The materialistic world is characterized by being a cold world where beautiful feelings and manifestations of affection are anesthetized. Such a world deprives us of seeing ourselves as human beings with emotional needs and encourages us to concentrate on ourselves without caring about what happens to those around us.
Another characteristic I detest about the materialistic world is that friendship does not exist, those who live that way see themselves as rivals, they are in a silly competition to show off what they have and they deprive themselves of having a beautiful friendship. That world is cruel, empty and absolutely despicable.
Now more than ever I see people for what they are, human beings, with the need to feel loved, listened to, understood, and based on that I work with minimalist actions that have a positive effect and a short, medium and long term reach. By nature I am very affectionate, especially with the elderly. They instill respect and admiration in me because their life experiences nourish my soul, so we have a kind of symbiosis. Although my affection for them is genuine and I don't expect anything in return, I feel it is very fulfilling to spend time with them and show my affection.
It is amazing what a hug full of tenderness can achieve, it is capable of comforting depressed hearts, so I do not shy away from hugging those who are having a hard time and my friends in general even if I am not aware of their problems, I always try to give them a warm smile, I want them to feel confident to talk to me when they need to unburden themselves. I am not a psychologist or a motivational coach but I know how valuable it is to be treated with affection and to make an effort to understand you even if they don't understand much about the subject, because some time ago I had a very strong episode of depression.
The materialistic world also stands out for its apathy, there is no one who greets you with cordiality, if they even look at you they just give you a nod to get out of the way, that is as if they were saying that they do not care one iota about you and it is not that we are looking to matter to the whole world, but unfortunately we perceive disinterest and lack of empathy. These situations represent a challenge because we can become like this, become what we hate, however, when we are clear that we are humans capable of displaying beautiful qualities and helping others, it does not cross our minds to stop being gentle and kind to everyone.
Small gestures such as a smile, a cordial greeting, a genuine hug, looking people in the eyes as a sign of interest are actions that although they may seem small are immense because of the positive impact on many hearts saddened by the problems of this world.I want to continue to strive to be a person who always takes into account the feelings of others, if each one of us does so, we will be able to give human warmth to this world frozen by the apathy generated by materialism.
All photos are my own, taken with a Realme 7i.