I wrote this almost a year ago, and it still rings true.
It is hard to tell what we need most these days; the crises are many, and there is much urgency on many fronts.
It is good to give thanks for what we have. This is the quickest and most potent thing we can do to stem the rising tide of panic, which we may feel personally, or feel rising around us.
It is wise to look within and feel our place in the scheme of things. There is not too much to do and not enough of us to do it. We are each and all equal to the tasks at hand. Even if you do not personally believe this, did you come one breath closer to it while reading that sentence? We have come together at this time of great heart to create great change in the world and in ourselves.
We can leave behind that which no longer works for us or for the common good. We can commit to a deep connection to the energy within us which connects us to allkind. Why would you want it any other way?
When Robert Reich addressed the Commonwealth Club in January 2009, he reminded us of what he had told his students who had worked for the election of President Obama. He is not done needing us. For the many reasons we elected him, we gave him the mandate of the people. But the pressures on him are many, and his ability to deal with them, while great, is finite. He needs us to join him in the work, not just with the mandate of the people, but with the will of the people. That is what President John F. Kennedy referred to in another age as, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
Enlightened self-interest is a pretty tough balancing act. But a few things are no-brainers:
- Buy local. Consider our oil independence when we shop instead of ship.
- Consider the health of our food, our farms, our farmers, and our bodies when we buy local food.
- Get off the bulk-mail merry-go-round. How many trees were harvested, shipped, processed, shipped, printed, shipped, and delivered for those thousand unsolicited catalogs sitting in the recycle bin (or worse, the land-fill). Establish mail preferences.
- Spend more time with your kids. There is no substitute for you.
- Turn off the TV, the radio, the iPod, the computer, put down the newspaper, the magazines, the books, all of it, at least one day a week. There is a world to experience out there, and a world to experience inside you. Make time and space for that.
- Conserve water. There is no substitute! Don’t wait for a drought (and many us don’t have to). We are all one planet, and right now China is making plans to ship fresh water from the Great Lakes! Who do you think will use that resource? We are all one planet.
- Reduce your toxic footprint. Find cleaner and greener household cleaning products. Choose safer alternatives for yard and garden products. Even if you just do those two things, it will help so much.
- Conserve energy. Turn off lights and appliances when not in use. A thermostat with a timer can cost as little as $30. A single $10 power strip with an easily operated shut-off can both protect against electric surge damage to your TVs, DVDs, and computers, and reduce the constant electrical drain of even things which are ‘turned off’. Why would we want to keep computers turned on 24/7 if they are not in use? Right now rivers are being dammed, mines are being dug, nuclear power plants are being planned to pay for the little lights on coffee makers and DVRs. Because it is the planet that pays, far more than we do.
- Take a minute for slow, quiet, conscious breathing. A little more oxygen can go a long way.
- Take care of yourself. Get one more hour of sleep a night. There is no substitute! Take a half-hour nap. When we have more energy, we have more commitment to our personal, national, and planetary goals.
This is how we create the will of the people. This is how we create a commitment to our goals.
© Denise Schultz 2009
Donations and connections from the many to each other,
in even a tiny way, can create big shifts.
So please share Consider This . . .
with anyone else whom you want to consider these connections and insights.
