Image by Marcel Gnauk
InnerSelf's Daily Inspiration
May 3-4-5, 2024
The focus for today (and the weekend) is:
The Good Life starts close to home,
with local assets and local places.
Today's inspiration was written by Cormac Russell and John McKnight:
One of the hidden dangers of consumer culture is that it sometimes baits us into overlooking local assets in favor of specialized external services or goods. And though local assets are not sufficient on their own to respond to all of life’s challenges, they are essential to a decent, satisfying, and inclusive life.
The Good Life starts close to home, when we discover what we have around us and the power we have within us as makers and producers. By adopting the mindset of a producer, a maker, and a creator, not a passive consumer, we learn to resist the gravitational pull of consumer culture and keep at least some energy in reserve to discover the gifts of our local places.
CONTINUE READING:
Today's inspiration was adapted from the InnerSelf.com article:
How We Are Kept from the Good Life and Community by Consumerism
Written by Cormac Russell and John McKnight.
Read the complete article here.
This is Marie T. Russell, co-publisher of InnerSelf.com, wishing you a day of community (today and every day)
Comment from Marie: We are all connected and that starts with the people around us... our neighbors, the people we work with, the businesses and services in our local communities. Farmers' markets, small locally-owned shops, these are our community. Our support and our energy helps them (as well as ourselves) thrive.
Our focus for today (and the weekend): The Good Life starts close to home, with local assets and local places.
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RELATED BOOK: The Connected Community
The Connected Community: Discovering the Health, Wealth, and Power of Neighborhoods
by Cormac Russell and John McKnight
We may be living longer, but people are more socially isolated than ever before. As a result, we are hindered both mentally and physically, and many of us are looking for something concrete we can do to address problems like poverty, racism, and climate change. What if solutions could be found on your very doorstep or just two door knocks away?
Learn to take action on what you already deeply know—that neighborliness is not just a nice-to-have personal characteristic but essential to living a fruitful life and a powerful amplifier of community change and renewal.
For more info and/or to order this book, click here. Also available as an Audiobook and as a Kindle edition.
About the Authors
Cormac Russell is a veteran practitioner of asset-based community development (ABCD) with experience in 36 countries. A social explorer, author, speaker, and managing director of Nurture Development, he sits on the faculty of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute, at DePaul University, Chicago.
John McKnight is cofounder of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute, a Senior Associate at the Kettering Foundation, and sits on the board of a number of community development organizations. Cormac Russell and John McKnight coauthored The Connected Community: Discovering the Health, Wealth, and Power of Neighborhoods.
