I wrote this post in 2013 for Wisteria & Sunshine and am sharing here, as an addition to today’s post at my blog…because I am always aware of the challenges of eating more thoughtfully and want to make sure that my awareness of the challenges comes across. I struggle greatly with living and eating more compassionately…we all do. So let’s keep helping one another, encouraging one another. You may be happy to know that this post received more than a dozen positive responses at the time. Yet, I’ve still tiptoed with talking about it more…hmmm…obviously in public. Trying to break through all of that these days…
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I heard on the radio today that is Earth day. I’ve never really celebrated this day in a focused way, just because my daily rounds don’t seem to rub shoulders with communal observations, as glad as I am that they exist. But the title of this post is not just a catchy phrase…it is the way I have been trying to live for more than thirty years. Sometimes I can flow with it, sometimes I am overwhelmed with what it may require of me. I believe we all feel this to one degree or another. I believe we would all feel it much more deeply if we let ourselves, but that path is fraught with many steep hills and dark woods.
As I mentioned at The Bower recently, I saw a movie that has set me firmly back on the path again after some wandering of late. Do you remember just last week I showed a photo of the handmade paper bag that hangs in our laundry room and collects all of the “recyclable” plastic bags? And just a few days after that post, I took three plastic bags full of those plastic bags to the recycling bin at the grocery store in town. Then just a few days after that, I saw this film and learned what happens to those plastic bags that we collect and dispose of in what we believe to be a responsible way. It turns out that plastic bags are very hard to actually recycle in a responsible manner, so our country sends them all off to China and other countries to deal with…and it isn’t in a responsible manner…towards the earth or the its people. I won’t soon forget, I hope I don’t soon forget, the scenes of women stirring vats of melting plastic, their little ones sitting nearby or wandering amongst the fumes and bags floating eerily around.
My mind and my heart have been often heavy since they have been reawakened all over again to the problems…and then quickly to how complicated and time-consuming and perhaps expensive it can be to live this modern life in ways that are less harmful to the earth and all of its creatures, human and otherwise.
Do you feel the same things?
It seems that my posts here that touch upon this are the least well-received of any…in the sense that there is usually little response. I have always thought, as I so often feel this myself, it is because it all seems so challenging. It touches so much…what we eat and all the traditions and habits and pleasures associated, how we live, minute to minute, day to day, how much our hearts and minds can hold of suffering and harm…and yet…how can we not think about it? We of all, as women, who are made to nurture and see the connections and tenderly care for what comes within our realm?
I know that this is depressing…I do know. I think that is why I dance around it here and in my life and everywhere. It is sad, it is overwhelming, it is hard to know where to begin…or to continue on. But I am writing this post today because of the film…because part of my healing is letting me know that I have to face it and find both small and gentle and big and gentle ways of working with it…that it is part of what I have to offer the world…
Also last week, I read something someone wrote about not really getting the usual approach to the question of “what would I do with my life if I didn’t have long to live?” They wouldn’t go on a spectacular trip or do as many of the things on their “bucket list” (they probably don’t even have a bucket list) as they could manage…they would simply allow themselves the freedom-with money, with time, with attention-to live how they most want to live, closer to the earth, more simply, more in tune with their hearts. I could see what that could might look like, in a hazy sort of way….how you might make some cloth bags and take the time to go the farmers market that seems too far a drive now…how you might more quickly remember or recognize when you don’t need to buy something or spend time chasing false dreams or needs….just glimmers of what might be part of the answer, even if we have a long life ahead of us, as I hope that we all do.
So…you will see more Small Ways posts here in the future, sometimes Very Small Ways. It is part of me living more authentically, more simply (in the end), more connectedly…which is so much of what we are about here, yes? As with everything I offer, it won’t always be something you want or need or can manage, but it will be there for the considering.
“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.”
~Mother Teresa
sarah October 24, 2017 at 5:00 pm
I love that vision of a more mindful, shorter life. I think though where I get caught is that so many of the ways to be more compassionate and gentle on the earth are available only for the well off or financially stable. The farmer’s market can be expensive, especially now that it has become trendy. “Too far to drive” equates to “high petrol expenditure” to some. Free range food is more expensive than tinned imports (worth it, in my opinion, but I can afford to say so). Mindfully sourced clothes are exorbitantly priced, but op shop clothes are of limited range and quality. Even cloth bags – I think of the women who haven’t got enough money to buy needle and thread without taking away from some other necessary expense, not to mention not having the time to sew. There are millions of women who would benefit from reading this post but can not afford the cost (or the time) of the internet.
I’m not talking about you here, dear Lesley, because I know how thoughtful you are around these issues, but I do believe that many in the “compassionate living” field seem to work mainly within the consumer model. It would be great if they could turn their imaginations and energy into creating communties for green dollars, food networking, skills workshops, carpooling, etc. I believe helping the poor is where real change for all can take true root.
Sorry, I did not mean to stand on a soap box. I loved your post and am with you in heart and spirit about it. You inspire me to make real changes to my own life. <3
Lesley October 24, 2017 at 5:32 pm
I believe there are so many ways to get caught, Sarah, frozen by all of that is out of rhythm and all of the challenges of finding new ones. So the food circles and other weavings we make have to come from the inside-out of our own lives. There are almost always way to gentle a part of what we do. A women with no needle and thread and little time or skill can just reuse the plastic bags she has…if lessening her use of plastic and trash is part of her weaving….don’t you think?
We do the most when we work with what we have…our awarenesses, our circumstances and our money. There are so many hopeful things going on with more earth-conscious living, including poverty areas of cities. And when your only real options are fast food and convenience stores, well, it is not you who I am reaching out to, I guess. It is all of us who can make compassionate choices…yet don’t. Including me.
I’ve been finding more and more inspiration from books written or set before WWII…to learn more about the ways things used to be done, how they cooked and ate (with pleasure) with less variety, what their food circles were like, how I can adapt that for myself. It is an adventure…when it doesn’t feel like a hardship. : )
sarah October 25, 2017 at 12:23 am
I so agree with your reply. Certainly we have lost so much of the wisdom from before the commercialised era. I’m grateful for the people who try to restore it to us. And I’m grateful for those, like you, building kind and compassionate communities where ever they have the opportunity to do so.