October
2007
In this issue...
- Motivation
For Downshifters - Part Two.
- Working
With Nature.
By Aspen Edge.
- Your exploration this month.
- Quotes of the month
- Want to comment or contribute?
- Teleclasses and personal coaching
News and Events
I’d like to draw your attention to
a new free publication on sustainable living that I became
aware of last month. It’s called Sustained Magazine
and you can find it online here.
World Food Day is
on 16th October and the Women’s
Environmental Network will be celebrating
growing food, swapping seeds and getting together.
Slow Money – The
Wessex Reinvestment Society (WRS) is a new initiative,
and the first of its kind in Britain,
to provide small community enterprises with a simpler way
of accessing funds. It will also give people in the South
West of England the opportunity to invest in projects that
are closer to home and hopefully more ethically sound.
1. Motivation
for Downshifters - Part Two.
Are you committed to downshifting
or de-stressing your life but can’t find the motivation you need to
take the first step? Are there some external factors
in your life, such as hefty mortgage repayments or an
unsupportive partner that you feel are preventing you
from realising your dream? Some conventional methods
for moving ourselves forward in situations such as these
often fall short on staying power and realism, so I’ve
come up with an alternative approach.
Last month, in part one of this
article, we looked at the first two stages of motivating
ourselves the easy
way. They are “Responsibility” and “Re-view”.
If you missed part one, do email
me for a copy. This
month we look at stages 3 and 4.
3. Renewal
The most important part of the renewal stage is the
discovery of our real needs through being more aware
and sensitive to them. This is different to being aware
of what others tell us we need to be and do. It’s
about knowing at our very core what it is that’s
important to us. With my personal coaching clients
I will do what is known as a values elicitation exercise
at this point. Once we know our core values – what
really makes us tick, not what we’d like other
people to think makes us tick! – then we can
distinguish between where we’re forcing ourselves
to change and where we’re feeling inspired to
change.
This is key – the difference
between coercion and inspiration - because, we can
then be more honest
with ourselves about what drives us and where our strengths
and weaknesses lie. The next step then involves nurturing,
co-ordinating and harnessing our personal resources for
maximum effect.
In starting out on a lifestyle change in this way, we
are moving from a disciplinary approach to a visionary
approach. One of the things that I encourage my clients
to do to support themselves at this stage is to find
out what kind of material inspires them and then to include
a little bit of this in their lives every single day.
For example, this might be spending time in nature or
reading inspirational material or painting or playing
music or meditating. Do take some time to reflect on
what inspiration material is for you and then carry this
knowledge into the next stage.
4. Re-create
What you need to create will become
evident once you have made the time to complete stages
1-3. The inspiration
and truths you unveil will point towards some new possibilities
for you to explore. Then you can put together, piece
by piece, a new regimen – not imposed but something
that will work naturally and authentically for you. You’ll
know that you’ve reached this point when you feel
enthusiastic and energised about what’s about to
happen.
From this point, I would suggest
that you build one new decision at a time into your
daily and weekly regime.
For example, suppose you’ve decided to buy your
food from local suppliers rather than through a supermarket,
your first new decision might be to pay a weekly visit
to your nearest farmers’ market, buy what you can
from your grocery list from there and then only buy the
balance from your usual supermarket.
Conclusion
Conventional wisdom tells us that in order to achieve
something great, such as downshifting, we need to apply
some kind of force. These 4 easy stages offer us an easier,
more realistic and enjoyable alternative, fuelled by
our inspiration rather than by coercion.
Suggested Further Reading:
You Can Have What You Want. By Michael Neill.
2. Working
With Nature. By Aspen Edge.
It was through my
garden that I learnt something about Nature, which
affected my whole life.
She really cannot bear to see an empty space. As I did
my weeding, she generously supplied more. The more I
weeded, the more she replaced …. unless … I
filled that space with plants of my choice.
I began to see that exactly the
same principle applied to every aspect of my life.
When I received more income,
my expenses rose to meet it. When I gained more time,
endless activities filled that space … unless ….
I elbowed out Nature’s choice and replaced it with
my own. I began to make choices based on the quality
of life that I wanted to create for myself and my family.
This meant that when I had an increase in income, I
decided in advance how I wanted to use it. If I found
that organising my day more effectively gave me an hour
of space, then I decided what I wanted that space to
be filled with. And every decision was made based on
my working towards the quality of life that I wanted.
If I had wanted to be at the mercy of Nature and find
myself on an endless treadmill of more, then I needed
to have done nothing. But I wanted a more balanced and
less stressful way of life and so I had to take action.
Understanding that Nature always generously filled the
space made available, I placed myself in a position of
choice as to how that space should be filled. Instead
of just pulling out weeds, I replaced them with the plants
that I preferred.
© Aspen Edge.
Aspen lives with her husband, David, and their son, Samuel,
on a 16 hectare research conservation farm in the mountains
of southern Spain, where they offer walking holiday
accommodation and training in Holistic Management® for
City Folks. See www.holisticdecisions.com
3. Your
exploration this month.
Choose one activity which you know fuels your inspiration.
Commit to spending 10 minutes each day on that activity
for one week. Notice any change in your energy levels.
4. Quotes
of the month.
"There is no
try. There is only do or do not."
Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back.
"Take the first
step in faith. You don’t have to
see the whole staircase. Just take the first step."
Martin Luther King Jr.
5. Want
to comment or contribute?
If you would like to comment on any aspect of this newsletter
or submit an article for inclusion in it, please contact
me by email.
6. Teleclasses
and personal coaching.
How to Step off the Treadmill
A series of six teleclasses, each
45 minutes long, exploring the elements of downshifting,
the reality of living a
sustainable lifestyle in a consumer driven society
and how to motivate ourselves to make the switch.
A teleclass is a straightforward,
low cost and sustainable way of taking part in a group
learning session. It's
like a conference telephone call.Each participant is
supplied with a phone number to call at the appointed
time. When you call, you will be welcomed to a virtual
classroom where you can listen to the class leader present
the teleclass material and you can participate by asking
or answering questions if you wish. So it's just like
being in a real classroom or workshop setting except
that you can take part in the comfort of your own home
without having to travel anywhere!
To view the current teleclass schedule, click here.
Personal Coaching
One-to-one coaching can help you:
- let go of your old,stressful
way of life, find a new path of vitality and an improved
way of living.
- deal with fears surrounding
financial responsibilities, your relationships with
others and other consequences of making a major life
change.
- improve your health, wellbeing
and spiritual life.
- further your personal growth.
- achieve balance, clarity and
peace.
You can view further details on personal coaching here.
7. Privacy
policy
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to you and you would like to subscribe, you can do
so easily on my website, here: www.sallylever.co.uk.
I will never sell, share or otherwise divulge your contact
details, including your email address, to any third party.
Subscriptions to this newsletter grow by your recommendation.
If you have enjoyed reading it, please do forward it
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my web address.
Have a fruitful
month!
Sally
Sally Lever
Sustainable Living Coach
+44 (0)1749 674842
sally@sallylever.co.uk
http://www.sallylever.co.uk/
7 Welsford Avenue, Wells, Somerset.
BA5 2HX. UK. |
