Letting go of materialism: Living with less

Do you also love shopping? Buying nice things? Or do you like collecting houses and cars? Then you may have a materialistic attitude. That doesn't have to be a bad thing at all. However, if you let your happiness depend on whether you can buy certain things, this can cause problems if the answer is "yes" and you fail to purchase something.

What about materialism and is it bad or not?

Materialism Psychology

Advertisements, movies, and influencers can give you the impression that you’re only successful if you own certain things—certain makeup, certain clothes, certain cars, certain houses—but many studies show that this mindset isn’t healthy for you at all.

Materialism is a form of external motivation. You do things so that you can earn a lot of money and use it to buy nice things. However, this is by no means always what makes you happy, because sometimes you have to “do things” for years on end to earn the money to buy those things.

This can cause you to have less time for other things that also contribute to happiness, such as more feelings of autonomy (because, for example, you have a strict boss at that high-paying job, or are in an unhappy marriage with a rich partner who is controlling), feeling like you can do something, and feeling connected to other people.

After all, when you work 60 hours a week, you have less time to meet with family and friends.

Chinese research also shows that a materialistic mindset causes people to feel less happy and be more prone to depression [1].

Those feelings of depression and unhappiness likely stem from a clash between materialistic values and other personal values, such as those instilled in you by your family or religion.

For example, you might work very hard to buy that one car. But if this means you have less time for yourself or can’t visit that sick friend, it might start to weigh on you internally[2].

The practical side of materialism isn't always convenient, either. You might say you're going to save for an expense, but the danger is actually taking out loans to achieve certain things. The more materialistic you see yourself, the more positive you are toward borrowing[3].

And borrowing is not without its dangers, because if you can't pay the loan you can lose everything, because the bank or the people you owe a debt to may then sell all your stuff.

A formula to be very unhappy about.

But why do you want the stuff anyway? Many people with a materialistic streak use stuff to communicate their social status to the outside world. They want other people to think they are rich, or something else which is then communicated to the environment according to the clothes or other objects they have[4].

The culture, or perhaps even family, you come from can protect you from the negative effects of materialism. If you come from a very individual society, or family, then materialism can create more unhappy feelings than if you come from a culture that has more togetherness[5].

Living with little stuff

Living with little stuff can be difficult if you don't address the underlying beliefs that create your materialistic disposition. Then you may only feel that you are "failing" because you are getting rid of all kinds of stuff.

So there are a number of questions:

1. What does materialism do for you?
2. Does it communicate your status?
3. Does it just make you feel good?
4. Does it buy you quality?
5. How are you doing socially?
6. What problem does materialism solve for you?

The answers to these questions provide guidance on new thought patterns you can adopt to reduce the burden of materialism.

With meditation and hypnosis, you can break automatic thought patterns, such as `I must necessarily wear Gucci` and redirect to a thought pattern that makes it easier to live with little stuff[6].

A hypnotherapist can help you change your mindset if this isn’t coming easily yet. Usually, there is an underlying cause for the belief that leads to materialism; by addressing that cause, it becomes easier to live with less.

Problem solving

Solving the problem that causes materialism is not always as easy as it seems, this may be due to unconscious beliefs that cause materialism.

Hypnotherapists typically use the regression technique to identify the root cause. With this technique, the client is guided to return to the first moment when they felt that, for example, materialism or certain possessions were important to have.

These are often moments from childhood, because that's when you determine how it all works in the world and what "rules" you have to live by.

For example, I know someone who comes from an economically prosperous family in which the father and uncles were always talking about cars and who had the fastest or newest car. At every party, the men would walk out to admire each other's cars.

Now cars are also important to him, but so the cause lies in that memory of how his father and uncles handled and talked mostly about cars.

While looking back at that moment now with your adult eyes, it could also be that the father and uncles just didn't want to be with the mother and aunts who were talking about other things for a while, and that the cars were just a good excuse to take a break during the party.

Get a breath of fresh air instead of being in the cigarette smoke inside (the world was different in the 80s/90s).

So during a regression, you take a look at that moment. What was the context? What was happening? Who were there?

Sometimes just empathizing with the individuals with your adult knowledge can cause you to see the situation differently after all, allowing you to let go of beliefs about the importance of certain stuff.

But sometimes more is needed.

For example, if you had two working parents who wanted to show their love by giving you expensive things and you became materialistic as a result, empathizing with the child and with the parents can give up whole different insights. So sometimes a conversation with the inner child is necessary to feel the self-love needed to replace love with stuff.

Thus, in this way, a hindering belief has been repaired to a helping belief[7].

Focus on improving other values

Sometimes it all makes perfect sense, but due to circumstances, you’ve come to focus entirely on money and material possessions. As a result, you may have lost sight of other values that are important to you.

But if you feel unhappy and guilty toward the family, but also guilty again toward your work when you take time off, it is actually something very different that needs to be solved than materialism.

In that case, issues regarding priorities and boundaries need to be resolved.

Hypnotherapy then helps shift the focus from the pleasure that stuff gives you, to the pleasure that family and friends give you.

This may include visualizations.

If that priority is then well established in your subconscious, you can also practice taking time for your friends and setting boundaries at work, for example.

This can also be achieved through visualizations, creating a better balance between earning money for materialistic goals and spending time with family and friends for social purposes and relaxation.

Learn Hypnosis

Learning hypnosis can be incredibly useful when helping people with minimalist living or to get a better work-life balance. It is also always a nice addition for your own personal development.

Want to learn more about how hypnosis can help you or others as a hypnotherapist or hypnocoach?

Join us for our free master class.

Or request the free MP3 for an introduction.

We also have events and trainings so you can become a hypnotherapist, or at least know the techniques to help others move forward.

Click here for more information about the training.

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You can take the training in class, or you can join the class live online. Ideal if you do not live in the Netherlands, or want to take the class remotely during a vacation.

Also, pin this infographic as a reminder:

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