Millennials: The MeMeMe Generation or the golden builders of tomorrow? July 21, 2013

image by axinia

It’s always been “Damn young people these days” out of the Mouths of Age.

“The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress.”

—Peter the Hermit, 1274 (!)

We all know that, and yet every generation seems to be quite different from the previous ones, hand in hand with the evolution of humanity.

Recently many articles have been written about the so called Millenials (birth rates from the early 80s to the early 2000s)- I have summarized what I found interesting and made my conclusions. 

Jean Twenge, the author of the 2006 book Generation Me, considers Millennials along with younger Gen Xers to be part of what she calls “Generation Me”.^[26] Twenge attributes confidence and tolerance to the Millennials but also a sense of entitlement and narcissism based on personality surveys that showed increasing narcissism among Millennials compared to preceding generations when they were teens and in their twenties.

So what do we know about these new people so far?

1.Millennials are the first generation to have a global identity and not a national identity.

2. Every generation has been the “Me” generation at some point. The only major difference now is that millennials have Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to highlight their me-ness.

3. Millenials say: “The olds are calling us narcissistic because we don’t worship children or the corporate workplace, two American religions based on the morality of self sacrifice. We also are extremely well versed in social bullshit and prize self-awareness. We play with that and it looks like narcissism. It’d be more accurate to call us the Theater Generation.”

4. Millenials say: “At any rate, what looks vapid to the outside eyes is really just the self-promotion we HAVE to do in order to get jobs and keep them. What looks like Special Snowflake Syndrome to the outside eyes is really just how we’re trying to stick out in a terrible job market. What looks like laziness and lack of commitment (all those stats about how we are not marrying and not having kids) is the huge economic insecurity we’re all living with.”

5. At a time when our society is in total tilt, the emergence of a paradigm shift centered around joyfulness is a phenomenon that we should be paying serious attention to. This isn’t just a hippie ideology reincarnated in millennial “entitlement.” Joy is an economic force that makes sense. Innovative companies are expanding their definition of profit and are making tangible investments and partnering with groups such as the Kantian Advisors, a consulting firm established by millennial co-founders Alexandra Douwes and Nellie Morris to help integrate purpose in their work because all signs suggest that purpose is the future (source: here)

6. Millennials are sometimes referred to as the Peter Pan Generation, because of the members’ perceived penchant for delaying some rites of passage into adulthood, longer periods than most generations before them. These labels were also a reference to a trend toward members living with their parents for longer periods than previous generations. Many Millennials are delaying the transition from childhood to adulthood as a response to mistakes made by their parents. “In prior generations, you get married and you start a career and you do that immediately. What young people today are seeing is that approach has led to divorces, to people unhappy with their careers … The majority want to get married […] they just want to do it right the first time, the same thing with their careers.

7. Generation MeMeMe has led a trend towards irreligion that has been growing since the 1990s. It also found that a third do not believe in any god and that 41% thought religion causes a lot of evil in the world.

8. Since millenials do not respect authority, they are not outraged by it. That is why they are the first non-riotin teenagers. «MTV has always been a territory free from the parents, -says the president of MTV Stephen Friedman, which now includes parents in almost each of his shows. – One of our studies showed that today’s youth delegate its superego to parents. Even when it comes to the simplest decision – our audience seeks advice from mom and dad. ”

9. Millenials use their communication advantage to knock out the best conditions for themselves to work with traditional institutions. Harry Stiteler, who is recruiting since 15 years into the U.S. Army sincerely admires millenials:
“When I first started watching recruits, it was a generation that had to be constantly told what to do. But a new generation understands everything else before you opened your mouth. They are three or four steps ahead. They come in and say “I will do this, and then I’ll do that, but then I want to do also this and that “.

10. Millenials are persistent and optimistic.  They are  thinkers, rather than dreamers, they are Life hackers. They have no leaders, and that’s why Tahrir Square and Occupy Wall Street had even less chance for success than any of  previous revolutions. However they can be dangerous to the establishment because they don’t believe in it.

11. Psychologists agree on one thing: millenials are sweet. They are friendly and positive. In the recent decade they changed the emotional content of Internet! Internet has always been  50% positive, 50% negative. But today, the ratio of 90 to 10 in favor of the positive.

By reading all that and corresponding it to my experience with this generation (which i am not part of :)) I came up to two main points:

The Millenials are collective and not interested in power, they are not keen on leaders and politics. That is highly interesting because all previous generations starting from Baby boomers seem to have come to break down the System, to riot, to change the whole world order in a dramatic or even aggressive way. The Millenials seem to be much more peaceful and positive.

After the Warrior-archetype of the Baby Boomers, the Millenials are clearly a Child-Archetype, they are infantile and sweet, seeking the true joy and friendship. They are not such desperate seekers as we have been. Are they born already with the Knowledge of Truth?

Whatever it is, if these are people who will run the world community in 10-20 years then we will most probably live in a happier world!

LOVE
axinia

What about trust? June 16, 2013

image by axinia

Most of us would call trust is one of the basic human values. What’s the point of writing about it when it is anyway clear to everyone. My point here is to share my observations on how people relate to trust and what could be done about it if it is missing.

We all want others to trust us. But do we trust much? In my profession I have to get an idea of a person within one hour and to reach that I had to dig deep, taking straight to the values and desires. By doing so I can sense the level of trust in a person which is -alas! – often not that high. We are afraid of each other, afraid to open up and to trust. Afraid to get hurt and disappointed. I guess each of us had at least one case in life when our trust was misused. And this makes us cautious.

No need! Relax about it, my friends. Here is what my long-term observations on the trust matte show:

1.People who trust others, are more successful in life: they are more loved, more relaxed and successful in establishing long-term relationships which lead to better career chances and of course deeper and more stable friendships and families.

2.People who trust others are happier in life in general because they have less tension and fears of being misused.

One should not be too blue-eyed of course and if there are clear signs of someone’s criminal behavior one should be alert. However are many cases when even in criminal situation when approached with trust and friendliness, the negative situation could be neutralized. I once had a miraculous situation and know how amazing it could be.

How to enjoy yourself during troubles July 17, 2012

image by axinia

The idea for this post came from my recent holiday experience where due to some technical problems many things went wrong and various difficulties had to be fought.

I noticed with surprise that despite the complicated situation I remained peaceful and yet dynamic and took right and benevolent decisions. Somehow I was not at all bothered, although at times the situation was a total disaster. At some point I realised that this is what my Guru Shri Mataji used to underline many a times: ” you have to enjoy yourself, then nothing can upset you”.  And I was indeed enjoying!

Since my life is in general free of problems, I seldome have a chance to experience it so clearly. However last week I was lucky enough to undergo a good test…  And I found out how easy it is, to enjoy myself in every situation. How did I reach this state? – no idea, most probably thanks to the years of meditaiton :).

LOVE; axinia

What and whom you cannot forgive April 1, 2012

Forgiveness has become a popular topic. Sooner or later you come across this word on the way of personal development.  Many psychologists, healers, spiritual leaders and practitioners will tell you: If your head is full and you are suffering from unclear emotional heaviness you just have to forgive. 

In the classical sense one can/should forgive if one was badly injured (physically or emotionally, often in cases like betrayal). Luckily not everyone has experienced such heavy pains. But the head is still full and life has no joy…what’s the reason then?

I fount out that Forgiveness has a much wider relevance.

 Basically you need to forgive

• when you keep coming back to a certain situation, keep analyzing or criticising others or your own behaviour

• when you keep arguing in your head with a person you had a serious talk even when days, weeks or months already passed

• when you regret you did not find the right word in a situation and you think !oh, i should have said that…next time I will say so and so”

In fact what happens is that your head gets stuck like a computer when it hangs. It just cannot continue working properly!  – Just think of it every time you catch yourself on perpetual one-thought thinking.

Is marriage really made in heaven? March 25, 2012

Five years back, being still newly married (2 years) I wrote an article MARRIAGE: MADE IN HEAVEN. At that time I was delighted about being married and enjoyed every bit of it. Here are some abstracts from the post, but please do read the full version.

“Guess why somebody’s marriage gets people around so excited? Why a wedding ceremony is regarded as the most beautiful celebration in all the cultures, among all the nations? Even though the voices for “free love” are rising high, We can not cheat the collective consciousness, subconsciousness and unconsciousness of humanity – the institution of marriage is obviously not human, it is DIVINE…  

………………….

Second brain

The common mistake of modern times (as we are being well brain-washed) is that  it is the heart that shows you your life-partner. Very seldom it is the case. Naturally it should not be the heart, but actually your stomach! The key word s of a married life are sustenance, wellbeing, satisfaction, home – referring to our subtle centers they all belong to the 3rd one, in the middle of a body. Scientifically seen it is a place of a “second brain” as well. Meeting your life partner you should feel very comfortable in your stomach. Relaxed. Safe…  

Love

And the love? It can come later… In fact the true love always comes later! It is so easy to fall in love with many people (happens to me all the time as I love people, every single soul is such a precious treasure, diamond flower!)… People are made by and for love. For loving each other, all of us. Only when it gets romantic, it is very misleading and confusing – and the folk’s wisdom calls it “falling” in love. In the western society where people believe in love-marriage we have up to 60% divorces! – A good sign of the reliability of this concept.

……………………….

Blossoming out 

Last but not least indicator is your appearance. Our true being always shines (or darkens) through: no way to hide anything behind make up or smart clothing! Naturally after getting married to the right person you will find yourself blossoming out even physically.

Expecting to Fly (Book): exciting spiritual experiences January 26, 2012

As I mentioned earlier in my posts, I read little nowadays. I used to read a lot in my childhood and youth but then got fed up with books. I wanted my real experiences instead of someone else’s wise or stupid ideas. Today I try to pick up true jewels for I have no time for just good things.

A book “Expecting to Fly” is one of such diamonds. The rare beauty of it lays in the fascination and depth of author’s experiences. Yes, it is all about experiences on the seeking path. Ultimately it is all what really makes sense I belive.

The book “Expecting to Fly” is autobiographical, Patrick Sheridan is a classical seeker from the 60- 70-s with heavy alcohol and drug background. I found it an intriguing read to learn about his journey which came out to be quite spiritual. This was all totally unfamiliar to me. I always had  a natural dislike for all kinds of chemical substances like cigarets, alcohol and drugs  – never tried and never wanted them. I have been that kind of intellectual seeker who searched for Truth only on the mental level. Ultimately I found out that the Truth is something beyond the mind and can be experienced rather mundane even as a physical sensation…Yes, generally my seeking approach was of a totally different art than that of Patrick. That is why I was keen on reading about some different experiences which led a great seeker to – surprise, surprise! – the same Truth.

The author depicts his life beginning with childhood, stept by step unfolding his seeking nature. The excessive drinking and drug consume of his youth are quite impressive – although there are lots of people practicing it too, I find it remarkable to read that someone has done all that and is still alive and flourishing…trully amazing. The author stated that in fact it was his drug experiences (in particular LSD) which let him first experience the high state of consciousness and realize that there is something beyond the reality we think we live in. The LSD trips had such an impact on the author that the descriptions of it could almost be taken for a drug advertisement. However later on he admits that the occasional highs are leading nowhere because of lack of system behind and dramatic health and subtle system damage.

The top 10 of my strenghts January 3, 2012

It’s time for introspection. Let’s see what we have here. I suggest introspecting on strengths, not on weaknesses. Here is my list. 

1. I am forgiving. Or better to put I have no issue of forgiving because I never feel offended. This such a relaxing point for my brain: I do not hang on any person or situation.

2. I am giving and sharing.  Presents, attention, time…just love doing it!

3. I love people, this means I love to meet, to take care, to enjoy, to support, I took sincere interest in their lives.

4. I live in the present. I enjoy whatever I am doing at the moment. And I do it with dedication, keeping my full attention on the action. This brings great results. Seldom do I think of the past or future, this is not interesting for me.

5. I am self-disciplined. I am very determined as far as my tasks are concerned. At the same time I never set up any goals and never think of what I want to achieve in the future. Whatever comes my way I just follow and fulfill.

6. I manage things fast and in high quality, trying to fix every task as soon as it arrives. I know that procrastination is a tricky thing and once delayed something, it is hard to get on track with it.

The global changes we have not noticed… October 17, 2011

Over the last 50 years the life on this planet has changed dramatically. I wonder if we can fully realize what has happened to us? Here are some observations on this topic, compared to what we know about the previous history.

• People got used to the idea of change, so used to change, that they are  expecting permanent change.

• Population control: sex has been separated from reproduction, contraception is universally available, Contraceptives are displayed prominently in drug stores, right up with the cigarettes and chewing gum.

• Abortion is no longer a crime.

• Homosexuality is “allowed”.

• Clothing styles became more stimulating and provocative. It is not just the amount of skin that is exposed that makes clothing sexually seductive, but other, more subtle things are often suggestive.

• Families are limited in size, divorce has become more easier and prevalent, the marriage relationship are less stable and, therefore, people are less willing to have babies.

• The old are no longer useful. They become a burden. After you have had enough of it and you’re no longer productive, working, and contributing, then you should be ready to step aside for the next generation.

• Medical care is closely connected to work. If you don’t work or can’t work, you hardly have access to medical care. Everybody is made dependent on insurance and if you don’t have insurance then you pay directly; the cost of your care is enormous.

• Children spend more time in schools, but in many schools they can’t learn much. They learn some things, but not as much as formerly. Better schools in better areas with better people, their kids can learn more.

• Students have to decide at a younger age what they would want to study and get onto their track early. It is harder to change to another field of study once you get started. Studies are concentrated in much greater depth, but narrowed.  People become very specialised in their own area of expertise. But they are not able to get a broad education and not be able to understand what is going on overall.

• Gambling changed from illegal to state monopoly: state lotteries are very popular.

How to meditate: a greate piece of advice and a terrific experience August 15, 2011

image by axinia

This is an amazing story I have got from a friend who is practising Sahaja meditation. However the coolest thing about it is that this meditation technique can be applied apart from any spiritual practice, for it works perfectly FOR EVERYONE, especially for those who find it difficult to meditate. There is no strain about it, no concentration is needed and yet it gives you the perfect effect of thoughtless awareness/mental silence, the true goal of any meditation…

Here is the story: Please read, try it out and share your experiences!

“I had a pretty interesting experience last year I’d like to share. Back in 1996 I was lucky enough to travel to Hong Kong with Shri Mataji and one morning when all the yogis were out, she called me in and said, ‘I’ll teach you how to meditate.’ I was quite excited by this…face to face with my Guru, learning the art of silence directly from her.

‘Just watch your thoughts’, she said. To watch them, she added, your attention peels away from the thought process and the two waves (the thought wave and the attention wave) hit each other and cancel out (reverse oscillation she called it).

Then the vilambha state begins. She said that you can do this anytime…driving your car, washing the dishes and you can be in total detached silence.

… It worked amazingly well. I was able to hold the thoughtless state for as long as I liked.

Now, cut to last year and I was going through a tough time at work. I really lost my cool a lot and was as undetached as you can get (sorry to say). The crunch came when my boss, a hard living, heavy drinking, chain smoking English guy told me to be detached!

A way out of depression February 4, 2011

image by axinia

Depression, the greatest soul plague of modern humans… I wonder is it really a modern phenomenon or it is just better documented nowadays that in earlier centuries?

What defines depression? It is the act of depressing and the condition of being depressed. Depression is characterized by lack of activity, self-worth, dejection, sad feelings, gloom and inadequacy. When the people are in depression, then their life becomes negative. People in depression often face hopelessness, passivity, indecisiveness, suicidal intentions, loss of appetite, weight loss, sleeping disorders.

Here are some statistics on depression:

• Main reasons of depression in men are separation after marriage, widowed, divorce
• In US nearly 7 million women are clinically depressed
• One in seven men will develop depression within 6 months of becoming unemployed
• Mostly 15 percent of women suffering from severe depression will commit suicide
• Nearly 10 percent of women experience postpartum depression after birth of a child
• 2003 National Comorbidity Study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health 16% of the population that is nearly 35 million Americans suffer from severe depression
• in Austria: every 5th person is clinically depressed and under medication

I guess the statistics on other countries will be not much different. By simply observing that one can get depressed!

Although I am not an expert on this subject,  I would like to share one unique experience I had about being depressed. May be it will help someone out.