Gathering my Thoughts

A heap of leaves doesn't really do the topic of this blog justice. It does however provide a visual to the thoughts I’ve had for a while - the existence of disordered abundance.

What does disordered abundance mean, you may ask. To me it’s one way to describe how we experience the world: how do we comprehend and compartmentalize the barrage of information and communication sent our way, each and every day? Some of it is important information, but often it’s way too much of it and way too often.

I have experienced this kind of abundance in my work with nonprofits and philanthropy for a while. In particular, my confusion have centered on how people behave in the sector when a matter is related to ‘regular business' – meaning in a for-profit enterprise – and when activities relate to charitable endeavors.  At some point I realized that expectations, standards, demands, and requirements often didn’t apply in the same way in charitable work as it did in the forprofit area. The compartmentalization and even the classification of significance of one sphere over the other, was obvious. Deciphered in relation to what I will focus on in this blog, it meant that emotions were allowed, even encouraged in one place, but not so much in the other. So how then could standards, expectations, demands and requirements be fulfilled in both of these places if one allowed us to feel and the other, not so much?

In order to make sense of it, I decided to start writing about my confusion and the label emotional industry seemed fitting. The concepts, or words, appear in both realms since emotional industry is a play on the industry of work and the emotions that inevitably go into all that we humans do. Creating fuel for human action was also a goal of the blog, encapsulating how the charitable sector is organized, experienced and communicated.

When we decide to give or to support a cause, we allow ourselves to feel, to bring in our heart in the decision. We are often encouraged to take a softer stance when giving. And we don't necessarily look to the facts or even don’t want to. The saying “I’ve made up my mind, don’t confuse me with the facts”, could be an apt description of how many decide what they want to donate to, volunteer or advocate for. To give and support a cause means that we can make a decision because it feels good. 

But, how does this tenet fare in a world where we value accountability and demand commitment? Are these concepts compatible, flexible, feasible?

Emotional Industry, EI, will explore these and many topics, questions and views. I will mainly write about the world of nonprofits and philanthropy, but as this sector is completely integrated with society at large, I will also venture to write outside of it, aiming to make the blog inspiring and thought-provoking. I hope you’ll join me!