In my last post I lamented the fact that people were not connecting enough. Well, interestingly enough I have just spent a week in Bali relaxing and looking at some real estate and I was so struck by the fact that people there were so friendly, welcoming and so happy to connect. I could not help asking myself the question: “Why are these people so willing to connect and people back home not so?”

I have not worked it out and would love to hear from anyone with their take on the subject.

I put it down to the Buddhist and Hindu philosophy which are the main cultures in this part of Indonesia. I guess to some degree a tourist is viewed as a source of income and looked at very positively, as well. However I feel that it goes deeper than that and that the people are genuinely friendly and open to connect with people. What’s more they are ever so humble and are always looking to please. This of course is a good recipe if you are a tourist with all these happy, willing and friendly people looking to serve you and look after you.

I cannot help but think that although they maybe much poorer than people in more affluent countries these people exhibit an openness and a warmth that does not seem to prevail here at home. So I am sure there are some lessons to be learned here.

I was reading a beautiful little book by Wayne Dyer and what he wrote maybe sheds some light on this subject and I quote:

Winning and being number one seem to be the most important things you can do when you live at the level of ego-consciousness. You spend a lot of your time measuring your success on the basis of how you stack up against others.

If you have more than others, you feel better about yourself. Having more money makes you feel better. Accumulating more awards and prestige and climbing higher on the corporate ladder encourages you to feel good about yourself. Ego-consciousness prods you to compete, compare and conclude that you are the best, so you concentrate on running faster and looking better than others. It is at this level of consciousness that problems exist. This is where inner peace is virtually impossible and success eludes you, because you must always be striving to be someplace else.

In order to walk comfortably along the extra mile, you must tame this ever demanding: impossible to satisfy ego. Feelings of despair, anger, hatred, bitterness, stress and depression stem from the ego’s anxiety and insistence on living up to an external standard. The result is the anguish of not measuring up or fitting in properly. The ego will seldom allow you to rest, and demands more and more because it is terrified that you will be called a failure. When you move beyond ego and make your higher self the dominant force in your life you will begin to feel that contentment and inner glow of peace and success that characterises the extra mile. – Wayne Dyer

So is it about ego and a lack of connection?

Namaste

Bertram