Emma Little / A different starting point

I’ve been stuck in my head.  I’ve been seeking (even moments of) clarity and ways to define the ‘problem’ but it’s just a big woolly mess and I’m getting myself tied up in knots over it.

I can’t help but try and think about solutions and where this is all heading.  I feel the need to make some difference, but every time I think of something to act on, it doesn’t seem nearly enough.  I’m feeling that we’re being offered such an opportunity it is overwhelming.

Lots of people I listen to are talking about their idea of what a utopia would look like, but what worries me is that the one thing that links all of these and us to each other is the one thing we are most scared of.  Connectedness and interdependency.  I Googled spirituality as it seemed to be coming up a lot. None of the definitions were the same.  Is this not a problem? Not a very useful word to use if it means so many different things to so many people.

But we do forget about connectedness when we are all trying to solve our own problems and issues.  Even within the health sector, we are all so focused on changing behaviour in different topic areas.  Perhaps we should be aiming at a different starting point to join them up – our own identity - and what it means to be human and part of nature?  If we are trying to reduce alcohol, smoking and other drugs use, then what will we fill the gap with?  More exercise - at risk of becoming obsessive?   More work – with the risk of becoming (if we aren’t already) workaholics and affecting our mental health?  With just doing more – because we can’t bear being with the ‘unhealthy’ thoughts that we’re thoughtfully distracted from by the media every day?

On the other side of the coin, this ‘unleashing’ I’m experiencing is not always beneficial to my own mental health.  Sometimes I feel very anxious, overwhelmed and frustrated.

But while I’ve been living inside my head, the little plant on the windowsill (almost the only evidence that nature still exists from my 5^th floor tenement in Leith) has been totally neglected by me.  It’s my boyfriend who has come to its rescue to nurture it and keep it alive.

When I went to take a picture of it for this blog, I noticed it was sitting right next to my world money bank. 

For me, the whole world is too overwhelming a starting point.  I’m going to make more effort to start from where I am.  But where is the balance between doing those small actions and not losing sight of the bigger picture that has the potential to join us all up???