Why do so many people leave city life as a way of downshifting? Do you think the global recession is going to increase or decrease the amount of people downshifting to the coast or the countryside?

It seems to me that this is mainly to do with wanting to reduce stress and slow down. Life can be so pressurised and fast paced these days and this can lead to all kinds of personal and professional pain. It is possible to slow down the pace of life and reduce personal stress in a city environment or whilst living by the coast or in the countryside. Actually, living in a district that’s more remote doesn’t work for everyone. It depends what kind of lifestyle suits you. What we do know is that having some regular contact with nature, wherever you live, is very helpful. It reduces stress and produces endorphins in the brain – the happiness chemicals!

I think the global recession may lead to some people moving out of town and using redundancy, for example, as an opportunity to start anew in an environment that is better suited to them. However, for some people, it can have the opposite effect, if for example they believe that they’re not able to afford to move or they fear employment difficulties if they move further afield.

What advice would you give to someone considering a relocation?

Think about what you’re moving towards as well as what you’re trying to leave behind (see my recent blog “Freedom From” or Freedom to”). As with any major life decision, it’s the inner work that needs to be addressed first – establishing motivation, inspiration, personal values, the real reasons for wanting a change and the truth about where you wish to move to, metaphorically and physically.

Do you think there are dangers involved in packing up your life and moving to a far-flung destination?

I think I would prefer to use the word “risks” rather than “dangers”!  There are risks in any decision and the way to evaluate the risks and minimise those associated with the path you decide to take is to do your research. I would suggest researching culture, the political situation, healthcare provision in particular for your considered destination. I would look closely at finances too. How will you finance your new lifestyle? If close to retirement, how will moving to a far flung destination affect your pension arrangements? The “danger”, in my opinion is in making an uninformed or ill-informed decision.

I would also suggest thinking deeply about who you would like to live close to in your new life. Who in your family matters most to you? Which friends would you like to have more contact with? Whilst many people are clocking up thousands of “love miles” visiting friends and relatives by plane at the moment, this is unlikely to be realistic within a very short space of time (probably within the next 5 years) with depleting oil supplies and climate change mitigation measures coming into force.

What would your advice be to someone who is struggling with where they are in their lives? Is there something to consider before taking the leap and making huge decisions like a relocation or career change?

Yes- your values and overall vision. You will need to be very clear on your motives and intention. I encourage my clients to be authentic, above all, in whatever they plan to do.

Many downshifters want to run their own business to help support the financial side of their new life. Have you got any tips for people trying to find a suitable business idea to develop?

That’s a BIG question!  In brief it comes down to values, business purpose, what you want to achieve by starting a small business. Most of us are capable of doing many different things in order to earn a living. The question is really “What will make us happy too?” “How can I make a meaningful contribution to the world and support myself financially?” I do a lot of coaching on this and it’s a fascinating and fulfilling process – often very moving actually. Something you can ask yourself is: If your business were a vehicle for something, what would that something be?

How can people learn to live with less, especially with the concept of “downshifting” and returning to a simpler way of living? Won’t they just be miserable when they get rid of all their creature comforts and nights out?

Rather than “returning” to a simpler way of life, for me it’s more about creating a new way of living more simply. For some people, life without their creature comforts will be miserable. They find it a great challenge to see the value, or experience the joy, in the simpler things in life. This is not really surprising given the emphasis on the message “this creature comfort will make you attractive, sexy, happy etc. etc.” in most of the advertising on television and in newspapers and magazines. It can take many of us a few decades to realise that this message is a complete myth!

Some people who are forcibly downshifted e.g. through redundancy, ill health or a relationship breakdown, are quite depressed to begin with. It is possible to help them cultivate a different perspective on their plight and start to see the opportunities and gifts in their situation. I’ve found personal coaching to be a wonderful tool in this respect.

For those who can already envisage a richer, more meaningful alternative to the rat race, downshifting can be a blessed relief and a source of pleasure and tranquillity.

Do you think the concept of relocating your life in order to achieve happiness actually works? Or is it just a myth?

I think relocation on its own is not what will make us happy. To achieve happiness, we need to be living an authentic life, true to our values. We need to be honest with ourselves about what really motivates and inspires us about life, who we want to spend time with, what kind of environment we like to live in etc. Relocating in itself is not necessarily the answer to all of these things, although it might well form part of the means to the answer.

Something for those readers who are single and would rather be in a partnership. Here’s an article I wrote recently for the internet dating site, Natural Friends:

Are you feeling a lack of enthusiasm for dating as the year draws to a close?

Longer nights, shorter days, colder and wetter weather can all enhance our natural tendency at this time of the year to want to hibernate. We crave more sleep, less physical activity and more starchy, warm food. Maybe this isn’t such a bad thing and, if we listened to our bodies, they would be telling us something about how we can make the most of our winter lethargy. What nature is trying to tell us in relation to our dating activities, I believe, it that this is an ideal time to review, re-evaluate and plan.

What does this mean when it comes to finding a life partner?

Winter can be an ideal time to:

Take Care of Yourself. This is about treating yourself as you would have others treat you. If you cannot love and respect yourself, how can you expect another to love and respect you? In practice, this means remembering to rest, taking compassionate steps to nurture yourself when ill, eating healthily to boost your immunity to winter chills, taking moderate, enjoyable exercise and talking to yourself kindly.

Review Your Year. What has been happening with your dating activities and your efforts to find a partner this year? What has worked and what hasn’t? Can you pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses? What kind of feedback have you had from others? How much credibility do you give it and what can you learn from that?

Plan for Next Year. Knowing what you know now, what do you want to do about finding a partner next year?

One of the exercises I offer coaching clients is to write a description of their ideal life partner. They then produce a detailed picture of Mr or Ms X  in terms of their values and attitudes to life, work, children, the planet, money, health, sex, personal growth – everything they can think of that’s important to them. This can be a great way to vision a partner and attract them into your life. It can also draw your attention to your own values in primary relationships and highlight some areas for personal growth.

Another benefit of taking the time and energy to elicit this type of grounding, rational information is that it can serve to steady you during the headier times of falling in love, when you may be prone to forgetting (or dismissing completely)  the importance of compatibility as well as chemistry in a relationship. Some say that it’s our souls who fall in love, but it’s our personalities who have to get on with eachother!

So, I would encourage you to make the most of the opportunity that nature offers us during the winter months for review, self-care and renewal. I wish you well in refreshing your enthusiasm for your quest and may this serve you well in finding your life partner in 2010.

Values

In several of the articles I’ve written, I mention authenticity and the benefits of living in alignment with our values – living authentically.

Beverley has contacted me to ask that I produce some kind of straightforward checklist on how to lead an authentic life.

Here’s what I’ve come up with (so far!):

1.    Know your values and principles and commit to them daily.

2.    Learn from your reactions and examine your habits. What do they tell you about your alignment with your values and principles?

3.   Prioritise time for silence and quiet reflection (so you can hear your intuition speaking to you – your intuition is your key to your authenticity.)

4.   Examine your motives – inspiration or coercion?

5.    Live and work with conscious intent rather than on autopilot. Another term for sustainable living is “Conscious Living”

6.    Be present. (Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now” is the best text I know on this.)

7.    Give up seeking approval from others and start living by your own lights.

8.    Spend time alone. Be happy in your own company. (To give yourself some time away from the influence of others and just be yourself.)

9.    Practice speaking up. (Voicing your truth can be an effective way to support yourself  and others – with assertiveness rather than evangelising)

10.    Learn the Gentle Art of  Non-Persuasion.

True intelligence is the capacity of the mind to yield to the wisdom of the heart. Altazar Rossiter. (From Developing Spiritual Intelligence. The Power of You.)

Whenever you are true to yourself, you are beautiful. Andrew Schneider

“For all my good intentions, there are days when things go wrong or I fall into old habits. When things are not going well, when I’m grumpy or mad, I’ll realize that I’ve not been paying attention to my soul and I’ve not been following my best routine.”
Robert Fulghum

Is downshifting a spiritual act? Is deciding to live more in alignment with the needs of the planet, humanity and ourselves an act of defiance, a refusal to comply, to be “socially included” or is it maybe a shift towards a mode of living that supports both our personal spiritual growth and the raising of global consciousness?

I have met plenty of atheistic, sustainable living and sustainable business enthusiasts who tell me that they see many reasons to simplify our social and business culture, to consume less, to emphasise personal and planetary wellbeing more, without needing to subscribe to any kind of spiritual beliefs or moral code. So, clearly, some sense of or belief in our spiritual nature is not a prerequisite for living more simply. For those who view living and working sustainably very much as part of their spiritual path, though, some kind of regular spiritual practice is paramount.

Why is that?

It’s like preparing to run a marathon. For most of us running a marathon is not something that we can just get up in the morning and do! We first need to train, to prepare and attune ourselves so that the task in hand becomes possible. For us to learn to change our approach to living and working to one where the needs of the planet, humanity and ourselves is uppermost in our consciousness, we need to practice being in touch and then remain in touch with that part of ourselves that guides us from the heart rather than from the head. I’m not saying that we never need guidance from the head, rather that our heads do a very good job of influencing us anyway, and flooding our consciousness for much of the time. By learning how to maintain contact with our hearts, our Higher Selves, the Divine, God, whatever that is for us, we will be redressing the balance between head and heart.

In my experience, regular, preferably daily, spiritual practice is a way to achieve this. What is it that gets in the way of us committing our time and energy to regular spiritual practice? What can we do to work with these obstacles and remove them?

Common Obstacles

Practical

• Lack of a physical space.
• Lack of a time space.

A very effective way around these kinds of obstacles is to consider our options more openly. If we can’t find room at home to meditate or practice Yoga, T’ai Chi or QiGung, for example, perhaps we can explore what changes can be made in our home environment to accommodate some space. Perhaps it is easier to go out to a regular class some days and practice at home on others. Perhaps there’s another space away from home that we can use. Perhaps there are some changes we can make in how our home space is used in order to accommodate some room for our spiritual practice.

Personal health/physical

• Illness of some kind, either an acute episode or an ongoing physical or mental illness.
• Surgery
• Personal weaknesses – physical or psychological.
• Lack of knowledge

In an ideal world, we would establish a robust spiritual practice when we’re feeling well in order to carry us through any illness that might emerge later. In practice, this doesn’t always happen and we will need to be honest with ourselves about what we can handle when ill and balance that against the healing benefits of maintaining some form of practice. We will need to let anyone who is caring for us know that this is a priority for us and part of our care regime. Whatever our state of health, we may well benefit from working with a spiritual teacher.

Emotional

• Limiting beliefs (those that lead us to sabotage rather than support our efforts)
• Conditioning (unconscious patterns of behaviour, usually learnt in childhood, which may hinder our progress in adult life.)

Awareness is the key here – to watch our automatic reactions and unpack them to reveal our underlying needs and how we might meet them in a life-sustaining way. Coaching can help to raise awareness.

Social

• Family, friends, colleagues unsupportive.

We can choose to ignore unsupportive comments, or we can choose to talk gently with those who appear to be putting obstacles in our way. In my experience, most of us would rather keep quiet and seethe than have what we fear might be a “difficult conversation”. In practice, it’s usually easier in the longer term to have the discussion.

Spiritual

• Unsure of my path, lack of clarity.
• Conflict between what attracts me now and the religion I was raised in.

Ironically, it’s maintaining a spiritual practice that helps us to achieve awareness of, clarity with, and insight into, all of the above. We can ask ourselves how flexible or rigid we want to be and where our boundaries lie. We can also investigate areas where we feel we would like to extend our knowledge. Spiritual growth can be a dynamic balance between the experiential and the expansion of knowledge.

Conclusion.

Whilst not a prerequisite for living and working sustainably, maintaining a sound spiritual practice is something that many downshifters find supportive, inspiring and a great comfort. Whilst there can appear to be many obstacles to this approach in our modern, fast-paced way of life, it is possible to remove these. As with many areas of downshifting, effecting life changes that are important to us can lead us to question our assumptions and beliefs and thus to benefit from the process of growth that accompanies the change.

At his carpet company, Ray Anderson has increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional “take / make / waste” industrial system on its head. In a gentle, understated way, he shares a powerful vision for sustainable commerce.

Notice the incredibly beneficial effect this company’s “Mission Zero” business plan has had on goodwill and market share.

Highlighting the dominant role that business currently plays in plundering the earth’s resources and stressing the potential for business as a solution to the problem, his message is clear:

“Theft of our children’s future will one day be a crime.”

Do create a 15 minute window in your day to benefit from the uplifting messages in this short video.