The other day, I and several other shoppers waited about ten minutes while the clerk made sure it was okay to sell me alcohol.

The clerk had my identification.

And I’m sixty-five years old.

The problem was that the electronic reader was having trouble with the barcode on my license. About forty person-minutes were spent satisfying the technology. We were working for the system rather than the system working for us. It’s not what anyone intended, but it happens all the time; the tools take precedence.

Last blog, I introduced the fifth yoga restraint: aparigraha. It means not hoarding.

Not taking more than you need doesn’t, at first, seem to have much to do with keeping tools and bureaucracies from sucking up all our time. But in order to avoid hoarding, you have to define how much is enough. This leads to the all-important question: enough for what?

In the example above, it wasn’t enough to know my age. The clerk prioritized electronic data-collection — probably inadvertently just because the tool demanded it. When people aren’t clear and specific about goals, our complicated tools tend to demand their own fulfillment.

My point is, we don’t really know our goals until we ask how much is enough. I don’t think that clerk meant to prioritize the tool, and I don’t think her bosses asked her to. It just happens. Money, work, food, exercise, smartphones, and social media are all powerful tools. In your life, right now, what are they in service to? By defining how much is enough, we come to understand what our goals are. 

Not hoarding is not about austerity; it’s a spiritual exercise that helps us understand ourselves and manage resources so they serve our values, not the other way around. Try it. You may be surprised what you learn.