Jeff Gee’s Blog

The Recession

September 23rd, 2008

I’ve always thought it strange that in a recession everyone’s money seems to disappear….and yet there is still the same amount of money in the world–I mean no one has burned it or put it on a garbage heap to rot–all that’s happened is people and companies are scared and so they are holding it back. The people with the money are holding on to it and so it’s not so much of a recession as a freeze. People are frozen and stuck….which means to say, many companies are frozen and stuck and scared.

For example, I heard the other day that there is plenty of money to hand out to people for mortgages, but the companies that give out mortgages are now so scared, that it’s almost impossible to qualify. They’ve been bailed out by the government and now they’re scared to hand out loans. So we’ve gone from loaning out money to everyone who wants it, no questions asked, to not loaning out money to anyone, and too many questions being asked. So houses are not selling, people are scared and money stays frozen.

So what does it all mean to you and me. The workers of the world. The ones who have to get up every morning, go to work and be great no matter what’s happening with the economy…no matter how scared corporations are? Well, we have to be the ones who are great! We have to be amazing, because we are the strength of the economy. We have to be resourceful and ask ourselves what’s important. To go out and spend money on clothes, make-up, cars, toys, food, or to think about what we really want. Buy what we really need. Make do and mend a little bit. But underneath it all, no matter what we do to get ourselves through this freeze and through this fear…we have to have a great attitude.

So what does that mean? We have to wake up in the morning and look for the blessings in our life. The simple things which are the miracles of life. The sun in the sky giving us warmth, and light. The moon at night giving us light and pulling the oceans of the world so that tides come in and out. The grass that grows without us even asking it to. The trees and plants that continue to be the lungs of the planet so that we can breathe oxygen…all these things are free…and if we had to pay for them, we couldn’t even raise a downpayment!

We have to be aware of happiness in any form…a smile, a welcoming word, a friendly conversation…we have to look for joy in ourselves and in other people. We have to be the bringers of joy and happiness. Because money, although very important, is not everything in life. What’s important in life are things like health, happiness, being of service, looking for ways to help others, being great at our job and finding ways to make our enviroment great, tidying up after ourselves, making our beds in the morning so that when we come home, we walk into a clean place, being a role model to those around us, so that we are not just telling others what to do, they are seeing what to do by our example.

There are so many ways to move through this recession, you can be scared and fearful, like so many people, or we can be loving and open. We can choose to be amazing, or choose to be depressed and toxic. You know how that goes, gossiping about people, telling everyone our story of how bad things are, talking about the government in a bad way instead of doing something to make our own lives and our own situations the best they can be.

It’s like watching the news…if it makes you feel depressed don’t watch it. Yes, you can know what’s going on in the world, but you don’t have to get sucked in to the media and their fear mongering headlines. Read an uuplifting book. Go out with an uplifting friend and talk about the good and positive things in your life. There are so many ways to be creative and loving….read your spouse a poem, read your kids a story, email a friend and tell them how much you appreciate them in your life. Throw off the fear of being frozen in a recession and bring in the light into your life. Celebrate good things and create joy, openness and happiness. Be the one who decides to make a positive difference in your world. Rock N Roll Val & Jeff

Entry Filed under: Customer Service Training