My parents are very mainstream in their beliefs, and that has worked amazingly well for them, propelling them to the higher rungs of success over the last fifty years. Of course, they are going to assume the same rules apply in the new world, but I disagree vehemently. The rules of the jungle have changed. A good job after a good education isn’t the key to happiness, even though it might be key to variable success. And what could possibly be more important than happiness?

I was in yoga class yesterday and the yoga instructor believed that unless you are pushing yourself over the edge and always growing, you are not actually living. I wanted to get up and yell out, that is so not true. This has been fed to us over the hundreds of hours of advertising and schooling, by which we are taught the rules of the jungle, but it is not true. We are conditioned to believe that, because then we are a good working part of the cogs of society, of an industrial society wrecking havoc on their environment. Just because we are growing and pushing ourselves, doesn’t mean we are happy. Sometimes, pushing ourselves again and again, is like beating our head against a steel door, absolutely useless. It doesn’t result in anything, and it causes us to feel guilty and self-loathing because we are unable to get the results that are expected of us.

I also realized that I have to reexamine my money beliefs. Money is important, I know that. It is necessary. It is absolutely needed for the basics in life, food, shelter, clothing, heat, water, and time with friends and family. It is good, and needed. But the thing I argue with my parents is that, I do not need a lot of it. I do not need to be a millionaire, I do not need to be a billionaire, I need just enough. Enough to take care of myself, and enough to be able to travel around the world, and do the things I need to do. I do not need a lot, I need enough of it. I know my parents come from a different mentality, they were poor when they were young, they always feel like they never have enough money, even if they were millionaires, they would still feel like there’s never enough. My mother said, that she doesn’t have enough money to give to others. I got angry at that. We have so many family friends, who spend thousands and thousands of dollars on gold jewelery. Absolutely useless jewelery that sits in the bank’s safe year after year. But they complain that they dont have enough money to give to the needy. That annoys me.

I am not the paragon of humanity, by any far stretch. I am a normal selfish, prideful, egotistic, rude, and other weird qualities-filled human being. I have my good moments and more than that, I have my bad moments. I haven’t given money to the needy in two years, since I had my last full-time job. I give one or two dollars here and there to the homeless people I pass. But I give time, I try to give time to the endeavors around my community. I try and give what I can, what I do have.