The credit crunch could be a good thing. We might start living life at half the speed we currently do, which means we would only be consuming the world twice as fast as we should.
Posts Tagged ‘consumption’
“Slow down you move too fast. You gotta make this moment last”
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008Don’t Save the Planet
Monday, October 20th, 2008I’ve come to realise that we don’t need to “Save The Planet”. The planet will be fine without us. We need to save humankind. The solution lies in all of us taking 100% responsibility for everything we do every minute of every day in order to start healing our home, a home we are consuming faster than it can replenish itself. The starting point? Gratitude. The minute we become grateful for what we already have in life, we shift our focus from a constant desire for more to a realisation that we can have a much higher quality of life with less. There is no greater love we can give to our children and their future. Today, write down five things you are grateful for and see how different it makes you feel.
Become a Superhero
Sunday, July 13th, 2008There is a lot in the news about the world crisis we face. It’s on many scales – food prices, oil, petrol/gas, the environment, instable financial and property markets, mass consumption, population… I talk with many people who are quite burdened with these “problems”. On the one hand we want to enjoy our lives, but on the other this big dark cloud hangs over us, our children and the human race.
Think about the irony for a moment… There’s a danger that we spend our time alive so worried about the end of the world, that we lose the very life we so preciously want to protect.
During a talk I was trying to sum up this irony that many of us live, and finally found the words that summed it up. I finished the talk saying:
“Do not fear death, but embrace your mortality so that when you die you will not have lost your life”
If you don’t get it first off, keep reading it. I’ve grow to like this quote so much that I think I’d want this written as my epitaph.
We become what we focus on all day long. Some of the trends I see in people who have become consumed by the world’s “problems” are:
1) It starts to show in everything they do and focus on
2) It starts to show up in every conversation you have with them
3) They become consumed by the “problem” and keep seeing more problems.
4) If they are not experts in controlling worry and fear, you start to see it affecting them emotionally on the inside as well as well as their health.
5) When you ask them, they don’t have any solutions
Just like if you think of a red car, you’ll start to see red cars everywhere you go, the same is true of the world’s “problems”. I’m not denying that red cars exist, They do, but it’s time to change the word “problem” to “challenges”.
It’s also time to accept these challenges and start focusing on solutions. If we can focus more on finding solutions than detailing and reporting on the problem, maybe we’ll start seeing solutions. Which camps do you want to be in? The Problem Camp or The Solutions Camp? From all the cartoons I watched as a kids I think I know which camp the Superheros would hang out in. And we all know who eventually ends up saving the world.
It’s time to get INSPIRED! We need leaders who will inspire with us with solutions! We need everyone to stop focusing on the problem and if they open their mouth, offer an idea. We need people who refuse to dwell on the horrible things that might happen if we don’t sort our world out. Worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.
The number one problem facing the world today is not the melting ice caps, consumption, over-population, famine, food prices or instable financial markets. It’s what we think and what we focus on. And that’s the one things ALL of us can change, in an instant.
The Story of Stuff
Sunday, July 6th, 2008Whenever I see something truely exceptional, I’m excited to share it with the world.
The Story of Stuff is a wonderful take on mass consumption and what we can do about it. I’ll be posting up all seven parts, starting today with the Intro:
