My year of healing: part two: saving the planet

Last year I set an intention for the year to work towards healing and, in the previous post I shared the resources I used to help with personal healing from childhood issues. In this post I would like to share the helpful resources I have found in my journey towards less waste and less plastic in my life.

I have taken the approach of gradually implementing permanent changes, rather than doing nothing because it is too overwhelming, or doing too much at once so that it is not sustainable. Taking consistent action, no matter how small, takes away the sense of helplessness and hopelessness that can threaten to engulf us when we despair about the state of our world.

Less waste

Lindsay Miles has a very informative blog called "Treading my own path" and, during the year, I enrolled in her course "Wasteless", thus freeing myself up from conflicting information on the internet. I learnt lots about recycling, composting and other ways to reduce food waste, how to shop for, and store, food without plastics, and how to substitute plastic in the bathroom and laundry (including recipes for making home-made products which work e.g. she points out that if you mix bicarb soda and vinegar they cancel each other out and you end up with salt water -- yet many on-line recipes erroneously combine the two). She also included many links to reputable on-line businesses that support the Zero Waste movement.

Her blog can be found here:

 https://treadingmyownpath.com/

Recycling

We have no garbage service to our farm and have to take it all to our local tip, which only provides for land-fill. However, encouraged by the "Wasteless" course, I did some local research and discovered that we can deposit recyclables at the Waste Management Facility in our nearest town (without charge), so now we collect them and do just that. I also discovered that all Coles stores have Redcycle bins for soft plastics, and that these take a large variety of soft food packaging. For more information, here is a link to their Website:

 https://www.redcycle.net.au/

There are also many other things that can be recycled e.g. Aldi collects used batteries, the Post Office takes used ink cartridges and Telstra collects old mobile phones. Planet Ark has information on where many other items can be recycled, and their Website can be found here:

https://recyclingnearyou.com.au/

Decluttering

Having taken on board the concept that if something is not used, and is just languishing in a cupboard, it is waste, I bought a book on cleaning and decluttering, "Real Life Organising" by Cassandra Aarssen, as I liked her approach that one size does not fit all. This then led me to her Website "ClutterBug", which provides resources and a fun approach to cleaning and decluttering, although she is not into Zero Waste or plastic free living. This is the link to her Website, but scroll down past the ad for her course, to find lots of free resources:

https://clutterbug.me/

Plastic substitutes

I have found it useful to list all the plastic items I use and to gradually replace them with non-plastic items as they wear out. Otherwise it is kinder to the planet to keep using them rather than offloading them and buying new items. However I have moved food items into glass jars, and made sure that I save glass jars and bottles, which I have been more conscious if using.

When it comes to single use plastic, however, I have progressively worked towards eliminating this by taking my own reusable shopping and produce bags with me (some live in my hand-bag) and refusing plastic shopping bags wherever they are offered, taking my own container to the butcher for meat, visiting Bulk Food stores if we are in larger towns, shopping at Farmer's Markets, and sewing substitutes e.g. snack bags, bread bags, shopping bags, cloth napkins, food covers etc. There are many patterns on the internet and Pinterest is a great source of ideas.

https://www.pinterest.com.au/

Cooking from scratch and making my own cleaners etc

I have had a long history of mostly cooking from scratch, so it was not difficult to increase this to include finding home-made versions of things like chicken stock, vanilla essence, sauces, jams and preserves and the like and, in this endeavour, I have been inspired by the blogs of others like:

Stay Home Instead

https://stayhomeinstead.blogspot.com/

The Make your own Zone

https://www.themakeyourownzone.com/

Live Simply Me

https://livesimply.me/

When it comes to cleaners and personal products, I have found that it pays to seek reputable information, and a great site I have found for soap making and lotions is:

The Nerdy Farm Wife

https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/

Having a focus on giving

One of the strategies that has helped me in my journey through healing has been to focus on others instead of just on myself. I have made a point of reflecting, at the end of each day, on what acts of giving I have accomplished that day, and written these in my diary. This reminds me to keep this strategy alive, and works to increase my confidence and belief that I am an OK person.

Acts of kindness and giving to others also makes our planet a better place.

Remember:Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes the ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust and hostility to evaporate. Albert Schweitzer

My year of healing: part one: personal healing

In January last year I came across the concept of setting intentions rather than goals, with encouragement to choose an intention word for the year. My choice was "working towards healing" (as I felt that "healing" on its own would put too much pressure on me). I also broke this into two parts: personal healing, and healing the planet.

As I now reflect back on 2019, I can see the progress that I have made in both areas, and the wonderful resources I have been led to along the way. These are the resources I would like to share now.

Mindfulness Courses

Having discovered the Left Brain Buddha Website and Blog the previous year, I was delighted when its author, Sarah Rudell Beach offered a free course "Love your 2019" in January, which encouraged looking at our values, practising gratitude, self care, grounding, forgiveness and intentions, as well as meditation exercises and the basics of Mindfulness. I followed this with another of her free courses: "Mindfulness 101" before deciding to delve deeper and pay for her "Brilliant Mindful You" package. 

All of these have been of great benefit to my journey through personal healing from childhood issues, and I have valued the abundant resources generously offered on her Blog and Website, which can be found at: https://leftbrainbuddha.com

Meditation Resource

Left Brain Buddha led me to a great source of hundreds of free Meditation Exercises, and I have formed a new habit of starting each morning with ones I have bookmarked. Over time I have found that I have become calmer, less anxious and more laid back. This source is Insight Timer, which can be accessed here: https://insighttimer.com

Gratitude App

Gratitude Happiness Journal is a free app for i phones and includes the ability to write a daily gratitude entry (and to illustrate this with a photo), daily affirmations, and other functions (which I have not really used). I was making this a daily evening habit, but now have so many entries that I add them less frequently. However I now have an instant resource on my phone, which I can access when I need to be reminded of the positives in my life. The App can be found at:

https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/gratitude-happiness-journal/id1372575227

I also happened upon a lovely Gratitude Journal by Melanie Spears, as I glanced in a shop window in Dubbo, when we were returning home from one of our visits to grandchildren, and managed to order this year's version from Booktopia. Each day allows for multiple entries of things we are grateful for and has pages for the setting of intentions for the month, and all the pages are beautifully illustrated. I have kept to a daily practice of recording the things I am grateful for, and have found this to be very helpful too. The original home of the diary is here: https://givingthanks.com.au

Abuse from a Narcissist

Insight Timer led me to some Meditations by Katharine A Chestnut and, in particular, one that reflects on how a Narcissist Abuser can steal our song of self-confidence, as they have no song of their own. I have found this metaphor to be extremely helpful when dealing with my mother, who still tries to steal my song, as she had done for most of my life. This Meditation is titled "When did you stop singing", and I am intending to pursue Narcissistic Abuse further this year so that I can gain further insight.

I hope that if you read this blog, you will find some of these resources helpful. I would love to hear your thoughts on them.

Remember: Hope smiles from the thresh-hold of the year to come, whispering "it will be happier...." Gratitude App.

Another year of drought

During our second year of drought this year, reality has hit harder and life has been lived on new levels. However, my husband and I are resilient, and drought has taught us some valuable lessons.

The usual view from the front of our house

The view at present

We learn to live with dust

It is impossible to keep interiors clean, so I have more relaxed standards of house-keeping, reflecting that time may well be better spend on other pursuits anyway. Outside, our horizon has often been closed in by dust and/ or smoke haze, reminding us that we are not alone on this journey, and that some people are worse off than we are. 

Water becomes precious

Water is no longer taken for granted and we have needed to stop and value this resource, becoming more frugal with its use, and finding ways to share it with fellow creatures.

We are grateful for every small shower of rain

Throughout the year we have been blessed with intermittent showers of about 10 ml (or less) – not enough to really help when sub-soil moisture has disappeared, but enough to remind us that it can still occur (and the garden is thankful).

We care more for our resources

Drought puts things in perspective—we value our top soil and the material and other things that we already have. We have needed to protect our gardens from kangaroos -- last year they loved the roses.

We learn to endure loss

Plants die in drought, despite many prior years of careful nurturing. Strong winds cause damage and life becomes more of a challenge. This is our 20 year old Bay Tree, which I neglected to water last year, thinking that it was well established.

We find beauty in dire circumstances

Some days, the smoke from the bush fires drifts in, even although they are hundreds of kilometres away from us. This is the sun coming up on one particular morning.

We find new layers of gratitude and appreciation

On smoke filled days we are grateful that we are at least not in the bush fire areas, and when we have driven through countryside that is barer than ours, we have been thankful that we are not so badly off. We are very grateful that we are linked into a water pipeline that goes from bores in the Lachlan River to small towns north of us (usually taken for granted).

We find new ways to give

Every evening the kangaroos come in to empty the bird baths, but during the day the bird baths provide much needed moisture for the birds, wasps and bees. Providing a listening ear to those who are doing it tough is also a way of giving.

We hang onto hope

Despite the challenges and losses, we still hang onto hope that one day the drought will break, as previous experience has shown us. This is a new shoot on the Bay Tree since I began to hand water it, reminding us that nature is resilient and a bountiful giver if we care for it.

Remember: Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. Leo Buscaglia

The pathways of our life journeys

When we were walking in the Warrumbungles National Park a couple of months ago, I began to muse on the various states of the tracks and how they resembled the "tracks" we walk on our life journeys, where the road is never smooth all of the way.

We may start along smooth paths, where things are going well for us, and we may tread these kinds of paths at different times in our lives.

But then we come across rocky times, where the going gets rough and we need to tread carefully. We may have been traumatised by life experiences and the way becomes painful.

At other times the walking becomes easier again, but we need to be careful of things in life that can trip us up.

There are times when the going is uphill and we need extra effort, and there may be steps to follow to help us ....

... or the steps may be rockier and require more effort ...

... or we may even be left with a rough path with no formed steps ...

... or no path or guidance at all and the need to scramble along the best way we can for a while.

There may be bridges to cross in order to adjust to changes ...

... or at these times there may be no bridges and we will need to stumble over rough creek beds.

From time to time there will be cross-roads and choices to make, often with little guidance as to what we will find along each path.

We may be tempted to follow little enticing goat tracks that lead us no-where, and to possibly becoming lost for a while.

We may tread paths that others have trodden, and have their footsteps and experiences to guide us.

Or we may be left with the debris of their journeys to navigate through.

However, if we keep walking along each section of pathway that life gives us, we will always come to a new section, and may even walk through shadows to a more promising future.

Remember: If you light a lamp for someone else, it will also brighten your path. Buddha

Making a courage jar

A beautiful lady, who used to attend a Women’s Support Group that I facilitated, once commented that it would be good to have a jar of courage on the shelf, which could be dipped into in times of need. Thus we had a session on making a Courage Jar. This post is dedicated to Kathy (now in heaven), who faced multiple life challenges with grace and courage, and I still have the lovely notes of support that she would regularly send me.

What does courage feel like?

We set the scene by pondering on what it feels like to have courage, and concluded that it often meant standing up for ourselves and/ or being able to keep going despite the sense of isolation and the challenges. Sometimes it also means tapping into the energy of anger.

What takes our courage away?

Our courage can be diminished by the law, by dominant, bullying or arrogant people, by systems that don’t support us, by depression, by life becoming too difficult and by feeling that our hands are “tied”, amongst other things.

What helps to give us courage and increase our courage?

Some of the things that can do this include: being independent/ self-reliant, having support from others, knowing that we are not alone (there are others going through similar challenges), taking actions to keep ourselves safe, refusing to give in, laughter and humour, telling ourselves that we can do it/ do it our way, and knowing and using our strengths  (like wisdom, cleverness, love, honesty, patience, reflection, independence, hope, maturity, purpose, carefulness, insight, assertiveness, encouragement, resilience and confidence).

Assembling the courage jars

We used coloured paper “lolly” shapes to write down personal sources of courage, with one source on each “lolly”. The ideas already shared were used as a starting point, and any others could be added, so that each jar became unique for each person. Re-purposed glass jars were used to store the “lollies”, and these jars were decorated with stickers, ribbons etc.

Template for "lollies"

Using the courage jars

The jars need to be kept in an easily seen and accessible place (e.g. on a bedside table to use first thing each morning, or near the phone if we are receiving difficult phone calls), or they can be moved around to places they might be needed during the day. When we are feeling down, depressed or anxious, or needing a boost, we can dip into the jar and choose one, or a number, of “lollies” to remind us to use courage, remembering that we have to have the courage to use courage.

Remember: Stop letting people who do so little for you control so much of your mind, feelings and emotions. Will Smith