For the past few days I’ve been helping my mom unclutter her house. Throughout the years, with a husband and three kids, she’s accumulated a lot of things that she just doesn’t need. At one point during the process I thought of something that I read in The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt, that is, people often believe that more money and more possessions will lead them to happiness. Research shows otherwise.

Many people with little money and few possessions tend to be happier than their wealthier counterparts. In a recent study of the world’s happiest countries by the University of Leicester and the Perspectives of Psychological Sciences, the United States, one of the world’s wealthiest countries, ranks 16th. Long term data shows the level of happiness in the U.S. is stagnant. Denmark was ranked first and, along with Bhutan, consistently ranked very highly in the happiness scale. According to the University of Leicester, Puerto Rico and Colombia were second and third this year.

According to the United States’ culture of consumerism, the more we buy, the happier we will be. Arguably, consumerism is our national religion. However, Denmark, Puerto Rico, and Colombia are poorer countries whose level of consumerism is far less voracious. Clearly, the more we buy, the more we have, does not make us happy.

Of course, we all have necessities and all do need to consume. However, the case remains in our society, that we consume far too much because we think it will make us happy to buy and to have certain objects. And, for a short time, it does. This kind of consuming is unconscious and heavily ego-induced. We are trying to find happiness in identification with an object or trying to have an object that someone else does not in order to elevate our status, to feed our ego. Then, after that short lived happiness has subsided, we must buy something else… the ego is hungry again and must maintain its illusory status. In truth, objects will fulfill basic needs of survival and comfort, but will not provide for lasting happiness. Lasting happiness can only come from and be sustained by the self.

Next time you’re out shopping, ask yourself why you want to buy a certain item. Are you going to purchase that 4,000 square foot house because you actually need that much space or are you doing so because it will be bigger, and therefore, better than everyone else’s house at work? Do you want that new Hummer H3 because you actually are going to go off road, through snow, water, and wilderness, or are you doing it because it shows a level of status as both an expensive car to buy and to fill up with gas? If everyone had a Hummer H3 would you still want one? Are you going to buy a specific brand of shirt because you actually like the look and feel of it, or is Hugo Boss telling you to buy it so you’ll be better in some way than others who can’t afford it?

Consumerism is a necessity in our country. However, we can bring consciousness to it and stop using it to perpetuate a false sense of ego and of being better than others. Not only are we harming our personal and collective sanity with it, but our entire planet is suffering due to our incessant appetite to have more.