It is fascinating to watch the news nowadays. So many “untouchable” people are being exposed and assets being repossessed. It begs the question on how this happened and how it could have been prevented.
We are living in treacherous times and I think we have all felt compromised with decisions we had to make and relationships we had to re-evaluate in our lives. People sometimes expect things from us and almost manipulate us into believing that their needs or expectations are reasonable and acceptable, even when it is not in line with our values.
It often feels as if common sense is no longer common. People are doing things they should not be doing and getting themselves into all sorts of trouble. Not only are we hurting ourselves when we betray our values but we also betray so many others. We forget that the bigger our influence the more damage we cause when our decisions and actions are principled.
Our human nature drives us to always be looking for a quick fix or an easy solution. We see how social media and internet millionaires are born and how people get rich from the stock market and other high risk ventures. I guess it is possible to find your fortune without hard work, but is it sustainable? I once read an article where the Lotto admitted that people who win lots of money sometimes fall into depression and even go as far as committing suicide. They now offer support to help people manage their new found riches, which makes perfect sense. I have come to realize that easy come, easy go, is usually true.
We all have needs and I think it is extremely important to understand what these needs are and how they impact our lives. We all have a need for security, knowing that we have an income and a place to stay. This is the first level of the Maslows’ hierarchy of needs. We also have emotional needs, for instance we all want adventure and variety in our lives. For some this need is greater than others. We need to understand that although we have all these needs, one of them is usually our driving force. And if our driving need is unmet, it will influence how we choose life partners, how we invest our money, how we raise our children and everything else that we hold near and dear. If our needs are not met, it will be very difficult to commit to our values because our needs often outway our values.