It is believed that we are influenced 10% by our genes, and 90% by our lifestyle when it comes to our health.

You have probably heard of the “Blue Zones” where people live to be, on average, over 90 years old. This doesn’t necessarily mean they are happy, but I’d take a guess that life’s pretty good.

The five Blue Zones are:
– a Seventh Day Adventist community in Loma Linda, California (*11)
– Okinawa, Japan (*28)
– Sardinia, Italy (*33)
– Ikaria, Greece (*49)
– Nicoya, Costa Rica (*76)
*GDP per capita ranking in 2017 according to the IMF.

Here is what they have in common:

They Have the Right Outlook:
– They have vocabulary for a “sense of purpose”, the reason they get up in the morning
– They work less and relax more.

They Move Naturally:
– They don’t “exercise” as we know it, but have physical activity built in to their daily lives eg: stairs, chopping wood, cycling as their means of transport.

They Eat Wisely:
– They eat less. They eat slowly off a smaller plate until they are 80% full
– They eat a predominantly a plant-based diet with lots of colour, lots of beans and nuts, and tofu.
– They drink alcohol, but only a little each day.

They Have a Sense of Belonging:
– They have a healthy social network
– They pray and belong to a faith-based community – not necessarily religious
– They prioritise family.

What do you notice?

In Sweden, they have a term called lagom – this mindset stipulates that if we take care of our basic needs first, we invite contentment into our lives. Regularly cited as an untranslatable word, lagom can mean:
– ‘appropriate behaviour’ in society
– ‘moderation’ in nourishment
– ‘less is more’ in design
– ‘mindfulness’ in well-being.
Lagom implies optimal decision-making that’s best for you, the individual, the group, or a particular situation. (Source: Lola Akinmade Åkerström – link below)

So do you ever wonder about NZ…

…why our use of anti-depressants, alcohol/drugs, porn, consumerism, and social media is on the increase?

…why 668 people died by suicide last year, the highest since records began, and the fourth year in a row that number has increased?

…why our youth suicide rate is the highest in the OECD?

…why in 2017 the Ministry of Health reported that the previous 10 years had seen a 98% increase in the number of children and teenagers on Prozac-style anti-depressants, to nearly 15,000 young people?

…why the UK has appointed a Minister for Loneliness?

…why in the US, despite only having two weeks’ annual leave, over half the population leave half of that on the table?

And most worryingly, why in democratic countries just like ours, potentially despotic leaders are being elected by increasing numbers of disenfranchised voters because they are so desperate for radical change?

I do. A lot.

I sincerely believe the main reason is the ever-increasing gap between rich and poor that capitalism is dishing up, but I won’t go down that path for two reasons; firstly because my focus is on connection, and secondly when I talk about the widening income gap I get accused of being a communist. For the record my vote usually swings somewhere in the middle, and last time it swung right.

However, there are a number of other contributory factors; the need for two incomes per household to make ends meet, outsourcing of childcare, breakdown of the family unit, more materialistic values, the need for instant gratification, the buy now/pay later lifestyle, and increased use of technology, just for starters.

Yes, I know, I sound like I’m craving the good old days when everyone left their doors unlocked and the tins were full of home baking. There have been many areas of progress since then too, not least that we can now speak the “S”(uicide), “D”(epression) and “F”(eelings) words out loud, and women are not trapped in the suburbs like an episode of Stepford Wives. But yes, maybe I am craving those days a little.

So what is going on? At a time when GDP figures and economic indicators are looking so good, why is there so much emotional and physical sickness, leaving people feeling so disconnected and lonely?

Technology

I have floated this question with a few people who work in these fields. They agree that a primary cause is the increased use of technology, which stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain, changing the way younger generations’ brains develop, how we think as a collective, and keeps us all coming back for more. It permeates every area of our lives and is also reducing the time we spend in face to face connection.

Money, money, money

There is also a huge emphasis on GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as a success factor, but GDP is only a measure of production, and excludes anything the market cannot put a value on, like well-being or environmental health.

More stuff, more growth, more progress. But is it?

Have you noticed how news items translate everything to dollars? Being stuck in our cars, sick leave on the rise, kids bunking school. “This equates to $x million dollars in lost revenue.” Really! Isn’t it more important that the quality of people’s lives is being impacted? Time away from family, compromised education and health, less energy for relationships, more isolation.

If we’re talking dollars, a better question might be “Why is everything so expensive?” NZ is the 15^th most expensive country to live in the world, but we can buy a pound of NZ butter cheaper in London than we can here at home. And why does it take years to get approval and cost millions of dollars to lay a “park and ride” the size of a postage stamp when a community could have achieved the same result by having a working bee back in the 1970’s?

I know there are all sorts of factors, the global economy being a big one, and you could argue that negative impacts in western society have been offset by the flourishing of the middle classes in countries like China and India. But the point is that common sense seems to have deserted us here in NZ. We have been sucked into a vortex, caught on a treadmill where no one has any time to reflect any more, let alone write a letter or organise a protest march. We have lost our voices, except on social media where people skim read, tap the “like” button and do little else. People seem to be in one of two states – working their buts off or checked out.

Not surprising when Stats NZ told us at the end of last year that the top 20 percent of Kiwi households surveyed in the past year collectively holds about 70 percent of total household net worth.

Community

Perhaps the breakdown of community is also contributing to this phenomenon. Where do you get your sense of community from? Extended family, sports clubs, school, work, online? Do you live in a small community that still behaves like one or do you come home from work and shut the door? Who is taking care of your children and elders? Is your uniqueness, age, wisdom valued by your community, or do you need to hide the real you away and seek out like-minded people elsewhere? Is it ok to challenge the status quo or safer to conform?

I have always loved my work, so after leaving corporate life last year, my sense of isolation increased as I missed being part of a tight-knit team that I had known for a long time.

But I wanted to do work that fed my soul more.

My income has decreased but it is amazing where we can cut costs if we try. I have had time to live more in the Blue Zone, connect with a sense of purpose, have more quality conversations and spend time with terminally ill family. I have had to build new networks in other communities; celebrants are wonderful compassionate people, as are those who work in the areas of learning and development, so it has been very rewarding and 100% the correct decision.

So what else can we do?

Focusing on a broader range of well-being factors via a Living Standards Framework as our government is proposing (natural, social, human and financial/physical capital) whilst still acknowledging that GDP is an important indicator, seems like a step in the right direction. However, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and we might not see the results for at least a generation.

In the meantime, what can we – as individuals, as organisations, as families, as communities – do differently right now to start reconnecting with ourselves and each other?

To find some middle ground. To spread the load. To start breaking our own inter-generational cycles. So everyone can make ends meet and live in the Blue Zone. Which, by the way, sounds far less stressful, and costs next to nothing.

References

Blog quotes above re Sweden
https://adventure.com/lagom-swedish-secret-of-living-well/

Panels from World Economic Forum
https://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting/sessions/more-than-gdp-measuring-economic-progress

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/feb/01/rutger-bregman-world-economic-forum-davos-speech-tax-billionaires-capitalism?fbclid=IwAR1OhWeoDJ1tMRTkBuphuFo4LRuZs-I2eCwQEr7vNl0jJHr41NMs0Xi-_hg

A summary on The Spirit Level – why more equal societies almost always do better
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsEZr3s1aBA

Social media without boundaries:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=adPFfXihGKo

and my own sense of where things are heading…