Let’s face it, the times ahead are ‘troubling’ to say the least, politically, financially, spiritually and mental health wise.
In times of adversity our natural tendency, especially in the Western World, is to turn inward, taking on far more of the load than we need to. We have been indoctrinated with the idea, a manta actually, that when things are not as ‘good’ as they could be it is our own fault. Consumer advertising is based on this principle entirely – the idea that unless you have the latest and greatest widget you are a lesser being. Kind of a Smith – Jones Syndrome on steroids! Without that indoctrination we would have PC’s that last for 10 or 15 years, cars that would give us 300 miles to the gallon of gas. Instead we have mass production of planned obsolescence, plastic instead of kevlar, teflon instead of ceramic, frankenfood instead of natural. You get the idea.
Some will say that without this mantra there would be no innovation. Baloney! That is the other side of the equation, the part that distances the 1% from the rest of us, aka greed.
There are in the world two prime motivators for innovation – greed and need! We only need to look back a couple years to the Covid Epidemic to see the innovation in vaccines brought about by need, with unvaccinated people dying left and right. If ‘greed’ is too harsh a term for you, think of innovation in terms of the greater and lesser ‘good’. And the speed of innovation didn’t seem to be a factor when innovating for the greater good!
So where are you going, Mark, with this rambling on a Sunday morning?
As is my habit, even though this is a ‘day off’, I awoke at 5:32 am precisely. Now for most people waking up at that ungodly hour would mean rolling over, pulling the covers over your head and trying to catch at least another hour of dreamland. Sadly my internal clock goes into full daytime mode when I wake up. Pulling the covers over my head for another hour will just about guarantee a massive headache when I get up. Consequently I am one of those people who thrive quite nicely on 5 or 6 hours sleep every night. Been that way since I was a child.
Anyway, I digress (get used to it, IRL I am like a thought pogostick!). At 6 am I found myself scrolling through FB reels and happened upon this lovely young lady (even lovelier voice) named Stephanie Harrison, talking about something called Beckhard – Harris Change Management. If you are not aware of Beckhard – Harris, the basic principle is that we build coping and thriving mechanisms through community, NOT by taking the world’s problems completely onto our individual shoulders.
Ooooh I like this already!
Stephanie Harrison calls this ‘The New Happy‘ and has written a book about the process, even more importantly has started a podcast, newsletter and community. I am intrigued, though my skeptical nature will require much more deep-diving to be convinced this is not all in order to increase book sales.
So now I am off to find out her stance on the greater good vs. the lesser good, whether facing life alone builds better character or if we build resilience through community.
Cheers,
Mark
(more to come…)