Wabi-Sabi 侘寂
Lifestyle
What You Can Do Against Climate Change
The most important thing is your awareness.
Know which of your actions conctribute to greenhouse gas emissions the most. If you dare, educate others. Don’t feel you have to do it all. Start with a few easy habits to implement (e.g. not buying water in plastic bottles, bringing reusable grocery bags when you go shopping and actually eat the food you buy.) Then move on to the bigger things.
the problem: manufacturing
- Use less plastic products (bags, bottles, packaging)
- Make less trash/throw away less that results in more landfills; recycle as much as you can
- Replace non-recyclable plastic products in your household with sustainable ones
- Make your own products at home (e.g. balms, cleaners, deodorant)
- Drink tap instead of bottled water
- Don’t get coffee in to-go cups
- Buy less
- If you buy, try to go second-hand
- Make more yourself
the problem: energy generation
- Live in a smaller space
- Reduce the amount of electricity, water, and heat you use
- Try to set up your home with energy from a renewable resource (e.g solar energy or groundwater heat)
- Ditch your dryer (for all the Americans out there); the rest of the worlds survives with the earth-friendly alternative called a drying rack
- Replace your traditional light bulbs with LEDs
- Wash your laundry at 30 or 40 degrees Celsius, instead of 60.
the problem: transportation
- Use your car less: walk or ride your bike
- Fly less
- Use more public transportation/shared rides
- Don’t eat “fly-fruit” and “fly-veggies” (produce that is imported by plane)
- Purchase products that were made in your country/on your continent
the problem: Agriculture
- Throw away less food
- Buy food that was grown locally and is in season
- Eat less cow products (beef, milk and cheese)
- If you buy meat, chose organic and local
+ more
- Shop via smile.amazon.com and chose an environmental charity to donate the proceeds to
- Consider Ecosia for web searches
- Plant a tree
- Let someone plant a tree for you (e.g. with Plant Fot The Planet)
- Buy a Co2-compensation certificate (e.g. from Atmosfair)
- Donate to an environmental charity (great companies that actually use donated funds for projects and not to run the organization itself are Atmosfair, BUND, Greenpeace and WWF)
The Problems Of Humanity And How To Solve Them
1. terrorism
the Reason
Materialism; A feeling of separateness; Newtonian thinking based on the belief that everything consists of matter and therefore cannot explain the existence of consciousness.
The solution
Seeing the connection of everything; The knowledge if quantum intelligence and that there is an web of information and energy that everything in this universe is part of.
2. climate change
the reason
Greed; “l’ll be happy when”-syndrome; looking for happiness outside of yourself; wanting to be comfortable at all costs; comparison with others; competitiveness
The solution
Knowing that nothing outside of you (things, people or experiences) can complete you or make your happy for more than a short amount if time. Appreciate all that you have; reduce your consumerism; up-level the awareness of your own actions and their effect on your surrounding. Do something about it.
Inspired by “ZIVA Meditation”-owner Emily Fletcher
Time Breakdown Of A Human Life
Image Source: Wait But Why
2 lessons:
1
Be aware of how much time you spend on what things.
Do less of what you don’t like or what is holding you back, and make more room for the things that you will want to have done more of when you look back on your life.
2
Try to enjoy your daily “mindless” tasks as much as you can. Do this by being as aware and observant as possible: What do you feel/smell/taste/see/hear in that moment?
Get the most out of those seemingly “unimportant” moments that take up such a huge chunk of your life.
Practical Steps To Declutter Your Life
Beauty
- Pick one signature perfume. Get rid of the rest.
- Keep not more than 5 of your favorite and most-used nail polishes.
- Go through all the make-up products that you have accumulated but that are now hidden away in that sad drawer/pouch/box. Only keep the things that you have used at least once in the last 12 (!) months.
household
- You only need one universal surface cleaner in your household (follow my DIY recipe here with (distilled or boiled) water, essential oil, white vinegar, and baking soda).
- Donate all clothing items that are duplicates (another black T-shirt?) or that you have not worn at least once in the last 12 months.
- Collect all loose papers (e.g. notes, magazines, bills, newspapers, business cards and flyers). Digitize/photograph or scan what’s important, recycle the rest.
Food
- Chose one savory and one sweet snack. Don’t keep more than one bag of each at home and don’t buy other snacks at the store (my choices are Pistachios and Dark Chocolate).
- Chose a nutritious and yummy breakfast (e.g. oats with berries and dark chocolate for the sweet-tooth or eggs, spinach and avocado for the savory lovers out there). Eat it (nearly) every day.
- Cook only one meal per day (the rest is your breakfast and one dish that doesn’t need any preparation or chopping, e.g. as in frozen vegetables and microwavable grains). When you cook, try to cook “one-pot-recipes”, e.g. stews, soups, and casseroles. You save on time and dishes.
Technology
- Reduce the number of apps on your phone. There is a website? Get rid of the app, unless you use it more than once a week.
- Chose one news source/news app/news website that you get your news-fix from.
- Limit your media consumption to max. one movie or 2 series episodes per day, especially movies, shows, and social media browsing.
free time
- Chose your 3 favorite free-time activities (for example board games, movie theater visits, and bike rides with picnic brake) that you can fall back on when you are overwhelmed with too many options on a free day or for date night.
- Bulk your everyday actions as much as you can to once or twice per week, e.g. your cleaning, laundry, snack-prep, bill-pay and cooking.
- Reduce all social commitments that you are not 100% excited about and limit social meetups (e.g. go out only once on a single weekend).