It’s a strange title and a bit of a challenge to write about as it is forcing me to expose more of my persona than I’m usually willing to do and have been afraid to to for some time. It’s also going to be a challenge for me to write this in proper engwish as my writing skills are very scratchy. I don’t like to ruffle feathers or discourage people from their own beliefs and therefore don’t usually talk or write about what’s on my mind. But this year is a year where I want to challenge my own boundaries, break some of those old moulds, and get back to living life with a positive frame of thought, so here it is…
About 8 years ago, I delved into meditation and spirituality to overcome anxiety and depression. This was particularly fruitful and led to a state of ‘nirvana’ for a period of three/four days before my ego stepped back in and took over, crash landing back into what most people will call reality. This state of nirvana has not been reached since and has almost become the holy grail of my existence. Some say this is the honey moon period on the path of spirituality. Eight years on I have strayed from these beliefs (and not reached the holy grail), however, I’m finding now more than ever, that these beliefs are beneficial for me to remain positive, calm and relaxed.
Throughout my spiritual journey, there have been a few important self discoveries (despite my wise and wonderful wife already telling me many times before I finally clicked). I learned that my own spiritual journey is a journey within, not a journey in reaching out and not relying on other people to provide me with whatever I may be seeking. Other people cannot provide me peace, only I can do that with my own thoughts, beliefs and actions.
I was taught that whatever experiences are evolving into ‘now’ are a result of my thoughts, beliefs and actions. This includes events on a personal and global level. These beliefs lead to taking on full personal responsibility for everything that effects me. The world is a reflection of my perception. The hardest part for me to believe and accept is that even the subconscious learned behaviours from my childhood can be a factor in what happens in my life and it’s very easy to slip into the ‘blame game’ for the bad things that happen. If I feel and believe the world is out to get me, then the world will pretty much work it’s magic and set the stage to play ‘out to get me’, at least until I turn my thoughts around to positive ones again.
All of this leads me to my thoughts on the Global Financial Crisis (or what I’m starting to call, Global Financial Change). All the news and alarm bells of doom and gloom is only solidifying the bad news that people are losing jobs and that the cost of living is increasing. What do you do in times like these? Being fearful does not benefit anyone and if what I have been taught holds true then it is only going to make the situation worse. So, for me to be at peace with the whole scenario, I need to look at this in a new light, and positively, so that I can make a difference for myself and to do my bit for humanity.
Unique times call for Unique thinking and Unique opportunities.
I see the current climate as change, people always fear change, but what if this so called crisis is all about clearing out the corruption that has been unchecked for years, then it’s got to be a good thing right? What if the whole situation is meant to make you question what it is you really want to do for a career or even life after feeling safe in your job for x number of years? In a lot of ways, the crisis is creating opportunity for humanity to refine and improve the way things are done, and bring life back to basics. With food shortages, there’s going to be increased focus on new ways to create more food, more efficiently which could quite likely solve the food crisis in third world countries once the financial markets stabilize. It may also, lessen the gap between rich and poor as the top 1% of the population have less freedom to pilfer money into their own bank accounts. Banks will need to be more accountable and have more focus on the customer who puts money into their accounts due to a lack of money to borrow in hedge funds or off the book records (or whatever it is they do). New energy solutions will be created in an effort to drive down the costs of driving cars and powering the grid.
I have no doubt it’s going to be challenging for humanity to resolve this, but when looked at in a positive light, this next year or so will most certainly be interesting.
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