Whilst thinking about writing this blog, I was pondering for how long I have had a problem with waste, and I would say that it has been for well over twenty years. I’m basing that mainly on the fact that I can remember being at work twenty odd years ago and putting up a sign by the industrial photocopier encouraging people to do double sided photocopying so that they didn’t waste paper. I remember signing my note ‘on behalf of the trees’ but if I was truly honest, it wasn’t on behalf of the trees, it was on behalf of me, because when I was given handouts at work which had only been printed on one side it really annoyed me; not because it was a waste of trees but because it was simply a waste.
Now it would be very easy for me to validate my dislike of waste. I could talk about how wasteful we are as a society and about how much waste goes into landfill. I could talk about how our waste is a symptom of our lack of responsibility and how we only consider our immediate needs – and much of that is indeed true – but there would also have been a certain level of dishonesty for me to be able to share in such a way.
You see, my struggle with waste has felt almost pathological. It has been all consuming at times and it’s true to say that it has caused me more strife in my life than almost any other single component. I have despised waste and that loathing has had a very significant effect on my behaviour and how I have felt, which in turn has affected those around me.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine how many times my issue with waste has affected me; how many times for example I have eaten something that I haven’t really wanted to eat, simply to avoid throwing it out (and that includes food that has been going mouldy or that I have dropped on the floor). Not only that, but I have used my power over others to force them to eat food that they have clearly not wanted to eat, purely because I haven’t been able to handle the prospective anxiety that I would have felt were I to throw the food in the bin.
I have sat in team meetings and thrashed around when presenters have handed out wads of paper printed on only one side. I have painstakingly re-used plastic sleeves for documents rather than simply getting new ones. I have spent a long time trying to put broken sections of staples into staple guns, rather than simply getting a brand-new strip and fitting it with ease.
I go around the house moving rubbish from bin to bin, rather than run the risk of a bin going out that is only half full. It makes me anxious when people put something in the bin that could have been recycled. If someone throws the toothpaste out before I have had a chance to run the straight edge of the toenail clippers along the tube to methodically get every possible squeeze of paste out of it, then it really annoys me. I turn all bottles upside down before throwing them out, just to make sure every last drop has been extracted.
I can’t bear people running the dishwasher or putting the washing machine on unless it’s full and I remember violently lunging towards my son as he was about to start the washing up because I anticipated that he was about to use too much washing up liquid! Do I need to continue? No, not really, you get the picture – my pathological dislike of waste has infiltrated every single area of my life and pretty much every relationship as well.
And if I justify my dislike of waste as being ‘right or appropriate or even desirable’ then it prevents me from seeing the destructive effect that it has had on me, as well as on those around me and on Life as a Whole.
You see, now I know that it is what we feel in our bodies that gets registered. We like to think that if our “intentions are good,” or if our “heart is in the right place,” then this somehow makes it all ok, but this is simply not true. What gets registered by The Universe is what we feel in our bodies, therefore on all the hundreds of thousands of occasions that I desperately tried to avoid waste, what got registered was a rather distasteful cocktail of anxiety, annoyance, anger, frustration, intolerance and at times out and out rage. That was my contribution to Life in those moments and there is no getting around it by dressing it up as some environmental crusade.
And it is the knowledge of the absoluteness of this fact that has helped me to prise the fingers of this behaviour off my life because when I feel myself going into the well-worn grooves of my lifelong dalliance with waste then, to the best of my ability I choose to not entertain it. What this looks like practically speaking is for example, not eating food simply to avoid throwing it out, not opening the pantry at work with the intention of inspecting the shopping for excessive purchasing, putting a wash on before waiting for a full load, etc. Basically, registering when I am about to contribute an emotional and contracted body to the “All that we are” and consciously choosing not to.
Our bodies are an intrinsic part of the Universe –– a Universe that is made up of the collective consciousness of us all. It is therefore our individual responsibility to consider, at any point in time, quite what it is that we are contributing.
By Alexis Stewart, disability support worker, yoga teacher, massage therapist, mother, partner, self-appointed cheerleader for humanity, fragment of the Universe
Further Reading:
Carpentry – A Lesson on Energetic Quality from my 75 year old Dad
The Freedom – Responsibility Connection
The ripple effect of emotions
Alexis I love reading your blogs as they are always down to earth and have something to say about our patterns of behaviours.
How many of us go about our daily lives without thinking of the impact we are having on the rest of the world. We have not been taught that everything we say, do, think and feel has an effect. Knowing this it really doesn’t pay to be emotionally upset or angry as we are just adding to the polluted mess called society we are already struggling with.
We can have the best intentions ever, be right and correct in every sense. But if it comes from a reaction (and reactions aren’t always explosive knee-jerk reactions) or an emotion then it won’t help one bit.
Even if our intentions and actions don’t come from a place or reaction but come from an alignment to the pranic consciousness then they ‘won’t help one bit’.
When we allow the space people can make there own way in life and it takes away any judgement of what another is doing out of the equation so we are opening ourselves up to a deeper level of Love as we are all able to not impose upon another, which is sharing the Love we all innately are.
“We like to think that if our “intentions are good,” or if our “heart is in the right place,” then this somehow makes it all ok, but this is simply not true. What gets registered by The Universe is what we feel in our bodies……..” I so needed to re-read this blog today. I get caught up in the temporal rather than feeling what is true.
“Our bodies are an intrinsic part of the Universe –– a Universe that is made up of the collective consciousness of us all. It is therefore our individual responsibility to consider, at any point in time, quite what it is that we are contributing.”
Love this, it brings it back to basics, we are here to be love and to let love in – anything else is complication.
Letting go of rubbish in our life is much appreciated as we explore the realms of our essences and the ensuing intimacy and thus appreciation of our universality through our evolutionary path.
“That was my contribution to Life in those moments and there is no getting around it by dressing it up as some environmental crusade.” The current frenzy of ‘Climate Change’ activists is compounding and creating the problem they are getting emotional about.
” my struggle with waste has felt almost pathological. ” One would wonder when this actually became part of your conscious living. The word “waste” even sounds funny for what can be wasted ” for energy cannot be created or destroyed it can be changed from one form to another.” I think this is Issac Newton. It sounds more like people have disrespect which then leads to disregard, discard , so perhaps its not the “waste ” that up sets you at all.
We know that there is something very wrong with how we are living when there are countries in the world where literally right now there are people starving to death yet in other places vast quantities of food is simply being thrown away.
A thought provoking blog Alexis. I too have an issue with waste, learned from my Gran who – post war – who saved everything from pieces of string to brown paper. I’ve always had a ‘just in case ‘mentality and decluttering isn’t easy!!
We live with and create so much waste, it is like there is a feeling of not being adequately prepared for what is to come and this means we hoard for that ‘just in case’ moment.
A great article Alexis, I just love this line “Our bodies are an intrinsic part of the Universe –– a Universe that is made up of the collective consciousness of us all. It is therefore our individual responsibility to consider, at any point in time, quite what it is that we are contributing.” our true responsibility. Thank you .
Well said, we rarely consider that bigger picture do we and yet when we are irresponsible or careless we are peeing in a great pool of energy that we all swim in.
Yes Jill, it is about being aware and responsible about what we are contributing at any and every point in time.
If we keep life simple and only buy what we need and no more then in our everyday living there will be very little waste. Great blog Alexis, lots to ponder on.
Before reading this blog I saw a post somewhere else, of the sea in the Dominican Republic only it was not the sea as we know it, it was a sea of plastic and all of us are seeing more and more images of this, so its really apt what you are talking about here of our responsibility in how we are with waste but more importantly if we judge another etc that is just as toxic as waste.
I wonder how much our approach to waste has to do with the feeling of a wasted life…..
mmmm good question or simply not caring. For if we do not truly care for ourselves then how can we care for another or our environment?
We can’t, it’s as simple as that.
“Our bodies are an intrinsic part of the Universe –– a Universe that is made up of the collective consciousness of us all. It is therefore our individual responsibility to consider, at any point in time, quite what it is that we are contributing.”
Love this, when we bring it back to the bigger picture we can see just how much our every thought and action has a ripple effect on everyone else.
Worrying about Waste or worrying about anything is a complete WASTE of energy.
I have observed that it is interesting how we humans like to pick and choose what we get worked up about and conveniently ignore other things for example we might correctly point out that we dislike a waste of paper or trees but then at the same time we might not be so on it about wasting time or wasting opportunities to really connect with our loved ones.
I was feeling that too as I read this blog, many things I would have been or be bothered about, yet other things I am fine with. We are all so unique, it is bringing it back to how we are, we have a responsibility for the quality of energy we live in, as that has an effect on all around us.
It is funny the issues we can let consume us – all so we don’t feel our real glory.
It strikes me that we worry a lot about waste and yet are happy to allow people to be wasted through physical and mental illness and disease, verbal and physical abuse, on-line trolling, alcohol and substance abuse and suicide. Who is jumping up and down and shouting about people wastage? I can’t hear anyone, can you?
Wow good point, we consider people wastage until it affects the money side of things and then the decision is not so clear.
Very god point Ariana. So much waste everywhere with regard to so many areas of life. What we get annoyed about brings me back to what responsibility i’m taking…..
The whole subject of recycling is a bit like cancer, we demand a solution to a problem we created by the way we are living.
If only we took our waste of potential of each and every one us seriously… we would then need not worry about the physical waste issue we have now.
We can all do our bit when it comes to recycling but I still wonder where all our plastic waste goes to and if it is actually being recycled or not. This subject has a huge consciousness and it’s easy to get sucked in.
Ideals and beliefs attached to good causes that are not ours can have detrimental consequences. In the 1980s, the Animal Liberation Front in the UK near Oxford broke into a mink farm and released hundreds of minks that devastated the natural wildlife for years by killing everything it could. The government put a bounty on the minks and it took a decade to cull the unnatural species that was introduced
There is something about knee jerk reaction to things which I know from experience don’t work – ever – even if they look like they do short term. Then again I have been witnessing the way those around me who live with absolute love, regard and care for everyone and every aspect of life, and seen how I naturally feel inspired to be much more loving, aware and responsible as a result of their reflection. I now know the way to true harmonious and loving change, whatever area of life we are looking at.
Knee jerk reactions are a sure fire sign from the body that something is up. The problem is that knee jerk reactions by their very nature have a momentum built into them that makes it hard for most of us to pause and consider what’s going on on a deeper level. But if we were able to bring in a pause then knee jerk reactions would become a tool rather than a hindrance.
And this is key… getting drawn into issues perpetuates the angst and actually distracts us from realising the part we can play to reduce discordance.
Yes Matilda, I wonder what the energetic effect is on the environment when people chain themselves to trees in an attempt to stop them from being cut down and the scene turns into a battleground between the loggers and the environmentalists.
Ardency is not the same as commitment and dedication. I have often lost myself in a good cause and contributed to the angst in the world with my justified indignation about other people’s behaviour (so much judgement). The more I take responsibly for the quality with which I approach life and all that I do the more I realise that it is this we need to concentrate on and it is this that will bring sense to a world that currently makes no sense.
Absolutely Matilda, bringing it back to the quality we choose to live in and with, ‘The more I take responsibly for the quality with which I approach life and all that I do the more I realise that it is this we need to concentrate on’.
When looking at the empty jar above I think about how there is only space and form and the never ending movement and transformation of energy between formlessness and form.
When I look at the jar I don’t see it as empty at all, I see enough peanut butter for at least one more piece of toast.
Which is worse though, the material waste we can see or the waste of wisdom that we are all an inherent part of?
A wise comment, Michael… which indicates the truth behind our real frustrations around waste.
Oh I hate waste too and am genuinely disgusted by how wasteful and irresponsible human beings can be, but the key is do I react emotionally to this and get righteous and judgemental about it which changes nothing, or do I allow my hate to actually spur me on to be less wasteful and more responsible in my own life?
Waste is a hot and trendy topic. My son often talks about projects and talks at school and I always feel like we are missing a key point, which is to simply, quietly, responsibly review the impact that all of our choices and actions have, obviously with the physical aspect of waste but also the quality of our conversations and the way we treat ourselves and others. A gentle body does not abuse its living space.
I almost had an “emotional and contracted body” moment today as I was walking through K-Mart. I was stopped in my tracks as I realised that everything in the store was at some stage going to end up as waste – that was a huge whoa moment! Then I started multiplying this future waste by the number of others stores and as I did, I could feel my body begin to respond to my reaction. So I took a breath, chose to let the mind-boggling scenario go and continued shopping, but at the same time, in no way ignoring the gross scale of the waste problem we have in the world.
Your relationship with waste, Alexis, is just one of many fanatical/obsessive relationships I have had with things in life. All of which turned out to be distractions from seeing things as they truly are and embracing my responsibility and purpose. They were like smokescreens or landing platforms that kept me from being here and feeling everything in full.
We get bamboozled and identified by the detail but what it all boils down to at the end of the day is whether or not it takes us away from or back to ourselves.
In looking at the empty jar in this photo I see all the space that is available. How much do we clutter our lives or over consume to not feel the ever present communication of space?
Constantly.
Standing on a soap box proclaiming our indignation about a subject is musing for others. When we live our actions, they are felt by others.
I have to catch myself whenever I do anything expecting an outcome, because invariably when the pictures are not fulfilled, the energy of blame and fury that comes through me is not awful. In fact I find whenever I go down the route of wanting people to respond in a particular way, I and everyone else is in trouble.
When we deepen, we deepen into the body of us all.
Indeed Ariana it is a vey big ouch moment when I consider the delay of not expanding with and deepening to all of who I am.
Do good, be responsible, be righteous and live in drive are also rewarded by society as being a ‘good citizen’ yet it is deeply harmful of ourselves and of those around us. I appreciate your honesty in all you have shared Alexis for this is happening around us. If we choose to go deeper and respond to the call the body is making then every choice we make, the way we move and the lifestyle we live will have a true foundation of love and no longer will there be a place for the many extremes you have so beautifully articulated and many more I have observed.
This just shows how we can run with something and then it takes over our lives. I do recognise some of the antics being played out in myself but not to this extreme.
“Our bodies are an intrinsic part of the Universe –– a Universe that is made up of the collective consciousness of us all. It is therefore our individual responsibility to consider, at any point in time, quite what it is that we are contributing.”
Great observation, its true we are always part of the whole.
Every reflection is a mirror, held up in order for us to be able to see ourselves clearly in and the only question we ever need to ask ourselves is ‘is it love that is being reflected back ?’ The answer is always a straight yes or no. It’s then up to us what we do with the answer.
This simplicity makes things more than crystal clear and represents an absoluteness that would serve us all well.
I love the honesty with which you have expressed here Alexis. And the absurdity of the picture when observed from the outside seems almost amusing. It is a great question to reflect on when we go on a mission to do some form of good or another: is the manner we are approaching the issue, and the possible emotional and energetic poison we may be spewing, any less damaging than whatever it is we want to save the world from?
And even if we think the harm from our own antics is not as bad, is this truly what we would want to have logged as our contribution?
Universal Medicine is a clinic of excellence, how could it be otherwise when the foundational principles are truth and love in all interactions, whether from reception staff, products and from the practitioners.
It’s a big question to consider “what are we contributing to the universe?”
Yes it is but is there any other question that’s as relevant to the whole of Life as this one?
Our emotions are the waste that we energetically contribute to the universe. As with waste it has to go somewhere to be dealt with by someone/somewhere else, to then get ‘dumped’ elsewhere. But eventually catching up with us at some point in the future.
Alexis, reading your article makes me realise that it is the ‘anxiety, annoyance, anger, frustration, intolerance and at times out and out rage’ in people who have crusaded for not wasting things that has actually put me off their cause and put me off listening to what is being shared. A woman that I know lovingly, calmly and gently shared with me about waste recently and this really made me listen – there was no emotion in what she was sharing, it felt factual and clear.
Emotion in another is generally a turn off for us all and so if we have someone who is emotionally ranting about how we shouldn’t eat meat, throw vegetable scraps in the bin or drive a car, we will often shut down and automatically discount anything that’s being said.
We miss so much when we allow ourselves to react rather than feel what is being expressed by another.
Unless we are aware of our reaction and then it becomes a golden opportunity to be able to see clearly our unloving ways and to choose differently next time round.
Caring and protesting about waste can make us look like very responsible human beings. Many people wear the cape and preach around about the problems of waste, yet in that there is an arrogance, an ignorance and nothing is changed. Nothing is saved and like you say, the universe cops it all.
Alexis, it’s great to be reminded that it is what we feel in our bodies that gets registered – our quality, this helps me put things in perspective and to make this quality my focus.
Yes it is very revealing when we are truly honest about our energetic contribution to the Universe – what quality are we contributing to this planet that is then reflected out to all other planets?
It always comes down to our body and how it is feeling no matter what is said or expressed and this way of being as a foundation in life requires a commitment to deeply loving the self.
By committing to our bodies we also commit to ourselves, life and God.
It occurs to me that there is some truth in hating waste as it highlights a lack of care and attention to detail and a disharmony-after all nothing gets wasted in nature for example. However it is what we do with this that counts – do we react to it in an emotional way or simply respond and deal with it and learn from what it may be showing us?
“now I know that it is what we feel in our bodies that gets registered.” This changes everything in how we react and how we live our lives offering a different reflection of the harm or love we add to the world and our responsibility with this.
Having an issue with anything, be it waste, money, gender, family, etc. simply causes tension in our body and this stops us from truly connecting because the issue(s) we hold onto pushes people away. It can feel imposing and controlling when we dump our issues onto others. Most of all the tension takes us away from connecting to ourselves. It’s a silly game but one many of us play and can relate to.
It’s actually the only game that most of us are playing.
If we were to treat our own bodies with the concern we have for the environment, maybe we would have a whole different health outcomes for this planet.
If we were to treat our bodies with the concern that most people have for the environment we’d be dead.
Having just come through Christmas, I heard that in London alone over 32 tonnes of rubbish was creating by gift-wrap paper alone. Perhaps its time to appreciate that the piece of wrapping paper is also an important part of the present!
I bought some face cream which I don’t really like (it’s like peach yogurt) yet I haven’t been able to throw it away until now – because it’s all used! Why use something on my face that doesn’t feel 100%? why absorb what isn’t true for me?
I don’t agree with being neglectful towards the environment but I do think that if we put the effort we put in to “protect it” on actually improving our own behaviour we would achieve the outcome we say we want.
There are so many things that on one level tick the boxes of being responsible, considerate and caring. Yet if love and regard for everyone is not at the heart of it all, or the communication does not honour and give the space for people to deepen their own awareness and relationship to life, however good it looks, in truth it is failing us all.
Well said.
Brilliant Golnaz and if we focus on the issues outside of us, it takes the focus away from really looking at the issues we hold on to in our own life. A clever way to avoid responsibility because we convince ourselves we are being responsible by taking care of the planet but neglecting to take care of ourselves first.
It’s interesting the things that really get us annoyed and frustrated and that if we think we are right then we somehow see the annoyance as ok and justified. Reading your article makes me realise that it is how we are – our quality that is key, not whether we have fought for what we perceive as right.
Exactly Rebecca, being in the ‘right’ is simply another red herring, it’s our quality that is key, always our quality.
Sometimes having a great clear out, letting go of old stuff, recycling it, or even throwing it away feels amazing. I always feel lighter and more spacious when done.
Agreed.
Alexis, I love your honesty with what you are sharing in this article. it is by being open and honest that allows us to change our behaviours.
Yep, we can’t change what we can’t see. And we can’t see what we won’t admit.
“Our bodies are an intrinsic part of the Universe –– a Universe that is made up of the collective consciousness of us all. It is therefore our individual responsibility to consider, at any point in time, quite what it is that we are contributing.” When we truly get this, our collective behaviour will go through a seismic shift as we realize just how toxic all our emotions are, let alone the physical waste we produce. We definitely need to clean our act up but as with all these things it begins in the inner realm first and then naturally follows suit in the outer.
Funny that your blog post goes up on Christmas Day, a day when mountains of paper, plastic, food, etc go to waste. I hope this doesn’t stress you out too much! 😉 But I get what you’re saying – seems like there needs to be a pause moment when you go, am I getting emotional or practical about this particular situation. One definitely feels better than the other.
Bringing it to a point of responsibility in what we contribute is applicable to everything we do and I appreciate this point being made like this. What we choose to indulge in is at the cost of all of us.
Reading this today I’m thinking about things like Christmas wrapping paper and I’m unwrapping something in me that is interesting. So, because I feel wrapping paper is a waste in terms of resources (paper, sellotape all to be put into the waste bin) and time – like it’s there for the receiver for a very short time before being torn off, I don’t really bother and when I do it feels quite painful. But I’ve noted 2 things from this.
Firstly there are many other areas where I go what’s the point of that because it’s a waste of time. At its extreme it could be taken to what’s the point of living or dying; or a little less obvious making ones bed, or washing the car because it’ll only end up getting dirty again. Don’t panic as I do see the beauty of cycles repeating so each one can be lived with greater depth and support the next cycle of expansion. Nothing is ever mundane when we bring our all to it. I’m just clocking if I ever go into a given up state of not caring and not appreciating the potential of everyday tasks and the cycles we’re in.
Perhaps I lend my hand at wrapping presents because this year when I got to unwrap some it was a really magical experience. The paper may not have lasted long but the love and care with which they were wrapped is still with me and that is very beautiful.
Is there a saying like ‘clear your own back yard first’? … well i’ve just found out there is an Elvis Presley song called ‘clean up your own backyard’ ? This feels exactly like that in that you have seen what you do not like but more awesomely been able to look at how your frustration, anger and emotions that went with this and how this was actually more harmful. There is a lot for us all to ponder on here.
I have been going through a huge spate of clearing stuff out, of my own home and that of my dearly loved family and have decided that we, the whole world, has a Stuff Crisis, ie too much of it. It is supporting me to take a step back from this material driven society I live in and observe what are the things I need that truly support me, rather than what I might want. Tricky at times to break the habit of diving for the cheap stuff on a moments whim, but gradually turning my purchasing choices around to choosing quality above quantity, style over fashion and so on, something my local landfill is appreciating.
I LOVE the reminder that we are part of the Universe and as such what are we bringing to the table? Our crusades can all too often be a cocktail of revolting emotions rather than a responsible way to live that considers the all we are part of and the ripple effect of our behaviour.
Brilliant. Thank you, Alexis. I know that anger has more of an impact on our environment than emissions. It is convenient for us to ignore this.
Maybe one day our emotions will be added to the list of emissions that are harmful to the environment. Who knows maybe we’ll be fined for being angry in the same way that we’re fined for putting chemicals in our waterways.
Thank you for the inspiration to let go of being a crusader against waste which has not supported me to act in a loving way towards myself and others.
You’re welcome Helen. I haven’t quite let go yet, I’m having to prise my fingers off one at a time!
Laying down our banners and living with a quality, consistency and integrity that truly supports ourselves, each other and our environment – definitely the way forward.
There have been a few times in my life that I have held banners and marched for various causes and have felt the strong emotions within the crowd of those that are marching. There were a few occasions when it was easy to feel how marches can turn into riots.
It’s called pack energy, it’s easy to see and feel at any event where there are lots of people gathered, emotions run high and I would say from personal experience of being at an International Football match that our behavior becomes animalistic.
As a race, we accumulate more waste than we can dispose of. What is that telling us about the way we live?
Gosh, your blog reminds me of all the lunch times at school we were forced to eat everything off our plate. Some of the meals were really revolting and I would get very anxious about lunch… the artic roll, mashed potatoes from packets and mushed peas, especially made me feel sick! Lots of tears from lots of kids. But no matter how sick we felt the teachers wouldn’t allow us out to break unless our plate was clean. Some kids managed to hide mouthfuls of food in tissues… I think one kid said she put food down her boots but if we were caught giving our food to someone else we were in severe trouble. I think this would come under ‘waste consciousness’
And the question would be: why force someone to eat what their body is not wanting to eat? Is it not enough to have the clear and natural body response to just respect it consequently? Why going against our nature? Why?
Any force that comes to or through us that violates our delicateness in any shape or form, is a waste worth to be stopped, revised, and rectified to not pollute ourselves and others with that.
Thank you so much Alexis for being so open and honest with showing the absurdity of the force that can come through us when we let ourselves be taken over with such idealistic missions which blind us to the love, care and understanding that is a fundamental ingredient in life. A bit disturbing how familiar your examples seem, but welcoming the dose of humour and understanding you bring to it all.
What an excellent blog Alexis, “Our bodies are an intrinsic part of the Universe –– a Universe that is made up of the collective consciousness of us all. It is therefore our individual responsibility to consider, at any point in time, quite what it is that we are contributing.” this really gives us food for thought, so many times as humans we can use being ‘good’ to allow actions and behaviours that are actually really detrimental to ourselves and those around us.
Agreed and it is only when you read a blog with such rawness and examples of what the good and righteous looks, sounds and feels like that it offers a moment of consideration about the ripple effect of our ‘good’ and righteous behaviours.
When we realise where we get so caught up in the detail of something like this, and are then able to stand back and see it for what it is, it becomes so clear what it is we are avoiding. By focusing on the details of what isn’t right and reacting to them, we easily and quickly lose sight of the bigger picture.
When we come at life from an energetic point of view, disposing of some items becomes a whole lot easier.
Very true Rowena.
Great point Rowena, when we avoid energetic responsibility this often shows up on many physical aspects and our relationship with objects where we often have difficulty letting go.
Something I find difficult to let go of are clothes that I haven’t worn more than a couple of times. I live in hope that I’m going to start liking them and yet I never do.
I know exactly what you mean Alexis. What I am beginning to understand these days is that when I make a huge energetic shift within myself, while some of my clothes may still fit my body, they no longer fit my energy, so time to move them on.
The realisation that there is nothing to hold on to is made simple when we learn the energetic truth.
Thanks Alexis. It seems that while there is the extremes at one end where people casually waste all manner of stuff without blinking an eye, at the other end of the continuum many of us struggle with ‘doing the right thing’ and not wasting ANYTHING. Yet, as your article points out, often we are not not really being honest about what’s driving this behaviour. In my case, I was raised by parents who had experienced living in the Great Depression, so not wasting anything was a big deal and naturally their beliefs were passed on down to us children – so this is a great reminder to take the time to do some deeper reflection on this topic.
Dear Alexis, Reading your story, I can feel the grip of this perception of waste loosen it’s imposingness of you and others around. Beautiful to read. Thank you for sharing your story with honesty.
And what I love Gill is that there is no guess work required, all we need to do is to ask our bodies if they are being ‘affected negatively’ and they will always give us an honest straight forward answer.
Christmas has brought up additional challenges. I am currently wrestling with a 1 kg Christmas pudding, a gift from somebody that I won’t eat. And yet, even though I don’t feel that giving a cake to another person is a loving gesture, (not from the person to me but my belief about me passing it on) I’m still struggling to put the cake in the bin. I’ve also been given some toiletries that I don’t overly like the smell of and yet, again I’m struggling to simply put them in the bin and have had thoughts of using the moisturiser on my legs, because for whatever reason my legs feel less valuable to me than my arms.
…some ideals/beliefs/habits die hard…don’t we all know it ? One suggestion: a post Xmas car boot sale ? – that’s just what many would want to do but don’t
Alexis you have exposed something in me I’d never really considered – actually not true. A reaction to waste that I have tried to ignore because I know I am incredibly wasteful in some ways and incredibly frugal in others – both are unloving. But it’s wonderful to at least begin with being honest with myself, to acknowledge the reactions – those towards others and the fury at myself. All, not contributing to a body of love. Admitting this all allows me to be loving with myself and feel the pain I’ve not wanted to feel: the deep lack of care for ourselves and the world.
I love your honesty Alexis, the last part made me laugh because it is something I would consider too. I was given a gift, something I wouldn’t consume, it was 2 bottles of wine, beautifully wrapped in a beautiful box. In the past, I would have given them to someone who loves wine because I am allergic to alcohol. But once I understood that alcohol is a poison along with sugar, I found it was then very easy to dispose of it.
Ok I just won the pudding challenge, it’s in the bin. I asked myself whether it was made with love and whether passing it on was a loving thing to do and the answer was ‘no’ on both counts, so out it went.
As others have said, I love your honesty Alexis and also the questions you raise by sharing it.
Referring to ‘love’ is such a great test to find the truth – thank you for highlighting it.
And I just managed to put a tube of toothpaste in the bin without squeezing every last bit out of it with the fiat edge of the toe nail clippers – I’m on a roll!
The essential question we should ask our selves about everything. It sure cuts out a lot of complexity! And then the next challenge is getting used to a life filled with simplicity.
“… because for whatever reason my legs feel less valuable to me than my arms.” That makes me laugh out loud Alexis. How we con ourselves that its okay to use products that our senses are telling us are not supportive on the more outlying reaches of our bodies in the hope that they won’t be so affected. Similarly wondering if it’s okay to give the cake to the dog or maybe the birds can eat it? So what is worse – putting the products, food etc in the bin, or poisoning innocent creatures and unsuspecting legs due to our ‘thou shalt not waste’ ideals?
“Poisoning innocent creatures and unsuspecting legs due to our ‘thou shalt not waste’ ideals” – that is a comical but very apt way of putting it. Takes it to a whole new level and makes me get how by choosing this I would actually be perpetuating ‘harm’ under the banner of ‘good’.
And makes me wonder about ‘re-gifting’, in that are we truly saying “I received a very beautiful and thoughtful gift but one that I won’t use and therefore I’m going to pass it onto someone who I know will really love it” or are we saying ‘I’ve been given this rather odd/cheap/tacky present but can’t bring myself to put it in the bin and so I’m going to forward it onto someone I don’t really care about in the vain hope that they might like it’. And as ‘everything is energy’ we have to ask ourselves what the energetic quality is behind our actions.
Thanks Michelle, love is such a simple and yet powerful yardstick.
Yes, what a great question to guide ourselves by. For me it’s asking me, what is that I’m accepting with these gifts? What am I taking on into my body by saying yes – and I mean this more generally. So if money is given with strings attached how do I go about this? If I ignore and just accept because, hey I always need money, then I’ll become a part of the contract the strings allude to. But if I notice the energetic exchange at play I can feel whether I can accept the gift or the money without taking on board all the extras that are unwanted. And if I ‘miscalculate’ what can I learn about myself from this?
Could it be possible the greatest polluter of all is the human body when it is in an emotional situation and also wanting things to be different with ideals, so this waste of energy is adding to the global warming, hm!! maybe? Well cities are using human heat-to-heat buildings, so it is not so silly as it sounds.
This makes sense to me. We live in London and this whole area is decidedly warmer than an hour out of north London and we do not get the extreme weather either. So, cities and the people in them do generate heat.
The wayward way we abuse our planet is an outward reflection of the love-lacking way we abuse our own body.
So true Bridgette, understanding this has taken the overwhelm out of witnessing the atrocities we humans inflict on our planet because being able to understand the cause means we are then more able to accept our part in this and see how we can contribute to the abuse or put a stop to it.
Very true Brigette and in doing so we are also abusing each other in the same ‘love-lacking’ way.
There is an element of control in any circumstances in which we become so dependent on outcomes for us to feel ok and therefore so much we can learn when they arise.
I have spent a lifetime trying desperately to control my external environment in an attempt to prevent myself from feeling anxiousness, jealousy, bitterness, anger, resentment and all manner of other horrible emotions. But it’s only now that I understand that I am the origin of every discomfort that I feel, therefore if I can address things at the source i.e. within Me, then there is no need for me to desperately try and control what’s happening around me because I have the ability to be ok with whatever happens outside of me.
A great reminder Alexis, of how our own ideals and beliefs, when loaded with our emotions can lace not only ourselves but everyone around us. It highlights the responsiblity we have to not let these things overrule what we know and feel deep within us.
When we obsess about anything and forget quality of being, we’ve dug a hole and lost our way.
So true Kehinde and over the years it’s not so much a hole that I’ve dug but a pit ! A pit that I’ve then subsequently fallen into.
What a waste of energy, to devote so much time cutting out waste, when we could be looking at ways to stop the endless distractions that take us away from Love and God.
If I stopped devoting so much time to reducing waste then I wouldn’t have to ‘look at ways to stop the endless distractions that take us away from Love and God’ because the very act of not obsessing about waste would in itself stop one such distraction.
Just last night I was watching a news clip about the fashion trade and how people are buying cheap clothes to wear once, take a picture and then throw the clothing away. They said gone are the days where people buy some expensive but classic pieces to keep for years.
Glass and metal containers have never been a problem! Glass comes from sand and metal comes from the ground. Oil and coal also come from the earth, but we change it, and it has become our Pandora’s box. Both have come from plants and animals that have died millions of years ago, and now we are using them to kill ourselves and our planet.
Alexis, this is really interesting; ‘ on all the hundreds of thousands of occasions that I desperately tried to avoid waste, what got registered was a rather distasteful cocktail of anxiety, annoyance, anger, frustration, intolerance and at times out and out rage. That was my contribution to Life in those moments.’ Reading this makes me realise that when we are in reaction to something that this reaction is in fact harmful for ourselves and others even if we think we are right and justified.
Bingo!
This disease I felt reading this just goes to show that our ideals and beliefs can be so far from what is true, when we become fixated on something from our heads it is harder to see the impact it’s having on ourselves and those around us.
“What gets registered by The Universe is what we feel in our bodies,” I am sure that not many people are aware of this fact. Therefore I very much appreciate it that you have point it out in your awesome blog Alexis. Now more of us can choose to be more aware about what we are contributing to the world.
When we do something however ‘good’ it may be if we are doing it because it is what we believe it should be and/or want it to be, then the act becomes laced with our judgments and emotions.
I can relate to doing some things I’d prefer not to because I’m avoiding waste, it’s been confirming to read this in the sense of trusting what I feel to do, and then making a loving choice for myself.
‘I have eaten something that I haven’t really wanted to eat, simply to avoid throwing it out (and that includes food that has been going mouldy or that I have dropped on the floor).’ YIKES! Thats hardcore .. and not in a good way ? I feel this is from a consciousness and post war generation regarding waste and understandably so, however, we have gone in the completely opposite direction with this now where so much is wasted and it seems very little is appreciated.
Wow Alexis, super honest and powerful blog. I can relate to everything you’ve shared and highlight how some of our so-called good deeds, when done with reaction, is actually deeply harmful.
If we react to something that we know is not correct then our truth gets lost in the tension and the drama of the reaction.
Great point Andrew, I find as soon as I react to something my clarity is gone. Sure it may not be true what I am seeing or sensing but how I respond then dictates the way I am thereafter.
Andrew once upon a time I felt that I knew what was ‘correct’ and what was not but I am no longer sure what ‘not correct’ means anymore. And if I do deem something as being ‘not correct’ then by what yardstick am I measuring it?
The old school appliances with durability are out and we live in a world where appliances are now lasting only a fraction of how long they used to – it is a disposable way of living that we have created which only supports certain levels of disregard and lack of care. The quality of how we live is being reflected to us from all angles – and so it is there to remind us to step up to caring more deeply for self and others.
Sometimes it does feel that we could get drawn into a worrisome state about the amount of pollution there is and what it will look like in x amount of years. But I agree this will only add to the chaos and does not solve anything.
What a great topic. I can so relate to many of the examples that you share here. Hilarious how we even sometimes use our own body as an alternative to a waste bin just because we don’t want to ‘waste’. This is now making me wonder whether there truly is such thing as ‘waste’ in the universe. Maybe this is part of learning true harmony and how that could be reflected in physical movement so that we could learn to respond in a spatial/volumetric aware way.
Wow, what a blog and oops because I recognise some of those behaviours in myself: I cut plastic tubes in half and put one half over the other so I can continue to use what is left inside, I fit staple bits into a stapler, I re-use plastic bags around the house and I also empty one bin into another so that only one bag gets thrown out. Since marrying a man who has travelled the world’s oceans I am also more aware of the use of plastic bottles of water and have only bought three in the two years since I have been with him, preferring to top up a drinking bottle from our water filter. Sometimes I can be smug about my ability to recycle and I think there is a place for it – we are responsible for the planet and everything on it and we will not get off it until the energetic imprint is restored to its former glory and we have let go of all the behaviours that got us here in the first place. But I see your point about the additional pollution we can cause with our anxiousness, so perhaps it is about observation, and eventually we will achieve the balance and harmony
We just need to keep it super simple and feel from our bodies what the energetic impulse is that is governing our actions. It’s either love or it’s not and if it’s not then there’s something there for us to look at.
Spot on, Alexis. ‘It’s either love or it’s not…’. Your blog has shown that this applies to e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g, even something so seemingly insignificant as waste. It goes to show that we can leave no stone unturned when it comes to our energetic imprint and how something so righteous as ‘saving the planet’ can actually be incredibly destructive.
This blog makes me realize how contracted we can become, both physically and emotionally, when we try and squeeze every last drop out of life.
Yes, I can relate to the trying to squeeze every last drop out of life, but for me the motivation came from feeling that I wasn’t enough; so to compensate I would try harder. This was exhausting.
Yes, and when we approach anything with a right or wrong, it contracts our body and therefore stops the flow of purpose, love and evolution.
Love changes everything and if we are not loving in our ways, we are polluting the planet.
Yes could it be that it is our collective emotional ‘waste’ and ‘pollution ‘ as a human race that is harming the planet most?
For sure, Andrew, for as within so without.
I agree, Kehinde… if we break everything down to being a loving gesture or not we have a clear marker for what is true or not.
I find the simplicity of the truth always so refreshingly simple.
Alexis, a great sharing; ‘a Universe that is made up of the collective consciousness of us all. It is therefore our individual responsibility to consider, at any point in time, quite what it is that we are contributing.’ I have been caught up in emotions – getting angry and righteous about certain causes and can feel how this has not helped at all, it has simply made me angry and made it unpleasant for those around me. Expressing how we feel without the anger and frustration and attachment feels true.
“… and I remember violently lunging towards my son as he was about to start the washing up because I anticipated that he was about to use too much washing up liquid!” A superb example Alexis that begs the question, are we really ‘saving the planet’ when we put our environmental concerns above and beyond the quality of our interpersonal relationships?
Realising that it is the emotion with which one does something and not the intent that the Universe registers is hugely significant. That you Alexis for elucidating this so clearly and simply.
However justified we may feel in our minds to have a certain reaction to anything, the truth is the reaction is a disturbance in the universe which adds more muck to what we don’t like in the first place.
It’s great to look beyond physical waste at the energetic state of play.
Really cool to put this issue into perspective. Emotional waste is something we don’t ever consider….the environmental cost of our controlling attitudes on our relationships alone can be huge! Yet this issue is so cloaked in “good” it feels justifiable. The tension created in households around the world on this issue alone must have a real and tangible effect, what goes on in our bodies is also going on in the earthly one. The Universe which holds us all feels it, too.
So True Peta, one day we will be able to calculate where the energy of love comes from and is doing to our environment and also obviously what effect the adverse tensions and emotional energy has.
I so love the honesty and the power of what is exposed here: “What gets registered by The Universe is what we feel in our bodies, therefore on all the hundreds of thousands of occasions that I desperately tried to avoid waste, what got registered was a rather distasteful cocktail of anxiety, annoyance, anger, frustration, intolerance and at times out and out rage. That was my contribution to Life in those moments and there is no getting around it by dressing it up as some environmental crusade.” This got me to really stop and consider the true impact of when I get caught up in some mission or another with similar emotional baggage.
The greatest waste in this world is to live a moment designed for sacredness and Love in half hearted indulgence and emotional drama.
Well said Joseph.
Yes it is such a waste to stress about waste!
Because we often cannot see this waste of living half-hearted, it becomes the plastic in the world’s oceans; unseen but affecting every living thing!
ouch and so true. We can focus on the negativity or we can embrace the sacredness and gloriousness that we are.
Half hearted indulgence and emotional drama are about as far away from sacredness and Love as it is possible to get. There is no shepherd except a false one who would lead his flock so astray.
There are no gradients of distance from love, either we’re with it or we’re not. Someone who is seemingly very far from love can be back in a trice, in exactly the same way that someone who is deemed ‘close to love’ can stay wandering away from it for eons.
Definitely worth reflecting on in what and how we are living at any given time. Also what I am feeling is currently, as humanity, just how contracted we are and not yet seeing ourselves in line with the Universe and our part and responsibility in this.
Contraction and reaction are the things that prevent us from feeling that we are already a living part of the united body of God, therefore it is our responsibility to look at each and every reaction and to disassemble them.
Waste is certainly a great topic Alexis, and until we are using divine energy of our Soul we are not only wasting energy and time but also the opportunity to live in the abundance of Love from God.
The deeper we go with our relationship with our body the greater our awareness of living life where quality is key and we then do not become sidetracked with issues and missions such as ‘saving our planet’. While I can understand the benefit of re-cycling if I am doing it with any sense of frustration and resentment and ‘dumping’ this on my fellow beings I am also working against the natural expansion of the Universe.
We are all returning to a state of being where the only quality that we are living with is the quality of God and so ultimately everything has to be examined and the question asked ‘am I expressing the quality of God in this moment?’
So important to be aware of such issues and understand why they exist but also to remain detached and able to observe what and why.
Have you ever looked closely at most electrical items you buy, that that for a long-time, states; No user repairable parts inside? Have we learned life and the things in it are all disposable with a limited lifespan? Do we have a generation that has embraced the ‘you only live once’ ethos and at what cost to all of us?
Alexis, this article is brilliant and makes me realise how emotional we can become about certain things and that we can get very righteous and at these times see others as wrong and be very judgmental and critical. It’s great to expose this crusade of ‘good’ and of ‘saving the planet’ and to check how we are when we are going about this – are we being loving or are we being driven, anxious and frustrated?
Alexis, I love what you are sharing in this article. I have experienced the frustration of others about waste and observed how this behaviour affects them and those around them and so its brilliant that you have raised this for us to ponder on the effects of this behaviour.
Increased media coverage of plastic waste in our oceans has provoked many people to take up arms against humanity’s disregard and abuse of a vital natural resource. It reminds me of how we relate to our own bodies, often waiting until a health condition reaches critical state before taking any action. Body and planet, equal and the same, both deserving of love and respect as part of our everyday.
Most insightful – an example of what happens when an extreme attachment to a belief or cause, distracts us from looking inwards and at ourselves.
We champion certain causes exactly because it keeps us from “looking inwards and at ourselves.” We have fallen for the erroneous belief that we can ignore our own energetic imprint as long as we fix what is broken ‘out there’. The benefits, reward and recognition we get for crusading our cause seem to far outweigh lifting the carpet on our own broken-ness not realising we are festering in our own rot and contributing towards the decay of a breathtaking inner tapestry by doing so.
In some area of life I am very good at avoiding ie food, however sometimes I feel like I am overeating in the name of avoiding wastage.
Other part of my life would need also need to be revisited on how I could run things more economically.
I can absolutely relate to this on every level! How many of our behaviours do we justify as ‘right’ or ‘good’ because we’ve decided that they’re the best way of doing things, only to impose this way onto others in a hard and manipulative way? Reading this makes me realise how many areas I allow this behaviour to dominate – the ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ thinking, that, even if we think we don’t mind that the other person ‘isn’t getting it’, is still a judgment. Still an expectation that a) there is something to ‘get’ (i.e. a need that we have for another to understand and ultimately agree with what we think is ‘right’), b) that the other person will eventually choose to agree with us. We can be so quick to blame others for their behaviour/s that we find annoying, but when we focus on that, we miss out on the opportunity to look at the energy and state of mind/being that we’re contributing to the world – and so things don’t change.
Oooh, this hits home on so many levels Alexis and as always makes me laugh and cringe at the same time, with that kind of ‘been there, done that, got the T Shirt’ sort of feeling! It is a huge wake up moment when we truly realize that the emotional rollercoaster behind the environmental bandwagon we have been not so merrily peddling is far more toxic than the actual issues themselves. Far better to run a half load of washing with love, that to bundle a full load in with heaps of anger, annoyance and frustration.
Love this – ‘ Far better to run a half load of washing with love, than to bundle a full load in with heaps of anger, annoyance and frustration.” To ask myself what am I feeling – at any given moment? What energy am I allowing my body to be run by?
This is an awesome blog, Alexis. I love how you have taken such a relevant subject and turned it on its head. You could apply this exposé to any number of subjects i.e. charity, global warming, #BandAid, etc. ‘What gets registered by The Universe is what we feel in our bodies…’
When I was growing up we had no one to collect our waste. Everything got recycled, fed to the chickens, pigs, dogs, or made into soup like sueq2012 mentioned, lamb into shepherds pie cake into trifles etc Things were saved and sorted by my father, jars of nails and screws, rubber bands etc, iron and metal on the scrap heap. My mother looked after the paper and the clothing. Somethings we burnt in the house and bigger things on a bonfire outside. So when I moved to London after leaving school and lived in a flat I was horrified that we had a bin for everything. Food was thrown away, paper was tossed in there old clothes ….I found it devastating and it took me a while to reconcile myself to it. I still recycle as much as I can even though I know sometimes it might get dumped anyway and I am not so religious about it as I have been. I love this article it brings up our relationship with energetic integrity as opposed to saving the planet….both of which I am pretty sure my parents were not considering when they made the most of everything for that’s how they saw it then….not to waste anything.
I’ve just seen an expose of where are so-called recycled waste goes – often to Asian countries – where its not recycled at all, but left in great piles, decimating the countryside.
Ouch I relate to way more of your experience than I care to admit, to myself or others, and have frequently been in judgement of others when I perceive them to be acting in a wasteful way. The arrogance of this is now painfully clear and I am open to exploring what I am avoiding when I choose to focus on others’ wastefulness rather than my own behaviours.
Yes, I’ve done this too Helen. Always good to bring back my judgements to look at my own behaviours. I still have this nagging feeling that I hate waste tho. Much to ponder on…..
It can be very handy to dress up our anxieties and wanting to control life by taking part in a worthy cause. It can be difficult to argue with being ‘good’ or doing good deeds, but look underneath at the original intension and much can be exposed.
Brilliant blog Alexis exposing the harm of ‘doing good’ and how it is our emotions and reactions that are causing more harm on this planet than even waste.
“What gets registered by The Universe is what we feel in our bodies, therefore on all the hundreds of thousands of occasions that I desperately tried to avoid waste, what got registered was a rather distasteful cocktail of anxiety, annoyance, anger, frustration, intolerance and at times out and out rage”.
Great and timely contribution to the waste debate Alexis.
I love your honesty Alexis in exposing the monster that lurks beneath the indignation of ‘being right’, and the damage it can cause under the convenient banner of ‘good intentions’.
I know this so well, having also wielded it most of my life about numerous topics from my high horse. Very sobering to see the true face of this championed righteous way of being.
Just because we have a good intention does not necessarily make it true – it is the energy and quality with which it is expressed is where the truth of the intention will be found.
Good intentions never come from truth.
I always love your writing and blogs Alexis so refreshing and honest to read giving the reader an opportunity to do the same. What I got from reading this is responsibility, I saw a post on facebook the other day with a picture of the world in how it was and how it is now … covered in plastic. And over the last few weeks have pondered on my contribution to this but it is not only with waste but also in how we are living and and how we are expressing (or not expressing). As you share if we express in anger, frustration, resentment, rage etc then this is just as harmful if not more in the other ways we are living, yet this part, the emotional one, is one we do not readily talk about including the harmful effect it has on not only our inner environment but the environment on the whole.
As you say Vicky – waste is visible and very temporal. But our emotions and the consequences of our behaviours are not considered to be harmful out in the wider world – yet……
What a waste of energy when we are on continuously on the balustrade in our battle for our ‘right’. We are so much more and better choose not to follow these illusional thoughts that keep us busy and away from what is really needed.
Sometimes the strongest reactions we have is towards the reflection of ourselves that we don’t want to see. You may not have been irresponsible and wasteful with stuff but with expression, it’s no different. When I don’t want to face something I am putting out I know those controlling methods are just awful for everyone around me.
One of the big topics at the moment is the plastic waste we have on the planet and then the other day I read that some scientists have found an enzyme by mistake that will dissolve plastic. Now, these supposed solutions do crop up from time to time and then disappear never to be heard from again. With this idea though it makes me wonder what the effects would be to the ecosystem if such a thing was introduced; would we be creating another problem by trying to solve another.
That’s an interesting point Julie, so often we get focused on eliminating one thing we harm another. Just like with the Cane Toads – so called great idea to start with but then they took over and are now a pest! We need to look at long term solutions rather than just immediate ones.
The same thing happened with the plant kudzu in the southern states of the US. It was introduced to assist with soil erosion and now takes over 150,000 acres a year and cannot be cut down or poisoned quick enough. When we lived in Alabama it was everywhere and engulfed everything from cars to houses.
When we begin to get a sense of a belief (in this case going to the extremes to avoid waste) and what we are contributing to the universe we begin the process of letting it go but first we have to live a level of love and what this feels like in the body. Life is a forever deepening of the love that we are to hold in the universe.
Feeling my body first, something I shall do more of, inspired by your article Alexis, before allowing frustration to set in with regard to waste.
I don’t get this either: when people with impeccable ‘green’ credentials: eat organic food, have allotments, don’t drive cars, and are driven to save planet earth, put relationship with nature and planet above relationships with people.
I’ve never liked waste either. I think my soup making habit comes from the dislike of throwing away left-overs. I’ve been known to take home leftover food from family members, when they would throw it out! I make a tasty soup instead….. recycling when I can….
I love how you bring with clarity to the fore an example of our behaviours, convictions, daily undertakings, bringing them into perspective to the all and back to the simple fact that the quality is what gets registered by us all and not the words or good course.
“quality is what gets registered by us all and not the words or good cause.’
I love the simplicity of what you express here. Devotion to a good cause, when not supported by a quality of Love in our lives and relationships, will never bring about the changes desperately needed by humanity.
Hilarious Alexis, the minutae of how an obsession with a worthy cause to the exclusion of all else, can be emotionally toxic and defeats the object of saving the planet. Instead we add to its woes.
We so often think that we are entitled to whatever emotional outplay we may be in without even considering that there may very well be consequences. But these consequences are often nothing we can look for with our eyes. They have a ripple effect that spreads far and wide. I was in a boat on a river yesterday and I was watching the ripples move outward as we moved through the water. There is nothing that these ripples don’t touch as they move across the river. Everything is impacted in one way or another. Our movement through space is the same. If we are in an emotional state this ripples out and effects anyone who may be unsuspecting. Also if we are in a harmonious state this also ripples out. As you say Alexis it then falls to us to consider what ripple are we contributing to?
Great observation Alexis – what pollutes us more, and is this why so often the movement is rejected? All that can be felt is judgement and reaction, and not a true care for the issue at hand.. held lovingly.
It is the quality that matters, not our long held beliefs and ideals which boy I can feel in my body too when it comes to waste… is it really worth ‘saving’ when it comes down to how it feels in the body?
A minor irritation at waste can be to acknowledge our hate of the serious abuses and injustices in the world.
Brilliant sharing Alexis. How we pollute our environments with reactions, emotions and so on has been deeply ignored. We all feel it when someone is emotional or in reaction about something, angry or sad and it does have an effect on how we feel able to move freely in life, even though it of course always is a choice.
I can relate to so much of what you have shared here Alexis, and it did make me squirm a little at times, such has been my, often misguided, reaction to waste. And yes, this determination to do ‘good’ by saving the planet from drowning in waste does come with an impact on our bodies, an impact that, as you have shown so clearly, does have a ripple effect that touches all those around us. So, if we are harming ourselves and others by trying to do good, maybe it’s time to reconsider the meaning of ‘doing good’ and replacing it with ‘being responsible’
Very true Doug, doing good is a real killer as it gets up trapped in right and wrong and changes nothing.
Absolutely beautiful sharing Alexis.
I thoroughly enjoyed this blog as it is a passion of mine to be as resourceful as I can by wasting as little as I can.
I found myself waiting for a justification at the end but it came via a vastly bigger pondering for us all.
To detach or not to detach…?
That is the question.
Thank you.
Wow – super honest and oh, so revealing of our true motives, a putrid cocktail of emotions on top of our unresolved hurts.
I sometimes wonder how much of the recycling and environmental programs are set up just to keep people busy? I am not saying that they have never had a genuine intent to support the environment, but I see people who preach looking after the environment and yet they drink alcohol or smoke or do recreational drugs which is not looking after their own environment (their body). This to me does not make sense. Really we need to start with ourselves.
There is much for us to learn about pollution of our environment in terms of emotional pollution – could it be that we can be wasteful gracefully? I think so…
AND, crazy to consider but we can be environmentally friendly so to speak by recycling everything to a T, but have no harmony in our body which in fact is very damaging not only to us but also to those around us as well as the planet! Which one is the way to go? And of course we can learn to be graceful and harmonious whilst caring respectfully for the environment on all levels.
Having never considered emotional pollution as a topic I am struck by how I affect the environment I am in when I am caught in an emotional episode for example when I am berating myself for the way I approached something yesterday and how it is continuing to impact me and others today.
Thanks Alexis for your sharing. We can all support by reducing waste in terms of being respectful on all levels, but this is never worth doing over and above the harmony that we can lose in the process and if we get stressed out about it. I am a little old school and I don’t like waste, but more so because of the loss of money and time that is involved – for example one of my pet peeves is to have to throw out good food when it could easily have been enjoyed – to me this is ‘hard earned’ money that was unnecessarily lost. However as you have said – it is not worth crying over spilt milk…pun intended!
Thank you Alexis. Your writing gives me something to feel further into.
I also have had an issue with waste for a long time, and still have in a milder version. I also thought I was environmentally conscious, which is true to a certain degree. But it started when I lived more or less in poverty when I was younger and carried that poverty consciousness along with me in later years.
Very interesting to read it is fascinating how much we can take things on from others, try to change them and react internally if not externally. We are a very wasteful society but when we look at the way we are with the Universe we see the far greater responsibility we have.
‘save the environment’ VS ‘polluting the universe’ – interesting observations. Thank you Alexis.
For many ‘saving the environment’ is polluting the Universe.