Mindful Consumption

I recently reread the book, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation. My professor assigned this book for the Buddhism class I took. I decided to buy the book after renting it for the semester, since I enjoyed the book so much. But I haven’t read it since, until recently. I’ve been thinking about mindful consumption, and how I could be more mindful with what I consume every day.

The Fifth Mindfulness Training

I think it’s too easy to say that Americans are consumers. Like, yes, as a society, we consume a lot—a lot of food, a lot of resources, a lot of goods. But consumption isn’t just consumerism. I think that as people grow more critical of capitalism and consumerism in the west, they forget that consumption is more general than just consumerism.

In The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, Thich Nhat Hanh talks about consumption when he’s discussing the Fifth Mindfulness Training:

The Fifth Mindfulness Training encourages mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. This is linked to the Four Noble Truths and all of the elements of the Noble Eightfold Path, but especially Right Action: “Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I will ingest only items that preserve peace, well-being, and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society. I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant or to ingest foods or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films, or conversations. I am aware that to damage my body or my consciousness with these poisons is to betray my ancestors, my parents, my society, and future generations. I will work to transform violence, fear, anger, and confusion in myself and in society by practicing a diet for myself and society. I understand that a proper diet is crucial for self-transformation and for the transformation of society.”

Here, consumption includes material goods and resources, such as food and drink. But he also brings up consumption of immaterial things, like conversations you have with others or ideas spread through media. I think a lot of anti-consumerist people focus more on the consumption of material goods and its detrimental effects, but they view the consumption of ideas more neutrally, or not at all.

My relationship with consumption

I’ve never considered myself to be a huge consumer because I don’t think I spend a lot on things. I rarely buy new clothes; I’ve had the same car for over ten years; I refuse to upgrade my phone until the old one “dies”; I make use of my library. Recently, I’ve started spending more, first on gardening materials, and now with skincare, haircare, and makeup. But I’m not a chronic or habitual shopper. I actually hate shopping, both in store and online. This isn’t to brag, but simply to explain how I view myself.

While I don’t think I consume that much materially, when it comes to ideas, when it comes to information, then I am so guilty of overconsumption. I will spend hours going down rabbit holes and reading lots of articles and watching videos just because I got curious. But I’ve never considered how overconsumption in these areas could be damaging in its own way.

Ideas and mindful consumption

In the same chapter, Thich Nhat Hanh writes this:

Certain television programs, books, magazines, and conversations can bring into our consciousness violence, fear, and despair. We have to practice mindful consumption to protect our body and consciousness and the collective body and consciousness of our family and society.

When I think about the sorts of things that bring violence, fear, and despair into my mind, I usually think of the news. The news is full of images and stories of violence and hate, and then that is spread through social media. I recognize that there are other forms of media that could bring violence, fear, and despair into our consciousness. There is plenty of fiction out there across all genres and mediums that heavily feature violence, for example. But even so, my mind immediately thinks of the news, because the news is what tends to bring about the feelings of fear and despair inside me.

I don’t think Thich Nhat Hanh is suggesting that we need to completely tune out everything that could be upsetting. He certainly didn’t in his own life. According to the biographical overview on Plum Village’s website, which you can read by clicking here, he founded the Engaged Buddhism movement in response to war in Vietnam. He traveled to the US and Europe to advocate for peace in Vietnam, and as a result was exiled from his country, an exile that lasted 39 years.

Thich Nhat Hanh wasn’t ignorant of violence and suffering in his own life. This doesn’t mean that he must be right. But when he wrote the above sentence about mindful consumption in 1998, I don’t think he meant that we have to ignore “the news” and the reality of the violence, fear, hatred, and suffering in our world.

Recently, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the negativity proliferated through social media. I feel guilty for not doing more and also feel like I will never be able to do enough.

But these words provided me with some reassurance. We can be informed and present with reality while consuming the information mindfully. We can acknowledge suffering and not be consumed or paralyzed by it.

Practicing mindful consumption: social media

Mindful consumption is about being aware of the information you ingest as well as the material goods, and aware of the effects these things have on you. Once you’re aware of the effects, then it’s about choosing things you know are healthy and beneficial for you. Mindful consumption isn’t about eliminating consumption. That wouldn’t be very practical. We’re humans, after all, and we will consume food and resources and ideas no matter what.

I’m going to use social media as my example. Right now, my relationship with social media is mostly “I hate it.” I hate social media because it seems like a near constant reminder that we are suffering, and I end up feeling overwhelmed, angry, sad, fearful, or hopeless.

One option is to completely disengage with social media. I could delete all my accounts and never go on social media ever again. That would be one way to limit the information I receive and protect myself.

I follow a dietitian on Instagram, Dalina Soto, or @your.latina.nutritionist. Throughout her social media posts, she emphasizes the idea of adding nutrition to meals, rather than eliminating nutrition. Instead of eliminating sugars or carbs, she encourages people to add fiber or protein so that their food is both more filling and more enjoyable. She’s talking about literal food, but I think that we can approach consuming ideas and information the same way.

We shouldn’t ignore the suffering of others or the suffering we experience ourselves. We don’t have to plug our ears and go “lalala” and pretend nothing bad is happening. But we can make an effort to consume things that are pleasant and fun. We can seek out things that nourish joy, hope, and love, and pay attention to the good things that are right here.

Consume or be consumed

The alternative to consuming mindfully is to be consumed. This is just as true for ideas as it is for material goods. Consumed by your greed, or your anger, or your fear, you’re no longer in control. You are the one being consumed, not the other way around.

Not to sound dramatic, but I was beginning to feel like everywhere I turned to look was suffering. Social media was only giving me two options—insipid frivolity or reminders of everything terrible in the world. And fed up with everything I saw, not wanting to read anything or watch anything anymore, I picked up this book that I kept ten years ago from college. I like to think that I subconsciously knew I would find the book useful now.

I can’t pretend to have the wisdom of a Zen Buddhist monk like Thich Nhat Hanh. But I thought that if I found this beneficial, then maybe others would too. I hope you think about the things you’re ingesting and what you can do to be more aware of them, of how they make you feel, and to choose differently.