Why I love this Turkish saying so much.
There’s a saying in Turkish that underscores the Universe’s wisdom in bringing me here. (PS I arrived here March 1st, 2022 and you can read about that move / decision here.)
It’s “eline sağlık” and it roughly translates to ‘health to your hands’ or if you’re into God “God bless your hands” which is just a way of acknowledging the love and labor and humanity that goes into delivering us gifts of food, goods and service. It’s said all the time– when someone fixes your air conditioner, when someone delivers you food, when someone makes you the most beautiful meal. It’s such a common and beautiful saying, and I love how it reestablishes the human body within this exchange in a way that is often totally absent from western capitalist society.
Thank you doesn’t seem enough.
Paying someone doesn’t seem enough.
THIS saying right here, though, it is a beautiful and loving practice.
This saying made clear why I’ve dedicated my life to supporting, surrounding myself with and searching out handmade, local, small-batch experiences and people. It is the love. The love the extends from another hearts and hands to yours.
The exchange of money complicates things in a western capitalist framework.
The trauma we have around money complicates our relationship to this very loving exchange.
Our mental wellness and cultural sickness have contributed to less and less loving value exchange, but we can do something about that.
On our own end, we need to repair our relationships with money, time, and self.
We’ve got to heal ourselves before we can be more active in supporting an economy that, yes, will cost more than shopping at Walmart or Target. It’s worth it, though.
When we calm our brains, we can choose what we want not grab for what we need.
When we calm our bodies, we can search for better options, not take the only thing that’s right in front of us.
When we feel whole and safe within bodies we can realize that neither money nor stuff is the fix we need, but instead we can buy out of joy and support and love, knowing that it will come back to us tenfold.
I think that’s the basis for a more beautiful economy, a more loving exchange of value.
