What’s good about Good Friday ?

It’s funny how we roll but then in parts , not so funny at all. How the hamster wheel of life , the rinse and repeat of “living” and the rather unconscious way we get on the merry-go-round of doing stuff and miss out on the best of life’s experiences, all to prop up a better existence for ourselves, you know, one day.

In this “evolved” way of living we have never before identified en masse as being more depressed, stressed, unfulfilled, lonely or incomplete.

I watched late afternoon and early evening yesterday and I observed a retail frenzy of Armageddon style proportions on the eve of retailers actually being shut for one whole day. Makes me wonder if closing more often is actually good retail strategy.

We really are becoming a bunch of “INSOG” disciples. INSOG is the political ideal described in George Orwell’s book 1984. Its an ideology that forbids individualism and independent thought, in short the hamster wheel at large.

I remember reading this book in high school and thinking what a preposterous, zany view of Humanity’s future it was….. now I think George Orwell was sending a message, a message for us to heed, and now we are in that very Matrix, another not so zany concept if we are honest with where we are headed.

I guess I’m a compassionate capitalist and I admit that I am embarrassed by our nations (Australia’s) insistence that business should freeze between late November and early February each year. In a global economy this “habit” we have formed is fast making us the the slowest runner. All of that held true, there is a great deal of value in stopping rather than just slowing down.

On Good Friday we have the opportunity to stop! We get closer to our very own “Ministry of Truth”. It’s just us and the spoils of our relationships and social existence. Sadly on a grim note this is not a great experience for all too many. Good Friday is up there with Christmas Eve and New Years Day as being statistically off the charts for a day when way too many people Suicide. (And just one person is too many by the way)

Perhaps it’s when the wheel stops, that we figure out where we really are, and we appear, statistically speaking to not like it at all. So what’s good about Good Friday ?

It really is a time to stop, get off the wheel and take in life as we know it, standing still, just that little bit.

I’m not going to go into the religious significance of this day, it’s not my place, and for many of us it’s only a retail shut down and as many report, a bit boring and unfortunately lonely.

So what’s good about Good Friday?

For me, I woke early this morning and thought about my day with family and loved ones and the beauty associated with the stopping of that hamster wheel. It’s a time for gratitude, to take stock and pay attention to the truly important.

What’s good about Good Friday is it is an official opportunity for the slowing down of “life” as we know it, to question the philosophy of “INSOG”, connect with our dreams, ourselves and our loves and more.

What’s good about Good Friday, is that it gives us the opportunity to stop , check in with ourselves and others and ask “how are you?” and listen, really listen to the answer.

So today, in my mind, I think about the lonely people, the people confronted with a depth of unhappiness when they realise what there really is for them when the wheel stops. I’ve been those people in my life , I’ve encountered Christmas days and Good Friday’s that felt really terrible, lonely and confronting.

I started my day today, at 5am doing the thing I love most , expressing my ideas, writing on an iPhone contemplating “what’s up” (ok by now I should have switched to a laptop but I didn’t and I’m happy I didn’t turn this process into a task, it isn’t one)

So what am I going to do today? I’m going to make pancakes for my beautiful little girl but then (and I encourage all of you to do this) I’m going to get out there, hold my adorable partners hand and go for a few walks , say hello to strangers and pay special attention to those strangers who seem alone.

This wheel we are building is increasingly at odds with our social and spiritual needs for connectedness , belonging and relating. So on Good Friday , start a conversation with a stranger, do something kind for someone you don’t know, and dive into the gratitude for the connectedness you are capable of and the kindness you are capable of sharing with the people you love and the strangers in your path.

It’s just a thought. It’s called Good Friday after all, let’s make it good for as many people as we can.

Enjoy !

Thanks for hearing me, Scott ….