In today’s high stress world, we’re constantly bombarded with goals, demands, family, job obligations, not to mention the media telling us who to hate, what to buy, who to vote for. For the love of God…STOP!

Boy, things don’t need to be that complicated people. I have a friend who lives a very simple yet happy life that is a real inspiration. When I was younger, aspiring up the corporate food chain, I used to laugh at his monk like simplistic ways. Now, I think he’s got something going on that I can learn from.

Face it people, when you really look at it, all we really need to be happy is good simple food, a reasonable roof over our heads, family and friends. Contrary to what you see on TV, it’s not about the car you drive, the watch you wear, the name brand cloths you wear. At the end of the day, very few of those things matter.

That friend of mine taught me that the more stuff we own, the more of the stuff eventually end up owning us. As we buy that big house and that expensive car, the payments go up. So, we have to earn more money to support the bigger payments.

So, the message for today is, take a chill pill guys. Relax. Spend some time to appreciate the things you currently have. Do an inventory check to see what “stuff” you actually need and what stuff you are hoarding. As you go through your inventory, ask yourself, “do I own this doodad or does it own me?” You’ll be amazed how much stuff actually owns you.