Words for Hard Times

I don't think there are many people left on the surface of the globe who haven't noticed that times are not as cheerily affluent as they were about a year ago. Yet not all of us are gloomy. Joseph Campbell famously observed that we would all be well advised to "follow your bliss. You can choose to follow your money, but you may lose your money, and you'll never lose your bliss."

And, simplistic as it may seem, this is not bad advice. It may be tempting to mou
opportunities lost and investments that went bad, but in the end regrets will do no one any good. They may lead only to a form of perverse one-upmanship, as a sort of "I lost more than you did" mentality.

We've got better things to consider than that. Truly we all need to live, and we also all need to keep our eyes on what truly matters while we're alive. That, I'd suggest, includes being able to see how seductive numbers can be on a page, especially when linked to dollars signs. We need to break free of these illusions and delusions. Those figures will not enrich our souls.

They can't eclipse the majesty of being alive - unless we allow them to.