I don't recycle. I live out in the country, where we don't have pick up or facilities. We pay per bag for trash pick up. Most people burn theirs, give table scraps to the dogs, throw vegetable scraps into the field for the cows or into woods for the wild animals. Yet I consider myself a wholistic environmentalist. I take care of the animals in the best ways I can, have as little negative impact on the earth as I can, nurture it when I can.
We are each part of the whole universe, the animals, plants, trees, each other. We are all energy, all connected by Life Force Energy which flows through all of us. I bring my gentleness & my healing spirit, plus Reiki energy, into my dealings with others & all creation. I coexist here with the wild animals, birds, bugs, plant life. Because of my gentle spirit, I get to commune with them. I'm quiet usually, & that & my spirit attracts them. Wild animals come into the yard & onto my porch, butterflies & lightning bugs lite on me, a hummingbird comes to hover over my head. Usually I speak softly to the wild animals to let them know I'm there so they don't come too close by accident, & we share a moment. Each morning these days I thank God for another day in paradise, because that's where I live. My front yard is full of trees, shade, birds, chipmunks & squirrels. We've had September-like weather all month! Gentle breezes, cool days & cooler nights, perfect for sitting outside, for sleeping. I'm a very quiet person, it turns out. I seldom have TV or music going. I love to listen to the trees responding to the breezes (one of my favorite sounds on earth), the birds, bugs, animals, my wind chimes. One of my favorite sensations is the breeze on my skin. I'm a sensualist, so I drink in that feeling, & scents & nature sounds. It renews me every day. I'm one with my surrounding environment now. I have kitty grass inside the house, & catnip when it grows up enough to survive their croppings. Outside I have lavender, rosemary, tomatoes, snapdragons that I love to snap, basils, other herbs & pretty plants, & I enjoy the beauty of them all. That's being a true environmentalist.
I'm also a true recycler. My grandparents (read parents even though they didn't raise me) were farmers & knew how to make the most of everything. Grandma was very creative & also took ideas from magazines. She made used things into other things & I do the same. She saved lots of things for reuse - string, paper, greeting cards, cloth. I can remember her taking a half slip with stretched out elastic & sewing it to one of those little bed jackets (comes down to the ribs or waist, a bow at the top) to make dress up clothes for my cousins & me. We felt so elegant. She gave us her old hats, purses, empty make up containers, dresses & shoes to play with also. They were our favorite playthings. She cut up old dresses & sewed them into doll clothes for me. I learned all that from her & I apply it to my life. I have old sheets to make into rag rugs, for example. I love using old things in new creations even more than creating from scratch or store-bought supplies. We both love(d) making interesting & mismatched glass items into candles. Like Grandma, I save useful things & eventually use them. We're different from my mother, the hoarder. Like Grandma, when I get an idea, I go to where I keep these things (tidy, put away) & find I already have something that will work, that I've carefully taken care for & saved. Things I won't use go to Goodwill.
I'm also an environmentalist when it comes to my home. I'm creating comfort, beauty, order & cleanliness, an environment where I can thrive. Nothing is new but everything is well cared for. When I can, I repair things as soon as they need it rather than wait for them to go beyond the point of repair. I'm creative in my approach & often use some of the things I've saved. I try to clean & repair as I go along - take a few minutes when I see a need - so that these things don't pile up on me & become a burden, an energy drain. I carefully protect my energy & order my home environment to refuel me rather than be a drain. That's the intent of all my efforts here. More on that tomorrow.
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