Pay attention, in everyday life, to this one short phrase we keep calling out to each other: “Alles gut bei dir?” – “All good with you?” Or even shorter: “Alles gut?”
It actually sounds friendly. But if we’re honest, “All good with you?” is not an open question. It’s a closed, almost suggestive formula that delivers the desired answer right along with it: just say “Yes, all good”, smile briefly and keep functioning. Even when you can actually already see in the other person’s face that nothing at all is good right now. Why don’t we ask openly: “How are you really today?” Because in everyday life we often don’t want to hear an honest answer at all – or we’re afraid of the moment when the facade crumbles.
By the way, I believe that a growing share of the population suffers from mental health problems. And that of course nobody wants to reveal something like that in everyday life, or will share it. Because our society is built in such a way that we don’t tolerate this kind of challenge – if you want to call it that.
And that we are conditioned to show performance, to be high performers, to hold out, to show toughness too. Now it’s important to pull yourself together, to grit your teeth. All of that is a compulsion. It is an artificial pressure that is created, that we surrender to, because it confronts us everywhere in everyday life, at a low threshold.
The number of unreported cases of those who are no longer mentally in balance is, I believe, enormous. And unfortunately the number will rise further in the coming years. Because the causes of it will get even worse.
That’s why, for us, the solution is the SafeSpace approach. Scott Peck put it in a nutshell: We need spaces of trust! Spaces in which we can open up, in which we trust each other, in which we come close to each other as human beings.
Who would you like to talk to about this thought?
Thank you. Every answer fits – take it with you into your day. Would you like to share something yourself?
