February
2009
In this issue...
- Sustainable
Food for Thought.
- Your exploration this month.
- Quotes of the month
- Want to comment or contribute?
- Teleclasses and personal coaching
News and Events
New
Website and Blog
My
website has been re-built and updated, thanks
to some excellent guidance and technical wizardry
from Andy Metcalfe, of Holistic
Local and New
Earth Vision. The url remains
www.sallylever.co.uk. I’ve
also started a blog, which you can subscribe to separately
if you wish.
The Big Womble: Friday, February 20th.
The
Big Womble is being organised
to raise the profile of charitable furniture re-use by
members of the Furniture
Re-use Network.
A prize draw, to raffle household items donated by celebrities,
will be held on 20th February 2009 at Wimbledon College.
Do contribute in some way if you can.
Sustainable Living Opportunity in France
If you are longing to leave a town environment and spend
time in rural settings, why not let out your place and
come and spend some time in France? Would suit someone
in early retirement. 2 acres of woody hillside on the borders
of Normandy and Brittany, pond, struggling veggie patch,
smoking out of doors, basic chalet accommodation, woodburner,
shower, dog, cat, chickens, simple living, free to person
willing to lend a hand and share food.
I'm not looking for a 'hard worker', rather, someone 'laid
back' who would enjoy an active lifestyle.
Telephone Beatrice: 0033(France)299981863
1. Sustainable
Food for Thought.
In our move to a more sustainable
way of living and of doing business, we know that we
need to change how
we act and also how we think. Our actions, after all,
stem from our thoughts and, unless we change our approach
to how we think, we will not manage to downshift or to
sustain the changes that we make. If we do not modify
our mindset, then as soon as we hit a moment of stress,
chances are that we’ll revert to old thought patterns
and behaviours.
Environmentalists are very fond of talking about finding
alternative energy sources to fossil fuels. We now regard
fossil fuels as very efficient and relatively low cost
sources of energy, from a financial point of view, but
high cost in terms of their polluting effect on the planet.
What about the fuels we use personally, to drive our
thoughts and ideas and to motivate us on an emotional
and intellectual level? Which are the polluting mind
fuels that we use? What can we replace them with in order
to fuel our minds sustainably?
Unsustainable Mental Fuels
The unsustainable mental fuels
that we are apt to reach for when we feel we need a
mental boost are substances
such as alcohol, drugs, nicotine and caffeine. We can
also use foods that are high in fat and sugar as a way
of comforting ourselves. At times of stress we might
attempt to nourish ourselves by indulging in distractions
or ways of spacing out so that we don’t have to
face the less attractive areas of our lives. These unsustainable
human fuels, like using fossil fuels, can be very effective
in the short term, but they pollute our bodies over the
longer term and they do not help us find solutions to
the problems in our lives.
Fortunately there are sustainable, enjoyable and effective
alternatives.
Mental nourishment
We can view mental nourishment as being in one of three
forms:
• Food
• Associations
•Sensory experiences
Some foods, we know, are particularly beneficial to
the mind, essential fatty acids for example. You might
like to experiment with observing how you feel mentally
after meals and noticing which foods lead to you feeling
more alert and energised mentally. These may change with
the time of day and even the time of year if you live
in a temperate climate.
Associations are the people you mix with, at home, at
work and in your leisure activities. You may know of
some people around whom you feel happy and light and
others whose company is likely to have a gloomy and deadening
effect on you.
Sensory experiences are sights, sounds, tastes, smells
and physical experiences. Think of the differences in
your sensory experiences when you are sitting somewhere
beautiful in nature compared to being stuck in traffic
congestion on a motorway. One set of experiences will
motivate and inspire you. The other is likely to leave
you feeling dull and drained.
Jennifer approached me for coaching because she had
started to downshift and yet felt that she was drifting
into poverty through overspending. Her downshifting journey
had begun when she decided to turn down an offer of promotion
at work and instead enjoy her current position, which
she could manage easily and that she enjoyed. The department
where she worked had been moved to a new location near
the centre of town. Suddenly she felt lethargic in her
job and was finding herself de-motivated in her efforts
at home to simplify her life and to live more sustainably.
We looked at which personal fuels she was using. Whereas
before the changes in her job, Jennifer had taken a packed
lunch into work, since the move in location, she had
become tempted by a fast food outlet within 50 yards
of her office. She had also abandoned her customary lunchtime
walk in the park in favour of sitting at her desk to
eat. Sadly, coupled with that, she had recently lost
2 close friends to cancer and had been feeling too lonely
to socialise outside of work.
During coaching, Jennifer decided to regain the balance
in her mental fuel by:
• Starting to make healthy
packed lunches for herself each day.
• Joining a book club after work where she could meet like-minded
friends with a shared interest.
• Finding another park within walking distance of the office
where she could stroll and have a break in her day, enjoying
the fresh air and some natural surroundings.
These might sound like some very straightforward choices
to make and yet their effect was quite profound. Jennifer
started to feel motivated again at home and at work.
At home, she was able to take steps to reduce her costs
and find the time and energy to organise her finances
and her material possessions. As a result of this,
she was no longer spending more than she was earning.
What’s more, she created a plan for downshifting
into retirement 5 years earlier than she had anticipated.
At work, she found the courage to initiate a new project
that had been on her mind for 3 years but which she
had feared she would not be capable of managing.
By reviewing the three keys to
fuelling our minds – food,
associations and sensory impressions - we can often find
ways to improve our motivation, creativity and energy
levels by switching to sustainable mental fuels.
2. Your
exploration this month.
What are your intentions today, this week, this month
for how you will fuel you mind?
Think of one improvement you can make in your intake
of each of the key mental fuels: food, associations and
sensory impressions.
3. Quotes
of the month.
"If you start to think the problem
is ‘out there,’ stop yourself. That thought
is the problem."
Stephen Covey
" I want to know the thoughts of God;
the rest are details."
Albert Einstein
"Man is
made or unmade by himself. In the armory of thought
he forges the weapons
by which he destroys
himself. He also fashions the tools with which he builds
for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and
peace."
James Allen
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Privacy
policy
If this email has been forwarded
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
to your friends, relations and colleagues. Please feel
free to use any material from this newsletter. All I
ask is that you acknowledge me as the source and include
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. |
