Where Are We Headed?

19 Comments

Posted on April 21, 2013

Today I want to share a question that was posed recently on an internet forum that I read. The following is an edited version of the original question/statement that was put up for discussion.

“So many people seem to be in such dire straits with health – physical, mental, emotional and monetary problems. Why? Do you honestly think it is normal? I don’t. I think that the world is in melt down.

So much hatred and heartache in the world, the home, the streets and the schools ,these days.

I think that if we could go back to a simpler life of less things and more love and understanding then we would need less drugs for depression, anxiety and emotional related illness.

The word dis-ease is of course a body not at ease, not happy, not content, not reaching its potential and of course we all know the health system is buckling under the weight of diseases.

So why is humanity doing this do you think? We are clever and we do have choices about how we live and how we work and live in our family units and amongst our friends and in our communities and the wider world.

What are people’s agendas? Is progress the be all and end all of humanity, if in the end it only causes destruction? I think that we have gone too far and that it is time to pull back from the vortex we are hurtling towards.”

I found this quite confronting and to be honest, downright depressing. Several people responded and added their view of what was wrong with the world and I could literally feel myself being dragged down.

So I took a dose of my own advice, wrote the following response and immediately felt better.

“There are problems – there have always been problems.

Most of the issues have been thoughtfully identified in preceding posts. (Original forum discussion not copied here).

So, what to do about it? Whinge? Wring our hands? Worry? These are not productive responses and will only drag you into the downward spiral with everyone and everything else.

Take a step back and heed Ghandi, “Be the change you want to see in the world”.

I do not believe that ‘Dropping out’ is a solution. We are essentially a social species and are not wired to live in isolation.

Make small, incremental changes that are sustainable, otherwise you will be overwhelmed and setting yourself up for failure.

Turn off the TV – or at least skip the advertisements
Do not buy magazines
Limit your exposure to news coverage
Shop during conventional hours (Mon-Fri 9-5 and Sat 9-12)
Support businesses that only open during those hours
Turn off your mobile phone/internet for set periods so that you are not connected constantly
Reach out to your neighbours
Give something back to your community – volunteer?
Participate in local activities
Eat simple meals

It is difficult to change the sense of entitlement, constant anger, greediness etc that we see in the world.

TO DO

Practise the sorts of things I have mentioned
Model positive behaviours to your children, family, friends and neighbours

RESULTS

You will feel calmer, more resilient and positive
This may be the first drip of a new flood

If everyone who is concerned about the direction that society is headed makes positive changes we can make a difference. We are the society.”

What do you think? I am genuinely interested in how you view society today. Are we all agents of our own self-destruction? Can we change things or do we need to? Are you perfectly happy with your life and your place in the world at large?

Reprise

A Special Time to Share

2 Comments

Posted on April 15, 2013

Yesterday I captured this gentle interaction between Miss O , Izz and The Duke.

The combination of everyday chores, conversation and play makes for a comfortable Sunday afternoon.

What did your Sunday look like?

Getting Back on Track

6 Comments

Posted on April 14, 2013

I have had 2 weeks back at work since my holidays and I still feel as though I am chasing my tail at home. Somehow everything has been done but the smooth process seems to have flown the coop. In fact, last Friday morning I had to iron a shirt for The Duke as there were no business shirts in his cupboard. That was not good.

This weekend has been pretty busy as Miss O and Izz came to stay and that certainly limits what I get done. However, I have managed to finish the washing and ironing, written a menu plan and have the meals prepared for Monday and Tuesday.

Do you plan your meals? What is your process?

I have have also decided what I will wear to work tomorrow so I feel as though I am ready to start the week. How about you?

Project 333 – One Year On

4 Comments

Posted on April 9, 2013

Today I wanted to share with you how I choose what to wear each day. My inspiration is Courtney Carver and Project 333 although I do not precisely follow the principle of 33 items for 3 months. We live in a mild climate and many items can be worn almost year-round so I have chosen to have a simple selection of clothes which can be worn in a variety of ways and most importantly, that suit my lifestyle. I have never had a huge selection of clothes but since discovering the concept of Project 333 nearly 12 months ago I have streamlined my wardrobe and made the items I have really work for me.

Since going back to work last Tuesday I set myself a mini-challenge. I wanted to see how many outfits I could create that I had not previously worn before. It can be something as simple as a different cardigan/jacket or a skirt/top combination that I have not tried before.

Today is the 6th day and here is what I am wearing.

This dress is a relatively recent acquisition and I love the fact that it includes my 2 favourite colours – red and pink. I have worn it with a red jacket but today it is a different look with a fine cotton cardigan in pink.

I am wearing sandals as it is still quite warm here (about 25C) during the day but mornings and evenings are cooler and the cardigan is also useful in the air-conditioned office.

I have streamlined my wardrobe to the extent that I do not need to trawl through it to see what I have or what goes with what. I know exactly what I own and can plan my outfits a day or 2 in advance in my head and then simply grab the required items in the morning.

We live in a mild climate and it is officially autumn (fall). It is hard to believe but it will get cooler over the coming months. I need to buy some new trousers to wear to work as the one pair that I owned were discarded at the end of last winter as I had lost weight and I could have nearly ‘lost’ my trousers! I hope to buy 2 pairs – black and charcoal grey in the same style if possible, so wish me luck!

Slow Living – March

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Posted on April 2, 2013

This year I have joined with Slow Living Essentials so here we are again with a review of March. This will be interesting as we spent 16 days on holidays. We took a road trip to NSW, Victoria and Canberra and enjoyed a relaxing time. If you want to know where we went and what we did you can see more here. Meanwhile, I will try to fill in the categories below.

Here are the Slow Living categories:

{Nourish} While it was not spectacularly interesting, we did manage to feed ourselves each and every day.

{Prepare} The first half of the month was spent preparing to go on holidays.

{Reduce} The contents of the refrigerator and freezer were reduced to almost zero before we headed off on our holiday.

{Green} We took our picnic set and our own food for lunches when we were travelling so no takeaways and no disposable containers.

{Grow} The seedlings which we planted towards the end of February continued to grow while we were away and we are now picking and eating the bok choy. We are also reaping the fruits of self-sown cucumbers. These came up from cucumbers that fell and rotted from the summer crop. This is the second year that we have had a follow-on crop of cucumbers. The great thing about growing them in autumn is that the cucumbers are not as prolific nor do they ripen as quickly so we are generally able to keep up with them.

We also harvested a pineapple and mangoes.

{Create} The holiday theme is evident again in this suit bag that I made to transport the suit that The Duke wore to a wedding while we were away.

{Discover} New places and new adventures.

Woodside Beach

River

{Enhance} Sadly, death was the catalyst to renew some friendships that had languished. We were reminded of the fragility of life and the importance of nurturing relationships. However, there was happiness as well.

The happy couple

{Enjoy} We did enjoy our travels and recharged our batteries so now it is time to get back to the things we do every day and I hope my slow-living round up for the end of April is a bit more interesting.

Til next month………..

No Frills Friday

5 Comments

Posted on March 8, 2013

This is not a new series of posts but simply the best title I could come up with.

The power was interrupted briefly yesterday evening so I reset the clock radio alarm for 5am before I went to bed.

The Duke usually takes care of this but he was out of town. I re-checked that I had set it correctly then hopped into bed. It was actually much earlier than 12.38. That is the only picture I could find.

I am not sure whether it was the cool night, the bed to myself or just sheer exhaustion but I slept soundly and the first thing I knew was it was 5.23am. The music was playing but the volume was quite low.

We generally leave between 5.36am and 5.40am to catch a train at 5.53am and drive almost 8km to get to the station. I had 30 minutes to achieve the impossible!

Out of bed and showered
Teeth cleaned, medication taken
Dressed, hair brushed, face moisturised
Grab prepared breakfast and lunch
Grab my bag
Let dog out
Lock door
In the car at 5.38am and standing on the station platform at 5.48am – exactly 25 minutes from when I opened my eyes.

I am a no-frills kind of girl at the best of times so I really managed to do everything I would normally achieve in my morning routine – just at super speed. Being organised certainly helped as I had already decided on my outfit and did not have to trawl through a cluttered wardrobe wondering what I might wear.

I have one handbag which contains the essentials and it is ready to go. My essentials for going to work are – rail pass, access pass for office, purse and car keys. There are other things in the bag but that is what I need to easily navigate the day.

What is your routine? Can you pare it down further if the need arises?

Marvellous Mango

1 Comment

Posted on March 6, 2013

We have a small mango tree which we planted about 4 years ago. This is the first year that it has fruited and I am not sure whether it is due to maturity or simply the unusually warm, dry summer that we experienced up until the middle of January.

The tree is an R2E2 variety which is grown commercially here in Australia and has large fruit but the fruit we have picked are as large as any I have seen.

Regardless of the reason, we have enjoyed the half a dozen large fruit.

The flesh is smooth and firm with a fairly thin skin which is able to be peeled with a knife.This is one cheek or side of the mango.

Here is the cheek diced and ready to pack in my lunch. The remaining portion is covered in the fridge and will be used over the next couple of days.

Mango harvests are subject to seasonal variations so I will have to wait and see whether this season has been a “one-off” or whether we will enjoy home-grown mangoes each year.

I love eating seasonal produce, particularly those things with a relatively short season. Half of the joy is in the anticipation.

Slow Living – February

4 Comments

Posted on March 3, 2013

This is my second month of joining in the monthly round-up at Slow Living Essentials and already I seem to be struggling with what to write. A couple of things seems to have conspired against me – it is a short month – is it really the end of the month already? and the weather! Since the dry spell broke on the Australia Day weekend (26th January) it has rained almost constantly which limits our activities somewhat

Here are the Slow Living categories:

{Nourish} With the onset of some cooler weather with the rain it was an ideal time to pull out the slow cooker.

I made a batch of pumpkin soup and and beef casserole.

{Prepare} We had an excellent crop of figs.

As well as eating lots of them fresh from the tree, I was able to dry some. This was very successful so I am hoping to have enough to do again next year.

{Reduce} This is always a hard one as we do this each and every day. I turned a singlet of mine that was too short into one for Miss O.

{Green} The weather has brought out the mould but I am keeping things clean and smelling fresh with the use of clove oil. You can read a previous post here.

{Grow} The warm, dry beginning to the summer meant that we had about 8 mangoes on our small tree. We planted it about 4 years ago and this is the first time it has fruited. I suspect that it is generally too cool for them here but this year’s crop has made it worthwhile. They are some of the best mangoes I have tasted and the flesh is as smooth as anything with no sign of stringiness.

Last weekend we had a rare fine day so we bought and planted some vegetable seedlings. They have more than doubled in size in a week.

{Create} Since my sewing machine has returned from being serviced I have got quite a bit of sewing done. I am working through my stash of fabric as well as some pieces I have been given. Here are some of the results.

Winter and summer pyjama bottoms.

A new lining in my skirt.

{Discover} I don’t think I have read anything this month but in a different vein I did discover some fabric to be used when I was sorting out my stash.

{Enhance} We gave away the used fencing wire via Freecycle. I also shared some of the many self-sown cucumber seedlings with neighbours, work colleagues, blogging friends and also on Freecycle.

It is a shame that I did not take some photos of them. Not so much for the seedlings but the innovative packaging. I used some excess egg cartons that I had been given and each seedling and its soil was packed in a space in the carton.

An internet friend sent me some fabric and I used some of it to make a dress suitable for an 18 month old. I will send it to her for her granddaughter who was born last week.

{Enjoy} We travelled to Melbourne and spent a weekend with our daughter who moved there recently. We saw her new home, sampled food at some local establishments and shopped.

I bought this dress to wear to a wedding in a few weeks. I just need to finalise accessories.

The slow living this month has been heavily weighted towards sewing and I guess that is not entirely unexpected with being stuck indoors due to the weather.

Now I am off to check out some of the slow living blogs.

Til next month………..

Building Resilience

6 Comments

Posted on February 28, 2013

I have said it before and will say it again. Life is fragile. It can be snuffed out in a moment. Cherish what you have and live for today.

As you can probably guess, I have found out that an ex-work colleague was killed in tragic circumstances last week. He was younger than me with a loving wife and 4 children. This is the point where people often say (or write), “he didn’t deserve to die”. I find that statement offensive because it implies that some other people do deserve to die.

Death is inevitable and we all face it. There are close family and friends, acquaintances, connections through friends as well as those we ‘know’ only through the media. It is important to acknowledge the passing of anyone but it must be appropriate to the level of connection or we will find ourselves overwhelmed and consumed by grief.

This also applies to people who are gravely ill or facing a diagnosis which provides an uncertain future at best.

A friend’s elderly mother is hovering between life and death after a nasty fall. A well-known media personality is said to be gravely ill with possibly only days to live. Another friend’s mother has received a diagnosis of cancer. Each of these impacts on me and I am saddened but I need to process the information appropriately. I have not met any of these people directly but I can support my friends with messages and perhaps phone calls.

Life and death goes on every day and it is possible to receive almost instantaneous updates on everything via Facebook, email, Twitter and so on. In order to maintain your strength and resilience you need to take some time-out and recharge your emotional batteries. In the current time of being constantly connected it can be difficult to step away from the never-ending bombardment of information.

Your emotional well is not infinite. Top it up. Take care of yourself and you will be able to provide an appropriate level of support to those you care for when they need it most.