I've had quite a few great discussions with people since my post on the five stages and the potential link with the state of the global financial system. Lots of interesting reflections and questions/comments.

A couple of points worth bearing in mind. There is not generally a clear split between the different stages -  whilst generally one aspect will dominate at any particular part of the grieving process, other aspects may also feature to a lesser degree. So just because the global economy may be in a state of bartering for instance, it doesn't necessarily mean it is through with all its anger.

We also need to remember that we are dealing with a top down model here. This means change happens from the top down to the base - imaging a pyramid and you'll get the idea.

The true state of the financial model is known and experienced  first by those who are priveleged to be closest to it (at the top) - in our case the politicians and financiers that we have put in place to run the global economy. For many of them they will already have experienced many of the stages.

As the truth permeates down through the global organism (pyramid) towards the base, so the rest of us begin to go through our own grieving process. Right now, on the street,  there is probably still a fair amount of denial going on that anything needs to change; there could still well be a considerable amount of anger to come out when people start to feel the negative consequences of being encouraged to overborrow and spend and as we see the example being set that the way to get out of trouble is just to borrow more and spend more (have you heard Gordon Brown recently?).

There will be much bargaining going on as we try to correct the injustices, and even the most optomistic economists are preparing us all for a recession of intensity (aka depression).

The good news is we will all have the opportunity to engage with accepting that this is happening and THE WORLD HAS TO CHANGE. The sooner we can enter the stage of acceptance, really accepting that this old model no longer serves us, the sooner we can experience the magic that happens when we truly accept the death of an old friend.

We need to learn to value and honour our natural resources rather than fritter them away; we need to learn to value the absolute significance of life and relationship over material acquisitions; we need to remember that the most valuable commodity of all is a four letter word, and the second letter is 'o'.

No, not gold.

Love. Love of life. Love of breathing. Love of being here.

Sounds naff? Don't know what it means? Then go to a hospice and talk to any of the patients there about what they now value most...

Yep, the blog's about the economy again - and as you would expect, looking at it from a slightly different angle from the regular commentator...

In her 1969 book 'On Death and Dying'. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross suggested there are 5 stages through which people pass when dealing with grief and terminal illness. This assessment came after years of studying the cases of terminally ill people and their relatives. It is a model which is now commonly accepted as having great validity in any 'dying' process and can be helpful for plotting where a process is 'at'.

It is my assessment that our current economic model is indeed in a state of terminal illness - and that government and financial institutions are responding in a classical and time-honoured way as indicated by Kubler-Ross's model.

With that in mind, I decided to consider the financial model as one that is indeed in a state of terminal decline as it gives birth to a new system. Here's how it could be viewed in relation to Kubler-Ross's model.

I do not mean to make light of terminal illness in any way, shape or form in this blog. Having worked with various people through the last stages of their lives it is territory I am familiar with and I value the process immensely and have some understanding of the great sense of loss and pain that is often involved.

Stage 1 - Denial.

EG  'There's nothing wrong - everything is fine'.

Sound familiar? Yep, we've had years of it. Spend, spend, spend. And yet the warning signs have been there for years.

We've all been inundated for years with loan offers, credit card swaps, cheap mortgages, easy mortgages for people who can't really afford them. We've been in denial since the 80s - we have created a debit society (which has suited the banks whilst they were able to keep cash flowing into the market); a society where spending what you haven't got is the norm, and therefore the fear of never being able to repay becomes a dominant force.

It's a simple law of the Universe - you can't go on giving out what you don't have, and you can't go on taking what you can't give back. Somewhere along the line, the books always need to be balanced.  At some point that thing has got to come from somewhere - and that is what is now coming home to roost. That 'thing' (IOUs in the billions) is being called in; trouble is, those IOUs can't be serviced.

So, Stage 1 - Denial - yep we've definitely been experiencing that one for quite some time.

Stage 2 - Anger 

EG-  'That's not fair!' 'Why is this happening to me/us?'

Well, we've got so angry we've been throwing all the toys out of the pram. Rather than listen to what this is really telling us about our business model, we've just got all tantrumy, blamed it on US sub-prime mortgages and George Bush and Gordon Brown and Northern Rock. Or we've gone shopping or hurled some more money at the system.  When did you ever hear a top Bank official say in the last year "I can take responsibility for my part in this problem - and it is a problem, and I must stop my staff from lending money so easily". Nope. We've been so heavily into denial and blame/anger that we've refused to look at the very way in which we operate our economy.

Stage 3 - Bargaining

EG -  'If I promise to do this, just let me live to see my grandchildren grow up...' etc 

When people begin to take on board that they are terminally ill, they will invariably go through a stage of bargaining with God. We are currently doing the same in the economy. 'God, if we promise to put another £500 billion into the system, please just let it be alright'.

As a general rule, it seems that God doesn't generally stop all things from dying; death is not wrong (or, there is no death, depending on your spiritual beliefs of course), it just is. And just as there is death, so there is new life. If this model is right, then this bargaining will not produce the results so desperately sought, in the same way as chemotherapy will do nothing, other than cause further suffering, at a very advanced stage of cancer.

Stage 4 - Depression

EG - 'This is terrible, it's all wrong, I'm so upset...'

The IMF today predicted that the UK economy would plunge into deep recession over the next year. Other analysts have been warning of this for a while. A recession is a depression - although of course hopefully nothing like the great depression many moons ago. Again it seems, an inevitable stage of the dying process that our economy is currently experiencing.

Stage 5 - Acceptance 

'It's ok that this is happening - I'm going to be alright. Don't worry about me'.

Kubler-Ross's last stage. The magical stage of acceptance - the stage that if we could just allow our economies to experience, might just throw up some amazing and unexpected answers. This stage of acceptance is invariably reached by people in the very last stages of their lives - I have witnessed it myself many times. It is a time when we know there is nothing left that needs fighting - we just need to surrender to the inevitable death of a body.

In their last few days of life, individuals often experience a sense of serenity -- as if they know something better is coming. Suddenly everything becomes alright in the world. 

I find this model very interesting when observing the current events. It is my view that, the quicker we surrender to the truth that our current global economic model is indeed in the latter stages of the dying process and beyond the reach of any drugs or surgery, the less painful and drawn out our depression and the faster the new model can be born. For a new model there is, but it cannot show itself until the old has moved on...

We all know it. What goes up, must come down. There is a certainty to gravity that only the foolish deny.

It seems those foolish ones  are ruling the world. For many of us with a more rounded view of how the world really functions, these lawmakers and financial experts are making kindergarten style errors of judgement. So deep are the fissures however, that it doesn't look like they'll find anywhere near enough concrete to pour into the holes to fill them up. Although it probably won't stop them trying.

So what can you be doing whilst being bombarded by negativity and fear? Well, first off, come back into the present moment. Back into the zone where everything is possible, and where you are creating the next brilliant business move or relationship development, by virtue of how you are thinking RIGHT NOW.

Are your needs being met RIGHT NOW? Really be sure before you answer - remember we're not talking about your dreams at this stage just yourt needs? Are they being met right now? Yes? Then that is what counts. Be grateful for that and focus on the next really small step that you would like to make towards that perfect future. In times like this we can see the folly of trying to plan too far ahead -  the leading political thinkers are seeing that their plans of just 24 hours are being turned on their heads.

Have your long-term dreams, sure. Also remember from where you are starting. And if you can start from a place of feeling good (eg, 'all my needs are currently being met') - then you are far more likely to play the next round of life with confidence. Go into the next round feeling poor, bad, inept, fearful - and it is likely that you will not perform to your highest potential.

And if you answer 'no' to your needs being met in this moment, then it may be worth sitting down again and really questioning yourself as to what your real needs are...

I remember when I used to walk my girls to school a few years back, I used to meet various other parents on the path. One day one of these parents stopped me on my way back and demanded to know why I always seemed so cheerful.

The simple answer was, and remains, 'I choose to be cheerful'. It's an effort, a discipline - and it keeps me sharp and focused.

Does bad stuff happen in my life? Yes, of course. But I try not to choose to view it as being disastrous, because rarely have I found that becoming a victim about things serves any useful long-term purpose. All it seems to do is get you deeper in the hole of victim-think.

I don't try to fix my pain, I don't deny its existence - and perhaps most significantly, neither do I let it start controlling how I choose to live my life and interact with others.

I have my painful times and I know they are there to teach me something about myself. I hold the thought that there is perfection somehow in what I have experienced and a great lesson to learn somewhere.

And when you realise that you are always learning, and that those lessons often come in the most unlikely ways and through the most unexpected people, well- what is there not to be cheerful about?

An open heart and a willingness to learn from everything  are two very powerful tools in personal development...

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