Sustainability

What does this mean to me? It's not just about environmental, financial or agricultural practices. I'm looking for a sustainable lifestyle where my wholeness is sustainable. I mean that I am looking at my spirituality, my impact on the environment, my expectations of my family, the ability to nurture my creativity, my financial picture and the balance between consumption and production.

It is toward this goal that I have begun to purposefully take small steps each day to greater sustainability.

I have realized in the past few weeks that I have begun to fully embody this philosophy. It is no longer an intellectual thought that I research and talk about with friends. I'm not sure why or how it happened but I have begun to feel different. Priorities have shifted. There is an ease and calm that I have not experienced before. I don't feel the daily frustration because things aren't different. I don't feel the guilt because I'm not doing something that I want or should be doing. Instead, I have this peace and forgiveness and gratitude. Like, 'it will all come in time'. I don't know where this came from except that I have been praying and believing for so long that maybe, finally, the universe is responding.

And so I feel strongly on the path to a more sustainable and frankly, rewarding life. I actually have a great feeling when I recycle something or scrape food into the food waste container instead of the garbage. I get a small thrill to see the garbage can less and less full each week. And I am constantly weighing which changes I can make today and which ones I'm not ready to tackle.

For instance, if my children did not use disposable diapers, our garbage would be down to one small bag a week. This is in a family of 4!!!! However, I'm not ready to take on cloth diapers today. Maybe another day but not today. Instead, I'm really focusing on food. How can we throw out less food each week and not feel like I'm eating microwaved, overly cooked food all the time?

OR...how can I encourage my daughter's creativity and allow her to paint as much as she wants but not waste the paper she is painting on or the tiny scraps as she is honing her cutting skills. This may seem silly but the amount of paper we are going through because of her art is remarkable. So I have a big drawer overflowing with painted and cut paper that looks like a scrap bin. I'm working on some ideas so I'll let you know when I've come up with some.

I was reading the other day on someone's blog about being an accidental environmentalist because I don't shower often, I wear my clothes more than once, and other previously labeled lazy patterns. This cracked me up and at the same time, I see the point.

Anyway...today I will make sure that I follow through with my no food wasted plan by finishing off the cookies and ponder what I can do tomorrow.