Archives for October 2018

To live a sustainable lifestyle – or to make any other change – we often think discipline is key. 

As the well known gap between knowledge and action shows, and as anyone knows who has tried to be disciplined, it’s short term and doesn’t lead to the desired outcome. The gap remains or resurfaces sooner or later. 

Moreover getting people motivated to live a lifestyle beyond sustainability by telling them to be disciplined, is not very catchy. 

Discipline is not associated with the good, fun, happy place. 

That’s because we have the idea of discipline wrong. 

Discipline is not about forcing yourself. 

It really just is about self-remembering. 

Any forcing or fighting is obsolete. 

If you take healthy eating as an example. Trying to discipline yourself is usually approached by forcing yourself to eat apples and lettuce only, instead of chocolate cake and french fries. If you weren’t brain washed and instead paid attention to what your body actually wants, you would voluntarily rather eat the apple and lettuce. 

Instead of trying to force yourself more and more into a certain behavior, the key is to re-discover the underlying self. 

When giving workshops about sustainable lifestyles and when talking to people, a common need is to tell them exactly what needs to be done. 

Well, I have no one answer.

And so does no one else. 

There is no one on this planet who has it figured out. 

There are people who have more experience and others who have less. We can learn from those who have more, see what we can relate to and apply it in our life in a way that works. 

It’s a learning journey. It’s a process. And most likely a never ending one. 

The way our systems work is based on two assumptions: 

1. That we life in a natural abundance of endless resources.
2. That humans are exempt from nature and therefore not effected by it.

When our current systems, like our economic system, were developed, these two assumptions seemed valid. 

Based on that understanding, it was totally ok to come up with ideas like capitalism. It promised happiness, wealth and prosperity. 

Today, it’s obvious that both of these assumptions are untrue. 

1. Our resources are very limited and if we don’t take care of them, they will come to an end. 
2. We are an integral part of nature and whatever we do to ‘it’, effects us as well. 

Holding on to the old ways of living in this world is like not taking the boat on the ocean, because of being scared  to fall of the earth once you reach the horizon. It’s making decisions based on the wrong assumptions. The new idea of the earth being round not flat took time to catch on and took some people a lot of time to understand. Those are the slow thinkers. 

When taking this into consideration, there exist no evil entities that want to destroy the planet. Instead, there are just some very slow thinkers who still believe the earth is flat. 

Research confirms that planetary health is fundamentally connected to human health.

Not only is climate change and the degradation of living ecosystems the biggest threat to physical health of this century, but it also effects the mental health of individuals.

On the physical level the effects may include heart attacks, strokes, disease, reduced access to health care, heart-related illness and death, allergies, asthma, impaired fetal development, or changes in general fitness. On the psychological level, the effects are less direct and therefore often underrated. Only in recent years have they become more prominent in policy and research debates.

In order to survive and thrive psychologically, substantial research and theory suggests that humans must have certain psychological needs satisfied. Ecological degradation can interfere with the satisfaction of some of those psychological needs, such as the need for safety and security, competence, relatedness, and autonomy. The results may include substance abuse, anxiety, depression, sense of loss, helplessness, fatalism and resignation, loss of autonomy, loss of personal identity and increased suicide rates.

Hence, the common separation between an ‘outer’ planetary health and an ‘inner’ personal health is obsolete. If you want to be healthy, take care of the planet. 

The purpose of our modern world has been ourselves – as humans. We took an egocentric approach in which we put ourselves above all other life.

Many now realize that this is not as fulfilling as it promised to be. Many feel a sense of purposelessness in life.

• What are they here for?
• What can they do?
• Does their existence matter?

The old purpose has been exhausted, a new purpose emerges.
For many that new purpose goes beyond themselves, towards something greater. Thinking beyond themselves and taking into account the whole planet (and some beyond that).

The planet is a living system. As living systems create life that is conducive to life, answers appear.

• What are they here for? To create conditions that are conducive to life.
• What can they do? Create
• Does their existence matter? If life is the purpose of life and you are alive, obviously, yes.

Looking at our own small existence in which we all drop in for only a fraction of time compared to the greater whole is overwhelming as long as we don’t see ourselves as not being a part of that whole.