“Seeking luxuries (extravagant food, excessive drink or sex) creates anxiety in our minds and disturbance in our bodies”.

This is an important tenet of Epicureanism.    Possessions do not equate to happiness.

My wife and I, over lunch today, asked each other what each would like for Christmas.  Neither of us could think of a thing, except celebrating it with friends.  Therein lies contentment. Both Black Monday and the holiday (whoops! Christmas)  gallop to the shops are got up by the big retailers and uber-capitalists, and, depressingly, there are people out there willing to play their game.

Epicureans deliberately avoid consumerism.