I don’t resist what is. I realize it and embrace the challenge. It’s inevitable my beliefs will change. The choices will always be for MORE 🪷
— Denelle DeFer
First, capitalism. Capitalism requires constant growth. If an economy doesn’t grow for one quarter of a year, bankers, politicians and the stock markets get twitchy. If it doesn’t grow for two quarters, it’s a recession and the news tells us every single day about how terrible everything is.
Imagine if bears were capitalists. They would never hibernate for fear of losing 30% of their body weight during winter. Imagine if trees were capitalists. They would go into a blind panic every autumn when their leaves started changing colour.
Capitalism’s requirement for constant money and stuff growth is completely out of touch with the real world.1 That’s why I’m working with a different definition, a seasonal definition, of ‘more’.
Sometimes the appropriate choice for more will be more money and more stuff. Sometimes we need to choose more rest, more stillness, more space, more generosity, more openness. Sometimes we need more connection, more activity, more energy, more exercise. Always more love.
Denelle wisely ended her comment with ‘MORE’ without specifying what more the choice is for. What you need more of is entirely based on the reality in and around you, on the season you are living in. You’ll know what you need more of when you pay attention. Have faith in that. The thing I think she’s getting at is the attitude of moving towards life rather than retreating from it.
More rest in its season is exactly as important as more activity is in the opposite season.
Thank you so much, Denelle, for letting me riff on your wonderfully wise comment this week!
If you haven’t yet, be sure to visit fforest.substack.com and look at Denelle’s additional comments on each of this week’s posts.
Grow slowly
Jeff
I’m not saying capitalism is terrible. It’s definitely the least awful of all the economic systems that have been deemed worth a try in the modern world.
As someone who suffers from getting lost in the chase of the next 'thing,' but is also in the stage of life that I'd like to respect the seasons of life more I appreciate the new mantra I'm going to embrace this winter. "Sometimes we need to choose more rest, more stillness, more space, more generosity, more openness. Sometimes we need more connection, more activity, more energy, more exercise. Always more love."
Thanks for the riff on an already poignant statement.
I am accepting what life brings to me. I’m open minded, heart wide open and attentive to all life. I use to plan for problems, can you imagine? That was me before I learned it was a lousy way to live. I decided to live proactively and it’s literally changed my wiring in my brain 🧠You CAN change your mind🪷