Investing in the Joy and Beauty of Morning Light …
Investing connects. Spending feels only about the present moment and about me, not the greater whole.
A thought that just won’t let go popped in last week during a robust discussion of our local food system, strengthening it, and the perception (only sometimes grounded in fact) that local, healthy food is “too expensive”. A young community leader suggested that perhaps there are different questions to be asked and perspectives to be shifted, planting a seed, a gentle nudge to open hearts and minds to new thinking. Oh, how I honor these Millennials and their wisdom, their care, their energy!
It wasn’t part of the discussion or even a new idea to me, but I wondered ‘what if we looked at our choices – not just those related to food purchases – as investing rather than spending?’ Could this small pivot in perspective support us, individually and collectively, to create a healthier, more just, and thriving future that supports all Life?
In our consumer culture we’re conditioned to ‘spend less and get more’. We’re drawn to bargains, sales, cheap stuff and celebrate them. We ‘spend’ time, money, and our personal energy. What is the cost of our spending in terms of our health, our well-being, our contentment? What is the cost to all Life, including the Life of our planet home?
I began to wonder, what might shift if I began to more consistently see my ‘spending’ choices (money, time, and energy) as investments in both the present and the future? What if WE did so collectively?
I realized quickly that this would invite me to question many habits of my daily life, not a new idea, but with a bit of a new twist. So, I’m experimenting making more conscious choices from this perspective and asking ‘does this choice align with my values and the future that I want to contribute to? With Life?
As my writing rambles I sense a deeper meaning and call to this exploration that I don’t yet have full access to. Seeing choices as investments feels like a call of the soul to a new future, while spending seems to just get me through each day. Investing seems more conscious, more mindful, and asks more of me.
We tend to put investing in a bucket that is about our individual future and is limited to those who have the money to do so. Thus, there’s an aspect of privilege in how we think of investing. Saving money and investing to receive a future financial return that will be ‘enough’ for me in my future. Increasing numbers of people take a step beyond financial return to include people and the planet in their investment decisions. Yet, for the most part it’s still about the money and having that elusive ‘enough’. How might I/we hold this differently? Is this the time to redefine ‘investment’? And, perhaps, to rethink and redesign this whole idea of ‘money’?
Investing feels like looking to new ways, new possibilities, contributing in some way to shifts in consciousness as we navigate a tumultuous world and its changes. What do I/we want those changes to be? Is the choice I’m making in this moment an investment that aligns with that future?
Investing feels both present and future oriented, connecting me with purpose, intention, my BEing in the world and how I relate with others and the environment. Investing connects. Spending feels only about the present moment and about me, not the greater whole.
How might seeing more of our choices as investments support the birth and nurturing of new systems that move us beyond the competitive ways of separation and its power-over systems toward a future where, knowing that we are One with each other, we co-create, nurture, sustain and maintain people, planet, and indeed all Life?
I’ll continue my inquiry and experimentation, aiming to ask myself often ‘what future am I investing in by making this choice?’. Join me?
… And in the Peace of First Light in the Woods Out Back