(Truth: I wrote this initially in January so I’m already failing at writing about failure this year – ha! More truthfully, I’m finding that failure is not only funky, but fundamental in life and I’m having fun decomposing fails and recomposing new thoughts so stay tuned!)
Failure sucks, to put it mildly. To feel like a failure, even worse. In fact, if you’re like most of us, you’ll do anything to avoid getting anywhere close to the ‘state’ where you might fail.
I’m currently in the midst of my first MAJOR fail of the year (yay for the first quarter of 2024!! LOL) and so ready to think about failure in a NEW way.
Sometimes wallowing in failure is actually kind of fun. Really – try it, but go easy on the junk food. Ha!
Me, I fail way too often. I shouldn’t be proud of it – I make decisions I know up front may not turn out well, but I figure, hey – why not? What’s the worst that can happen. Luckily for me, other than bruising my ego and making me feel bad for a while, I’ve survived emotionally and physically. Lucky I know. I bet you can survive too!
And you can tell I’m fascinated with failure if you look at some of failure drawings.
There are failures of all sizes – probably why I (laughed) at the idea of shopping without having anything to wear….
(I wish this was my only failure to ‘cry’ about…)
BEST postcard ever – buying this postcard was not a failure – ha!
But here’s one thing I’ve learned: Failure is simply the result of not having the right resources (this probably doesn’t apply to my shopping misadventures…). Take Mother Nature:
Yup, there’s that poor little plant that no matter what you do, doesn’t grow.
Time to look at what it needs that it doesn’t have.
In Mother Nature’s world, things need ‘the basics’ to survive (and thrive): water, air, and healthy soil to grow healthy food.
Hey, our Human Nature needs the same stuff….
But then there’s the stuff that was doing just dandy (think spring and summer) and then – BAM – autumn hits and everything seems to fail/fall apart.
All that dead stuff…
WHY? Simply lack of resources to survive.
Let’s face it, our Human Nature isn’t that different than Mother Nature – whether we don’t grow or part of us dies because we don’t have the right resources to keep (that part of us) vibrant and alive.
Have a dream?
Have a dream that’s ‘died’ (for any reason)?
Have people around you blow it off without understanding? (that’s a different issue!)
Take a leaf from Mother Nature’s book and think about recycling that failure – reusing what was learned and rebuilding it into new growth.
Mother Nature literally decomposes dead failure into nutrients like Lego blocks that can be rebuilt into new growth.
Human Nature’s decomposing is more metaphorical AND just as nutrient rich.
Collect baskets of metaphorical decomposed riches from your failure. Plant them into your next risk.
I’ll keep you posted on my current failure, my decomposed nutrient rich learnings, and what and how I’ll plant in this coming season.
Here’s to nurturing your new growth this season and this year!
Remember failure is not an END – as I like to say:
APOLOGIES!! This is a repost since my first try was filled with gibberish (as Curtis kindly let me know). Hopefully this will post with the right wording – and pictures. I have to work on my relationship with technology – would this NOT have happened if I’d let ChatGPT write my post??? Anyway – here’s MY thoughts:)
It’s (a few days after) Yom Kippur, and I’ve been busy living (aka going from place to place) with little time for reflection. That’s REAL life isn’t it? We spend so much time doing and little time for planning. It hasn’t worked for me this year, and as I’ve been writing, I’m reflecting on what it means for me to go past the bend in the road. I’ve been writing a lot about this on: communicationessentials.wordpress.com
During the silent prayer last night – I’m finishing this a few days later – I was as always, thankful for the gifts and opportunities I’ve been given, asked for healing of relationships between those I loved, and, then added how much I needed to forgive myself for all the disappointment I’ve ’caused’. So many lives are filled with health, money, WAR challenges, and truthfullyI have none of that. This makes it so much harder to accept my ‘nothingness’. If I was sitting and talking to myself I’d say wherever you are, that’s the issue you deal with and it’s real for you. So yes, my issue is real – as is yours – whatever and however much it is.
Awareness is love: that’s what a friend shared as I sat here and she walked to services last night. We spent some time thinking about what that could mean. Like so many things, the best ‘thoughts’ are open for interpretation, becoming most relevant in their personal meaning. For me, I realize self-awareness leads to self-love which leads to openness to love around me.
Awareness is realizing me/we are always asking: What’s In It For Me.
Self-love is focusing on what I NEED, not what I want. Lucky for me, I think I have all that I want, but NOT what I need.
And you? How do you balance your wants with your Values/beliefs?
That self-awareness is based on which NEEDS are met and Abraham Maslow is the source for that. While his 5 needs for balance are usually described as a hierarchy, some (and I sometimes agree) are more fluid, again, more situation dependent. Except for what’s considered basic physical needs like air, water, food – those are all necessities always.
The ‘classic’ view of Maslow’s Needs in a hierarchy. I’ve ‘taught’ and learned this pyramid in so many classes and yet, it’s only recently I’ve realized the power of focusing on these five needs.
It’s not just the words – it’s what they really mean to each of us. How many times have I reached for a bag of chips when I wasn’t emotionally safe? Or went shopping when I felt like my contributions weren’t listened to and I felt invisible?
Delving (a bit) into Maslow and needs, it’s been acknowledged that his ideas were solidified after spending time with the Blackfoot Indians. It seems he’d hit a ‘wall’ and needed inspiration – and learning. The Blackfoot are much more focused on the ‘we’ rather than the ‘I’ of Western culture. They also acknowledge that our identity is a seed we are born with, uncovered through life experience and needs to be nurtured and celebrated. I especially like this since it’s been the focus of the project I’ve been working on. But enough of that. NEEDS – and yes, mine aren’t met. What about yours?
Maslow’s needs are motivation, answering: WIIFM or What’s In It For Me. Turns out, Mother Nature, aka a (successful) forest community gets these needs met. Imagine what we can learn from Mother Nature if we only listened?
WIIFM’s: What’s In It For Me aka Maslow’s needs
I started looking at Maslow’s needs through Mother Nature’s lens when I began ‘Learning From Mother Nature’ and after I learned he had studied with the Blackfoot. What’s especially cool is realizing a forest community/nature really is about win-win relationships, with affiliation being about each organism sharing its qualities for the whole community to succeed. This is the type of community I want to live in.
For the last few years I’ve been searching for ‘my forest’ where I feel emotionally safe to blah blah, affiliated with others where I learn, grow and am able to share my gifts – and recognized for my good and bad qualities and accepted for them. It’s my own private ‘Atlantis’ but instead of searching for riches or eternal life, searching for eternal ‘fit’ and balance. This year, going past the bend, the road of new wonders will open to my forest that I’ll plant and gather. Join my forest and contribute to a community teaming with possibilities of life. I don’t quite know, or even need to know, what this looks like yet. I just know to focus on my needs and sharing!
Our forest is where our gifts, talents, and quirks are celebrated and appreciated. Share who you are and focus on meeting NEEDS!
GROW your forest the (Mother) Nature way: SHARE your qualities and help others share theirs. Don’t be SCARED of competition and ‘losing’.
Ask questions and be curious. Really LISTEN to others which means responding to what they say, NOT just talking about yourself. That’s sharing.
So here it is, July 4th, the US day of Independence and celebrating freedom. It’s been about 250 years since we won independence from the Brits and started on this democratic journey to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. With everything going on here in this great country of ours, and around the world, I have to stop and ask: so how’s this going for us?
Per my usual: this is long – but please – think through your own USA Identity as shown below – or whichever country you call home!
From a Human Nature perspective, as I’ve wandered around Harrisburg, the state capital of Pennsylvania, I started wondering about defining my identity as a US citizen. I say US, not just ‘American. ‘American’ includes all countries north and south of our border.
Celebrating Ukraine’s Independence Day in 2018 in Ivano Frankivsk. I served as Peace Corps volunteer in Poltava, a city much further east, and fortunately still ‘safe’ from Russia’s carnage.
Here, we celebrate with barbecues and fireworks, holiday sales (on line now I guess…). Wouldn’t this be fun:
In Ukraine, with Independence still being new-ish, hard fought, and treasured, a large blue/yellow ‘flag’ is unfurled and people gather to grab on and walk down the street. I’d say this one was easily the length of a long city block.
Imagine the joy and energy of celebrating Ukraine’s Independence when it wins this war – I know I’ll want to be there.
Identity as defined by Mother Nature is straightforward (and influenced by the environment): 3 components. Human Nature is complicated: We can change almost everything about our identity based on our needs and wants, and, environment.
DNA/Genotype (bluepring)
Appearance/Phenotype (guided by my DNA)
Qualities and Characteristics/Niche also guided by DNA which make (us) good at a particular role in the community.
So here goes: How I define myself as a US/American?
DNA/Genotype: Only in the USA do we ask: what are you aka where are you (roots/parents/grandparent) from. Like all US citizens (EXCEPT NATIVE AMERICANS), my DNA is from ‘abroad’ – 99% Eastern European Ashkenazi Jewish. Where exactly depends on the ‘border of the day’, but I’m probably 50% Ukrainian (now- originally my paternal grandfather was from the eastern Poland area known as the ‘the Pale’), 25% Polish, 25% Hungarian OR Czech OR Romanian (I believe my maternal Grandmother usually claimed Hungary). I am a female and use the pronouns she, her.
The USA was founded on opening its doors to foreigners wanting a new and better life. A freer life without pogroms (Anti- Semitic massacres of Jews in Eastern Europe at the turn of the 19th century as shown in ‘Fiddler on the Roof’), religious persecution/hate crimes, class poverty, etc. My mother, who died in Pittsburgh before the Tree of Life slaughter, used to say the USA was the only place in the world it was safe to be a Jew. Even when the immigration gates were open from 1880-1920, there was backlash to the immigrants who fled Eastern Europe, Italy, Ireland, Eurasia and everywhere in between. Even though these same immigrants catapulted the USA into superpower status, contributing their zest for ‘the American Dream’, ingenuity, skills and qualities (niche). The USA as a melting pot, to me, is what has made America great: I’m proud of my DNA as an Eastern European descendent and as a current US citizen for this mix of cultures and backgrounds and openness (kinda???)!
I wonder: How do newer immigrants define their USA identity. Equally: WHY do people want to immigrate and become USA citizens?
Appearance/Phenotype: What do you see when you look in the mirror? First, I’m white. This has gifted me privileges in this country. Thanks to my Eastern European DNA I have slightly curly, humidity-frizzy, dark hair. (Though graying.) Sure I’m heavier than my mother told me DNA prescribed, but as US citizens we do tend to be larger – thanks to relatively good health, a healthy diet, and, dental care (did I mention I was OLD(er)?), I am a part of that energetic older set of USA-ers. Most of all, my teeth define me as a July 4th celebrator: relatively white, straight, and regularly flashed. I smile – a lot. As a nation we’re big smilers. Another reason I’m appreciative of my USA identity: relatively decent access to decent food and services and an emphasis on taking care of myself. And smiling – it’s my best quality!
Qualities/Niche: What are your most natural and treasured skills and characteristics? For me: Pessimism is creeping in, but as a USA-er and thanks to my DNA, I am an optimist with a can-do attitude. My DNA, through experiences and failures, has uncovered qualities of creativity and humor. Thanks to my USA freedom (and usually/sometimes) not believing I had to follow rules, I have explored and dabbled, all leading to my creating of Learning From Mother Nature and believing I can ‘sell it’. Thanks also to a strong USA economy – including now with Bidenomics – I’ve been able to save, invest, and survive financially (though it’s been living on less than I’ve made). I’m appreciative of my USA identity allowing me freedom to explore (also dependent on WHEN I lived/worked).
As a USA-er, and thanks to my personal qualities I’ve been able to travel and flash my USA passport to easily get into almost every country around the globe. I was able to enter – and exit – Eastern Europe (unknowingly the root of my DNA) when Russia clenched it’s reign on the Iron Curtain. (And one ridiculous reason why Putin is immorally destroying Ukraine – to ‘bring the band back together’. Is authoritarianism part of the Russian leader identity?) Few citizens around the globe can come and go – a freedom and right I’m appreciative of.
BUT – there are many things on this July 4th I’m hoping the founding fathers would be embarrassed and upset by:
Increasing xenophobia and resentment of those who are different – both here and around the world.
No real emphasis on education and creating an educated society.
Not taking environmental responsibility for the American Dream we’ve exported and has turned into a global nightmare of plastic pollution and excess.
Indifference to caring for others both down the street and around the globe.
Indifference to our history and the history of the world. For example, not realizing the threat Russia’s immoral war in Ukraine holds both for Ukraine and the world.
Ignorance and indifference that too much is just too much and it’s destroying us.
The low reading, math, history, science scores of US students and citizens compared to the rest of the ‘developed’ world.
That the 2nd amendment, the right to own fire arms has turned frightened, disenfranchised citizens into mass murders – legally able to own guns.
That this same 2nd amendment has shown how afraid we are of the ‘enemy’ – and the enemy is ourselves and each other.
We can do better, I hope, if we rethink and reclaim the principles of the founding fathers. Please think about this and add to the list:
*Improving education and focusing on a knowledgable population – not on fear and social media influencers but on facts.
**Openness to others – not letting our fear of differences/xenophobia grow inside.
**Our can-do USA attitude of leading the world in health and safety – starting here by providing universal health and dental care to all.
Enough about me – what about YOU. Just because you’ll read this after July 4th, after the BBQ, and fireworks, start the conversation with others. And please share here with all of us.
Sure there’s so much more – but I’ll let you think what it means for YOUR USA identity. What you are grateful for, and what you would like to change. What can we do differently?
Notice how early travelers and immigrants brought what they thought they needed and wanted to new worlds.
And wanted what everyone else had too even before shipping crates sailed the ocean blue to an Amazon warehouse near you.
For months – no really years – I’ve been taking screen shots of headlines from my newsapp. Amazing how all these things that seem so wonderful are messing up the world – and more specifically – our lives. So I thought I’d just share them with – a little environmental summer holiday gift! Enjoy???????
Shopping for the summer holiday?
That cute top was likely shipped on the ocean blue and it’s more likely it will end up as micro-plastic back there.
The glory of war – a reminder this needs to stop.
Water too often seems like it’s free.
Oh, DUH – more plastic????
And FYI, plastic is from fossil fuels too.
Is there any place that ISN’T clogged with plastic!
Hmm, why doesn’t anyone just realize using LESS plastic is the only way to save us all.
Does everything need to be packaged as much as it is?
All that paper and packaging comes from trees – often clear cut from a mountain side that may be washed down the hill with all these crazy storms we’re getting.
It’s everywhere it seems – and the piles of crap that litter shorelines and end up in dumps are just ending up back in our drinking water and soil. OUCH.
Each of us can decide what headline makes the news. What about each of us using less, shopping less, wanting less stuff and more nature experiences: Mother Nature AND Human Nature interactions!
Well it can be – or it should be. I’ve written about Identity – uncovering that naked/truest self to be ‘FIT’ and balanced. But what are those relationships and what is symbiosis (unless of of course you watched Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the symbiont).
Of course (?) Identity is uncovered where needs are met – and covered tight where relationships create a fear-inducing environment.
Like most of us, I’ve always thought of relationship categories: family, friends, lovers, colleagues, acquaintances, etc. When I started working on Learning From Mother Nature , I broadened my thoughts of human interactions to Four Key Relationships:
Four key relations that enhance or detract my ‘FIT’ and meet or don’t meet my needs:
Self
Others
Environment
Economy
Throwing the idea of ‘FIT’ and (Maslow’s) needs into the mix it gets complicated and fun. It’s simpler to understand Human Nature through Mother Nature (I’m biased obviously) so, I turned to her definition of relationships: Symbiosis.
Mutualistic and parasitic are the main Symbiosis; here’s a look at the three main ones:
It’s as if Mother Nature defines relationship based on the result or outcome (win – lose – or some combination) of the interaction – whether it’s intended or not!
Interestingly, it’s probably parasitism that’s most known.
Learning from Mother Nature acknowledges all relationships. Take it slowly: Fear, needs/WIIFM’s impact guide our actions – do we want to create a win? Or a lose for the other so WE don’t lose? Whoa! read that last sentence again: creating a lose for the other so we don’t lose (our identity!). Yikes, right?
Back to Identity BECAUSE our most IMPORTANT relationship is: ‘self’ relationship. Now, there’s so much talk about ‘self-care’ which often ties to good food, sleep, and a spa day. All those are important. AND: Mother Nature would define self-care as behavior that enhances your ‘win’. Win is ‘FIT’ for being and expressing your truest identity.
Show off your creativity: if you haven’t filled in this drawing – do it NOW!!!!
First and foremost – your ‘self’ relationship will guide every other relationship. Really examine:
What’s in your Identity ‘bag’? WHY do have the relationship you have with yourself?
Here’s a loose way to look at it: if I say I want to lose weight and then I eat a large bag of chips every night, my behavior is creating a ‘lose’. A small bag of chips a day or two a week, that is easily commensalism – more of a neutral. (The bigger question is WHY I’m creating a ‘lose’ but we have to wait for that one – though it’s related of course to needs and fears.)
‘Self’ relationship is as complicated as others. Here’s a view of the power of words creating a ‘win’ – and ‘lose’ relationship – with self.
Mutualism, creating win-win relationships in your life, starts with kindness to yourself.
Feeling bad? Acknowledge it, even if it’s to yourself. Express your feelings and fears – you’re allowed to have them and be hugged for having them.
Go back and define your identity like in the chart above.
Look in the mirror and tell yourself everything you do well and why you deserve to express your identity fully – from your DNA roots, to
Describe: How your appearance promotes (does it? If not what does it say about you?) your identity and how you feel about yourself (if you have on something that makes you feel bad – take it off and give it away), and
Explain: Your niche/qualities and characteristics that make you feel happy because you know these qualities are important and you’re good at them whether others recognize them or not.
Start YOUR journey today if you haven’t already.
Uncover your identity find your best ‘FIT’ to create the ‘WIN’ self relationship you deserve.
Everything we do is about money, as much as I hate to admit it. But what to do when our love of money is killing us? Literally – and I’m not talking like Succession (not that I know: was there a real death?)
What is YOUR love of money and what it buys doing to your health and the future health of your children and loved ones?
Got Kids? Want kids?
Native Americans KNEW to care for the planet more than caring about STUFF.
Plastic pollution is NOT a game – or not a game we can win.
Reducing the amount of plastic used and tossed IS important – even more important than the newest on Succession or Ted Lasso or what this or that celebrity did.
Read and think what you can do – don’t just read/scroll/like – take action!
How much plastic did you use today? (honestly!)
Which plastic could you have carried your own bottle and/or bag?
What you buy – and toss – shows your beliefs: Support Ukraine – Support Black Lives Matter – TAKE ACTION by eating less beef, shopping less especially fast fashion, using fewer plastic bottles and bags. Your action makes a difference!
Did you buy a synthetic shirt/shorts/shoes today or this weekend? HINT: it’s like plastic!
Did you get an iced coffee drink or buy a bottled drink – in plastic? WHY? You know you could bring your own cup or ask for your iced drink be put in paper cup.
Become an influencer: Take a vow: Use one less plastic/day for the rest of June (at least). Post on facebook/instagram.
It’s way too easy to forget how loving money and stuff destroys what we really love – clean air, water, food.
Join the #BeatPlasticPollution movement through the official website of World Environment Day 2023. You can access more interesting information, the actions you can carry out to contribute, as well as a large number of materials to promote the movement through social media. Every performance, no matter how small, matters.
What do the deepest point in the ocean, the Mariana trench, and the highest mountain peak in the world, Mt. Everest, have in common? Despite being among the planet’s most inaccessible environments, they both contain tiny pieces of plastic from human activities miles away. Discover in this visual report the problem of garbage in the oceans. More interactive and visual stories here.
Plastic is predominantly produced from oil and gas, both of which are fossil fuels. The more plastic we make, the more fossil fuel is required, the more we intensify the climate crisis. Also, plastic products create greenhouse gas emissions across their whole lifecycle. If no action is taken, greenhouse gas emissions caused by plastic could account for 19% of the Paris Agreement’s total allowable emissions in 2040 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Read more about climate change.
A few other thoughts recorded at the start of the Russian immoral invasion of Ukraine:
Your choices matter.
Choose as if your life depended on it.
Change the direction of war by authoritarian countries like Russia by lowering your use of oil and gas – including free shipping, fast fashion, and sadly… (for me) coffee!
Darwin’s theory, Survival of the Fittest, is the perfect ‘excuse’ for competition and doing what it takes to win. Darwin would have likely had a slightly different definition focused on ‘Fittest’. The better an organism’s qualities and talents ‘FIT’ a competitive situation, the more likely that organism will survive and thrive.
Not every individual is a good fit for every situation. Competing to win is a waste of energy and talents when the fit isn’t there. It’s a lot like finding a great fitting pair of jeans.
Embrace the challenge of finding what FITS.
Explore and experience many fitting rooms to uncover your assets for their best fit.
A good pair of jeans promotes your genes – allows you to be most comfortable to share and grow your talents!
It’s more than just thinking about which jeans fit and fit best. It’s understanding that each of us is like a puzzle piece and completes a bigger picture. Just like any puzzle, not all pieces fit in the same pic to complete all pictures. Think about when you say: ‘WOW’ I just fit ‘here’ perfectly – or you say that another person fits you perfectly!
Sure, we can make jeans ‘FIT’ by stuffing ourselves into them, or, wearing shape-wear (the horrible things we do to ourselves to ‘fit’). Or, just keep looking and find a pair that is comfy and we can move around in.
Forcing FIT, and competing in situations which don’t match our talents and skills is a recipe for conflict and imbalance.
If I feel like I have to compete to get noticed in a puzzle I know I don’t fit it, I get mean – and that meanness is usually at myself: I overeat, watch too many movies, or shop for things I’ll regret buying.
Mostly I overeat…. which makes my jeans not ‘FIT’, the perfect metaphor for not fitting… why do we humans do this????
Meanwhile, here in Western culture, we’re constantly told we should be like someone else, like a brother, cousin, celebrity. No wonder we need to shop for so many pairs of jeans, constantly looking for that ‘FIT’ that is us. Yet, in the fitting room are pairs of jeans to try on suggested by influencers, celebrities, and the same people who tell us we should be someone different…
In contrast, the Blackfoot Indians believe we are born ‘whole’ and already ‘FIT’, then spend their lives perfecting that FITTEST. Certainly something we can learn from.
In Blackfoot culture, “it’s like you’re credentialed at the start. You’re treated with dignity for that reason, but you spend your life living up to that.” While Maslow saw self-actualization as something to earn, the Blackfoot see it as innate.Jun 18, 2021
Like any situation, job, etc. we can find jeans that FIT, or adapt to them. Which is more comfortable?
Same as for any job, relationship, friendship, home, etc. etc. etc.
It’s too easy to settle for what doesn’t fit. If you’re in this situation be honest about why you are ‘there’ and then think about how you can fit better – or find a new puzzle picture to complete.
Your ‘FIT’ is about your best, not being better than others who wear totally different pairs of jeans – look better in them.
BUT, remember there’s a pair of jeans you wear perfectly. That’s your fittest.
Explore lots of fitting rooms and find how your genes can promote your jeans – or it how your jeans can promote your genes???
So go ahead, grab a handful of experiences in life’s fitting room and figure out what ‘FITs’. Toss out what doesn’t fit! It’s the only way to thrive and you deserve that!
Fear inside of us is easily ignited by expectations and not being able to express ourselves. Is this why we see so much anger and violence in the world – especially now?
I confess I’ve never seen the movie, but I did read the book (my first Kindle read!), which I thought was brilliant. This quote caught my eye and soul years ago in Moteti, South Africa during my first 3 months of Peace Corps service.
For thousands of years human beings had screwed up and trashed and crapped on this planet, and now history excpected me to clean up after everyone. I have to wash out and flatten my soup cans. And account for every drop of used motor oil.
And I have to foot the bill for nuclear waste and burned gasoline tanks and landfilled toxic sludge dumped a generation before I was born.
… I wanted to breathe smoke.
… We wanted to blast the world free of history
… Recycling and speed limits are bullshit; they’re like someone who smokes on his deathbed.
Project Mayhem will force humanity to go dormant long enough for the earth to recover.
Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
It’s too easy to destroy Mother Nature when we think stepping on her will help us ‘win’.
I found this quote going through old notebooks. Now, it seems this quote can relate to anything in our physical and emotional world: we pay for the past one way or another. Chuck Palahniuk called the violence in “Fight Club” a metaphor for ‘destroying how we see ourselves’, specifically how men of his generation had trouble defining their manhood – all because of how history wrote the laws on masculinity. Add femininity, ‘success’, and, health, and more of us are likely to jump in a ring to destroy that ‘image’ that society broadcasts.
Identity is more than DNA and looks – it’s about how we feel about ourselves.
Without the ability to get needs met, or be heard, it’s easy -too easy – to turn to violence.
This spring, let’s stop beating ourselves up for who we are/who we aren’t. For that matter, isn’t consumerism beating up Mother Nature, not to mention us? Maybe there’s a new way to define a successful life that doesn’t define buying things no-one needs wrapped in paper that will be stuffed into garbage cans. Future generations will thank us.
My host mother, Elizabeth, in Moteti, Limpopo, South Africa: I sat in front of the house and read ‘Fight Club’. And yes, South Africa is a land of turmoil as is the rest of the world, especially now.
It’s the Shopping season – aka ‘the holidays’. This year, ‘they’ say, people will spend more on holiday gifts. After all, last year’s holidays sucked, or should I say last year sucked. In fact, one source of entertainment was on-line shopping. (I was lucky to be able to go to Goodwill, and yes, it was a source of entertainment.) Of course ‘they say’ so much of what was bought was regretted because it wasn’t needed, really wanted, and honestly, likely crap. (Yup, even more Goodwill finds!). Now – this year – we’ll have even more crap as people shop – Yay!
Or, not so great, post COP26….
Shopping is a great salve for a battered soul. A new purchase adds a lift; a temporary lift. Like eating a bag of chips or a (large) chocolate bar. I should know – I’ve done the shopping, chips, and always the (large) chocolate!
BUT… Isn’t there always a BUT???? …. on the heels of COP 26, the BIG climate summit just ended in Glasgow, it was made VERY obvious the planet (Mother Nature) is in serious trouble. Mother Nature is in the ICU, about to put on life support.
If she’s in trouble, so are we. Mother Nature is the reason we are here: breathing, eating, writing blog posts, and, shopping.
Our relationship to Mother Nature, the Economy, and, even/especially to ourselves is in trouble. Therapy trouble. Which is why I think there needs to be a new profession: Environmental Psychology. Psychology to ask WHY we do what we do to the environment; to ourselves.
Because, why would we, humans, take so many actions we know will kill us, or, at best, make our lives miserable? Why do things that cause floods, draught, and fires?,
What would you do to fix a toxic relationship?
Shopping, buying more stuff, is insulting to our relationship with Mother Nature. Sure, spending money adds love to the economy. Most of us in the developed world have lots of goodies (even if we want more…). These goodies are, as usual, killing poor and indigenous people first. No worries, developed nations are next.
In the USA, did you ‘celebrate’ Indigenous People’s Day instead of Columbus Day? Lament the plight of wanna be immigrants at the southern border? Believe Black Lives Matter? Our use of cash and credit impacts their rights and health. Another example of put your money where your mouth is!
Psychology: Do you love money and stuff more than health? If so, why? Explore….
Without the environment there is no economy – first off, we’re dead – but, also, everything we do/eat/shop is from Mother Nature. Absolutely everything.
Every tree is a money tree. Every tree is a ‘Giving Tree’. But only if the tree is alive. Actually the whole forest needs to be alive to support that tree: important basic biology!
Psychology: Love money? Then protect what you love – protect Mother Nature.
Psychology: We know and we don’t do it…
Like I know eating a bag of chips will tighten my jeans and make me sick – but I do it anyway…
COP26 world leaders ‘blah-blah-ed’ as Greta said and really did nothing – why not? Obviously no WIIFM was met – I guess they love money and power more than they love their kids!
Forget world leaders: dig into your own psyche and be your own psychologist. Ask: What’s In It For Me? Health or stuff? Family or pollution from stuff. Money is power – and emotion/psychology.
This holiday season: Ask first, then take ACTION!
Each of us matter – our actions matter. Choose life and health. Buy less. Buy quality.
Humans are playing a losing game with Mother Nature. Leaders won’t listen – they think they’re winning. But only REAL ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERS like Greta Thunberg, Isra Hirsi, Autumn Peltier, Bruno Rodriguez and so many more seem to be aware of what ‘winning’ really means.
It’s not just humans who are waging war on the environment – it’s all our STUFF. That stuff we buy and toss, using resources, and then, filling landfills.
What’s your definition of WIN? Time for all of us to take a side, take action to use less or keep doing what we’ve been doing. Which side are you on?
Human Nature Concepts 