"In the beginning of our lives, more possessions did indeed mean more fulfillment. Basic needs were met. We were fed. We were warm. We were sheltered. Most of us don't remember the fear of hunger and cold that was remedied by just a blanket and a breast--but we all went throught it. . .
We then went from bare necessities (food, clothing, shelter) to some amenities (toys, a wardrobe, a bicycle), and the positive relationship between money and fulfillment became even more deeply embedded. Remember your excitement when you got your Captain Midnight Decoder Ring or baseball mitt or Barbie doll? . . .And so it went year after year. There was the prom tux and corsage. The tennis racket.
Eventually we slipped beyond amenities to outright luxuries--and hardly registered the change. A car . . . our first trip away from home. For many of us there was going away to college. Our first apartment. Notice that while each one was still a thrill, it cost more per thrill and the 'high' wore off more quickly.
By now we believed that money equals fulfillment, so we barely noticed that the curve had started to level out. . . House. Job. Family responsibilities. More money brought more worry. More time and energy commitments as we rose up the corporate ladder. More time away from the family. ... More taxes and more tax accountants' fees. More demands from community charities. Therapists' bills. Remodeling bills. Just-keeping-the-kids-happy bills.
Until one day we found ourselves sitting, unfulfilled, in our 4000 square foot home on 2.5 wooded acres with a hot tub in the back yard and Nautilus equipment in the basement, yearning for the life we had as poor college students who could find joy in a walk in the park. We hit a fulfillment ceiling and never recognized that the formula of money = fulfillment not only had stopped working but had started to work against us. No matter how much we bought, the Fulfillment Curve kept heading down. [But] there is a very interesting place on this graph--it's the peak. ... At the peak of the Fulfillment Curve we have enough. Enough for our survival. Enough comforts. And even enough little 'luxuries'. ...
So what's all that stuff beyond enough--beyond the peak, where the Fulfillment Curve begins to go down? Clutter, that's what! Clutter is ... whatever you have that doesn't serve you, yet takes up space in your world. To let go of clutter, then, is not deprivation, it's lightening up and opening up space for something new to happen. ...
Once you catch on to what clutter is, you'll find it everywhere. Isn't meaningless activity a form of clutter? ... What about disorganized days, full of busyness with no sense of accomplishment? And what about items on your To Do list of tasks that never get done? Stumbling over them, week in, week out, is like the frustration of navigating the perennial newspapers and kids' toys that litter some people's living rooms. ... As your awareness of clutter deepens, you'll be inspired to spring clean your whole life. ...You will develop your own personal definition of clutter and will slowly, painlessly, even joyfully rid yourself of it."