Every single day they have very important work to do. Every single day they have to watch their back. Every single day they need to find food to eat, from scratch. It brings to mind the many people I also know suffering from depression and boredom. Because we no longer (at least in the ‘privileged’ world) have to worry about the simple things we take for granted, we are left with all of this time on our hands. With this time we often do mind numbing stuff like watching mediocre TV & films, playing (mostly violent) video games or surfing the net endlessly and sometimes mindlessly. We still have the tendency to DO – “what are we doing today?” - “what are you up to?” – but we’ve removed much of what we (if living in different times) would have to do, every day, without fail, to survive.
I believe everyone needs to feel some kind of accomplishment in order to feel content. I see it in my less than scientific observations every day. Even dog experts will tell you, give your dog a job to do and they’ll be happy. Ask someone who has a project on the go that they truly care about how they’re doing and you will get an answer that feels alive. They may feel challenged, they may feel scared of failure, but they feel impassioned about what they’re doing.
It’s too easy to walk to the store and buy a treat for ourselves, a reward for nothing, that would have taken much of the day (or a lifetime in some cases) to make if we had to. It’s too easy to ask for a pill for something rather than doing the work to get better so we don’t need pills. Everything is too easy, and the paradox of that is that everything has become more difficult.
I am not advocating that we constantly do, because I actually think we do too much already, we don’t take time to just ‘be’ enough. It’s the quality of what we choose to spend our time on, the meaning behind it, where I think we’re sadly lacking today.
I have always been in search of simplicity. I am in search of peace, harmony and balance. In the unnatural world we’ve created for ourselves, that is a daily struggle that could easily be replaced by taking away some of the modern conveniences of today.
You will never see this idea in an advertisement, because there isn’t anything for sale. It comes from within or it doesn’t happen at all. But make no mistake about it, you are in control.
Is it worthy of some consideration? Of course it is. Would we ever go there if not forced?
Not likely, it’s easier to just take a pill.
I’m wishing you a week of innovative thinking. Dare to be different.