It's cool by the Pool - right? [COLUMN]

Welcome to a world with new rules

Open your eyes - things are changing very quickly. Every company from AIG to Woolworths has gone bankrupt. Now do the math. If a gamut of companies are going bankrupt, what does that mean? It means entire nations, whole countries can go bankrupt. That means that the pension you have been working for, and old age health care...has gone out the window. Are you angry yet?

The folks in Greece are. The excuse that sparked off riots there was a bullet that ricochet and killed a fifteen year old. Elsewhere, more and more grow restless, looking for an excuse to vent their frustrations.

I have a better idea. Maybe you are struggling to pay your bills. Maybe you have already lost your job, or fear that you will. What can you do? One thing you can do is exercise. A healthy body is a healthy mind, and right now the greatest danger is that people give themselves over to unhealthy, obsessive, dark and dangerous thinking. Go to gym or pull on those running shoes.

This evening I did not particularly feel like training. When I got into the pool I still didn't feel comfortable. I tried to improve on my previous best time of 2:46. I managed only a 2:49. The feeling of claustrophobia was so strong, I didn't tumble turn 3 times (3 seconds) in order to grab an extra breath. Later in the workout I tried again, this time starting off slower, and resisting the inclination to gasp, or panic. I did a time of 2:47. Still one second slower than my goal, but the point is, in the circumstances we face, we will need to find different levels of success. Stress is likely to be great.

The greatest obstacle, I've found, to swimming fast is not my body, or anything to do with strength. It is the thoughts that build up with the oxygen deprivation. It soon becomes so much - the poisonous thinking - that I feel like I am drowning. What is the answer to this problem then? Focus. Focus on what you can do, what you can control - not what you can't. Try to rid yourself of all those extraneous thoughts that don't do anything to enhance or inform our lives - our worries for example. Focus instead on the here and now, the practical things you can do now to improve your immediate circumstances.

If you're unable to make the sort of improvements that you'd be satisfied with, try. Each time you try you learn also what it is you need to learn. But crucial to all these improvements is FOCUS. Our focus needs to change, but first we need to change our habits, our thoughts and our movements. That means a change of perspective. Growth is no longer the keyword of economics or of sustainable living. The change of perspective we need includes seeing ourselves as custodians rather than consumers.

Our world is contracting, and as it does, we need to shift with all the associated changes.

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