Welfare in Retirement as per GRI

As I am a bit surprised that Singapore ranked pretty low in the Quality of Life sub-index (41 out of 44 countries to be precise) of the Global Retirement index (GRI), I downloaded the report to better understand the factors leading to such poor showing. The GRI has 4 sub-index namely, Health, Quality of Life, Material Well Being and Finances in Retirement Index

The Quality of Life sub-index is a composite of:

1. Happiness Index
2. Natural Environment Index comprising-
• Air Quality Index
• Water and Sanitation Index
• Biodiversity and Habitat Index
• Environment Factor Index

Believing that we should be fairly good in the Air and Water indexes, I look up the description of the others. The Happiness Index is derived from "responses by people asked to evaluate the quality of their current lives on a scale of 0 to 10 averaged over the years 2016 - 2018".

The Biodiversity and habitat index "provides an insight into a country's protection of its ecosystem. The higher the score, the more a country is capable to ensure a wide range of ecosystem service like flood control and soil renewal, the production of commodities, and spiritual and aesthetic fulfillment will remain available for current and future generations".

The Environment index " is calculated as the weighted average of CO2 emissions per capita (1/3 weight), CO2 emissions per GDP (1/3 weight), CO2 emissions per electricity generation (1/6 weight) and renewable electricity (1/6 weight)".

In terms of another sub-index of the GRI called Material Well-Being index Singapore shared the 30th place with 2 other countries out of 44 . This sub-index is a composite of Income per capita index, Income Inequality Index and Unemployment Index.

Strangely enough, although we ranked 28 out of 44 in the overall global ranking, we did top in a sub-index which our only newspaper company highlighted in bold print. We are top for the Finances Retirement Index which one would have thought is about adequacy in retirement savings etc. Quite the contrary it really is a measure of the soundness of the country's financial system and include macro factors like Institutional Strength Index, Government Indebtedness Index and Inflation Index etc. Of course we top this index. Since we fall out of the first 25 countries the Report does not highlight Singapore much except for the segment under this sub-index which reads:

"Singapore marginally beats New Zealand for the top spot in the Finances sub-index, both with rounded scores of 79% the past three years. This compares to a low of 52% in both Quality of Life and Material Well being for Singapore".

So what kind of questions should we be asking ? What are the reasons that make Singaporeans unhappy and rate their quality of current life lowly? Could it be inequality, poor ecosystem protection, absence of aesthetic fulfillment?

Well we always brag ourselves as topping this and that in various area of global ranking but clearly we rank behind other first world peers in Retirement index.

Is the aspired Swiss standards of living a dream?

Mirthless Laughter

Most of the kids on my list for play therapy were out either on home leave or an outing with the staff at the children's home during the school holidays last week. The boy and girl left watching TV were delighted to be called to the therapy room. It is particularly difficult for children in the home during festive or public holidays when other children are on home leave spending time with parents or guardians.

Perhaps feeling abandoned the boy surprisingly spent a lot of time with the toy baby, taking considerable time wrapping it with the blanket carefully and laying it to sleep comfortably among the big cushions. He then went on to play cooking porridge for the baby.

The 12 year old girl whom I have engaged for more than 5 years now, chose to play a therapy card game with me. By then, the boy had finished 'cooking' and had sit the 'baby' on a plastic chair. As he turned around to fetch the 'porridge' the 'baby' fell off the chair and we all played at pacifying it. The cooing sound made by the boy made us all laugh. However the girl kept on laughing non stop even though the boy had turned his attention elsewhere.

The girl's laughing fit was prolonged and she was writhing on the bean bag. We told her that it wasn't funny but she would not stop. That was not the first time I have encountered her laughing spell. She had on 2 occasions did likewise and once becoming almost hysterical, kicking and throwing things till I had to threaten leaving her alone in the room. Intuitively I had sensed that her original tickled laughter had begun to ring hollow and void of mirth, peels of circumstantial defeat. She had also intentionally prolonged her laughter. I could feel that it was an attempt to release whatever pent up emotions welling inside her, probably despair. This after all is the same girl whom when on one occasion I had advised her to be more understanding towards the 'fierce' staff at the home had retorted "How about me, does any one understand how I feel, I have been here for more than 5 years".

I knew I should respond to her laughing fits by comforting her, probably putting my arms round her shoulder instead of telling her to control herself. However what really puzzles me is my own reflex reaction. I notice I became quite anxious and wanting to walk away. Years ago when I was attending the counselling course, one of the teachers had made a remark about how occasionally I had let out some hollow laughter. In retrospect I do laugh a hollow laugh when I feel nervous or when I face a wall in situations beyond my control or at least I do that when I talk to my cat when feeling sad. Could the girl's mirthless laughter trigger recall of some hidden unpleasantness in my own circumstances?

I need to be more mindful of my own feelings and recognise any triggers during therapy sessions.

"Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on'"
Stand up comedian Bob Newhart

An Allowing , A Being

A rich farmer once approached Buddha for help with all the problems he was encountering in his life. He complained about how his good-for-nothing son was of no help and that his wife was siding the son. He wanted Buddha to change them miraculously to which Buddha said he could not help in this respect. The farmer went on about his fear of a poor harvest and asked that Buddha blessed him with a good harvest. Again Buddha replied he could not do that. Lastly he lamented about his debtors defaulting on their debt and in turn his creditors were hot on his heels. Perhaps Buddha could give him an amulet to void off his troubles. When Buddha again replied he could not help, the farmer turned away furious and exasperated expressing disbelief that Buddha was called the Enlightened one.

Buddha then told the farmer that he could help him with his 84th problem. Puzzled the farmer asked what his 84th problem was. Buddha then said the 84th problem was wanting to get rid of the first 83 problems ie. the thought that he should not have any problems. The answer lies in learning to accept that life presents many problems and we need to develop a quiet mind to solve those than can be solved and accept those beyond our means to do so. We must try not to let our ego worsen the problem. This reminds me of the Serenity Prayer:

"God, grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."

Having said that, acceptance does not come easy. I can never forget a child's response when told at a workshop conducted for children from divorced families, that there is nothing children can do to bring their parents together again. She had called me mean to say that. The loss was probably too great for her to bear. Indeed even adults need to practice very very hard to accept difficult situations especially where there is a lot of attachment involved. Einstein called our attachment to our thoughts and feelings an "optical delusion of our consciousness", as something separate from the "Universe" which human being is a part of.

I guess this inability to feel being part of the whole termed "Universe" makes us feel void and empty and we try our best to fill the void with all kinds of attachment, material stuff, relationship and accomplishment of all types. We expect all these attachment objects to deliver the meaning and happiness we strive for and when they fail we feel the emptiness and continue the search to fill the void. I think no amount of logical reasoning can help in fathoming what Einstein is alluding to. It takes a lot of inward quiet and meditation to feel it and the commitment to do that.

Someone once said the secret of letting go is not an art, it is an "Allowing", a "Being"