Are You Organically Wealthy?

This question doesn’t require a look at your recent bank account statements, instead it takes a bit of introspection. Organic wealth is more about community and self-sufficiency than it is about dollar signs. It’s about what you value and whether you are appreciating the value of your life. It is about learning how to feed yourself first with values that promote well-being and life happiness, and having gratitude for each experience. It is about taking life as it is, no added fertilizers, no harmful pesticides, and just seeing all natural goodness, no matter what happens.

The Top Wants In Life

Most people in the United States are exorbitantly wealthy, whether they make a low income or a high one. It is far easier to cultivate organic wealth in the United States than elsewhere because we’ve met many of the subsistence values that other countries still struggle to meet economically. Life is so abundant that few people notice it, until they visit a different country and realize what they have. Many countries struggle simply to provide these subsistence values to their citizens: shelter, food, and water. To progress out of subsistence, one needs energy and education to create industry. Those can also be in short supply in many places, yet the ability to get an education or create your own business is a pillar of our society. After our basic needs, the top wants in life are: money, relationships, and a sense of accomplishment (work/career).  Yet, money, in and of itself, is not the only variable that determines how wealthy you assess yourself. Having the basics of life and the opportunity to create money, relationships, and industry (a condition that most Americans enjoy) is having way more than most in this world. Yet, we don’t understand how rich we are because we haven’t experienced different.

Learn To Appreciate Your Organic Wealth

It’s only when people get sick, that they realize that they had much when they were convinced they were poor. The body image in health mirrors our organic wealth, through imbalances in the ability to house, feed, or nurture the soul. Diseases are often “gifts” to people to help them to relearn how to balance their internal compass of physical, emotional, and mental wealth. It helps the person who is sick to begin appreciating what they have lost, and that resets the internal compass in the right direction. Once they see that they really had the basics they needed to be happy, it can be a great motivator to return to that physical state and make the most of it from now on. It’s when our life values are not the ones that we are seeking to fulfill that a feeling of poverty creeps in and immense dissatisfaction with life, and a potential for disease enters. Yet someone in the same position might see you as being immensely blessed to live your life if it were them. Learn to value what you have and you are organically wealthy, no matter what circumstances you find yourself in. There is always something to appreciate in life, no matter how small. Once you cultivate that deep appreciation and gratitude with life, you will generate more and more of what you want through the power of like attracts like. You will be a producer of value, not an exploiter. You will appreciate things and nurture them into creating more value for others because you are so wealthy it only makes sense to share with others.  You will be rich, born into a birthright of organic wealth and happiness. You will feed yourself, and you will feed others too, creating huge value that eventually gets reflected in all areas of life.

The Death of Originality

Celebrities are originals, typically, that influence mass culture. When a celebrity dies, all the potential for creating new impacts in our society dies with them. That’s why it’s so shocking to hear news of the death of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. When they go, there truly is a mourning for the loss of their originality.

The Loss of Originality

In a way, I see these deaths as symbols for a trend going on in America and a mood that is becoming persistent. It’s almost a grieving for the loss of originality. This country was founded on an original way to govern, a new social system, and the ability of each individual to reach their highest potential with hard work and through their own efforts. Celebrities are evocative symbols of this system that exemplifies the potential for taking anyone and catapulting them to fame and fortune. If the value they create is large enough to benefit society, whether in entertainment or some other fashion, the reward for this originality is wealth, due to increased social value.

Value Is Still Here

The recession has made it clear that we’ve rested our laurels on past history of providing value, without continuing to be consistent in this area. A culture sprung up where it became more fashionable to exploit value, and that ideal eventually kills those willing to offer value. In order to see more new value as a culture, we’re going to have to learn ways to support the green shoots of value, instead of jumping in to harvest it before its time. It means we need to spend more time identifying sources of value, nurturing those sources, and be patient while they mature. When one source of value or originality dies, it has to be replaced by another in order for society to continue to evolve forward. The nice thing about humanity is that we are all originals. It’s just a matter of knowing how to contribute our own unique specialness in ways that contribute to other’s social well-being to generate a transaction of value to both parties. This requires some introspection and that’s where our grief can help us. It can help reset our internal compass to focus on what we can bring to the table too, instead of what has been taken away. When we start to appreciate our own unique gifts and feel safe enough to share them with others, without fear of exploitation, it can genuinely recreate society from the roots up.

When Opportunity Doesn’t Come Knocking

I’ve been musing on how opportunities present themselves to some people and not to others, and what those people do with them. Many people are sitting on the sidelines in this bad job market, and getting either no job opportunities, or bad ones. Others get job opportunities and (believe it or not) turn them down. The whole “opportunity” concept is really curious to me. It depends on where you live, who you are, and how well you can spot and judge an opportunity when it presents itself.

Cycle Of Life And Opportunity

Some people suggest that if you just network, work hard, and be positive that opportunities will just come knocking at your door. I think we’re seeing that this just isn’t the case, as millions of people are doing just that with their job search and nothing comes of it. There are few jobs and that’s the reality of the situation. It’s like when you want to grow a garden, you have last year’s seeds, and instead of waiting for spring, you plant them in the winter. How much do you expect to reap just because you took the trouble to dig the frozen soil, and plant a seed? Zero, because it wasn’t the right time nor was there an open opportunity, and open door, in that environment. You aren’t going to make the winter spring by thinking positive thoughts. It takes more than that.

The 80/20 Individual

I read this great book: The 80/20 Individual. It talks about how you take the 80/20 concept and apply that to becoming more productive as an individual. In this case, in my interpretation, you should learn how to spot 20% of your opportunities that will yield optimal results and ignore the other 80% as trivial time wasters. The better you get at that, whether it is reducing networking to better connections, applying energy to productive projects, or creating things that produce spectacular income results – you will grow less variety, but you will reap richer rewards and quicker too. It’s working smarter, not harder. It’s understanding that just because an opportunity presents itself, it doesn’t mean that it’s worth your time. That’s why, I believe, that those people getting the most opportunities are also the ones that are turning them down. They are able to spot those that will bear fruit sooner and avoid those that don’t, so they have a track record of success. Others may not produce as much success in their careers as immediate results, simply because they picked the wrong opportunities to work with or the time to fruition is beyond their length of service. They attract opportunities, by virtue of a track record of success, but the opportunity presenting itself isn’t sufficient to generate success. In a way, they create more of what they did before, and that magnetizes a larger vortex of energies, then they have to become very selective.

It’s a case where the individual isn’t the driving force of success, but it’s an understanding that it’s a partnership between those seeds that were sown before, by someone else, and the opportunity of time that now presents itself to be the person that reaps the harvest. It’s a matter of cooperation between various principles in life. Success is never a standalone project. Many others always contributed, but only those at the right place and time get recognized for their contribution, and reap better rewards. Doing that, they magnetize more opportunities in the same direction, but not all of them are guaranteed to yield good results.

Finding Or Creating Opportunities?

I don’t believe an opportunity can be created at the wrong time and I am more and more convinced that we don’t find opportunities, they are attracted to certain people. Whether the opportunity is to make a million dollars or to get mugged, these “open doors” of chance always seem to go to the people who have a track record of being able to produce those results, over and over. It is a combination of who we are (what energies we emanate) and how we are in alignment with our place in the world and history. The person who ends up successful isn’t the one that “makes it happen” but knows exactly how to position themselves to reap the rewards.

Learning To Judge Opportunities

See, I learned long ago to weed out people in my immediate circle who attracted drama and calamity. It just follows them wherever they go and no matter how much you help them, they continue to attract it until something within them changes. They can have spectacular opportunities to change (as a crisis will often provoke), but they fail to take advantage.  So, they continue to attract more and more crisis, and it becomes a very bad cycle that continues until something within shifts. Before that happens, they’ve often dragged you down with them too. Should we fail to help those in need? No. However, I am more and more convinced that only 20% of people who actually need help are ready to get it and shift out of their situation. It’s up to us to figure out who those people are as they represent the best return on our investment of time and help.

Now, I don’t believe crisis is always necessary to create opportunity, and I try to align with business people who are attracting what I want, not what I don’t want. If I learn what they do to create what they want, then I can also do the same. This is what makes me think that they aren’t any smarter than I am, more blessed karmically, or even luckier. No, it’s some basic skill of being able to place themselves in a spot where 20% of their efforts produce 80% of their results in consistent and profitable ways. That’s what makes them different. Often, they don’t create their own opportunities, they capitalize on others. They don’t find opportunities, these drop in their laps – as if magnetically attracted. They don’t accept all opportunities, and I would suggest they’re very picky individuals. Once they do, though, they work just as hard, and smart, as anyone else and KNOW that they picked a winner.

Yet, there is much more to this subject. There is always opportunity out there, that’s true. Is it the right opportunity for what you want to create? That’s the real question.

Recycling For Recession Gardens

I’m having loads of fun in my recession garden, but along with the fun comes some small conundrums. For instance, it seems I have a family of bunnies living in my hedge that like the salad bar I put out for them. I also am learning about all the little pests and diseases that can ruin a crop. What really has me excited, though, is learning how to recycle ordinary things into useful garden tools.

Old Toilet Rolls and Milk Jugs

If there was a support group for packrats, I’d be a member. Packrats Anonymous. I find it painful to throw out (don’t laugh) the inner core of toilet rolls. I keep thinking I’ll find a use for them some day, other than sticking them in the recycle bin. This year: Voila! I found a use! The okra I planted needs seed collars to keep cutworms away. I just cut an old used toilet roll in too, and there – an instant okra collar to protect my young plants. I love it.

I started out the season recycling milk containers too. I just cut them in half. I use the bottom for the seedlings of lettuce I started early. The tops I covered the bottoms with when it was too rainy or cold outside, like a makeshift miniature cold frame. It worked greeaaaat! Ha, ha.

As for the bunnies, I found out organic bone meal keeps them away and makes a great top fertilizer. Not sure I can make my own, but I’ll find out. And, today, I was eyeing some old cardboard boxes. I saw that they put these little molded carboard thingies to keep something from jiggling in the box. That’s when I wondered if I couldn’t soak the entire box in water, and remold it into biodegradable plant starters. I could save a bunch of money that way. I’m just wondering what chemicals they put on industrial cardboard.

Anyone else with great ideas on how to take ordinary items and use them for the garden?

Is Sustainability Bad For Business?

While I’ve been learning how to make my land to pay me by farming it, I have noticed some things that make sustainability a tough sell for business. If you look at most of the niches right now that are making money in this tough economy, you will find they are things like nurseries, grocery stores, and discount stores. If most of us learned to grow our own food, what impact would that have on business? It wouldn’t be good. It might be good for us, but maybe not so good for the stores. It makes you wonder what our economy is going to look like when all is said and done.

Fishy Minimum Prices

Has anyone else noticed that the minimum price you can get anything for these days at a store is $3? Need a tomato plant? $3. Need a small packet of nails: $3. It won’t surprise me if restaurants start charging $3 for a glass of water too. Why is this happening when it’s obvious that many of these items don’t have a $3 value? Blame the credit card companies. I think it’s because there is a surcharge on items paid for with credit cards and stores lose money if the price is less than $3 because they still have to pay the surcharge to middlemen, like the credit card companies.

Value Versus Price

In a recession, the thing that sells the most in a consumer’s mind is value. However, value is a personal perception that advertisers and stores know exactly how to manipulate. Ever see the 10 for $10 signs? Is one avocado really worth $1? In California, they are selling them 8 for $1 on the roadside stands. Are cherries really worth $5 to $8 per pound? How much does it cost to plant a cherry tree and how many pounds of fruit do you get out of that cherry tree in one year? Yes, there are cost for transporting them, but I live in an agricultural state where even cultivars for avocados that grow here exist. An avocado is not worth $1 in my mind, just because it came from California, especially if I can grow my own. Cherry trees are the same. If I look at how much it costs me to grow my own versus how much a store charges me, I am paying a mark-up of at least 100 percent on my food, and I would venture to say much, much, more. Is that really value? Why should I have to pay a minimum price because credit card companies are greedy? Is business really interested in being sustainable or being exploitative?

Check out what the Dervaes family did with their land and how you can grow an urban garden too.

Where Have I Been?

I’m still here. I have been very busy getting a recession garden going. After my last trip to Whole Foods, I thought I could do better in my own backyard. I am hoping to get my daughter to post pictures, but the entire experience has really taught me much about why we’re so completely unsustainable in this country. I think what it comes down to is that few of us know how to feed ourselves, whether literally or metaphorically.

If we knew that each of us had the tremendous potential to become our own source of sustainable activity, wouldn’t that have a huge impact on the American psyche? I think we did get that at one time when we went through the Great Depression, but it’s a work of hardship and struggle and no one really wants to do that unless they have to. Well, here we are again, in a really bad recession and now we have to, like it or not.

I have probably lost tons of readers during this introspective time. I do tend to take a few months to chew on things every now and then. My daughter calls it “composting” and thinks everyone should compost every now and then. She also thinks that it should be a good reason to skip work or not answer phone calls, “just leave a message, I’m composting…” Ha, ha. I eventually get back to noticing the other things in my life that weren’t necessary to composting my ideas.

What am I gardening? I am gardening: lettuce, tomatoes, red and yellow bell peppers, hot peppers, beets, okra, cucumbers, squash, and any other seed I can get my hands on. That’s right, most were started from seeds. Why seeds? It’s because when you are learning how to create something from nothing and you want to put it in practice, try growing a garden from seeds. It will truly be enlightening.

Will discuss more later…

My Last Trip To Whole Foods?

Even though Whole Foods has always been pricey, I have enjoyed their salad and hot bar, that seemed quite a deal for someone looking for a reasonable, and healthy, alternative to fast food for lunch. Well, recently I decided to treat my daughter to lunch and I took her there. Granted, I haven’t been there in quite a while, as it’s not right down the street from me and this economy has really emptied my pocket book. But, I thought one small splurge for a salad was okay – I was WRONG. And, I’m betting there are more people like me who are making the last trip to Whole Foods as this economy begins to compact our spending, and we start evaluating the value we are getting for our money spent.

Thirty Dollars For Two Salads And A Shared Drink

Okay, I think it’s a little strange that two salads and a shared drink should cost this much, and that’s because they upped their prices from $5.99/lb to $7.99/lb. While everyone else in this recession is dropping their prices, Whole Foods got the bright idea to raise theirs! Way to go! Very sustainable – NOT! Is the quality worth it though? In comparison to what? McDonalds? How about a local eatery like Aladdin’s down the street from me that sells the same fare, Meditteranean cuisine basically, and you get to  eat it on real china and with metal forks and spoons. And, you aren’t lined up like cattle getting to the register, ala cafeteria style, and hoping you get a seat. Nope, they meet you at the front at Aladdin’s, seat you in a quiet atmosphere, and treat the customer like gold. Ah, and if you order there you get more than one drink and no one hassles you about putting away your own dishes.

That Was The Kicker

Yes, on my way out I got hassled about what receptacle was the “proper” place to put my fork, my napkin, and my plate by an overzealous recycling employee. Honestly, I’m all for recycling, but I just spent $30 to be herded like a cow, chewing on a small wad of greens, and then chastised for not putting away my own dishes.  Worth $30? Certainly not to me anymore.  I’d rather go to a nice restaurant, if I’m going to be forced to pay the same amount I’d pay for a great sit-in dinner. Then, if they want to recycle there, by all means do it on your own dollar.

The Outlook For Whole Foods? Not Good.

So, I checked online to see what exactly is happening to Whole Foods in this economy, and this quote seemed to capture the problem precisely:

One of Whole Foods’ strengths was that it offered grocery shoppers a luxurious and distinctive shopping experience. However, it appears that many consumers consider shopping at Whole Foods an extravagance during rockier economic times. The company deliberately branded itself as a purveyor of premium quality groceries and this has recently become more of a stigma than a benefit in the eyes of value-seeking shoppers.

Yep, bye, bye, Whole Foods, with Harris Teeter selling salad bar fixings that can rival anything Whole Foods has at a price of $5.99/lb, I think Whole Paycheck has definitely taken their hubris at being “natural and green” to unsustainable levels in this economy.

Do you all know that the recession is sexist?

I’ve had to do some research for various freelance writing projects and apparently, men are feeling the affects of the recession more than women. The reasons given for more men being laid off than women is that the industries most affected had a high number of males in them, like construction, finance, and mortgages. I would venture to guess too that since women have been historically paid lower then men, for the same work, that it is more attractive to employers to hold on to women with lower salaries than men, but that would be awfully sexist, now wouldn’t it?

I am also seeing that in some areas where men have traditionally made decisions for the buying, women are taking over because they are either paying closer attention to the budget or something more fundamental is going on. Food buying is generally a female-oriented activity, for married couples, so that’s not changing. However, things like home remodeling, typically a male activity is having a little tweak with women appearing to start to edge out men. I don’t know if that’s because people can’t sell their homes and there are more single head of household women year after year or what. There are definitely some trends that have to be watched if you are marketing because it looks like women are gaining  economic power in this recession and making more buying decisions.

Here are some news stories that point out this shift:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/business/06women.html

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/fromcomments/107346.php

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/12/05/losing_jobs_in_unequal_numbers/

Scared Silent…

Okay, I haven’t blogged too much about the bailout the economic crisis and so on. Why? I’m scared silent, that’s why. I never for a moment thought I’d be seeing the crash of the United States in my lifetime. It’s really quite a feat and I really don’t know what to say. Although I’m not for fear mongering, what can one think when California is sending out IOUs as payment and the counties are revolting by not paying their taxes to the state? We’re in a heap of trouble, and I literally mean WE.

I think by the time this is all over, everyone is going to be affected, if they haven’t been already. Yes, I have a ton of work coming in, but bills are getting harder and harder to pay. Creditors are getting very aggressive, not even waiting for the bill to be due to call up and wonder if you’re going to be paying it. I kid you not.

People holding houses they can’t get rid of, student loans they can’t pay back because of no jobs, and wages so low they’re having trouble feeding their families. If this isn’t the start of another Great Depression, honestly, I don’t know what is. I’m growing a garden this year because I believe the food prices will climb beyond anything we’ve seen so far when hyperinflation sets in after this bailout goes through. I am hedging my bets though and if the $15,000 for buying a house incentive gets through, I’ll try and sell again this year. Otherwise, I’m not bothering because rentals will increase more than a fixed mortgage if hyperinflation hits and I won’t be able to find a decent place anyways. It’s time to head for the hills because there’s definitely something nasty headed our way.

Wouldn’t it be nice if all this just went away? Gosh, I just don’t see how that’s going to happen. We’re all going to be taking some lumps pretty soon…The drop in retirement funds are going to look heavenly in a little while…That’s what I think, and I really hope I’m wrong.

Consumer Mindset Versus Producer Mindset

I’ve been reading up some Ireports on “Surviving The Economy.” I find there are two groups of people posting. The consumers who lament not finding jobs and how unfair this economy is and the producers who sit down and think of a job they can do and get themselves busy doing it. In times when money isn’t flowing as fast through the pipeline as before, better to have some income than none at all, and complaining that there are no jobs is not a way to get that income flowing or to produce value in our society.

How Do You Relate To Your Money? As A Consumer Or A Producer?

But, it isn’t just the job situation that really highlights the differences. It’s also how one relates to money. There are people who talk about saving money by using coupons. That’s not saving money, that’s spending, that’s consumerism. I know we think saving money on expenses is productive, but fundamentally, it’s still a consumer mindset.  Consuming is simply paying money for some good or service. Producing is creating value that others want to consume. If your focus is on spending, even if it is “saving” some spending, it’s still consumerism.

Now, there are actions that really are productive, but people don’t think of implementing those when they are not employed. Like growing a garden, that’s productive, and excess can be sold to consumers. Creating value from base products like baking, quilting, crocheting, and any hobby or skill that creates value in another person’s life, that’s producing. I saw a Youtube video of a woman growing lettuce in baggies, and that may seem ridiculous to many people but it’s a perfect example of a producer. You take dirt, you take a baggie, snip the ends, add the dirt, water, add a few lettuce seeds, and close it up, with a small hole in the top, keep it moist and wait for it to grow. Lettuce in a month, I believe. The same is true of how you relate to your money. You may have to use a tiny portion for “seed money” but after that, you are the driving force to produce value, not some gimmicky financial trick.

Let’s Focus On Being Producers

That’s the kind of thing that’s going to get us out of this recession, not coupons and not government jobs. We have to learn to think  like producers again instead of waiting for someone else to bail us out.