Project Happily Ever After

I work in publishing, one of the industries most affected by the economy. It’s not quite as dismal as the automotive industry, but it’s pretty darn close. As a result, nearly everyone I know has been affected by the economy in one way or another.  Some of my freelance friends have little to no incomes at all. My newspaper friends are facing furloughs and salary decreases. Others tell me their benefits packages have dried up. They’ve lost PTO days, no longer get 401-K matches, and can’t get reimbursed for educational expenses.

And then there are the many, many friends who no longer even have jobs.

Because my husband and I are both self employed, we’ve been hit hard, too. With no let up in sight, it’s easy to get sucked into a vortex of misery and fear.

I woke in such a vortex this morning.

Then I meditated. Then I felt better, which was really cool because usually meditation is an exercise in frustration for me. Then I realized that not everything about the economy sucks.

Financial hardships offer us many blessings.

These hard times provide us with opportunities to…

1.    Become more compassionate. It’s easy to be nice to nice people. It’s easy to be generous when there’s plenty of cash on hand. It’s easy to do good when you don’t feel bad. It’s the difficult people and hardships in life that teach us how to be better humans. Use this time to grow as a person. Think of it as a gift.

How can you be more generous and kind?

2.    Appreciate our many blessings. This morning I meditated on the phrase, “I am blessed.” And I am. My 401-K might be half it’s value. My house isn’t worth what I paid for it. My husband has almost no income and I have less than I used to, but we’re still blessed. I have a great relationship with my husband. That was not always the case. My daughter is a complete joy. I have close, supportive friends and family. Everyone in my inner circle is healthy. I am blessed.

What are your blessings?

3.    Break our attachment to money. Money does not buy happiness. We all know this, but most of us tend to forget that fact, especially when there’s plenty of money to go around. The more money you have, the more attached to it you become. You get used to having stuff, so you want more stuff. You notice your neighbors buying stuff, so you want their stuff, too. You get caught on a rat wheel that forces you to run faster and faster in the quest to acquire more stuff. In a bad economy, you can’t buy as much stuff and neither can anyone else. Everyone has less stuff, so it’s easier to stop thinking about stuff all the time. Instead of spending your time thinking about the stuff you want, you have more time to appreciate what’s really important.

What are some priceless joys that money cannot buy?

4.    Develop richer relationships with others. For instance, we’re not going out to eat as often as we used to, so we all gather in the kitchen as I cook. That’s really nice. I love that. We’re trying to save money on groceries, so we rented a community garden plot and tend it together as a family. Again, the time that we all spend planting seeds, watering and weeding is precious. I’ve also used some of my downtime to reconnect with old friends. This is something I didn’t have time to do when I had “too much work” to keep me busy.

How can you deepen your relationships with others?

5.    Learn. A mind that is constantly learning is a mind that does not grow senile. Researchers have proven this over and over again. As you attempt to spend less, you will be forced to learn many, many things. For instance, just in the past couple of months, I’ve learned how to color my own hair, how to download the Kindle app onto my iPhone (it’s free) and download and read e-books (they are half price), and how to make many new recipes.

How can you challenge your mind so you can save money?

6.    Teach our children how to hit a baseball, among many other things. With less money to spend at indoor and outdoor amusement parks, we’ve gone back to the basics. We play ball and catch. We play soccer. We run through the sprinkler. We color. We read books. We dance. We sing.

How can you enrich your child’s life without spending money?

7.   Get healthy. We’re trying to save money on gas, so we walk and cycle to whatever destinations we can. I’m trying to worry less, so I’m meditating more.

How can the need to save money provide you with an opportunity to get healthier?

Are their additional ways the economy doesn’t completely suck? Leave a comment.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 9:36 am and is filed under Happiness advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.