

When we are hungry, we have a need for nourishing food. Seeking an extra pair of pants or a new car will not satiate that hunger, only temporarily distract us from it. If our consumption does not match our real need, the emptiness we seek to fill will remain, and no matter how much we gorge ourselves on false substitutes, we will continue to starve inside. If greed is a symptom of emptiness, what is it that we are really hungry for?
Why do we seek to acquire money, certain products, resources, or positions, experiences and lifestyles? Perhaps it’s to full-fill a need for power and control, or safety and security. In a materialistic culture, we are sold a mindset that tends to put greater emphasis on the accumulation of money and tangible resources as an expression of status.
But when financial worth becomes mixed up with personal value, and our social identity is judged on the merits of being a producer or a consumer, who does this mindset really serve?
Who decides what is valuable and worth pursuing ~ what (or who) is worthy of our time, energy and attention? What influences and shapes our core values and interprets our experiences of worth? And who decides what aspects of reality get to be seen and heard?
12. VALUE ~
Money, Marketplace & Mixed Messages
Essay by Katarzyna Vedah. July 1, 2019
A mindset that promotes the value of tangible assets as an expression of worth might perpetuate the need for utilitarian or decorative symbols of status. But in order to sell their message and/or product, such promotional campaigns often tap into (or exploit) our deeper and less tangible needs ~ our needs for freedom, love, meaning and belonging.
In this way, a materialistic mindset may perpetuate the acquisition of financial wealth, goods and services by inverting the human need to be safe, connected and valued. If an individual lives in a group or society that does not value them as a person, nor their talents, skills and gifts, that person may feel isolated, devalued and purposeless.
Wanting to feel worthy, and exposed to a daily onslaught of messages that reinforce a materialistic mindset, this person may come to believe that in order to be respected, admired and wanted, they need to achieve a certain level of financial success.
When it comes to projecting our self-worth into our wallets, many of us have been conditioned by the mixed messages of family, religion, media, and society, buying into a mindset that starves us with one hand with the promise of fulfilling us with the other.
We may consume (or produce) until it makes us sick, all in an attempt to prove our worth, while the original need still goes unmet. Such a cycle continues until we reverse the flow of our cultural values and question the mindset that negatively filters our perceptions, beliefs and engagement with reality. The void will remain until we purge the false substitutes we’ve been fed.
VIDEO (YouTube): School of Life
VIDEO (YouTube): Art Assignment
VIDEO (YouTube): TED Talk
Art Paradoxes – Jennifer Dalton
Origins of Pleasure – Paul Bloom
The Art of Asking – Amanda Palmer
You a Giver or a Taker? – Adam Grant
VIDEO (YouTube): B Corporation
DOCUMENTARY: Trailer
Minimalism (Matt D’Avella)
The Millennial Dream (Tim Davidson)
Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Justin Pemberton)

RIPPLE EFFECT
CREATIVE INSPIRATIONS TO ENGAGE THE CAPACITY TO FEEL

BEING THE
BUSINESS
FILM / VIDEO (YouTube): Trailer
The Founder (John Lee Hancock)
Big Eyes (Tim Burton)
Woman in Gold (Simon Curtis)
DOCUMENTARY: Trailer
The Art of the Steal (Don Argott)
VIDEO: Adam Ruins Everything
Real Reason the Mona Lisa is Famous
VIDEO (YouTube): Muppet Songs
VIDEO (YouTube): Insider
ARTIST / WEBSITE: Banksy
VIDEO (YouTube):
Fierce Women of Art (Art Assignment)
Artworks Ruined (Sabrina & Friends)
Make an Art (Hennessy Youngman)
VIDEO (Vimeo):
All Art is Political (Gwenn Seemel)
VIDEO (YouTube): Gladstone Hotel)

HEALTHY M.O.
HEALTHY MENTAL OUTLOOK & PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT

MONEY ON THE BRAIN
VIDEO (YouTube):
Mere Exposure Effect (Professor Ross)
Stores Use Psychology (Sabrina & Friends)
Heal Your Money Wounds (Mindvalley)
VIDEO: PBS Digital Studios – Two Cents
Ways People are Dumb with Money
INTERVIEW / VIDEO: The Shift Network
Understanding Your Emotional Currency
BOOK: Emotional Currency. Kate Levinson
VIDEO (YouTube): Matt D’Avella
Minimalist Approach to Personal Finance
VIDEO (YouTube): TED Talk
A Rich Life, Less Stuff - The Minimalists
WEBSITE: The Minimalists
VIDEO (YouTube): OPTIMIZE Brian Johnson
'Science of Getting Rich' by Wallace Wattles
VIDEO (YouTube):
How to Discover What You Want (Teal Swan)
Attract More Abundance (Amanda Flaker)

THE PROCESS
PRACTICAL REINFORCEMENT FOR SELF-CARE & DAY-TO-DAY LIVING

THE WEALTHY CREATOR
VIDEO (YouTube):
If You're Afraid to Fail (Mel Robbins)
Seth Godin's Speech (Tom Bilyeu)
What Every Leader Gets Wrong (Inc)
VIDEO (YouTube): TED Talk
Want to Be a YouTuber? – Sabrina Cruz
What They Don't Tell You – Mark Leruste
BOOK: By Carol Eikleberry & Carrie Pinsky
The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People
ONLINE COURSE: Mindvalley
VIDEO (YouTube):
Business Model You – Tim Clark (Wiley)
Business Model Canvas (Strategyzer)
Wealthy Artist: 6 Myths & Tips (Canvas Pop)
BOOK:
Business Model You. Tim Clark
How To Sell Your Art Online. Cory Huff
Creative Entrepreneur. Isa Maria Seminega
VIDEO (YouTube): Schulmanart
Make Your Art No Matter What - Beth Pickens
BOOK: By Beth Pickens

SHIFT GEARS
EXPANDING PERSPECTIVES, AWARENESS & CONSCIOUSNESS

COMMON-WEALTH
VIDEO (YouTube):
Paradox of Value - A. Agarwal (TED-Ed)
Credit Unions Better? (Two Cents)
Money & Debt (Crash Course)
SHORT FILM: The Story of Stuff Project
WEBSITE: The Story of Stuff Project
VIDEO (YouTube):
Egoistic Altruism (Kurzgesagt)
Income & Wealth Inequality (Crash Course)
Stories Control Economic Reality (NerdWriter)
Societal Collapse to Independence (Teal Swan)
VIDEO (YouTube): TED Talk
What is a Gift Economy? – A. Gendler
The Gift of Happiness – C. Eisenstein
SHORT FILM: Films for Action