While we now often become sad and worried reading and watching news regarding economy and recession, Rosie Boycott believes that “our obsession with chasing more is losing its grip as a growing number of people turn to new values and simple pursuits with friends and family.”
She writes in The Times: “Today, the more-more-more culture that has dominated our lives and behaviour for the past two decades has been uncovered as a sham. The desire to acquire more stuff – and the belief that it will make you happy – is a lie.
“At the heart of our nonstop, acquisitive, greedy capitalist culture is the message: consume, consume, consume. We judge people by what they have, rather than what we are, and we allow ourselves to define our own sense of self by the amount of money we earn, the power we might have in our jobs and the level of materialism we surround ourselves with.
“It is no longer I think, therefore I am: now it is I have, and that’s what I am. Stuff, whether it’s a new car, a new dress or an expensive holiday, leads inevitably towards dissatisfaction.
“If you buy the best BMW on the street, you’ll feel chuffed until your neighbour drives home in a better one. Acquiring material wealth is a competitive process, based on two basic principles. One, if you buy it, you’ll feel fulfilled and happy, and two, your problems will be solved.
“There is a phenomenon springing up all around that isn’t just about a green revolution, nor is it simply a response to the recession, an economic necessity to downsize because your bank balance is looking precarious.
“No: a whole new set of values as fashionable as the old is currently in the offing.
“People are rediscovering the joys of walking, growing their own vegetables, making clothes, starting community projects, and getting to know their neighbours.
“”The Buddhists claim that all suffering stems from failed expectations. We spend our lives planning the future, hoping that if we do this, buy this, acquire that new dress or house or whatever, then we’ll be happy.
“…all research, such as that conducted by Richard Layard in his wonderful book Happiness, shows that provided you have somewhere to live, enough food and enough money to enable you to enjoy the simpler things of life, then you are no less happy than the person who owns yachts and fast cars and villas in Mus-tique, because money really does not buy you happiness.”
Read the full article here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.