In Australia, loose change is colloquially called shrapnel. You could use it to buy a cup of coffee or a bus ticket, but not much else. Unless you’re Chris Hughes, manager of the Antique Guild in Brisbane.

At the end of each day Chris and his partner started collecting their shrapnel in a jar. Eventually, there was an auction coming up so they decided to take it to the bank. They had collected about $500 which they took to the auction and used to buy 10 things, each about $50.

“We had an idea that each of the things was going to be worth more,” Chris related to listeners on the regular Access Consciousness® Voice America radio show.

Chris ended up selling those 10 items for more than they paid and turning that $500 into $3,000 and that $3k into so much more.

“It isn’t just about the money it added to our life. Everything about our life started to get better, and more interesting and fun for us. It doesn’t have to look like that for you but that’s one of the possibilities,” Chris said.

That is the art of consumption. It’s the willingness to add to your life constantly and never settle for things as they are.

If you’ve ever read The Penny Capitalist by James J Hester, then Chris’s example will sound familiar.

In today’s world consuming is judged as evil, bad, wrong, and materialistic. But a long time ago the word to consume meant to take under, to integrate and to involve. What if consuming were as natural as breathing?

“The art of consumption is knowing what’s going to create more in your life and being willing to use your innate ability to consume, it’s just natural,” Gary Douglas, the Founder of Access Consciousness explained on the weekly Conversations in Consciousness show.

Years ago Gary realized he had a choice with how he used his money, even if he only had $10.

“I could go out and buy a cup of coffee with $10 or I could go out and buy an antique somebody else didn’t know was an antique that was worth more than $10 and be able to sell it for more. I have built a small fortune doing that.”

The art of consumption is not about things — it’s about being greater.

What would happen if you were being greater all the time? The willingness to be greater is the recognition that there are greater possibilities in the world. Why not choose that?

Would you like to pick up more tips on the art of consumption? Then listen to the entire episode here.

Gary & Dain host a regular show on VoiceAmerica every Thursday at 2pm Pacific. It’s your weekly smorgasbord of consciousness, with a good serving of irreverence and laughter!

You can buy Gary Douglas & Christopher Hughes for a 3-Part Telecall on The Art of Consumption. Click here to learn all the details!

To get the clearings and recorded processes from every show this month for only $10, become a member of Pearls of Possibilities. What would spending that $10 create in your life? Each time you play them, the clearings go deeper, giving you more freedom and greater choice.