As often as possible, I like to attend the Sunday morning celebration at my local Life Enrichment Centre. I enjoy being reminded about our connection with god and each other, about the power of prayer and positive thinking, and about the law of attraction. The music is very uplifting, too! A lot of the information about environmental problems, pollution, peak oil, water shortages, and what might happen if we don't change something quickly is very scary and overwhelming. It is easy to get sucked into a very dark view of the future, a future that includes poverty, hunger, illness, cold, and chaos.
Personally, I don't think the world is coming to an end. There certainly could be some suffering in the years to come, but there is already a lot of suffering. Even if oil and gas and electricity
become unaffordable for most people, and we all have to live like our grandparents did, or like 80% of the rest of humanity does right now, I don't think that would be a disaster. Maybe more people would start gardens. (I have been learning about intensive gardening, and how
much food you can get out of a very small space - it's INCREDIBLE!) Maybe people would share more, and go for walks more, and get together with their neighbours more, and cooperate in
child-care more, and maybe we wouldn't be so stressed out and busy, busy, busy all the time.
Maybe I have a utopian view of things. Maybe there will be chaos and crime and hunger and suffering.
No matter what the future might bring, it is essential to look at things from a positive point of view. Each time I plant a new raspberry bush or tomato plant in my yard, I feel grateful that I
have a yard, and I imagine enjoying the delicious fruit that will grow. Each time I visit the farmer's market, I think how wonderful it is to have such a resource available. Each time I go for a walk in the spring, I try to notice how life magically renews itself every year. On the flip side, every time I forget my own cloth bags, or buy a fast-food meal, or fill up with gas, it is useless to berate myself for screwing up. Instead, I try to just notice what happened, and
remind myself of my intention to do better, to use only what I need to use, and to be a good steward of what I have.
Looking at all the problems in the world with fear and panic will not help. Trying to make changes from a mental viewpoint of fear and panic only causes more suffering. Instead, I think about the type of world I would like to live in, one where we all have clean air, comfortable homes, plenty of nutritious food to eat, and supportive communities to share and celebrate with.
3 comments:
Very well put. I have come to see the change to a more conscious lifestyle as being on journey. It is easy to become overwhelmed by all that I am not doing, until I look at all that I am doing that I wasn't doing a year or two ago. So...stay with it, and it will come!
I just found your blog yesterday through a link. Glad to have found it!
>>>>> it is useless to berate myself for screwing up. Instead, I try to just notice what happened, and remind myself of my intention to do better <<<<<
I think that's a great attitude; nothing is gained by us feeling bad about ourselves a lot of the time!
Thanks so much for sharing about your moves to consume less and cause less harm to the environment. You have got me thinking again about what I can do. The article on plastic you linked to was horrifying! I have been justifying (to myself) my continued use of plastic bags by reusing each bag several times before putting it out for recycling. I didn't realise that the plastic itself is toxic, and that it eventually breaks up into tiny pieces but does not break down, resulting in it being breathed in and eaten by humans and other animals!
Wonderful post, Correne! I totally agree. People are all freaking out but many of us live better than the kings and the queens of the past did. And much better than most of the Earth's population. Whatever happens, it's mainly our attitude, our viewpoint, that will make it either miserable or just another challenge in life to work on.
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