The Vitruvian Journey is about how we can improve as individuals. This presupposes that as we improve we accept the onus to improve the world around us through our actions. I do still believe that one person’s actions can have a butterfly effect that ripples throughout the world.
It is, however, easy to get discouraged by what we experience in the world around us. Seeing all the wrong in the world while we are trying to improve in our small way can feel overwhelming.
Talking to many friends of late there is a thread of angst and disappointment that I feel running through the conversations.
We, as a society, are tired and seem to be feeling that we have little to no say in what is happening around us.
Yet, this could not be further from the truth.
We have the ability to change the world around us to impact it for good and improve it in both small and great ways. If we will but take up the mantle and run the good race.
This requires that we not look upon the world and others as the world looks upon itself and others. We must take the opportunity to go this one better and look with compassion upon the world around us. To reach out, to connect, to discard the materialism and find better ways to live so that we are improving not only our lives but those around us.
As I have been taking a look in recent months as simplifying my life I have found countless things that I have just been either neglectful in or gluttonous about. It is sobering when we really step back and take an account.
I am finding as I go through this process my thoughts around “things” changing and shifting more to people. Why has it taken me so long to realize this? That is the most disturbing part.
Consumerism in and of itself is not bad. It drives the economy, but what I see is an economy that is driven by greed and has little care for the individual beyond separation of them from their money.
A good friend with a medical condition he has been dealing with for many years found his topical medicine jump from $40 to $400. How is this possible outside the boundaries of greed? The elderly suffer because their combined medical cost are simply staggering and they cannot afford the care they desperately need.
We have watched the cost of insurance skyrocket while services have continually declined.
Great societies of the past have collapsed time and time again from the same eating of itself from within, and I am greatly fearful we are heading the same direction.
If we do not take measures now to focus on the improvement of lives beyond our own our children will have to deal with the remnants of a world governed by this ever-growing avarice.
So what can we do?
First off, live more simply; look around you and determine what you can live without and purpose to give those things to one of the many charities in constant need. That, or sell off the excess and decide to give part or all of the proceeds to a worthy cause.
I cannot stress this first change enough. You cannot realize the weight of the “things” that you own that have begun to live your life for you so that you might keep them all. The more I off-load the better I feel, there is a freedom that comes from not having all the stuff.
Get involved; look around your city and find where you can volunteer your time or resources. There is little to compare with the feeling of helping others and there are always others who need your help, and so many need our help. We live in a world full of people in need of the simple staples in life.
Give! I am not got to get on a religious soap box but the old saying that “you can’t out-give God”, I have experienced as very real. Even if you are not a religious person, there is great karma in giving. The universe recognizes the giver and gives back. Test me on this one. Please!
Grow; look for ways you can grow personally without spending a dime. Personal growth should be a never ending maxim of life. To search out new ideas and new philosophies. Do not be afraid to reach into these worlds while staying firmly planted in your own. How can we ever hope to understand others when we do not understand the philosophies they are living. This does not mean you have to embrace their philosophy, but simply seek to understand it in some way.
Connect; with the world around you, physically. Get your head out of your phone, tablet or computer. Don’t send an email, go see the person. We are the most disconnected/connected generation. We have put up electronic walls that keep us all separated. What I miss most about life in a small town is seeing people each and every day and sitting with them, getting to know them better.
If we will but do these simple things the world will improve, we will impact it for the better; we will individually change this world for the better.
