"Hey, Dad, looks like a new building is going up," my daughter said. "What's that one going to be?"

"It looks like another storage facility," I said.

It had all the telltale signs: three stories high, entrance way that was equal parts high-end hotel and Fort Knox, and most notably, no windows.

Like mushrooms sprouting on your lawn after a heavy rain, these megafacilities are popping up everywhere. And like the mushroom, I imagine they have a common underground root system.

I do not know if there is a profile for the typical storage facility user, but I suspect that some patrons are likely in the process of moving, while others live in apartments that lack effective storage, while still others simply have more junk than they can manage. In fact, the one thing they all have in common is that they have more belongings than they know what to do with.

What's ironic is that while these storage facilities are popping up on every street corner, the bestseller list is riddled with books about manifesting abundance.

To be honest, I have not read these most recent tomes, but if they are anything like the "prosperity" books from the past, the formula should go something like this:

1) Visualize your heart's desire, whatever it might be. Remember that nothing is too big or too small.

2) Speak your intention aloud to the universe and/or perhaps one other person. Or maybe write it down and keep it close to your heart.

3) Create an atmosphere of abundance and make a space for it in your life. Remember that like attracts like; you have to "believe" that it is yours and the universe will provide it for you.

And finally:

4) Sit back and wait ... no matter how long it takes.

If I sound a little jaded, please forgive me. It's not that I don't believe in the power of positive thinking or wishcraft, or practical magic for that matter; it just seems a bit misguided. We do not need to manifest abundance in our lives, we need to reduce our waste, reuse whenever possible and find ways to recycle just about everything. And that is no secret!

We live in complex times, and I am doing my best to help my daughter make sense of it all, but I would be lying if I said I was doing a good job. There are so many mixed messages.

The need for storage facilities should be telling us that we have too much, but clever marketers have translated our wants into needs, so we look to "manifest" even more, and just to be safe, we build facilities to hold it all.

Is there enough resources for everyone? I hope so, but I am not sure. My daughter insists that there is, but that we have to manage it differently. She said she learned this in school.

I do not believe there is any room for the belief in unlimited resource any more, so our family is talking about what we can do to live cleaner and perhaps a little greener.

It is a difficult conversation because we are taught to need so much.

The question we are facing is this: Do we choose to fill the storage locker of life or do we choose to empty it out?

Michael C. DeMattos is a faculty member of the University of Hawai'i School of Social Work. He lives in Kane'ohe with his wife, daughter, two dogs and two mice.