Western culture has reached a level of material wealth greater than at any time in history. We include in this material wealth, wealth of information as well. Currently, at pinnacle of our ability to manipulate our environment and produce all things we need, and many that we don't, it's entirely possibly that many of our ills are arising as a result of our inability to handle this incredible glut of input, in all of its forms.

Prior to recent age, when resources and information were scarce and hard to come by, we would never think of turning either of these away. The arrival of this incredible abundance is relatively recent, in past 50 years or so, with refinement of industry and emergence of information age and Internet. It has come upon us so quickly that many of us haven't learned or prepared ourselves to handle this new level of abundance. If indeed it is possible to adapt and prepare ourselves for onslaught at all.

We haven't asked ourselves questions, "How much is enough?" "What do I value over everything else?" We just cannot say "no" to available "things" and information that meet our fancy. And, in some ways, we crave each new thing with hope that it will somehow set us free. Consequently, we are literally dying from over consumption in one form or another.

More than half US population is now considered "obese," while people are starving for renewal of "spirit" and "soul" in their lives and work. People are busier, have less time, and often feel overwhelmed, surrounded by "too much stuff" and stressed out under growing burden of "too much information."

Application

How do we cope with temptation to consume ourselves into oblivion? Our proposal is simple. We suggest two things. First, that you begin replacing habit of "accumulating" with practice of "assimilating." And second, that you make sure what you ingest in any form is of highest quality possible. Let's first quickly define these words:

Accumulate: To heap up in a mass; to pile up; to increase; to collect or bring together; to amass; as, to accumulate a sum of money.

Assimilate: To appropriate and transform or incorporate into substance of assimilating body; to absorb or appropriate, as nourishment; as food is assimilated and converted into organic tissue.

Proper assimilation and digestion of food, experience, and information will allow us to extract its full benefit and put it to good use. Whereas overstuffing ourselves, in any of these arenas will cause a buildup of unsightly fat, waste, stress, toxicity, confusion, unease, often fueling an unconscious compulsion for more. All of us know how much better we feel when we push ourselves away from table before we're full, and satisfied feeling we get when we give ourselves a little time for our systems to "assimilate" what we've taken in.

Unconscious compulsions for "more input" seldom satisfy our true needs. Nor will having piles of unread books and magazines ringing our desks reduce nagging sense that there is some piece of information that will really change everything for us.

Satisfaction comes from fully digesting and extracting fine nutrients from what we already have, and making choices for new input based on our true values and passions, not our casual likes and vague interests.

Saying yes to only what most serves our needs and resonates with our deepest sense of self, and our chosen mission will go a long way to lessen burden. So will focusing on what is important to ours and not someone else's sense of self.

How to Facilitate Assimilation