The social psychology explanation

Continuing with my theme of trying to figure out what it is about Spain that I love, I have discovered yet another explanation.

The Social Psychology explanation.
This video talks about time orientation... about whether you live in the present, past, or future. It's interesting to think about.

If you have a few minutes, give it a go. The animation is awesome, if nothing else! (But I assure you, the audio is good, too.)

Leave a comment, let me know what you think!



Edit:
Ellen so graciously pointed out to me that I did not clearly link this video to what it has to do with my love of Spain. So I left these as comments, but I decided to amend them to the post. Hopefully this clears it up a little bit (though it very well may not). :)

What I was meaning to say, was that the part about Catholic/Protestant nations seems to be applicable to the situation. I appreciate the Spanish pace of life much more than that of America. I like siestas. I appreciate that they take their time. (Though I must say, there have been moments where I wished the Spanish would pick up the pace a little, or keep their banks open longer than 6 hours a day. haha) But on the whole, I prefer to not have my life jam-packed with nonsense things to do. I hate that it's part of our culture to be in a hurry to go nowhere.

I'm re-reading Eat Pray Love (because I am SO excited for the movie!), and there is a passage that talks about this in the Italy portion. It says:
"Generally speaking, though, Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure. Ours is an entertainment-seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one. Americans spend billions to keep themselves amused with everything from porn to theme parks to wars, but that's not exactly the same thing as quiet enjoyment. Americans work harder and longer and more stressful hours than anyone in the world today. But as Luca Spaghetti pointed out, we seem to like it. Alarming statistics back this observation up, showing that many Americans feel more happy and fulfilled in their offices than they do in their own homes. Of course, we all inevitably work too hard, then we get burned out and have to spend the whole weekend in our pajamas, eating cereal straight out of the box and staring at the TV in a mild coma (which is the opposite of working, yes, but not exactly the same thing as pleasure). Americans don't really know how to do nothing. This is the cause of that great sad American stereotype--the overstressed executive who goes on vacation, but who cannot relax."

The she says, "I once asked Luca Spaghetti if Italians on vacation have the same problem. He laughed so hard he almost drove his motorbike into a fountain.
'Oh, no!' he said. 'We are the masters of il bel far niente.' This is a sweet expression. Il bel far niente means 'the beauty of doing nothing.'"

Maybe that clears it up. I just meant that maybe my "time zone" is more in line with the majority of Spaniards. (Even though I find myself bouncing between about 3 time zones on a given day.) :)

Another way to say that is that I'd rather
"work to live" than "live to work". And I don't think that is necessarily correlated with laziness or lack of ambition. It's just a desire to appreciate the simpler things in life. It is extremely possible to be a productive member of society without working more than 40 hours per week.

As for my time zone, I float somewhere between "past positive" and the "present fated". Though I am capable of making future plans, I am more likely to believe that God brings people and situations into your life that you can't plan for.. and in my experiences, those have always worked out rather well. I think you just have to kind of go with the flow, and figure things out as they come.