Our values, aspects of life, faces of leaders, and societies have changed in their manifesto since the beginning of 2020. We are facing the biggest shift mankind has seen so far for ages. Increasingly more humans wish to escape crowded cities due to feeling lonely and isolated from nature. Rent, land & estate prices, energy, and living costs overall are skyrocketing. What was lost has to be made up at any price right now. But how?
It dawns on us, already feel it in the pocket, this is going to happen at our expense. There are many questions without answers, a huge crowd of disappointed citizens all over the globe who don’t know any longer how to afford a life of quality and personal freedom. In whom to believe, too widely was abused their commitment and faith. And trust!
A strong desire for many of us to live a peaceful and simple life in the countryside comes alive again.
To be the own boss living and conduct an existence that got not much to do with the previous one used to live a not long time ago. Far away from the noise, traffic, and hectic drama big city lights endlessly offer. With emergency sirens of police or ambulance operations in action as ongoing background noise, a felt disturbing mental frequency.
What was called “cocooning” during the age of “Design for the Designers” in a fast n’ vast developing cold technical and computer world of the 1980s, has indicated and demonstrated the inner desire to mostly stay at, modify and invest in the home space. The only external destination where the heart & soul can feel sheltered, my home sweet home is facing a renaissance.
Brought back to life on account of the long-lasting restrictions, sharp cuts on personal freedom, and lost confidence in the external world. Interior design, furniture-, and plants enterprises are some of the big winners while countless other businesses lost in free fall or already had to shut during the pandemic.
We started more than ever to realize how little, even forced restricted influence on the external world we truly possess. That both visible and invisible hands run the show without including us, the humans who should be the main act.
An urgent need for new ways to think, to define, and go for have to be born and sprout within our internal desires and lived responsibility. To hear the calling, embrace change, to find and live a homogenous, personal anxious-free, and fearless social life in reachable time again. A needed inner destination, an internal home for humans who wish to live a life closer to themselves than towards their companies or outworn patterns seeing things. The experience of home office time has opened doors to new ways of re-thinking life and work. What it really takes to be happy and content without the need to go to the office. And then back home, this time in the evening rush hour. Time couldn’t be killed any better than in these draining rides in slow motion.
Back to nature is the way out for hurt societies heavily juggling for regained balance in extending challenging times. An undoubtful desire to live at their own pace, to work on their own chosen schedule. To grow organic food while gardening, and cook for themselves instead of consuming rip-off restaurant prices for good food and some ambiance.
It’s a new dawn of togetherness in trusted circles of friends on the same mission finding, listening to their calling towards a more fulfilled and satisfying life.
Avoiding mass production by knowing, wider consciously realizing what the daily intake of nutrients bought at a supermarket truly contains. Organic food should be normal and affordable, not the other way around. Increasingly more of us just can’t afford to buy healthy food including trusted and known sources of origin we’re feeding our families with.
Are we facing a renaissance of the “Make Love, not War” era? A revival of the late 1960’s early 1970s when humans desired stronger than ever, requested to live independently in peace, togetherness, and harmony? To dance the night away instead of just getting drunk to leave the week behind as a common leisure pleasure truly made sense. Just watch some of the videos made during Saturday Night Fever days.
To fully be absorbed in the present here & now, having fun and laughter. Dancing while not thinking or worrying regarding things you can’t change at the moment is a timeless mental and inner health happiness booster.
When looking back, watching the creative outcome, countless timeless results of the so-called “Hippy and Flower Power Era” we see an eruption of unique creativity never lived so intensively before. Also caused by pressure and dissatisfaction with leaders and systems. And showed a lifestyle far away from mass food or forced ways to live like on a chessboard caught in the act by CCTV.
An awakened existence, a feeling of being so alive that seemed to be worth going for while the parallel ongoing world, the horror of a useless, not making sense at all Vietnam War was in full progress. A fatal decision without any victories but countless victims at the late teenage age. Bloody young soldiers with an average age of 19 years, who in countless numbers never returned to their families and friends. Or were lucky to still be alive and then coming home as cripples or junkies, forgotten from social and PTSD mental & healthcare. And heavily suffered and in large numbers commit suicide due to post-war trauma. Never forgotten and immortal in our hearts, not only on Veterans Day!
We’re still benefitting from this outburst of creativity and an authentic easy-going lifestyle. Music for forever ears and any mood was written and performed in those days. Watching performances, concerts of musicians in the days of their creative peak time, playing their instrument straight out of the speakers without many technical tricks available are highlights till eternity. And pretty impossible to top.
When several hundred thousand youths and forever young humans came peacefully together to celebrate live music, to enjoy time in togetherness as a large crowd on the same mission for freedom. Away from, avoiding forces to being manipulated and brainwashed. Or at least tried to build an inner nonviolent firewall by showing they won’t take certain regulations that easy any longer.
I’m not glorifying, nor do I mourn over those days but continuously feel astounded and spellbound regarding the creativity and common spirit not just visually lived back then. Listening to interviews and documentations of musicians, producers, artists, filmmakers, concert visitors, and real-time witnesses one can see broad smiles, happiness, and a spark in the eyes of the narrators. By overwhelming telling about this new age of awakening, creativity & creation, in harmony, and a lived life to the fullest.
I think it’s fruitful to be inspired by the open and peaceful mindset widely spread during “The Summer of Love”.
Imagine, there’s a Summer of Love in 2022 and everybody takes part! We need an awakening like this, an updated and consequent version fitting our times of global fundamental change. A fresh, newborn joy for life, thinking love for humanity from the heart firstly. Long before the mind tries to find ways and excuses why we can’t adopt a certain mindset again. One that feels good, creates space, peace, and creativity, fulfills us with happiness and inner calm.
Be the observer and creator, not the slave of your thoughts.
Move to a certain direction that feels good and fulfilling for you, keep going, and the good spirits up. Reflect on that every decision followed by acting, that almost every person you’ve met and has crossed the path of your life has influenced and/or led you towards the position, situation where you’re at present.
Try to connect backward without living in the past and you’ll realize the bigger connection, deeper meaning why things happened at a certain time frame. Or why it took longer and the present is the perfect timing for the next step going further. Write down your ideas and insights, don’t let passing by, but use them to your advantage. Your phone is perfect to take audio notes.
Compare life to a landscape, if you change your point of perspective, view you’ll get a greater angle, a panorama. A close-up, updated vision & version of the next step the path of life is holding for you only.
Find the pixels and parts in the landscape you love the most, this is where your calling is originated. Be on the way, your timing couldn’t be any better.
Thank you for a great article, Otto! I have only ever seen the 60’s on TV and movies, so I can only imagine what it was like. Very unique to everything that has happened after that. I see an awakening happening although it feels like standing in the cross waves. Let’s hope the future holds good vibes for us all despite the challenges. Looking forward to your writing.
Thank you, Otto, for sharing another wonderfully rich post with all of us. I loved this: “It’s a new dawn of togetherness in trusted circles of friends on the same mission finding, listening to their calling towards a more fulfilled and satisfying life.” I’m deeply grateful that you’re part of my circle of friends. 🙏
Living in the past is dying in the present, and this is because we not only prevent ourselves from being able to build a world made of wonderful experiences, despite their complexity, but also, and above all, because we lose a lot of mental energy.
Living in the past does not allow us to take care of our health, to nourish ourselves with new things, however risky, and it inhibits us from trying new paths.
Thanks, Otto.
The seed of the sixties planted firmly in and for me. A friend grew frustrated in a conversation with me a while back and said, “You know what your problem is? You’re too idealistic!” 🙂
First of all Otto, welcome to the Bizcatalyst360 Community.
Your article is certainly thought provoking. One particular sentence was a magnet.
‘Try to connect backward without living in the past and you’ll realize the bigger connection, deeper meaning why things happened at a certain time frame’.
Amazing! I look forward to reading many more of your essays.
Simon Lever