Advantage 96 – Appreciation of life

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Some people don’t know 

how important it is that they are there.

Some people don’t know

how it does good just to see them.

Some people don’t know

how comforting their kind smile is.

Some people don’t know,

how pleasant it is when they are near.

Some people don’t know,

how much poorer we would be without them.

Some people don’t know

that they are a gift from heaven.

They would know it if we told them.«

– Petrus Ceelen

Belgian priest, psychotherapist and author

The name gradido is derived from »gratitude«. The »a« in gradido also stands for »appreciation«. The inner attitude of gratitude and appreciation towards our fellow humans and life is an important step towards personal quality of life. No matter what situation you are currently in, you will feel better from day to day if you cultivate gratitude and appreciation. You will discover more and more things in your life which you appreciate and can be grateful for. Logically, this enhances your personal well-being.

Conversely, if you do not cultivate gratitude and appreciation daily, the all-too-human urge to criticise and seek mistakes will pull you down further. »Seek and ye shall find« applies equally to both positive and negative things.

We can observe this particularly well in old people. They have developed into what they now are depending on their habits. Some of them come across as grateful, appreciative, positive – even almost naïve because they do not seem to perceive the many bad things in life. But mostly they are happy and it feels good to be near them. The others find something that is not in order everywhere. They complain here, criticise there – and seem to have a good knowledge of all the evil around them. They do not feel happy because they see the world as bad and it is much more difficult to get along with them. Nobody is purely one or the other and we all have both aspects in ourselves. We can, however, assume that the people who have a positive impact on us regularly cultivate gratitude and appreciation consciously or unconsciously.

As everything lives from attention, the gradido appreciates life in all its facets. As »living money« it follows the Natural Economy of Life: it follows the cycle of life, the cycle of growth and decay. The gradido shows its appreciation of life already in its creation. Everyone who uses gradidos will regularly be reminded of that. When the gradido is used as a currency, all people worldwide receive a stimulus to appreciate life with each payment transaction. With the feelings of gratitude and appreciation of life the awareness of the need to protect and preserve life also increases worldwide. As everything lives from attention, the gradido values life in all its facets.

Advantage 97 – Appreciation of human dignity

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Human dignity is inviolable.

To respect and protect it is the duty of all state authority.«

– Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany

article 1, section 1

The »di« in gradido stands for »dignity«. To appreciate, respect, esteem and foster the uniqueness of every individual – herein lies the deeper sense of the creation of the first amount of money. It is used to finance the unconditional participation which makes an active basic income possible for everyone.

Gradido means »thanks« and with the basic income of 1,000 gradidos the community calls out to every person »A thousand thanks for being with us!«. In this way every person, no matter who they are and what they can do, is always being welcomed by the community – in a dual sense. On the one hand, they can contribute their inclinations and abilities to the community, whereby the community supports them by all means possible in developing and living their full potential. On the other hand, they receive their active basic income, which permits them a life in human dignity, every month in return.

By helping each other to develop our full potential, we sensitise one another to become curious about other people’s inclinations and abilities in a positive sense. We want to know what is hidden in our fellow humans and help them polish their inner diamond and let it shine.  

Everybody brings something with them into the world that they can contribute to the community. It is often claimed that people with disabilities cannot contribute anything but nothing is farther from the truth. Possibly we »normal« people merely lack the imagination to uncover the hidden treasures in our fellow humans but we can all learn this ability. We should already start at pre-school age and make this discipline one of the main subjects in our schools.

When everybody receives the opportunity and support to make their inner diamonds shine, how bright will it be on our earth? How much compassion, sympathy and love will we feel for each other? Might it be that our greater compassion and love automatically extend to the whole of nature surrounding us?