As with most Americans (and more likely most of humanity) I’ve been watching the financial turmoil over the past few weeks pretty closely. I don’t claim to understand its intricacies or even the best course to chart to find a way out of it. Was it a bad thing the market plunged 777 points today because the House of Representatives failed to pass the bail out proposal? Was it scary? Are the implications and repercussions yet to be fully experienced? I don’t really know. As I mentioned I’m no expert on the economy. But I do know a thing or two about CRISIS. And isn’t that what we’re supposedly in right now? That’s the word being used over and over again to describe how people are feeling. In crisis.
When I review my half century on this planet I see many similarities in my own experience to the economic shakedown happening now. So many times in the past I made choices that were not necessarily the best choice long term and suffered greatly when it came time to face that choice. I am talking financially here. I would get over extended and then have to get bailed out. From a place of desperation I begged help from the outside sources – family, friends, business associates. I never made the connection to being bailed out until many years later. It facilitated me repeating the same behavior that put me in the pickle in the first place. Live beyond my means, get bailed out, give lip service to repentance, repeat step one. (Please, please, please do not think me so simple minded that I neglect to acknowledge the real hardships faced by many humans as a result of this current situation – I absolutely do – but let me continue knowing that). So what happened?
Well one day I woke up to see that geez – I created the same situation I’d been creating for many years – look at that! Then I had a bit of an epiphany. I made the connection for the very first time that if I created the dire circumstances I was presently facing, then I MOST CERTAINLY could un-create them. No bail out required, no benevolent hand reaching down to wipe away my pain, no begging, cajoling, pleading required. Just the simple profound realization that I had the power to create in a new way.
Ok, I’m not talking $7b large. But I am talking about “reality”. I was in trouble not that long ago. I made a shift in my awareness – meaning I made a new choice of how to interpret things – and everything shifted. The debt shrank and eventually disappeared by my own doing. The perception of abundance changed too. I saw there were other things that brought happiness to my life besides the acquisition of money or nice things. A word trickled into my consciousness and as a result my every day vernacular. Ready?
Gratitude. Yep. No matter what showed up for me, I was grateful. And slowly, gradually, eventually the things that showed up no longer became “good” things or “bad” things – they became a chance to get to know myself better. Better how you ask? Sure. Better because I no longer REACTED to things. I felt them in my hands and feet. In my belly. I breathed them in, and exhaled them. I didn’t run out of fear from any of it. And what happened? Bamboo happened that’s what.
Bamboo? If you’ve ever seen bamboo growing it’s pervasive and it spreads like the weed it is. That was gratitude for me. It had a life of its own. Before I knew it things I would have deemed disastrous in the past I think of with a sense of gratitude now. A major crisis? Another shot at gratitude.
Who am I to know what lesson is be gained through the challenges in my life? Would I be the same man I am today without them? Doubt it.
So what about this economic crisis we’re in right now as a country and a planet? Maybe it’s something to shake us up. To shift an old model of unhealthy relationships and the way we used to make money into a new improved one. I’d suggest less energy in bailing institutions out and more energy into creating lasting and sustainable connections that are based in the faith and the unlimited power of who we are as individuals and then by default collectively as a civilization.
Maybe in this collapse is the opportunity to rebuild a new structure that has real integrity. I know for me that was the case when my final bailout never came. I learned something about myself that I never had – that I could bail myself out. I don’t posses a crystal ball and I’m glad for that. But I can assure you of this. Check your fear. By all means feel it. Then ask yourself this: what do I want to feel right now (not later)?
If you were a light where would you shine right now?
If you’re struggling for a feeling, or a place to shine try this: GRATITUDE. It will get you through. Let me know how it goes.
With so much respect,
J
When I review my half century on this planet I see many similarities in my own experience to the economic shakedown happening now. So many times in the past I made choices that were not necessarily the best choice long term and suffered greatly when it came time to face that choice. I am talking financially here. I would get over extended and then have to get bailed out. From a place of desperation I begged help from the outside sources – family, friends, business associates. I never made the connection to being bailed out until many years later. It facilitated me repeating the same behavior that put me in the pickle in the first place. Live beyond my means, get bailed out, give lip service to repentance, repeat step one. (Please, please, please do not think me so simple minded that I neglect to acknowledge the real hardships faced by many humans as a result of this current situation – I absolutely do – but let me continue knowing that). So what happened?
Well one day I woke up to see that geez – I created the same situation I’d been creating for many years – look at that! Then I had a bit of an epiphany. I made the connection for the very first time that if I created the dire circumstances I was presently facing, then I MOST CERTAINLY could un-create them. No bail out required, no benevolent hand reaching down to wipe away my pain, no begging, cajoling, pleading required. Just the simple profound realization that I had the power to create in a new way.
Ok, I’m not talking $7b large. But I am talking about “reality”. I was in trouble not that long ago. I made a shift in my awareness – meaning I made a new choice of how to interpret things – and everything shifted. The debt shrank and eventually disappeared by my own doing. The perception of abundance changed too. I saw there were other things that brought happiness to my life besides the acquisition of money or nice things. A word trickled into my consciousness and as a result my every day vernacular. Ready?
Gratitude. Yep. No matter what showed up for me, I was grateful. And slowly, gradually, eventually the things that showed up no longer became “good” things or “bad” things – they became a chance to get to know myself better. Better how you ask? Sure. Better because I no longer REACTED to things. I felt them in my hands and feet. In my belly. I breathed them in, and exhaled them. I didn’t run out of fear from any of it. And what happened? Bamboo happened that’s what.
Bamboo? If you’ve ever seen bamboo growing it’s pervasive and it spreads like the weed it is. That was gratitude for me. It had a life of its own. Before I knew it things I would have deemed disastrous in the past I think of with a sense of gratitude now. A major crisis? Another shot at gratitude.
Who am I to know what lesson is be gained through the challenges in my life? Would I be the same man I am today without them? Doubt it.
So what about this economic crisis we’re in right now as a country and a planet? Maybe it’s something to shake us up. To shift an old model of unhealthy relationships and the way we used to make money into a new improved one. I’d suggest less energy in bailing institutions out and more energy into creating lasting and sustainable connections that are based in the faith and the unlimited power of who we are as individuals and then by default collectively as a civilization.
Maybe in this collapse is the opportunity to rebuild a new structure that has real integrity. I know for me that was the case when my final bailout never came. I learned something about myself that I never had – that I could bail myself out. I don’t posses a crystal ball and I’m glad for that. But I can assure you of this. Check your fear. By all means feel it. Then ask yourself this: what do I want to feel right now (not later)?
If you were a light where would you shine right now?
If you’re struggling for a feeling, or a place to shine try this: GRATITUDE. It will get you through. Let me know how it goes.
With so much respect,
J
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