Food for thought-economy

Today our food for thought comes from Maxwell from Apartment Therapy, one of my favorite blogs. He is a master on keeping things simple.Enjoy!

I keep thinking that what we are witnessing is a return to Reality (with a capital R), which is a place that we haven't been in for a long time. And, despite the pain, this reclaimed sense of Reality is one real bright spot that is worth talking about. In the go-go times that we've been in for so long, many assumptions have just become accepted that have papered over a subterranean sense of unhappiness that we've not been allowed to admit. One of the biggest, I think, was that there was something beyond hard work that would lead to riches and the ability to leave behind the relatively poorer rabble.

As the Dalai Lama says, the goal of life is simple, it is to be happy, and when cravings are unchecked happiness is impossible. As our economy "de-leverages" and the illusory power of credit and debt is removed from every facet of our lives, we are starting to see things for what they are worth, and to see ourselves for what we are worth.

Unlike the loss of super-powers, knowing what things are really worth and knowing can be a very grounding and gratifying experience. It allows us to get off the endless wheel of chasing our cravings, and get back to simply seeing what it feels like to aim for happiness.

As Katherine Hable said at last week's meetup, "We are our own stimulus package," and I believe that. We live in a remarkable country, with remarkable people, and with the collapsing of the debt bubble, we may just rediscover how good that reality feels.