The Economy of Self Esteem

Hello Everyone,

I spend a lot of time noticing people, behavior, money and time. In 'this economy' It's the catch phrase these days, so I have to use it for Googling purposes. But people seem to be working harder and faster, taking on more and more with a sense of desperation.

Perhaps they're fueled by the idea that the unemployment benefits are going to run out; or they have to find that job, right now; or I've only got a certain amount of severance, so I've got to launch this business pronto. Always we are thinking there's not enough - for me.

It's precisely thinking like this that got us into this recession in the first place. No where else on Earth, save the UK, maybe, do people work so hard and so long for so little. It defies logic and common sense. I wonder how much we make per hour as a nation. Now there's a question. If we added up the earnings of everyone in the US, then added up the hours worked and divided that into the earnings, what would we be making per hour? I can assure you it would be a pittance compared to our True Value.

This of course doesn't even take into account the "j" factor - you know, J.O.Y. Now, let's ask that question: how many of us really LOVE what we're doing? Preposterous!

We've got it all backwards, because we think the harder we work the more money we will make.

Forget the penalty in stress paid by the body. We work for those benefits, after all. We stick at jobs we hate, damaging our physicality so we can cash in on those benefits when we have that stroke, the heart attack or get the big "C" - which by the way we wouldn't have if we'd spent our days in joy.

How the heck did we get here?

I'd like to say it was a big conspiracy, but we all went along willingly like lambs to slaughter buying into the "American Dream" that the marketers were selling on behalf of the Banks, the HMO's, the insurance companies, and the pharmaceuticals.

They package it up real pretty and sell it; we buy it lock, stock and barrel. We should have that McMansion, those cars, these clothes, this gadget and that particular widget. Then we'll feel like we've made it; we've arrived - then there will be material proof that we're good enough - at last.

Hamsters on the wheel, we are. Hamsters on the wheel.

What fuels this? Why could they sell us this crock?

We have a national deficit, but it's not cash. It is a national deficit of personal and individual self-esteem.

We are poor in Spirit. We are poor in Who We Really Are. We don't know our own value, our own worth, and we do not trust our own internal thought processes as valid. We don't think for ourselves, we don't question the premise, and we think they know more than we do.

In the old days, I think they called it Common Sense. Today, we've all but abdicated our personal sense of what's a right and appropriate response to life. We trust 'them' to tell us what to watch on TV, what to wear, what to eat, what drugs to ask for at the doctor's, what symptoms to have, what beauty is, what to think about the 'news', and we do it it all. We follow so well.

Nothing will change until we remember and value above all else, Who We Really Are - individually - you and me.

When we truly trust our responses to life as right and appropriate; when we value ourselves, our opinions, our time, our talents, our very being as the precious and beautifully unique thing that it is - then, folks, the economy of our nation will thrive, because we individually are thriving.

Only we can do this. Only you and I can begin the transformation of poor self esteem into one of personal high regard and respect. This is our job.

Then, one day, in the midst of our work day, we will stop at least once and say, "I cannot believe they pay me to do this! I love my work."

Imagine this.

Thanks for reading!

Kath