These days, we tend to talk about sustainability in terms of the environment, global warming, corporate responsibility.
I think we need to talk about it on both a broader and a more personal level.
We are all citizens of the world. Whether we like it or not, want it or not, we are on a planet which is rapidly “growing smaller”; through technology like the internet, and because of the growing numbers of people with whom we share it.
This means we need to learn how to live together with the changes – be they in our economy, in our environment, in our children’s attitudes, in our own bodies – that will only continue to happen around us.
As I see it, we have a couple of choices in how we deal with these changes, both individually and as a global population. We can close down and pull in on ourselves, try to hang on to what we have, deny what’s going on around and inside us, and hope that the storms will pass.
Or we can open up to the world, to each other, to the (sometimes difficult) lessons that our unique and individual lives have for us. We can learn our own lessons and grow from them; we can share our experiences and what we’re learning with others around us, because it’s in the sharing that we learn it more thoroughly.
To quote a very wise spirit, (Emmanuel’s Book II, The Choice for Love), we really have two choices when it comes right down to it – to live from a place of love or from a place of fear.
I am seeing this daily in my own life.
For those who have not been tracking my movements, I am in London, talking to as many people as possible in order to generate sufficient work so I can move back here where I lived for most of the ‘90s.
I’m opening back up to the world after that most difficult first year since my mom’s death in January 2008. This is a natural process, going inside to grieve then coming out of it, but nonetheless at times surprising, confusing, lonely.
In London I have been finding unexpectedly welcoming people, places to stay for free, and lots of people doing lots of interesting things that have me thinking “this is what I came to London to find”.
I have also been finding people who let me down, plans that fall through, and that I make mistakes when I’m striving for perfection.
And I have been finding that I only want to write when things are going well, but that doesn’t give an accurate picture, nor is it what I committed to when I started this blog. What I’m doing is pulling inside myself in the fear that others will judge me and think less of me (which of course some will) if I admit all the moments of panic and anxiety associated with this latest adventure of mine.
In fact, when I take a more objective perspective I realize that all I’m doing is learning one of life’s difficult lessons, which is what makes life perfectly imperfect.
And, I suspect that’s when we most need to share, because when we try to minimize or hide our difficulties from each other, we aren’t giving each other the opportunities to learn and grow together, and that can be a great gift.
Certainly there’s much that can and needs to be done alone. For me, that includes meditating twice a day, praying, reading.
It also includes talking to and building my support system. What I find is that the more I open up, reach out, connect with those outside of me, the more I find what I’ve come here to find, and the smoother life flows.
This, for me, is a piece of the sustainability conversation I don’t always hear. In sustaining myself, I sustain my work in the world, the initiatives I have started, and all that is left for me to do. Which means I can then participate with more clarity and wisdom in the conversations about how we sustain ourselves on our planet.
I suspect that I (we) neglect either to my (our) peril. What do you think?
Love it. I love how you took it home, into you.
I am saddened to see the words sustainable and sustainability becoming buzz words and lose meaning and importance in our collective psyche. Until we each take the time and ponder out loud, what does sustainability mean to ME? and how do I sustain myself? and how does that impact the world? all the hype and “efforting” will not work to change our environment around.
I just found your blog and am hugely encouraged by it, your recent life strangely parallels mine which makes me think we can’t be the only ones living and learning these wonderful and scary experiences and changes. These are really exciting times and yes, it’s very important for us to tell each other about it. You also just gave me the last little push I needed to get stuck in a little deeper with my own blog (hopefully that’s a good thing!) So thank you and keep it up!
Nicola - Yes, particularly when we are feeling down or afraid it’s tempting to isolate, pull into our caves, but in fact, that’s often the worst thing we can do, particularly if we are unaware that’s what we are doing, or we get stuck there. We all face the challenge - and we can all encourage each other not to succumb. Thank you back!
It is true that in order to change the world and consider important topics, such as sustainability, we have to take a look at ourselves first. If a person doesn’t have self respect, or self responsibility, they won’t have this for anyone else and certainly not for the world. We have to consider what our inner reality is telling us and follow our intuition. Some people call this our soul. Making these connections will affect everything we say and do. It will also affect our choices of what we put into our bodies and what we expose ourselves to through various media and relationships.
We have to know who who we are and why we are here first, including where we’ve come from and where we are going, before we understand how we can best contribute to our world. Bottom line, any real change must begin inside each one of us. Then, it’s just a matter of being responsible with what we’ve come to be and know.