Seeing from above rather than within.

Seeing the larger picture in situations, I’ve come to realize is my natural tendency; I tend to see the long-term consequences. Some people are naturally detail-oriented; it seems I’m more far-sighted. This can get me into heated debates as many people don’t understand or grasp what I am seeing. It’s not that I’m claiming anything, it’s just a perspective, a vision; it’s “a seeing” from a different angle.

It feels like I’m up above looking down on our globe. I’m scanning and seeing an overview of what’s happening rather than diving down into the cumbersome and complicated details. I understand details are what our foundations are built on, but I also believe it’s equally important to stand back and look down to see what the details are creating. By looking from up above, it’s easier to see if we are on a collision course with something that we are not seeing clearly from below.

All I’m doing is…….

This is probably a good place to state that I am not against consumerism or capitalism. I am not on any political side whether that is right, left or middle of the political landscape. What I’m trying to do here as a layperson with my limited capacity, is to understand where we, as a society, are heading to.

Let me try and paint a picture

Why am I using trauma to guide me through this maze? I’m not sure, maybe because it feels to me like it’s a blanket that covers much of our global environmental energy.

No doubt, the fact that I grew up in Africa and had a very different lifestyle to the western world plays a major factor in my outlook. I’ve also lived in very diverse and different cultures through the years, so I have experienced different ways of life.

The most profound experiences I’ve had though, are what I call “Revelations”. What happens here is information just slips into my consciousness revealing a new and profound concept that fits so perfectly into “my life’s” jigsaw puzzle expanding “my vision“. And no, I’m not schizophrenic, there are no voices here! Neither is this something that happens regularly. It seems my vibrational state has to be in line with something larger than my everyday earthly energies in order for these connections to happen if that makes any sense.

What am I seeing from 66+ years of roaming Mother Earth?

I’m seeing a system out of whack. I think this is pretty obvious now to most people. By just looking at our world trauma, if life was more balanced, then should there not be less pain, poverty, fear and struggles? I would assume the world would function and flow more in harmony if our energies were more at peace; personally, I’m not seeing or feeling this.

This is what I see: I see 7+ billion people all at different levels of growth. The vast majority of us are busy working to improve our lifestyle, no matter where on the economic scale we sit. Some of us have nothing, some of us are poor and really struggle to have the basics; some of us just manage, and some of us are fairly comfortable; some of us are very comfortable, and some of us have it all plus more; the richest skyrockets out to obscenity.

I also sense that it is us, the mass population, that will have to make the necessary environmental changes if we want to help steer our mother-ship into calmer and more balanced waters.

A general observation

I recognize that what I’m about to say is a general observation, not everyone falls into this reality. I’m also aware there’s a scale and degrees to everything. But what I see is, generally, there seems to be an urge within us to strive for more stuff in our economic reality; we are never quite satisfied with where we are at and what we have.

Adding to this itch, it seems we also have this fascination with the very rich. It’s almost like they are our role models. Many of us drool over their boats, cars, houses, and fashion styles. An example could be the fascination for implants or botox. Is it fair to say that the rich introduce something outlandish, and then we, the masses, normalize it? In a sense, it seems they are our representatives in society. Or, you could say they are the marketing tools that influence society.

How balanced are our happy/burden economic scales?

What energies do we create and live with that swirl around our earthly environment due to our modern-day life choices? Is there an economic healthy balance between our daily happiness and our daily burdens? Do our personal economic happiness and burdens influence our global energies?

Economic Happiness

Shopping seems to have become a popular pastime whether we go alone, with friends or family. It’s fun going out for lunch in between window shopping and buying stuff we like. Malls have been created to accommodate all that we are looking for and want making it all very convenient to shop in one area. Excitement is in the air, especially when we are lucky with our finds. We buy stuff we don’t need but at that moment we want it and our shopping-high gathers momentum.

We arrive home with our new stuff. We’re excited to try on our new stuff, display it, or tell our family or friends about it, and for the next few days, we’re filled with happiness with our new finds.

My addiction is 2nd-hand shopping; It’s deadly for me. I feel the anticipation of treasures waiting for me to find. I get excited when I find something that speaks to me; I’m on a shopping high thanks to my dopamine rush.

After a few days, a week, or however long it takes, I’m out there again in anticipation of finding a new treasure that will spark my happy rush moment once again.

It feels like economic happiness is all about shopping expeditions that bring anticipation, excitement, comradery, bonding, laughter spent with family, friends, or maybe alone. Then homeward bound we go with our dopamine shopping high filling us if we were lucky with our finds, and we have now become the owners of…………..

Seeing the flip side to economic happiness……

• The obvious flip side I’m seeing is the cost. We work hard and we seem to spend hard.
  • This requires us to keep working hard. Some of us have more than one job so that we can provide for our children the lifestyle that is today’s norm. The more we want and the more we have, the more expensive life becomes. There never seems to be a plateau that we reach where society is content with where we are at. From what I can see, the expectations of each generation become more demanding than the previous generation.

• I’m seeing a cycle repeating itself, as our dopamine rush retreats, we keep spinning our economic hampster wheel in search of that dopamine-shopping-high.
  • We buy stuff we “want” rather than just focusing on things we need.
  • What has this done to our psyche? It seems there is this need to possess materialistic stuff, and where do our values now sit in this materialistic reality?
  • I know I have spent a fair share of money on stuff I don’t need, but I just want it. I justify my spending on the fact that it’s OK as I’m buying only from 2nd-hand shops. I’m supporting the local community, I’m recycling, and I’m not spending as much as buying brand new.

• Does anyone else see an increase in peer pressure, in particular with teenagers and younger children? I don’t see it stopping there though, I think adults have this weakness too; we’ve got to keep up with the Jones.
  • When my eldest son was about four, I had asked him to invite his neighbour friend to come and play at our home as my son was always going to this friend’s house. He came home crying saying that this friend did not want to come to my son’s house as my son didn’t have all the latest toys!! What was I supposed to do with that? Go out and buy all these toys so that friends would come to the house to play?

• What about the increase in bullying, judging and snobbishness which seems to have become part of our existence. You may say it’s always been that way. To a degree, I will agree, but I would also add that it’s because we have accepted it as normal behaviour that it has become normal.
  • As mentioned I’m a 2nd-hand shopper, and I love it. My kids grew up with a mum that spent hours in 2nd-hand shops. I remember my daughter telling a couple of girls from her class that she goes second-hand shopping for her clothes. They were appalled and shocked into giggling embarrassed silence. My daughter, God bless her little innocent reality, had a great comeback to their reaction with an answer of, “you get a whole shopping cart full of clothes!!”.
  • Nowadays second-hand shopping has become somewhat of a trend, but not back then, you were automatically placed in a certain social category. It was assumed you were poor and couldn’t afford name-brand things; hence an example of judgement and snobbery.

There is a great book written by Don Miguel Ruiz and his son Don Jose Ruiz called “The Fifth Agreement, a practical guide to self-mastery”. Their artistic ability to take you on a very visual and personal journey to reveal our lack of awareness in regards to judging and making assumptions of others is profound. They explain just how out of balance society is in living our daily lives due to our lack of awareness in mastering our mental thoughts resulting in our behaviours. This book, I believe, should be taught in schools; every parent should read it as a means of guiding their children on how to cope with these so-called “normal behaviours”; every adult should read it as a means to help bring about an individual healthier mental state. (https://www.miguelruiz.com/)

In conclusion

What I’m seeing is by us choosing this way of living we produce higher levels of stress to ourselves and to the family. Not only is there the stress of having to work so hard, but there is also the stress of having enough money to pay all the bills. There is the stress of children wanting “this and that”, and their stress of believing they must have it all in order to feel accepted. There is the guilt of knowing you don’t need this, but you are going to get it anyway.

Do you think this plays a factor in the health and maintenance of a healthy relationship within the family?

How about the loss of our genuineness……? Have we become more and more disconnected from our true selves and more and more connected to a materialistic and commercialized identity?

Are we using our commercialized reality as our method to fuel our dopamine levels in order to feel good even if it’s just for a little while? https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/dopamine

To answer my own questions here, I would say, I don’t see society, in general, balancing our happy/burden scales. From where I’m sitting, it seems the seesaw is more on the side of economic burdens. I’m going to take a guess that these burdens are also a contributor to our global environmental trauma.

I can see that my addiction to 2nd-hand shopping gives me a dopamine rush when I find treasures that I don’t need; I just want them; I love them for a while and it feels good for a while.

I see a fall-out from these brief moments of happiness though. I feel an emptiness within when dopamine is absent, and this emptiness has a scent of depression floating around.

I’m seeing that today’s God is the Money God. But from what I can see, the Money God lacks the ability to provide fulfilling and lasting happiness.

UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL (Aesop)