We are now almost a month into the ‘new normal’. So, I looked at our bank account and was shocked to see that we are cruising at 1/3 of our average monthly expense. One Third. I know it is unsustainable at this level, but it begs the question – how little do we really need…

I know it is an unfair comparison. I do. But It feels like we were “Spending as if There was no Tomorrow” and NOW we are simply “Living as if There is no Tomorrow”. Nobody really knows what the tomorrow will bring. Nobody. And so, the only thing left is to live in the moment; in the here and NOW. Call it survival, but it does have some beautiful sides to it. We actually do not need much in the NOW. Our days are longer, we listen better to our kids, we observe them growing, we have more time to read, to call our parents, to offer friends some help, to smell the morning coffee, to think, to be.

You see, spiritual teaching, be it Buddhism or Eckhart Tolle, has always stressed the Power of NOW as all that matters. For whatever reason KNOWING it was never enough. The universe forces us now into a BEING state which can only exist in the NOW. As an economist I can easily see that the needs in the NOW are fewer, which explains the 1/3 expenses I started with. And you know the kicker here is that we are not less happy than before.