On Arrival, Regrets and Macro-Mindfulness
I’ve recently been reading ‘Arrival Economics’, an eloquently written book elaborating an idea about what an alternative economic system would look like. An arrangement where countries would be ran in a manner as if it has ‘arrived’. This is in contrast with the economic paradigms of the current world we live in — one that is focussed on ‘growth’, a constant state of flux. What if the world we lived in have arrived on material prosperity — and all we have to do is realise this, and start living in it?
It’s a vice of mine to spend time entertaining grand macro ideas that have no practical applicability to our personal lives. And I’ve read quite a few books on such ideas about alternative economics. A conclusion that I can safely draw is that this vice is not something I have alone. Most authors of popular economics writing about such a topic fall into this vice alone — nothing is very much applicable to our everyday lives. Grand ideas will remain ideas; until they are broken down into highly implementable steps. But this book, ‘Arrival Economics’, prove to be slightly different — it highlights on not only a very intuitive concept that we can relate to, but also addresses the anxieties we humans face.
The notion of ‘arrival’, which is applied to the economic system as a whole, can also be applied to our own lives. A lot of us are taught how to become rich. How we should hustle to earn more money. How we should be better copy writers, do affiliate marketing, learn how to negotiate for higher salaries, start podcasts, and ultimately mastering our crafts.
How we should productise ourselves. How we should learn how to invest and leverage on the magic of compounding to build our wealth. But weirdly, we are never really taught how to enjoy our wealth. But that’s because the concept of ‘enough’ was never really built into our roadmaps — we simply imagine that our bank accounts will keep growing; for what, most of us are not really sure.
This inevitably trickles down to the aspects that we prioritise in our lives. This is simply evident in what people often regret on at the end of their lives. At the courtesy of Bronnie Ware, a palliative care nurse, we get to hear what people’s regrets are on their death bed.
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
Out of all of these five main regrets, I could safely say that three out of five with them have to do with the blind pursuit of more wealth. For working hard is a requirement to earn wealth (unless you’re born into a trust fund, of course). This comes at the cost of not spending enough time with friends. This might come at the cost of doing what you want in life as well — as opposed to conforming to what a society with capitalistic values expect of you. On what job you should do, the mortgages you should get, the Joneses that you have to keep up with.
For the last one however, I am not claiming that the mindset that of constant wealth acquisition is the sole contributor to this. But perhaps, we could all let ourselves be happier, if we knew what enough was. If we have allowed ourselves to ‘arrive’ and enjoy our wealth. To savour our remaining days. Perhaps then, would we have more time and courage to express our feelings to our loved ones.
There is a lot of power in saying that we’ve ‘arrived’. It’s effectively us finding refuge in ourselves, and making a home in ourselves. A practice of zen mindfulness. Now, how do we scale this up to the macro level? How do we come to terms that, as a society, we have already arrived at our material wealth targets? How do we make a home of the environment that we’re currently in right now?
