Being Mindful

I got back on the horse literally and figuratively speaking this week, I had another lesson on Tuesday and that went well.  I felt pretty good and did some jumping and even though my legs were burning by the end it was good, a good kind of working my muscles kind of burning.  I really appreciate all the well wishes, thank you so much!  I was lucky, no major bruises and although I tweaked my neck a bit and it's been hurting and aggravated a bit when I sit at a computer, no major injuries to speak of. =)

Anyhow - so as I'm getting back to speed I haven't been doing much knitting but I did want to talk to you a bit about being "mindful."  Something that's been bouncing around in my brain for a long time.

I hear people talk a lot about their resolutions at the beginning of every year as if January 1 is going to wipe their slate clean and all the things they've ever wanted to accomplish will be possible right in that instant of the clock striking 12.

Rather than resolutions, every year I try to choose a word or thought that kind of epitomizes what I hope to accomplish or what's on my mind at a particular time.  The word kind of chooses itself, I let things marinate in the back of my skull until the same word keeps jumping out and out at me and that becomes my "mantra" for the year.  Now you may be thinking that a mantra sounds like a serious word, but the intent of it is not really so serious.  I like having a word, thought or idea that expresses to me, in a single instance what I hope to accomplish.  I can keep it on my brain and it will spur me to action.

As you may have noticed by the title, my thought, my mantra, this year is "being mindful."

Being mindful means different things to different people.  To me it means that I'm aware of the things that I do and the choices I make.  I suppose I should back up for a second, and start at the beginning.  That's the best place to start isn't it?

Gradually last year I began to notice that I started to feel a bit out of balance.  Work-life balance, home-cleaning balance, family-time balance, health-life balance, financial-personal balance, there are so many things that we're balancing day to day aren't we? 

They're all intertwined- our small, day to day choices can affect our health balance, our financial balance and even the environment which I'll call our earth-life balance.  As an example- an item that we chose to buy costs us money right?  It affects our financial balance?  However it also affects the earth as well, say for instance if it's a coffee, it can be the disposable cup that we throwaway or even the source of the global resources put into the cup, the coffee, the milk, the sugar, etc.  Even if we buy things that we take home and use, these items can even affect our personal balance as well as our financial and earth balance.

"Stuff" costs us, more than we're aware.  Once we lay out money to spend to purchase an item we're tied up in the emotional clutter of taking care of it, insuring it, making sure it's not broken and we're even emotionally tied up in getting rid of the item, or not, after it's come to the end of it's usefulness.  I know I've mentioned I've been spring cleaning lately but it's really deeper than that, it's figuring out what's valuable to you, and being aware of the cost of your financial clutter.  Both of those links are life-changing articles - I highly recommend a read. =)

I suppose this is a complicated way of saying that I'm choosing - I'm making a decision to be more mindful on what I buy, using what I have and the balance my choices impact not only personally, financially, but also on an environmental level.

I'm choosing to re-balance and reconnect my life to the world around me and I'm choosing to tread lightly upon the earth.

Some of the ways I've started choosing include -

• Purchasing quality over quantity
• Using what I have
• Decluttering my home and putting items I no longer use into reuse in other functions (towels, clothes, etc) or choosing to donate or sell extra items rather than throwing them away to reduce my impact on the earth
• After decluttering being mindful of the items I invite into my home
  
  • Do they bring me joy or happiness when I look at them?
  • Are they useful, functional items
  • How are the items made, what materials were used and who made them?
    • Was the labor fair?
    • How was the environment affected by the creation of this item?
• No more plastic bottles - I have 1 sigg bottle which I just love and I haven't purchased plastic bottles in over a year.  If you must purchase, please recycle
• Being mindful in the car that I choose and its gas usage
• Choose to replace old appliances with more energy/water efficient ones
  
  • I got the chance when our old washer and dryer bit the dust at Christmas.  It really does use less water!
• Being mindful of using towels more in the kitchen than paper towels
• Replacing all my fixtures, not just shower heads with low water use ones, including aerators on all my sink fixtures and kitchen. 
  
  • In 1 month my water usage dropped in half by this change alone
• I want to know where my food comes from and eat less processed food
  • I've joined a CSA for fruit and veggies
  • I recently started buying all my meat and poultry local including eggs
  • It's important to me to know how my food is treated and what I'm putting into my mouth
  • This ties into eating seasonally and locally, both important items that I'm being mindful of
  • This ties into my making my own bread and pasta now, from scratch
  • Funny point - hubby was so worried about only bringing whole foods into our home, nothing processed (something I often refer to as clean eating) that he bought me a book on how to make icecream!  =)  Yep the first thing on his mind was, icecream! =)
• Recycling as much as I possibly can
• Purchasing a rain barrel to remove my impact on local water for my plants outdoors (NC is currently in a big drought)
• Using more natural cleaning products (as old ones run out I've been buying Seventh Generation, I like their motto and they clean good!
• I stopped using body wash (and I used to love body wash) because of the excessive packaging.  Don't worry, I switched to soap. ;)  Same goes for body pouf's, it finally occurred to me that those little things are made of plastic, out of oil!  Who wants to be rubbing ourselves with that when we're knitters and crafters?  I'm making my own! =)  I'll share some patterns for this soon.
• And many, many more things that I can't think of right now...

Ways I would like to become more mindful-

• Starting a compost pile and reducing more waste
• Make the switch to reusable bags away from plastic or paper! (this is so tough, but very important to me!) =)

It's not about being "perfect" what ever that is, it's about being mindful of the choices that you make and their impact on you and the earth itself.  I have many many times that I've fallen down or haven't made the best choice, but I make the choice that is right for me at the time and that's important.

I would love some inspiration, crafty folks are so wonderful I know many of you are doing many of these things and more.  How are you choosing to be mindful in your own life?  Will you join me in choosing?

In the meantime I'm enjoying a stack of knitting books as I mull over choices and opportunities for next knits and a little bit of mindful/mindless crochet as well.  It's fun to mull. =)

Comments

[A Homely Heroine]

Thats incredible! I whole-heartedly support you and your efforts! Now that is something to mull over. I don't have any suggestions to make, rather I think we could all take some advice from you. The only thing I do in that way is rent books from the library instead of lining my shelves (only my absoulute favourites). I so enjoy reading your blog, you never know what will be next.

[Joyce]

Isn't it funny how seemingly sudden this decision can come? We've been thinking and doing some of the same things, trying to do our part. At least one day a week, trying for two, I don't drive my car. Using up what's in the fridge instead of letting produce waste. Planning better. You go, girl!

[Liz K.]

My list could be almost identical to yours, with maybe one addition: we switched to cloth napkins, and I just throw them in with the rest of the regular laundry. There are a few other random things here and there (like turning off the heat-dry cycle in the dishwasher, etc.) but my list is spookily similar!

My mindfulness journey actually began with my marriage. I decided to choose to be more intentional in how I treat my husband. I am mindful of treating him with kindness and gentleness, with gratitude and devotion. This intentionality just spread to other areas in my life, and my consumer choices and food choices are just outgrowths of that.

[Qutecowgirl]

That is a good list! I have tried to be more mindful too. I use kitchen towels way more then I used to and we cut our paper towel use by more then half. I also bought these bags from waldbaums/A&p. they are reusuable grocery bags made from 100% recycled plastc. They are very durable and hold a ton, plus they have shoulder straps. We also try to use up everything in the fridge. it was embarassing how much spoiled food we would throw out. Now we buy less and really use everything before we buy more.

I plan on crochet and knit wash cloths and dish towels

[Bernadette]

Wow! Funny, but I (and my hubby/family) are on a similar journey... mostly about being organized and frugal. I have been trying to bring greater order back to our small home, which has grown crowded with the accumulation of 10 years' worth of living, buying and growing (our two boys). I recycle as much as possible, including passing on clothing, books and toys. We are trying to reduce the clutter at home and optimize the use of the space we do have. Hubby bought a scanner, and is storing a lot of info in a fraction of the space that the bulging filing cabinets did.

I plan to use the same technique to store patterns I currently have on paper, and going forward I am downloading files rather than printing them whenever possible. (I also joined the Ravelry "Organized Knitting" group to get more ideas.)

Mindful shopping is something I am working on... eco- and socially- friendly, and healthier, too.

I'd be glad to hear more ideas and pass on those I come across as well. Good luck!

[Beth]

What a great post! I'd like to try some of the things you're doing - like buying meat locally. I'm also going to start worm composting soon.

My local food pantry uses plastic and paper bags to bag up the groceries they give out to clients. You might be able to recycle your bags that way until you make the switch.

Thanks for the insightful post and the links!

[Karen]

I keeping telling myself I am going to make myself reusable bags, but I haven't done it yet. This was a great and motivating post.

Glad to hear your lesson went well this week. :)

[Debra]

That is super. I too, have been recently making more of a concerted effort to live a little greener.

I made my own reusable cloth grocery bags and LOVE them. I have a post on my blog about it and some other things. I knit a farmer's market bag as well (see www.windingtheskein.blogspot.com)

I am planning on sewing myself some cloth produce bags but in the meantime, I save those little plastic net bags that little tangerines come in (also got one off my ham this easter)and stuff those inside my cloth grocery bags to use for produce. I hate getting so many of those plastic bags just for produce. I suppose I could re-use my plastic produce bags? Hmm.

Thanks for sharing.

[lisa]

So many choices we all make, eh? I'm working on de-cluttering... we have a biggish house but moreso an attached barn with a loft, and well, space just fills up. I think about many of the same things as you. Some others... buy most of my clothes second hand (but not undies, and I spend a lot on bras and danskos), we grow a garden in the summer, we live close to where we work (this is a huge deal in keeping a small carbon footprint). I'm pretty good about cloth bags, but now and then I want the plastic so I can line my bathroom trash can with them. I guess I'll have to work something around plastic trash bags. We gave up composting when we had several bad experiences with rats. But a worm bin is something to think about... we did try it once, but it was far from the kitchen and hard to get to and in the end too cold. So what kind of washer did you get? Mine still works, so part of me hesitates to replace it (though it no longer felts and it is VERY loud), but folks are telling me their water usage is cut in HALF (which means their sewer bill is also half), and that alone is a pretty good incentive. Oh, my favorite 'cleaner' is a spray bottle with white vinegar and water.

[Angelika]

Wow, you were not kidding about that public speaking in underwear thing. I read every single word, not the skimming I do at some blogs. In some points we were right on in our talk today. It's amazing. We really need to talk more often.

[Katie]

Amen, sister, amen.
I also belong to a CSA here in New Mexico and love it. I am excited for our local farmer's market to start up pretty soon, and I'm planning on having a little garden. I'm really trying not to buy every little thing that's marketed towards my ten-month old son. Really, does he need a Tickle-me Elmo (or whatever the latest craze is)? His favorite toy right now is my $0.99 tape measure, and his favorite activity is chasing the cat. We also try to use cloth diapers, cloths, and bibs as much as possible. I think it's also important to be informed. Thanks for sharing your mantra with us this March as opposed to January. :)

[Anne]

Wow. Much food for thought. Mostly, I'm glad you enjoyed getting back up on the horse. And if that's what a traumatic experience involving a very large animal and a lot of impact stimulates in your synaptic neurons, perhaps I should try it! ;) But seriously, that's a well thought out list, and we would all do well to follow it. Thank you.

[Anne]

A great mindful summary. I'm still chuckling over the ice cream issue. :)

[katie]

What a fantastic post, Keri. I recently started using reusable grocery bags. I have 6 of them (two from Harris Teeter that my MIL gave me--they're really sturdy, and four from Ingles--they're OK but may not last as long). 6 bags actually holds a whole week's worth of groceries for me. And they are so much easier to carry into the house! And they don't roll around in the back of the car.

I'll get rid of my plastic shower pouf and make a cotton scrubber. I never thought of that before. And I put some sigg bottles on my wish list--thanks for the tip! I have recently noticed that my plastic reusable water bottle is imparting a weird taste to my water. Yuck.

Now if I can just convince my husband to trade in my SUV. Even though I have to admit I love driving it, I don't love its gas mileage (not terrible but not great--20 mpg). But he's a big truck kind of guy.

[katie]

Oh! And I have a fantastic sandwich bread recipe. I have been making it weekly (4 loaves at a time) for several years. I posted it here at the Fresh Loaf: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/3149/soft-white-ish-sandwich-bread

[Lazuli]

Oh my! I step away from the blog world for a few weeks - and come back to find you were nearly crushed by a horse? I'm so glad you're doing better!! I really enjoyed reading this post. This year I started having a "word" for the new year, rather than resolutions, and I like it. A singer-songwriter I like, Christine Kane, wrote about doing this on her blog and I decided to try it (see http://christinekane.com/blog/resolution-revolution-a-better-way-to-start-your-year/).

[Debby]

I agree with you; rather than resolutions I try to make goals for each year. Your post reminded me to see how I am doing on my goals for this year. I know I'm probably failing miserably at "slow down and enjoy the moment."

About the grocery bags, I collected old totebags that I'd gotten in the mail as free gifts or from conferences and that's what I use at the grocery store. I fit them all into the biggest bag and take them most weeks -- they're sturdier than the paper/plastic options when you have heavy bottles or sharp boxes that will tear.

I'm trying to decide what to do about the cats' litter. There are wheat and corn and other options that are supposed to be more earth-friendly than the clay litter. I have to check on the disposal though, since we have a septic tank. Some of these are flushable and biodegradable, but not all.

[Julia]

Good for you! This is so inspirational...some things I've always kind of "naturally" done, like keeping reusable grocery bags around (the trick is to have some by the door, some in the backseat of the car, some in the trunk, and a little mini roll-up one in your purse, that way there's always one on hand when you go grocery shopping!) and I've always thought about my purchases in terms of how long I had to work to buy that certain thing. Some are more difficult for me...like buying throw away cups all. the. time. for coffee, iced tea, what have you. I need to bring my reuseable cups with me.
The april/may months of Project Spectrum are the colors metallic, brown, and green, so I'm focusing on mindfulness, simplicity, and green living extra hard these two months! This is a great starting point for thinking about what I want to do, thanks for taking the time and thoughtfulness to write this. :o)

[Julia]

I just read some of the other comments and love what other people have said. I, too, have been buying less veggies because americans throw so much food away. I always leave the grocery store thinking I don't have enough but it really is! I also agree with using the library instead of each individual in the world owning their very own copy of a book...I know it's beneficial to the author, but not for everyone else!
I love the comment on beginning mindfulness in the marriage...I am working on that right now and it can be life changing in terms of relationships with everyone else in your life. I think it's because you can help each other learn to communicate and interact in a loving, non-manipulative environment.
Just thought I'd add my extra two cents there, great post! :o)

[kate]

I have been trying to switch to greener products as well, I like 7th generation for laundry and am a huge Dr. Bronners fan for soap. I get it in quart bottles and it lasts me forever... very little waste from the packageing. Plus its organic and fair trade.

[Margaret]

Wow. Thanks for this great post. I've had a lot of this stuff on my mind as well.

[Hilary]

Keri, you are my hero! A lot of the changes you have made are NOT easy.

Something clicked in me when you first described what being mindful means to you. I think that thoughtfully considering the choices I myself make day-to-day, or have made in the past, and understanding the trade-offs is going to help me a great deal.

Thank you so much for this inspirational post!

[tiennie]

Great ideas! I like that you've written it all down to come back to.

[Becky]

You and I have been thinking/feeling similar things lately. I feel almost driven to get a place in the country so I can grow my own fruits and veggies and raise my own eggs and meat chickens. The older I get, the more important I feel it is to take care of our little blue planet. I recycle as much as I can; I'll be growing some tomatoes, sweet peppers and basil in containers this summer; and I take the bus to work. I do what I can but I don't feel like it's enough. I think, too, there's part of me that's afraid something bad is coming and if I'm in the country, I can grow my own food so I can take care of myself. I'm babbling. Basically, this is the only planet we have. If we don't take care of it now, we may not have a home later on.

[kathy b]

love all the comments and the mindful theme. I feel that since jet contrails are known as the biggest cause of the ozone hole, that flying needs special attention. I do not fly. I know that cannot be the case for all, but I wonder when the GREEN minds of the world are going to address the contrail issues.
Do we need to fly on airlines that zig zag around before they get to the intended destination? Could fewer planes fly.? I mean really, half filled jets use a lot of fuel. I wonder why this isn't being paid more attention. I mean the little ways we try are good, but we have to start looking at the BIG wasy too.