Everyday seems to be international something or the other day. The danger with these things is that they can end-up being a lazy fix. A way of paying token attention to issues that really require much deeper consideration.

Lazy fix

What’s more, we might even feel good about our token actions when it is really a way of absolving us of the guilt of not really caring enough. A tokenistic gesture that allows you to trick yourself (and others?) into believing that you are making an effort.

But, could this be a reflection of wider tendency that is also played out at the level of the individual?

It repeats

Is this not the same as thinking of your personal health and happiness only very occasionally? And, this is something that can very easily happen to any of us. The pace and pressure of modern urban life means that we are constantly racing — pulled by the tide of busy-ness and doing. You may be racing so fast that you have forgotten what it is all for in the first place?

If Coronavirus has a silver lining, it is the opportunity (at least for some of us) to re-evaluate our fundamental life choices. To look deeply at things we may thus far only have glanced at. We might spend years going through the motions without a moment’s thought to what we are doing. Without pausing to investigate how we really feel about our lives.  Because there’s alway so much to do, so where’s the time?

The real work

So, the real work lies in opening our eyes, in slowing down and daring to look. Both at the reality of our personal lives and our wider systems of living. The tokenistic, lazy fix ain’t enough. Only through a real commitment to deeper understanding can we hope for change. 

But, we have to care enough to do this. Care enough about ourselves and our world.

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life coaching londonHarsha is a 1:1 coach and independent thinker based in London. He empowers people to find more clarity, confidence and focus in their lives — to cut through the noise, in a world so full of it. Harsha’s new book, Machine Ego: Tragedy of the Modern Mind, is now available in paperback and Kindle through Amazon.