Evaluating Our Economic Spirit, Part I

     “Should I switch back to the chicken with hormones because my husband got laid off?”

     Some health concerns in our family had prompted me to gravitate toward organic meats and produce, whenever possible, and my family had been thriving on them. But, standing at the meat counter on that fall day in 2001, I was facing a new challenge—my husband had recently been laid off and hormone-free, grain-fed, free-range chicken was significantly more expensive than its less responsibly raised counterpart.  

     In the past ten years it is likely that you have been faced with a similar decision—a decision between what your spirit knew was best and a seemingly more affordable alternative. The worst thing that could happen to our economy—and to ourselves—is to allow economics to rule our spirits.

     When times are tough or scary, our tendency is to go into self-deprivation mode. 

     Some things we might initially tell ourselves must be cut in the midst of a money crunch include:

·      Creative pursuits such as painting, photography or music.

·      Wellness practices like yoga, eating organically or meditation classes.

·      Out-of-pocket health and wellbeing services: i.e. massage, acupuncture or counseling.

     I can’t tell you how many times someone has spiritedly inquired about a session but then backed down because they couldn’t wrap their mind around the financial piece. It is natural to go into fear mode under stressful circumstances, but what if our subsequent choices only serve to make matters worse?

     What if we tell ourselves, and others, that we have no other choice than to deny our spirits healthy foods, ethically manufactured products, and the simple pleasures that keep us sane?

     Is it necessary to lower our standards, sacrifice our health and wellbeing and support unethical practices for survival’s sake?

     While these may seem like “logical,” temporary solutions, depriving our spirits won’t improve our personal-economy or the economy-at-large. 

     We can use economic-downswing-time to re-evaluate our choices:

·      To live more mindfully, more respectfully and more deliberately.

·      To distinguish between those things that boost our egos and those that boost our health.

·      To differentiate between expenditures that merely act as a substitute for spiritual enrichment and those that genuinely nurture the spirit.

     Are your choices modeling our existing economy?

     Or, to paraphrase Gandhi, Are your choices modeling the change you wish to see in the world? 

(Reflect on how you’d like to live versus how you are living and in our next post we’ll discuss how to feed our spirits without going bankrupt.)