The New Year 2021 is here. It may seem like a respectless gesture to shout aloud in the middle of a pandemic: HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU! Because it’s absolutely not sure that you are able to start the new year with a happy feeling and a sound hope for the future in 2021.

New years wishes.

I would very much like to have this car in 2021:

And this house for me and my family, with a tip top garage to put it in, – a garage large enough for me to practice indoor golf! Wouldn’t that make me happy then, all the year 2021?

How long would my happiness last.

We know through research, that a decent home, enough nourishing food, warm clothes to wear in winter, good schools, and a nice neighborhood, plays an important role in living A GOOD ENOUGH material life. And of course, a stable good enough job, using our capabilities and resources. In many ways, this is the happiness we must hope for! (Check the article: Money and Happiness.)

Unfortunately, more things or stuff than this will only satisfy us temporarily! And paradoxically it will make us only crave for more. This spiral will never stop. Much wants more, It must, however, be stopped in some way, because it depletes the mind, and creates far from the happiness it’s meant to provide.

Moreover, this craving for more money, more goods, more luxury, bigger houses, cabins, penthouses is fencing us in. The effect is dramatic on us because it locks us into a level of consumption neither we, our fellow citizens, our country as a whole, nor the environment will benefit from. At least the last.

The fuck, so sad! Then there will be no new car, new house, boat, yacht, or horse on me or my wife or children this year. How are we going to survive that? Listen to that spoiled wasted mind of mine, while millions of people lose their homes or are threatened by starvation, even in the US.

Our political leaders.

Many world leaders are old and obsolete and think mostly of themselves. and their privileged friends. They talk and make alliances and often betray the people they are set to govern and protect. It’s little that we ordinary people can do about that, except trying to put our mind to find out what the alternative political candidates stand for and choose the one that seems most decent and truthful, not just up in the face of the audience in a big rally for old and new voters, but how he or she seems to act when not all the TV cameras are running.

From the American Constitution, it is held that the Newspapers shall talk for the reigned, not those reigning. That means being the people’s voice, not the rulers!!! (This passage in the Constitution saved the owner and chief editor of Washington Post, from being convicted and sent to prison when they published McNamara’s revealing 1000 pages report, “The Pentagon Papers” about the hopeless war in Vietnam.)

A good enough new year 2021.

What can we do to improve the quality of our lives in the upcoming year?

1. Find out what you are good at, from A to Z.( Even if your imagination stops at B.) And don’t focus on what you cannot do or are not clever at.

2. Do something important for yourself. Something you like or that makes you happy!

3. Do something important for others, something they need, like, or will be happy for. You should never underestimate the importance of being good or kind. It will make you happier than you’ll expect.

4. If you are jobless, don’t blame yourself in a way that makes you inactive or deplores your energy reserves. There are many more reasons for being out of work outside your control than within.

5. Never stop applying for jobs. Use several hours a day to make applications and filling out needed forms. As jobless, this is your present job, that will pay off sooner or later. Suddenly opportunity knocks on your door, and the job is yours.

6. Always try to find a union that speaks for you as a laborer or employee. They will fight for your right to vacation, a decent salary, and not being sacked for unreasonable causes.

7. If you are rich, know that you as a privileged person have a greater responsibility than others, for the community, state, or country that made you rich. Pay your taxes in solidarity with your hard-working fellow citizens that have not had the opportunity or money to avoid taxing in different ways. When you conceal your fortune in tax paradises you at the same time burden your fellow citizens or state with extra expenses. Your friends may laugh at you, being stupid enough to give away your money by paying taxes, but civilizations have since the dawn in Sumer, Egypt, and Indus 5000 years before Christ, been build on the contribution to the states by taxing.

8. If you feel alone try to find friends. Never give up, there are many people in the same situation. The same goes for those of you longing for a girlfriend or boyfriend. Try to talk to people outside, both in Malls or Parks, or go on the internet. Out of 10 interesting persons, one or two might be worth meeting on a date.

9. Don’t overestimate the happiness or the calamities that 2021 may bring you. Embrace every good news and nice things happening to you and your closest family, even the world.

If you meet the wall, or are unlucky and stumble. Get up again, brush off the dirt, and use it as a lesson to become wiser.

10. If you are sick or get sick, demand the best treatment hospitals can give. Your life is priceless, even if hospital owners have a price on every treatment they give.

HAVE YOURSELF A NICE AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR! And try to accept being good enough! Don’t always demand excellence in everything you do. Most of us are not world champions or Olympic gold medalist! But try to do your best! Your self-esteem will not increase if you don’t try to do a good job! Good enough must be considered as GOOD ENOUGH!

Last but not least: Try to be open to both happiness and tragedy next year, even though we wish each other the best of all;- the experience of love and joy!