It’s a bit chaotic nowadays. And I’m not speaking about work.
Every once in a while, the world at large undergoes an upheaval, as we humans sideline the basic courtesy of living and let live, and bring out our inherent tribal instincts. We are called social animals, but I believe we are this way not because we choose to – we are somehow whipped into submission. Our default setting seems to be anarchy – the civilized bit is what we have cultivated over a few hundred years largely during organized government. As is evident in a few parts of the world where a strong government ceases to exist, humans ‘descend into anarchy’ – we don’t organize ourselves into well-meaning and cooperative groups to carry on until the next government/power is arrived at.
In short – we are animals first, and social next.
And so when things seem to be going well – relative peace, great economy, overall happiness climbing on the charts – the default setting starts to kick in. For instance, these days we have chaos in the Middle East, Russia and Ukraine, protests in various forms in many countries and of course, the recent pest version in India.
What does one do when confronted with such options? One – to get emotionally tagged into happenings that one has very little bearing on the consequences of, or two – to remain dispassionate about all this and carry on with daily life? It’s not an easy answer, given the carpet bombing of social media that is designed to elicit responses – usually of the extreme kind.
I do ponder over these things often, such as this morning, as I drove to Hariprasad to have my ritual breakfast. I don’t know what’s the right approach, but speaking for just myself, I think that I have a lot more positive and exciting to think about and chew over, and so I would naturally choose this. There is a lot to do, and time is the sparest currency that one has, so choices here are a bit more easier to make. I am blessed though, that I can do this, and hence the prior comment on speaking for myself.
For those who wish to try to have more focus and less negativity, lessen your social media exposure to a trickle – if possible, eliminate it. And by social media I mean news as well, for that is social media disguised as meaningfulness. It’s hard, I know. You would be fighting an army of high IQ psychologists whose only job is to keep you engaged on such platforms, but then, you too are fighting for a peaceful and mindful living. And when it comes to yourself or your family – you still hold the edge.
I am trying. I hope that you try too:)