Imagine a Better Future then Create It = A Simple Example

I thought this would be a simple post, then I saw how all these connections run through my life. The post was just going to share: 

My wife is amazing. She cooks delicious, wonderful, mostly vegan food. In that respect we eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. This of course means we have a lot of skins and inedible parts left over that traditionally are thrown in the trash or go down the disposal. I compost, which is an amazing and powerful natural “soft” or natural process.

I take the scraps, that would be garbage, and put them in a container in my yard, which for me is an old garbage can with the bottom cut out, with my grass clippings and other yard waste. Over time this waste turns into rich soil. In other words, I grow soil, as I learned from the incredible Will Allen (see Growing Healthier Food, People, & Communities). After leaving the waste in the composter for 6-12 months, it turns into healthy soil that I then put in the garden to grow my fruits and vegetables. A circular economy. I thought that was an amazing efficient and effective process that was circular. Then my wife made it even better. Before I put the scraps in to be compost, my wife put them on high in the Insta-pot and made vegetable broth (here is the recipe she used).Wow!

This documents Selfish/Selfless/Synergistic benefits. In other words, it is a great way to Practice Paneugenesis. This is a way to develop a personal circular economy that is regenerative. It makes tomorrow and TODAY Better. It is a way to give to all and get for yourself – Selfish and Selfless because more clean air and water, so it is Synergistic as we Give & Get by making a Positive Impact.

Then I started thinking…

We all recognize, during this terrible pandemic the world is not what we want it to be. We saw this coming, Bill Gates warned us in his 2014 TED presentation. Despite knowing what was possible, action was not taken. From my perspective, I don’t think we did anything because the best we could’ve gotten, at least the  way it was presented, was not bad, or things would end up the same as they were.

Taking actions would mean we could keep what we have. If we took action we would have had less bad – No Pandemic. Of course this is great, but it did not inspire action. In my compost example, simply using scrap food gave us the benefit for better, more convenient and less expensive vegetable broth, besides no need to go to the store, extra waste. We got more than not bad, less garbage, for that action. For me and it seems most of us, the getting and giving something seems to motivate action. Selfish, Selfish, Synergy is how to get and give at the same time. #SelfishSelflessSynergy

It is likely the warnings of a “possible” future pandemic did not inspire action for many reasons. One reason is because nothing like this has happened in our lifetime. How could we imagine it as a possibility and why would it happen now?? We all most have assumed what we are doing must be working well enough. As noted, things always work, until they don’t. To me the main reason action was not taken was because if action was taken, the result would be nothing – NO PANDEMIC. We would be left with what we already

Most of us want to make a positive impact, we want to feel good and we want to give. While it may seem contradictory, being Selfish and Selfless is Synergistic and by Giving We all Get…better. Our minds do not know how to handle nothing, a not bad outcome. It is also logical, why do we need to take action to keep what we already have? If we want a better future, not just a less bad future, however, we need to have an emotionally rewarding outcome we can get to move toward.

If we put these actions into a mathematical formula, it could look like this:

Selfish +Selfless = Synergy with a Remainder of Get & Give  with a leftover of Positive Impact

In other words, we need an “Operationalized Idealized Outcome” to move toward. #SelfishSelflessSynergy to Give & Get for all so everyone and everything benefits.

Using scraps for broth and soil is a simple example of how I and my family attempt to generate comprehensive improvements by creating pervasive reciprocal, selfish, selfless, synergistic interactions so everyone and everything benefits. It is how I give and get. I am anxious to hear how you cause your positive impact – please share! Thank you.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

#SelfishSelflessSynergy

Thank you for reading, please comment below and contact me:
Email: BeWellr@gmail.com