William Booth
To open his novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens in the mid 1800 penned the words:
It was the best of times, it was the
worst of times,it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishment, it was the
epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope,
it was the winter of despair...
His novel concerned the French Revolution, which deposed the French monarchy leading to the establishment of a radical secular democratic republic. How appropriate those words are today as we witness the crumbling of another democratic republic. Whether we here in the United States are able to avert the decay and death of civilizations that underpin German historian Oswald Spengler's belief that democracies eventually morph into plutocracies depends upon how willing we are to get over our victimhood and our national pastime of suffering. Yes, we the people do have the power BUT only if we have the willpower to move beyond our love of suffering whether it be physical, mental or psychic. We find it so much easier to blame someone else or the government for our shortcomings and pain than to take the responsibility for ourselves and to get on with it. Yes, I hear you whining - how am I one small person suppose to change the government. It is not about changing anything other than yourself. While in the long run that will require harder work than changing the government, the ramifications are more far reaching and effective in establishing a sustainable status quo for all and in that process gaining happiness for you.The recession has hit us hard particularly the middle class. The average American household has recovered only 45% of the wealth that was eroded with the recession.* While the middle class struggles, the elites have gained ground setting the stage for Spengler's prophesy to come true. Many feel that there is no real hope for the middle class especially following the dim statistics coming out of the U. S. Census Bureau: the nation's real median household income was unchanged in 2012 at $51,017 compared to $51,100 in 2011, adjusting for inflation. All indications show that Americans at the income midpoint are not doing as well as they were in 2007 before the decline.
Mirroring these dismal statistics is the increasing number of working mothers who are burning out according to Katrina Alcorn's book, Maxed Out: American Moms on the Brink. So if dual incomes are not a viable answer to this dilemma of vanishing wealth, then how do we regain a more equitable footing for all? I think the optimal word in that last sentence is the word "wealth." I purposefully selected that word instead of money or income because wealth encompasses so much more than just our finances. Wealth of life is something that is available to all of us and a gift that we allow ourselves regardless of where our finances happen to be at any given moment. The abundance and joy of life lies within each of us. By getting over our "woe is me" and our entitlement expectations that cause us to look outside ourselves for the answer, then we can begin to empower ourselves. I believe that is the reason for all the lemons that are cropping up. It is a huge collective wake-up call to quit our whining and to take a serious look at where we are and how we got here.
The path that we were on was totally unsustainable. The system is broken and only we can fix it, one person at a time. So let the elites and the government stagnate in their muddling around at "fixing" the economy, which in reality results in the haves getting more at the expense of the majority. Because let's face it, in today's world big business and government are one and the same, just look at the revolving door between Washington and corporate offices. In fact D.C. tops Silicon Valley with the highest per capita income. Lobbying is a major industry in and of itself with twice the amount of money involved than 15 years ago. So you are dreaming if you think any kind of real fix is coming from that arena. As long as we sit helplessly on the sidelines, then the inevitable is that we will have more of the same where money does buy our government and laws. Goodbye, democracy and hello plutocracy.
By doing something radical like finding one aspect of our lives everyday that we can truly be grateful for, then we begin to break the downward shrinking cycle of less and less for ourselves. In practicing gratitude, ( Blog posted 1/24/13, Gratitude - the Sweetener of Life) we open ourselves up to expansion of abundance because we change our focus from I need to we have. The Course in Miracles states, "Lack implies that you would be better off in a state somehow different from the one you are in." By choosing gratitude, we break our "poor me - if only" thinking.
I am willing to bet that as each of us starts the practice of gratitude that the things in our lives that we select to be most grateful for are not going to be monetary in value - health, family, friends, pets, sunshine.... Make your own list. Regardless of where you find yourself at this moment in life, there is one thing, no matter how small or insignificant, that you can be thankful for. Start there and make the conscious decision to practice gratitude. Note how that makes you feel as opposed to sitting around moping and whining and suffering about all the things that you don't have or think that you need. And all the ways that the system, your job or lack thereof, your boss, or your whatever is failing you.
I will tell you a secret, life gives you what you need, not what you want. So if there are lots of lemons at this moment, then you need the bitterness of those experiences to cleanse your perspective so that you can see all of what you already have and are not appreciating. These difficulties have arisen because it is time for you to dig deep and empower yourself. You are so much more powerful and creative then you have ever given yourself credit for. Time to awaken to that fact.
Gratitude will make you smile. It will put a spring in your step and cause you to hold your head a little higher when you walk. It will open your eyes to opportunities that are all around you. It will change your focus and your life. In the process, you will begin to surrender your constant emphasis on not enough to one of realizing that in this moment, I have everything that I need to move forward. In surrendering your need to whine and complain and blame others for making you a victim, you will find a new sense of self-respect and resilience. You will begin to define for yourself your real needs and desires and in that process find your own solutions. You will begin to say YES to life. In fact if you just can't be grateful, then at least say yes, yes, yes as many times a day as you want. You will begin to feel lighter, guaranteed. You may even begin to feel a strange tingling of happiness. Practice gratitude long enough and you will begin to notice that you can reach out to others and give them a boost. You are becoming a player in the game of life and having a stake in working towards a more sustainable future for all. From giving to others, you will begin to notice that instead of just a tingle of happiness that you have a whole flood going. Out of this abundance, sharing will flow and in the process create more and more, not just for yourself but for those around you as well. The internet is already creating new communities of people who share resources. For example just the peer-to-peer rental market is worth $26 billion a year. No big companies involved, just people sharing with each other goods and services instead of everyone having to have their own. It's called collaborative consumption. Already this new model is making regulators and companies nervous. Truly the time is ripe for sharing and caring. It is powerful. Focus on abundance and it flows; focus on scarcity and it prevails. Your choice.
I have no clue how this works; I just know that it does. I think it has to do with grace. (Blog posted 2/5/13, Secret Agent Grace) When we make the conscious choice to get over our self inflicted victimhood, then we allow in the flow of grace. The key to opening that door is gratitude. I urge each of us to take the 30 day gratitude challenge - each day for 30 days find one thing that you can be grateful for regardless of how small and say out loud, I am grateful for _______, thank you. Even if you are skeptical at first, just do it. And then for that day, every time, you find yourself beginning to feel sorry for yourself because of whatever or you begin to whine, stop yourself and practice your gratitude instead. At the end of 30 days, take stock and see where you are. Just think if enough of us seriously do this for 30 days what we can collectively create - a true plutocracy, where we govern and live from the wealth of our hearts.
Tired of suffering? Give it up through the three Ss of surrender, serving and sharing. There is more than enough to go around. That is something for which to be truly grateful.
*"Economy" by Christopher Matthews, Time Magazine, June 17, 2013
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/16/18989165-when-hate-mongers-give-you-lemons-set-up-a-lemonade-stand?lite=
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