General Election and Mindfulness

We are beset from all sides. All media streams, from the traditional newspapers to the ground breaking social media streams, are awash with General Election stuff. Opinions, rants and justifications abound. Some of it is entertaining. Some of it is balanced. Much of it is sensationalised or heavily influenced by those who control the message.

Immigration and economic planning are the subjects most sabres are rattled at. Leaders debate. Media types postulate. The general public? Ah, the general public. What of the general public?

I was just walking through our city centre square. Past the feeble fountains my eye was caught by the TV screen. I say ‘caught’ I should probably say assailed. It is a giant screen that gazes ominously over the square dwellers and the volume is always turned up to 11. Anyway, politics was on the agenda, in particular the SNP’s stance on immigration – in favour of limits that do not discourage fine and talented people from moving to Scotland!

I walked on through the square and noticed that apart from me the general public were going about their business, paying not one bit of attention to the interesting debate. OK, I admit Scottish immigration policy is not going to be big on a Welsh City resident’s agenda. Think of their lack of attention as more as a visual metaphor for ‘not caring about voting’. That’s what I saw and felt.

Last election in 2010 35% of the electorate did not vote. Will more vote this time? Will somebody please stop our death by a thousand cuts.

Sorry. I promised myself when I started writing this that I would not dump my political views. They appear to have slipped out. It is difficult not to allow the anger out (and not healthy of course), particularly since I finished reading The Establishment by Owen Jones I have become more focussed in my anger about our country’s political health.

Ironically, at the same time as reading The Establishment I  have also been reading Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat Zinn. I say ironically because the title is apposite. It does feel a little like we are catastrophe living. The book itself is about living in the present moment – mindfulness – and how that can help you live with the stress in your life. That encouragement is essential. Mindfulness is all about what you are experiencing now. Well, what I am experiencing now is anger and frustration.

I am angry that the global financial crisis has led to the least well off suffering. Whilst the corporations, fat cats, media moguls, politicians and the seriously well off continue to thrive.

There I have said it. I feel a lot better now. There is one more thing though. You must vote. I know that there is a limited choice available, but you must vote for the least terrible of that disappointing choice. You cannot let this scale of public/state cuts continue. Your vote matters.