This is a big word, and as I searched for a meaning, I came across this interesting speech: https://youtu.be/e9a70fz6420. And it started to make sense to me.
Our world is a network of lives, intertwined. There is the six degrees of separation theory, where there are those who strongly believe in it (look at your Facebook connections), and there are those who can’t give two hoots about it. And that’s just the human terms of how we are intertwined. When we listen to the speech, we gain perspective of how the human lives are intertwined with those of nature’s. How a single decision now, can create the ripple effect of what is to come in the future. And that bids us to ask the question of what can we do, that will create a positive effect.
This past two weeks, I have been holding the values of “respect” and “acceptance”, to gain a greater clarity and deeper understanding of what these values mean.
And amazingly, when I open my heart a bit more, and look a bit harder, the clues start gushing in, and it felt like the whole universe came together to provide me with the answers, pointing me in a certain direction: chats from different chat groups, interactions with various people from different circles, Facebook posts from different people, while I am at home, while I am at work, when I am out with friends! The examples, the definitions, the clues, the hints, have probably always been there, but I have been closed to it – I have not been aware. And as the awareness increases, the eyes are opened, and I view the world and greater clarity. And that experience in itself is rather scary.
Because when I start to see it, start to know how it sounds, how it feels, I can never unsee it, unhear it, unfeel it. And with the more I know, the responsibility gets greater. And I am compelled to do something about it.
An example, is how to do business.
Most find that to be an entrepreneur, you need to open shop, need to sell a product and/or a service, need to be known (seen, heard, felt) to be successful. How many recognises that the entrepreneur must first require the courage to do good with the product/service? Must first recognise the impact in which the business has on the world at large, not just on the human population? Must first of all, take ownership and be responsible? And what is the definition of “responsibility” and “ownership” that we have? How wide we can cast our net on this definition, will then define how successful we can become. A lot of questions, that only the individual can respond to. Are you ready to start the journey?
The example of entrepreneurship is as it is, just an example. The journey that I am talking about, is the journey of life. But hey, to be able to read this article, you would to have started living, no? Nope, most of us are not living life. We are just existing. Open your eyes, look into the sky, take a deep breath, and FEEL! Feel every breath, feel your heart beat, hear the breeze, hear your breath, your heart beat, and allow that to amplify… Becoming aware is just the first step.
The next step is to acknowledge our network, not just that with the human kind, but with that of the natural kind. But take it a step at a time, to reticulate the segments of our lives. To fully achieve work-life balance, this is the way to go. Because work takes up less than half, less than a third, more like a sixth of our lives. The “life” part takes up the bulk. If we can recognise that, and see how our work impacts our life, and that our work can also be our life, we start to feel more at ease with what we are doing, and that we don’t need to separate our work from our life. I know this paragraph is prob the most confusing part of the entire article, so I shall attempt to draw it out for you 🙂 see picture below:
If we enjoy spending time with family most, and if we can include our family into the work we do, work will not seem like work anymore 🙂 if we enjoy our hobbies, and we can merge our hobbies with our work, we will enjoy doing it, and work won’t be a chore. When we expand that possibility, and don’t define “work” as “work”, we will realise that we are more settled, and we are happier. Our network increases, we don’t feel as stretched, or as rushed. We start to enjoy. And the best part to this: the impact is that it will improve relationships of the human kind, as well, as the natural kind. Some may say that it seems like regression. But if in regressing, we can have a happier world, more peaceful, less warm world to live in, I will choose to “regress”. Because only then, can we seem to live fuller, more meaningful lives, that create lesser impact on our environment, and in the end, on ourselves.
#foodforthought
Under (the) Covers 