I’m tempted to begin by saying something like “What a busy couple months it’s been!”. But I’m trying to shift that habit.
Like many in our culture, I have long secretly associated being-busy with being-of-use, and associated being-of-use with being-of-value. When I slow down to really think about it, I know that our value isn’t based on our use. I was raised in a tradition that (at it’s best) spoke about inherent value, of people and of the natural world. I am also learning that there is (unfortunately) no direct correlation between being busy and being useful.
I say unfortunately because there is no doubt that we are facing massive global crisis, in the form of climate change, and in the form of a growing inequality gap that is systemically reinforcing it’s growth by eroding our democratic systems. I feel the urgency, and want to work harder, and more, to make change. So too do those around me, and in doing so we unintentionally maintain these expectations about work and worth.
Last month I wrote an article for rabble.ca about self-care, as part of the launch of our Self-Care Pilot Project. In response, a friend reminded me of the Indigenous Bolivian concept of Vivir Bien (Living Well). It’s a beautiful, and challenging, idea, weaving together systemic political change with deep personal and paradigm shifts:
“It is the need for balance and harmony that informs vivir bien. Behaviour that threatens this equilibrium and harmony are rejected. Mass consumption creates imbalances between people – trying to live better than others rather than all living well – and the resulting cost to the environment creates an imbalance between people and nature. […] It involves being able to work and enjoy work.” You can read more about Vivir Bien and how it is creating change in Bolivia here.
I often hear people say that ‘self care’ is a luxury. I think it’s an important political task to learn, again and again, that our worth is not attached to our work, or to our belongings, or to our busy schedules. We help each other learn that by living it, and, as in Bolivia, by supporting Indigenous movements and leaders who are working to imbed that understanding in our political and economic systems, so that we all may live well.
Much love, Chris.
