
3. I need my modest debt free home
4. I need only reliable transportation
5. I need enough income or savings to pay my must have bills
6. I need access to the internet
7. I need a laptop computer
8. I don't need but have a cell phone