Body, Money, People

If I ran a school for adults (or even for teenagers), I'd make sure they covered three areas I can't remember being emphasised to me at school:

• Your body. How it works, how to look after it, how to make it live longer.
• Your money. How money works, how to manage your own money.
• Other people. How to understand other people, and live in harmony with them.

These are the three key areas where we see so much suffering in the world.

In New Zealand, and in much of the western world, bad diet is causing obesity and a zillion other problems with people's bodies. We simply don't know how to eat right, because we have too much choice. Too much temptation.

Poverty is killing so much of the world, but in the Western world it's hidden by the welfare system, and by banks and finance companies offering more and more interest-laden debt to consumers who really can't afford it. Many people don't really know the difference between an asset and a liability, and their expensive cars and cellphones (and iPods?) propel them further into debt.

Lack of understanding and connecting with others is killing people around the world. It's easy in an urban or even a suburban environment to be a recluse, to be anonymous. That's everyone's choice, but is there a healthier way? And in workplaces, companies focus on productivity and profit, at the expense of making the workplace somewhere people want to come to. It's in a skill shortage like NZ is experiencing now that companies start to find that out. And for many, it may be too late!

So ... what am I going to do about it? I've already started - reading books on these three areas, and trying to put them into practice.

The people side of things I've always looked at, and on this blog you'll find many books that help you understand others. But I've neglected the whole area of physical health and financial acument. Well, watch this space for some book reviews that will help you - or at least me! - to get these areas in order.