December
2008
In this issue...
- Personal
Resilience: Sustainable Self-esteem.
- Eating Well
to Live Well.
By Mary Stuart.
- Your exploration this month.
- Quotes of the month
- Want to comment or contribute?
- Teleclasses and personal coaching
News and Events
Wishing you a peaceful and prosperous Winter
Solstice and Festive Season.
1. Personal
Resilience: Sustainable Self-Esteem.
One of the terms that is often
used when considering how we cope collectively with
the triple challenges of
peak oil, climate change and economic meltdown is “resilience”.
It seems we would benefit from cultivating this collectively
at the levels of local community, at a national level
and globally.
Whenever we attempt to establish
resilience at a community level (any sort of community,
whether this is your household,
the town where you live, or the business where you work)
we have a choice about whether to impose certain changes
on others or to encourage resilience to be adopted one
person at a time – nurturing personal resilience.
This can involve educating, encouraging, supporting,
listening to individuals, accepting and acting on feedback
and remaining open to change. Up until now our “survival
of the fittest” mindset has involved imposing changes
and ways of operating on others (globalisation) and it
has brought us to a very uncomfortable spot. Perhaps
it’s time to look at encouraging personal resilience
instead and a great place to start is with ourselves.
What is Personal Resilience?
Personal resilience is our ability to recover from setbacks,
to embrace change and to soften, rather than fight,
in the face of hardship. I would suggest that it can
be viewed as a kind of sustainable, robust form of
self-esteem.
The problem with our self-esteem
in a consumer driven society is that we’ve been encouraged to develop
our identity based on what we can acquire and achieve,
who we know and who know us, rather than on who we are.
This actually makes us dependent on others for our self-esteem.
It becomes something that we see as outside of ourselves
and subject to change as others’ opinions of us
change. We might feel we need to achieve certain qualifications
or accreditation for example in order to be acceptable
to others. We might feel the need to wear fashionable
clothes, drive the right car, belong to the right organisation
to fit into our community or peer group. Whilst I’m
not saying that all qualifications, trends in fashion
and networking are a bad thing, what I believe undermines
our self-esteem is complying with such external criteria
without question and without checking them against what
would be ethical and authentic for us.
Similarly, with acquiring personal
possessions to boost our self-esteem – what will
determine how dependent we are on the external world
is our intention in making
that acquisition.
Roger had started working from home as a small business
consultant. He wanted to be seen to be more sustainable
in his business venture and to “look the part
of a business professional” by upgrading his
car to a more fashionable model with lower fuel consumption.
When he examined the cost, in terms of carbon and money,
of going ahead with the upgrade, he found, much to
his surprise, that it would be more sustainable on
both counts for him to keep his current car and simply
reduce his fuel consumption by using it less. He decided
to take this option and review the situation annually.
This exploration brought Roger’s
attachment to his image to the fore and led him to
improve other areas
of his life where he was sacrificing his values, his
time and his energy in order to seek approval from others.
What does shaky personal resilience
look like?
Apart from being attached to meeting others’ approval,
it can manifest as feelings of superiority or isolation,
wanting to impose our will and opinions on others or
to blame others, doubting our abilities or being part
of a false identity or “performance”,
rather than behaving authentically.
How do we make the shift to Personal Resilience?
By:
1. Focusing on our similarities to others rather than
our differences.
2. Encouraging others, exploring possibilities with them
and valuing their talents and opinions.
3. Trusting our own judgement and intuition.
4. Taking responsibility for ourselves and behaving authentically.
5. Slowing down our decision making and pausing to reflect
on our intention.
Conclusion
Living sustainably is not only about knowing how to
make greener, more ethical, practical choices in our
lives. It is also about developing personal resilience
so that we can handle the many changes that we will face
in moving towards a more sustainable future
Suggested Further Reading.
Overcoming Low Self-Esteem - Melanie Fennell
The Places That Scare You. A Guide to Fearlessness – Pema
Chodron
The Invitation – Oriah Mountain Dreamer
2. Eating
Well to Live Well. By Mary Stuart.
When I was growing up in the 60's, food was less complicated.
My Dad had an allotment and Mum went to the market twice
a week and shopped locally . This was fairly ordinary
back then. I remember the excitement when the first Sainsbury's
opened in the centre of town. However, Mum's trips to
the market for fresh fruit and vegetables continued.
Like many other women, she cooked every single day .
Fast forward to the 21st century and cooking has become
a spectacle to watch on TV, or read about in books. Luckily
for me, I studied Nutritional Medicine in the early 90's.
I was already on a path of alternatives and didn't want
a 9-5 job. I was able to fund my studies by working part
time and I qualified in 1993. This was a turning point
for me. I realised how political the production of food
had been and how most of us had been seduced into the
convenience of food and had lost our connection with
the land .
I started to build up a practice, helping people to
make changes with their lifestyles, giving talks and
writing articles to spread the healthy message. I learnt
to live through the lean times, making the most of free
time and dealing calmly with deadlines. To me, life is
too short to spend most of my time in a job I dislike.
In fact, I hear many people moan how much they hate their
jobs. There seems to be a lot of fear about making the
changes that will enhance their lives. Hopefully, with
the state of the economy, we can see this as an opportunity
to make the change (s) we had been postponing. Instead
of buying processed food in a rush, support local food
producers. Find out about organic box schemes or grow
your own at home. Allotments are popular too. Make time
for cooking. It doesn't take that much time, you'll discover
your creativity and food will taste so much better. Your
health will also improve, and your shopping bill will
decrease .
I certainly feel good about making changes to the way
I eat. Eating in tune with the seasons is great. Seasonal
produce is locally grown, fairly priced and tastes delicious!
Making links with local farmers, shopkeepers and fellow
vegetable growers has a positive effect on our health
and our happiness.
Slowing down gives us all time and space to think effectively
and positively about the planet and our connection with
it.
Eat well, Live well.
Mary Stuart DThd , DNMed , MBANT is based in Hackney
, London .
marystuart76@hotmail.com
3. Your
exploration this month.
Looking back over the last year:
What are you grateful for?
What do you need to forgive yourself for?
What are the 3 most important lessons you have learned
as a result and how can you best apply them in 2009?
4. Quotes
of the month.
"If you're
proactive, you don't have to wait for circumstances
or other people to create perspective expanding experiences.
You can consciously create your own."
Stephen Covey
" The bird of paradise alights only on the hand that does not grasp."
John Berry
" Being deeply loved by someone gives you
strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
Lao Tzu
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.
"6 Steps to a Sustainable
Small Business"
A series of
6 teleclasses, each 45 minutes long, exploring the three
main elements of the
Triple Bottom Line of Sustainable Business Practices, People,
Planet, Profit and how to incorporate them into your business.
More details.
"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.
More details.
What is a Teleclass?
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!
More details
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.
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policy
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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. |
