So the snow is costing the retail sector £110m per day, threatening our fragile economic recovery-bad news the media shouts, really? Is it really bad news? (Note: this blog was written in January!!)
Shouldn't we be asking a different question?....
The stuff we haven't bought because of the snow can't be stuff we need. So the overall impact is that we have more money in the bank or less credit card debt, and less stuff that we don’t need. And that is portrayed as a bad thing!!
No no no David! You miss the point; we need to spend money to get the economy going again.
Do we really? To what end? We spend money we don't have, to buy things we don't need to make us feel better about our lives so we feel more confident, so we buy yet more stuff we don’t need.
And all this spending, what does it give us? A misguided sense of what is important, of what we should be doing with our lives. And absolutely no increase in well-being or happiness, in fact there are strong arguments to the contrary. The constant pursuit of material wealth and sensory pleasures will never satisfy us, yet the more we get the more we want, we are addicted. Like all addictions it will be an endless unsatiated pursuit.
We have not only blurred the distinction between need and want, we have totally merged them. This has led to an unprecented level of consumption and more significantly a total confusion over what we really need to be happy and fulfilled.
Buying stuff we don’t need will not make us happy.
We do it because we are constantly told it will, the billions of pounds spent on advertising each year, tell us so, and we believe it.
What would happen if for just one day we didn’t spend anything on stuff we don’t need? For a start we would be £110m better off. If we did if for a whole week!!
No one suffered as a result of not spending because of the snow.
By applying more discipline to our spending we can wean ourselves off the illusion that we need to spend to be happy. As we do this a whole new world of opportunities will appear to us, spending more time with our family and friends, human fellowship, exploring the countryside, music, film, theatre sport… These truly valuable things get squeezed out of our lives because we are so busy… busy doing what? Have a look at any of the Shopping Malls on a Saturday!!
I am convinced that if we were to make a conscious effort to spend less, or at least critically examine our reasons for spending we could break this cycle and lift the blinkers from our eyes and consequently our souls.
I am not arguing that buying stuff is, per se a bad thing. The bad thing is our addiction, individually and collectively.
That our credit cards, and so the retailers control us, is a bad thing. That we have ceded this control without knowing is a bad thing. Nor I am proposing some sort of puritanical approach to life where self-sacrifice is a virtue.
I am asking us to think, think about where the control resides, do you control your spending? Or do your emotions and desires which have been manipulated by years of extremely sophisticated psychological advertising and marketing control your spending?
When you see something you want to buy, pay attention to what happens, physically and emotionally. Do you engage in an internal conversation seeking to justify the purchase? What does that sound like? What is the source of the justification? How often is the argument anchored in our emotions, it will make me feel better, little Jonny will love it, I deserve a treat? I can’t wait to see her face when I give it to her.
Is it stressful to walk away without the purchase? Pay attention to how you feel?
For those who have smoked and given up this is familiar. The addiction is complex, but ultimately we smoked because we enjoyed it, it was pleasurable in the moment we felt better for doing it, and worse for not doing it.
We feel better in the moment for succumbing to the desire to purchase, we get a sensory reward, just like a cigarette, we enjoy the ritual of taking it home sharing it wearing it, playing with, driving it………..
Nothing wrong with that I hear you say. I agree, nothing wrong with that at all. In the same way as there is nothing wrong with smoking!! In fact at least with smoking we now all know it kills us, so there is no lie, no fraud. No one is saying “smoking is good for us, it will make us happy”. Not even smokers argue that it makes them happy, it is enjoyable and to give up is too hard.
So how different is our rampant consumerism? Well it may not give us lung cancer but it can kill us in other ways. It destroys our capacity to explore other ways to enjoy our time. The thrill afforded to us by shopping is an instant, no doubt chemical (dopamine) high, it provides instant gratification, again much like smoking. But does it do much more than that? All it does is leave us wanting more of the same thing. And pulls us back to the same chemically induced high again and again. In doing so pulls us away from those things that are known to nourish the soul,
Sunday 5 June 2011
Wednesday 4 August 2010
We need to think more
'Two percent of the people think; three percent of the people think they think; and ninety-five percent of the people would rather die than think.”
George Bernard Shaw wrote this over one hundred years ago, and yet he could have written it today. What evidence do we have to today to say it is not true?
Television viewing figures?
Newspaper circulation?
Radio listening figures?
Blockbuster Hollywood movies?
Need I go on?
Worse than this is the general, all pervading skepticism of thought, as if to think deeply about something is unnecessary and somehow threatening to people. People as Shaw said, don’t like to think and worse don’t like to be confronted with thought.
Instead, they want to outsource their thought about the state of our world and country to policy makers and government. Not only that, people seem to be continually content to do so and when invited to think or make a contribution they react with effrontery, as if it a job of someone else to do that for them.
Without thinking, how can there be personal responsibility? It can always be someone else’s fault. Reference the endless stream of regulation and law designed to protect people. We certainly need laws in a civilized society to protect the weak from exploitation from the strong, but do we need laws to protect the lazy of mind? Not only are such laws unnecessary, they have damaging consequences for all. They encourage a cultural that leads to the optionality of personal responsibility
This refusal to think does not only afflict those unfortunate enough to not have had a decent education or who have disadvantaged in some way. It is evident everywhere, and most offensively in the ranks of the educated middle class (if one is allowed to use that term these days, and even if one isn’t, I will)
The temptation to remain at the most superficial of levels when talking about difficult issues is endemic, and any effort to delve further and tease out further issues is met with distain and disapproval. And as for disagreeing with what someone else has said, that is the highest of social faux pas,
Unless it involves preferring Britain’s got talent to X factor.
So often it seems to me that conversations are more about finding points of agreement and avoiding points of disagreement, A useful approach if we are engaged in brokering peace in the middle east, but not I would suggest if we are seeking to learn more about ourselves and the world we live in. This happens constantly in work meetings. Two people start with opposing views, both credible and plausible, and yet instead of making their cases powerfully and eloquently, seeking to persuade the others of the merit of their view over the other, they each seek out areas, however small, where they can find common ground so as to give themselves the illusion of agreement. Giving everyone a nice warm feeling but getting nowhere. Only to subsequently discover that another decision has been taken outside the governance of that group. Most Chairs see their role as maintaining agreement rather than creating an environment in which positive decisions can be reached through rich, respectful challenge and debate.
It seems that conflict must be avoided at all costs, consequently we sacrifice interesting robust stimulating conversation on the alter of keeping the peace. And so we satisfy ourselves with anodyne trivial conversation.
Of course people can and should be free to choose how to live their lives and who am I to tell them otherwise? I may well think that their lives could be richer if they lifted their head a bit higher and examined things more deeply. I may be right (I may not be) but that still does not give me the right to tell people what they ought to do.
I can however; I think point out the consequences of obviating their responsibilities. An unthinking, uncritical population is a delight to governments and major global corporations.
A population that can be swayed by the most superficial of arguments enables those in power to achieve their aims when they have the resources and connections to influence and manipulate. History is overrun with examples of how easy it is for those in power to extend that power, (For a great example see Naomi Wolf’s End of America: letters of warning to a young patriot)
If we are unable to, or more precisely choose not to engage in deeper thinking about what touches our immediate lives, then we will lose the desire and possibly, even the capacity to think critical about wider issues.
We will then become the lawful prey of unscrupulous politicians and ambitious global corporations.
George Bernard Shaw wrote this over one hundred years ago, and yet he could have written it today. What evidence do we have to today to say it is not true?
Television viewing figures?
Newspaper circulation?
Radio listening figures?
Blockbuster Hollywood movies?
Need I go on?
Worse than this is the general, all pervading skepticism of thought, as if to think deeply about something is unnecessary and somehow threatening to people. People as Shaw said, don’t like to think and worse don’t like to be confronted with thought.
Instead, they want to outsource their thought about the state of our world and country to policy makers and government. Not only that, people seem to be continually content to do so and when invited to think or make a contribution they react with effrontery, as if it a job of someone else to do that for them.
Without thinking, how can there be personal responsibility? It can always be someone else’s fault. Reference the endless stream of regulation and law designed to protect people. We certainly need laws in a civilized society to protect the weak from exploitation from the strong, but do we need laws to protect the lazy of mind? Not only are such laws unnecessary, they have damaging consequences for all. They encourage a cultural that leads to the optionality of personal responsibility
This refusal to think does not only afflict those unfortunate enough to not have had a decent education or who have disadvantaged in some way. It is evident everywhere, and most offensively in the ranks of the educated middle class (if one is allowed to use that term these days, and even if one isn’t, I will)
The temptation to remain at the most superficial of levels when talking about difficult issues is endemic, and any effort to delve further and tease out further issues is met with distain and disapproval. And as for disagreeing with what someone else has said, that is the highest of social faux pas,
Unless it involves preferring Britain’s got talent to X factor.
So often it seems to me that conversations are more about finding points of agreement and avoiding points of disagreement, A useful approach if we are engaged in brokering peace in the middle east, but not I would suggest if we are seeking to learn more about ourselves and the world we live in. This happens constantly in work meetings. Two people start with opposing views, both credible and plausible, and yet instead of making their cases powerfully and eloquently, seeking to persuade the others of the merit of their view over the other, they each seek out areas, however small, where they can find common ground so as to give themselves the illusion of agreement. Giving everyone a nice warm feeling but getting nowhere. Only to subsequently discover that another decision has been taken outside the governance of that group. Most Chairs see their role as maintaining agreement rather than creating an environment in which positive decisions can be reached through rich, respectful challenge and debate.
It seems that conflict must be avoided at all costs, consequently we sacrifice interesting robust stimulating conversation on the alter of keeping the peace. And so we satisfy ourselves with anodyne trivial conversation.
Of course people can and should be free to choose how to live their lives and who am I to tell them otherwise? I may well think that their lives could be richer if they lifted their head a bit higher and examined things more deeply. I may be right (I may not be) but that still does not give me the right to tell people what they ought to do.
I can however; I think point out the consequences of obviating their responsibilities. An unthinking, uncritical population is a delight to governments and major global corporations.
A population that can be swayed by the most superficial of arguments enables those in power to achieve their aims when they have the resources and connections to influence and manipulate. History is overrun with examples of how easy it is for those in power to extend that power, (For a great example see Naomi Wolf’s End of America: letters of warning to a young patriot)
If we are unable to, or more precisely choose not to engage in deeper thinking about what touches our immediate lives, then we will lose the desire and possibly, even the capacity to think critical about wider issues.
We will then become the lawful prey of unscrupulous politicians and ambitious global corporations.
Sunday 1 August 2010
Children
Children are great. No, that’s not a big enough word, we need a bigger one; boundless. There is more to be learnt about life and love, from the eyes of a child than from all the philosophy, poetry and scholarly wisdom combined, Even Shakespeare cannot compare.
All we need to do is look and feel and just stay with it. It is simple.
All we need to do is look and feel and just stay with it. It is simple.
Tuesday 27 July 2010
talent-A thought
It is the ability to listen, assimilate and be relevant that distinguishes talent from the rest.
Sunday 18 July 2010
Recommendation
Sunday 11 July 2010
Saturday 10 July 2010
Now is all there is.
How often do we really live in the moment, in the here and now? We know when it happens:
When we see a sunset, and feel its impact, as it reaches out and touches us,
When a piece of music transports us to a place and transcends our understanding,
When a smile from our children banishes in an instant our pre- occupations,
And the touch of a hand from the one you love, causes your heart to leap,
These are moments of real clarity that we experience in the present. They are pure, nurturing and real. And yet these experiences are in the minority when compared to the rest of our lives, why is that?
What is that we are doing so that these moments of clarity are crowded out, and are reserved for times when events “break through”?
Most of these moments happen as a result of something external to us. They arise as a result of an external stimulus. Wouldn’t it be great if we could be like this all the time, without the need of something or someone else to take us there?
Could it be that we spend so much time dreaming of a future that never arrives, that binds us into a state of suspended happiness, and the now becomes a place we are passing through, rather the only real true place to be.
“I can’t wait for my holiday”
“All will be fine when I have that new………….”
“I will rest at the weekend”
If the now is reduced to a place on the way to somewhere better, we will never arrive there.
Our evolutionary past puts us in a state of constant want. A want for water, food shelter, all of which in their day carried significant positive or negative survival payoffs, but this is now largely a redundant requirement and yet the want still exists. It gets channeled elsewhere. This constant wanting traps us into a confusion of where happiness lies. It sets up a dynamic of constantly looking for a better tomorrow, at the expense of living today. (That may well have been appropriate when if we didn’t plan for tomorrow we may have run out of food or been eaten by a sabre toothed tiger).
We end up being sad in the pleasures of today, because we are unable to stop thinking about all the good things we do not yet have.
We have also developed an addiction to the pleasure of the senses at the expense of a deeper pleasure of sustainable satisfaction.
So how about we find 30 minutes everyday to do nothing other than look at the sky, hear the rustling of the trees, listen to that piece of music, close our eyes and breath, and smile because NOW is all there is.
How often do we really live in the moment, in the here and now? We know when it happens:
When we see a sunset, and feel its impact, as it reaches out and touches us,
When a piece of music transports us to a place and transcends our understanding,
When a smile from our children banishes in an instant our pre- occupations,
And the touch of a hand from the one you love, causes your heart to leap,
These are moments of real clarity that we experience in the present. They are pure, nurturing and real. And yet these experiences are in the minority when compared to the rest of our lives, why is that?
What is that we are doing so that these moments of clarity are crowded out, and are reserved for times when events “break through”?
Most of these moments happen as a result of something external to us. They arise as a result of an external stimulus. Wouldn’t it be great if we could be like this all the time, without the need of something or someone else to take us there?
Could it be that we spend so much time dreaming of a future that never arrives, that binds us into a state of suspended happiness, and the now becomes a place we are passing through, rather the only real true place to be.
“I can’t wait for my holiday”
“All will be fine when I have that new………….”
“I will rest at the weekend”
If the now is reduced to a place on the way to somewhere better, we will never arrive there.
Our evolutionary past puts us in a state of constant want. A want for water, food shelter, all of which in their day carried significant positive or negative survival payoffs, but this is now largely a redundant requirement and yet the want still exists. It gets channeled elsewhere. This constant wanting traps us into a confusion of where happiness lies. It sets up a dynamic of constantly looking for a better tomorrow, at the expense of living today. (That may well have been appropriate when if we didn’t plan for tomorrow we may have run out of food or been eaten by a sabre toothed tiger).
We end up being sad in the pleasures of today, because we are unable to stop thinking about all the good things we do not yet have.
We have also developed an addiction to the pleasure of the senses at the expense of a deeper pleasure of sustainable satisfaction.
So how about we find 30 minutes everyday to do nothing other than look at the sky, hear the rustling of the trees, listen to that piece of music, close our eyes and breath, and smile because NOW is all there is.
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