What’s REALLY necessary?

What do you really need?

What’s really vital for you to live a happy and fulfilling life?

And not ‘what’s in the images of a happy life that are spoon fed through the media to you?’ but ‘what, on your deepest and simplest level, is necessary for YOU to be completely happy?’

It’s something that’s been playing through my mind a lot lately – what’s REALLY necessary?

I’m sitting on the back porch of my house as I write this. It’s a beautiful 26 degrees and there’s a warm spring breeze rustling through the trees.

It’s a beautiful moment.

At this moment, there’s nothing to worry about. There’s no stress, no problems, no pain, no frustration.

Anything I desire is at my fingertips.

I can walk inside and get food from the fridge. If what I want isn’t there, I can walk to the shops and get it.

If I want to talk to someone, there’s a world filled with people, just outside my door.

I’m in complete control of my life and I can create it in any way I want.

It’s an amazing feeling.

It really got me wondering about what I need to be truly happy…

Do I need a car? Not really. All a car can do is take me places. But if I can’t learn to be happy where I am, how is going somewhere else going to make me happy?

Do I need lots of money? Not really. I need enough to buy food, water, and shelter and enough to know there’s more food, water and shelter if I need it.

Do I need a smoking hot girlfriend? Not really. How good looking a woman is, is completely irrelevant to how happy you feel around her.

What do I need to be truly happy?

For me, it’s simple. I need:

– To feel like I’m in control of my life
– To feel like I can do whatever I want, whenever I want to
– To connect with people
– To feel like I’m making a difference
– To take on challenges
– To express myself

What do I need to have all of that?

– My laptop and the internet allow me to connect with people all over the world and make a difference to their lives
– Enough money to by food, water, and shelter
– To exercise
– Knowledge that there will be enough money coming in to make sure that all bases are covered

That’s it. That’s all of it. What’s really necessary after that?

There’s nothing. Everything else is just extra baggage.

This first time this really struck me was when I landed back in Australia after 2 months in Bali.

After 8 weeks of living out of a backpack, and being more consistently happy and fulfilled than I’ve been in a long time, I walked back into my storage shed and saw all the piles of objects I’d been collecting for the last 31 years.

Bookcases, cooking equipment, clothing, books, sporting equipment, etc, etc, etc…

And all of it playing no role in how happy and fulfilled I was in Bali.

It was confronting to see just how much crap I’d accumulated that was so unnecessary to where I was going and what I really wanted to achieve.

What’s the point of all this?

Well, really, it’s just to brag about how amazing my life is.

I’M KIDDING!

This article has two points:

1. To get you to look at your life and what’s REALLY necessary for you
2. To start asking the important questions about what you really need and where you’re going

I want you to think about everything that’s stuffed inside your house right now – all the toys, gadgets, trinkets, and memories that currently fill your life – and ask yourself something very simple:

Is this item helping me create the happy, rewarding, and fulfilling life I desire?

Then, think about how you spent your time over the last week and ask yourself:

Is doing this activity helping me create the happy, rewarding, and fulfilling life I desire?

Then, think about all the people who’re currently in your life and ask yourself:

Is this person helping me create the happy, rewarding, and fulfilling life I desire?

If you answered ‘no’ to anything in your life, you might want to consider why it’s still there, how having it in your life is preventing you from filling your life with what you really value, and if you really need to hang on to it.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you just run home and throw everything in the trash and move to a hermit cave in the Himalayas to become a chanting, celibate Yogi.

There are definitely things in your life that are useful in moving towards the life you want.

I love cooking and I love my kitchen utensils. If I threw out my knifes, my pots and pans, and my containers and what not and if I lost them, I’d definitely go back out and buy them again.

But is having 42 inches of TV and the complete box set of House helping you create a fulfilling and rewarding life of is it just distracting you from dealing with your shit?

Is having an x-box a necessary tool in living a rewarding life or is it just distracting you from getting your act together?

And if you hadn’t spend the last 6 / 12 / 18 / 24 months using these things to hide from your problems and devoted that time to actually facing the challenges that pop up in your world, where would your life be today?

Just something to think about.

12 thoughts on “What’s REALLY necessary?”

  1. Leigh,
    Oh my dear friend,, you just stepped beyond the relm of physical ‘must haves’ bullshit, and are very close to enlightemnent.. Good Luck on the next step of your journey,, but one word of advise, as pythagoras put it “once you find enlightenment, nothing in the phisical world will you ever find enjoyment in” so take some advise and be careful what you wish for…

    Reply
  2. Amazing Post.

    I Had the exact same realization when I was a backpacker for 6 months.
    Nothing to add here Leigh!
    Although an X-Box to chill with your mates is till quite cool 😉

    Reply
  3. I just had another thought…

    I can remember a time when to listen to some desirable music or to obtain some desired information, I’d have to take LOTS of physical and mental effort to source the book or CD or video. I’m so thankful for technology that now I can get it in a quarter of a second with very little effort whatsoever, THEN store it on a hard drive or personal player for LIFE to listen to, watch or read whenever desired. Previously I’d have to collect a bunch of near-useless information and stack CDs and books and be grieving about losing them because of the effort it took to obtain them.

    Nowadays I feel like punching in the computer screen when a YouTube video carries a 15 second advertisement.

    Consider this a comment but also an Ode to Technology, Minimalism and Impatience.

    Reply

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