What is good for me?

We usually think of this question in terms of things or circumstances that we are currently not have. And we believe that they make us a little happier - and maybe even healthier.

However, I am of the opinion that it would do most people on this globe good if they did things or habits reduce would.

Many things grow into our lives and like the frog in the slowly getting hotter soup pot we hardly notice that many things are not only not necessary, but even stress us more, burden us additionally, or cut us off from essentials.

In Thailand, my adopted country, most people still lived without a television 40 years ago. They grew rice during the rainy season, then harvested it. And after the harvest, people relaxed. For many months.

On the agenda was the preparation of food with ingredients from their own cultivation, daily conversation with neighbors, a midday nap a bit of crafts and lots of family life. Not to forget, several times a month a party with extensive music and dancing.

According to statements of the older population, these were absolutely contented, even happy conditions.

People didn't have too much use for money, because there weren't many stores where they could spend it. And the concept of poverty was completely unknown. After all, people didn't know what it was like elsewhere.

But when television arrived, you got to know a whole new world. And you were amazed to discover that there were obviously a lot of people who lived like kings, whom you looked up to and in comparison to whom you were apparently bitterly poor, even backward.

So I ask the provocative question: Who was better off, the rice farmer with or without a TV?

Who was better off: the teens with or without smartphones. A society with or without the Internet? Don't get me wrong, I am not someone who longs for the conditions of the Middle Ages to return.

That they help us to have a better quality of life? Do we use technology in a way that makes it easier for us, or do we allow these tools to help us? our life to determine?

How would it be ideal?

From my point of view, this question is quite simple to answer. Everything has its place, its hierarchy in life.

First comes the connection to others and to nature. Best in combination with lots of exercise.

Then I would see relaxation phases, silence, introspection, meditation and also sufficient sleep. High-quality food, lovingly processed and taken with joy or friends.

And in addition to the physical challenges mentioned earlier, also the right dose of mental-mental challenges. Ideally with a fulfilling activity.

And then, when all these important points are fulfilled, I can still watch a bit of TV or YouTube, or hang out on Facebook. But there will probably not be eight to ten hours of screen activity.

That's how much time a person in the Western world spends in the digital sphere today. And the periods of sitting - day after day - are even longer.

So if we were to weight the daily program according to the themes of meaning, well-being, and health, we would be completely alienated from nature and our place in it, indeed, from our place in the world and our potential as human beings, unthinkable.

In Thailand kannte man bis vor kurzem keinerlei Depressionen. Aber die ersten psychiatrischen Einrichtungen gibt es heute bereits und auch andere “Errungenschaften” des Westens, wie Fast Food oder Tiktok werden begeistert konsumiert.

Especially from the young. By those who can no longer imagine what a luxury it is to be able to take a nap. Or to sit quietly by a river for two hours.

It is known that highly developed animals develop erratic behavior in captivity. Mankind, living on a paradisiacal planet, voluntarily imprisons itself, not even noticing the erratic behavior that inevitably results.

The best things in life are free. And I claim: the best remedies are too: We don't need more pills, therapies and high tech medicine, but we need more laughter, movement, play, silence and nature.

Not for better technology. But for a more harmonious cooperation.

What is (not) good for YOU?