Cash - The Calm Killer?

With a world economy that is the antithesis of calm, I'm thinking of cash on the macro and the micro levels. Recently I have been waking in the wee small hours with a spreadsheet in my head.

Rather than counting sheep I'm crunching numbers. 

Silly thing is, no amount of thinking is making any difference. I just don't seem to do my best thinking at 4am. Like Sarah Jessica Parker's character in I Don't Know How She Does It (great concept, dreadful film) I'm alert and alarmed, making lists for all the different areas of my life. This is a reflection of stress and of having waaay too much to do. 

It is also attachment to things that are impermanent. And what is less permanent than money?  My experience is: money comes in, money goes out...

Gradually, with mindfulness practice and breathing exercises these alarming anti-sleep experiences are abating. But I am interested in my relationship to money and our whole society's dependence on the stuff. We know that money doesn't equal happiness.  But still we rush after it. Without doubt we know that debt is a calm killer - look how real estate and shares fluctuate due to the mass panic waves of the punters. These phenomena are great illustrations of a new health issue I've christened CDD Calm-Deficit Disorder and it's an epidemic.

In the spirit of the Choosing Calm project, I am looking to any source or text that seems to provide good ideas on how to live well in this world, at this time. On this cash vs. calm topic I have turned to Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks for his wisdom on wealth. 

The best commentary on all this was given by Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. He is addressing the next generation, the children of those who had been liberated from slavery. He tells them, surprisingly, that the real trial is not poverty but affluence. Affluence dulls the senses. It makes you forget where you came from. You start taking prosperity for granted, not realising how vulnerable it is. Bad things begin to happen. Inequalities grow. The social bond becomes weak. The nation forgets who it is and why.

 

Moses therefore restates a series of commands designed to teach the Israelites how to control their impulses and safeguard the future. Rest every seventh day. Cancel debts every seventh year. Place spiritual, not material, values at the heart of society. Fight poverty. Pursue justice. Treat employees decently. Care for the widow, the orphan and the stranger. Ensure that everyone has dignity. Deuteronomy is not about short term growth but about long term sustainability.

Sane and simple. Let's take the Moses Model as our new international monetary model!

Critical or Calm?

There's an old expression - "Would you rather be right or would you rather be happy?". 

Something similar can be asked in regard to the practice of calm. 

When I criticise people, places or things, I do find that it can lead to agitation. Especially if I verbalise this to others - and even more so if the criticism is about them! In conversation with a friend today, we talked about how easy it is to turn our criticism on others when we might actually need to be looking more closely at ourselves.

This reminded me of a great little card handed out by 12 Step Programs like AA. People can keep these in their pockets as a reminder of how they can stay spiritually on track - one day at a time. This is one of my favourite lines from that "Just For Today" card:

Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress becomingly, keep my voice low, be courteous, criticize not one bit. I won’t find fault with anything, nor try to improve or regulate anybody but myself.

Being courteous and avoiding criticism are two things you can do to choose calm today. Trying to change anyone but yourself is such an anti-calm thing to do! If you have nothing nice to say try saying nothing or, better still, find something nice or positive to say if you can. It trains your brain to run along a different track, creating more positive thoughts, energy and acceptance.

When people feel less judged and more accepted you'll probably find they're calmer around you too. Again, it is clear to see that calm is contagious. So, let's spread it!


I'm going to try it now:

Thanks for reading and by the way you look fabulous today :)