It is that time of the year again: it is
time to look back before the New Year hits. How was your year 2018? What made
you happy? What are you grateful at? What have you learned?
I definitely had a full ride this year! We
started the year by moving to Barcelona region. In the end of January we took a
car from Paris and drive it to Barcelona. It was a big transition in our life.
For me, at first, it wasn’t easy at all. Anyway we made one dream came true: we
experienced the life in South of Europe. We met some lovely people that we
still stay contact, but at the same time we did experience the reality under
the lemon tree. Afterwards I have to say, that this six months period in Alella
has shaped me more than any other experience (if motherhood doesn’t account).
It gave me so much perspective in life, and in the end I have liberated myself
from dreaming of life elsewhere.
Also, big movements in life have changed me not to get attach material things. When we were moving all our stuff from Alella to Bretagne it really opened my eyes: I don’t want to fill our new place with stuff. The cleaning process went through me inside out: We have sold a lot of things and with that money only we have decorated our new place. We wanted our life to be simpler. I wanted to decorate our home more zero waste principles in mind than matching decoration colors. In Finland we have this big thing to decorate our home with design sofas and lamps and matching everything with white, white and white. For inside, my cleaning process has been my every morning meditation ritual. I have left behind many things, cleaned my mind, and I do feel so much better. I have found my path that I am now walking, but at the same time I have accepted that if something doesn’t happen now, it is meant to be like that. I don’t want to force things to happen.
In my professional life the biggest invest
was to participate in a yoga and meditation teacher trainings – so far I think
they have been the best investments for years! Also, I am thankful all the
writing and styling projects that I have had chance to do this year, and all
the new people that have entered in my life.
New year 2019 – you can come now! It is time to cut old magazines and make a dream map for the next year. As you might know, this is my New Year’s Eve tradition: to make a dream map. I have been doing this since 2014, and find it very clarifying tradition. I totally recommend start to do this. When you visualize your dreams and write them down, it is most likely that you are actually reaching them, than if you just leave it in your head. Also, it is nice to look at old dream maps and see which dream came true or how the dreams change. For me doing a dream map is really a therapeutic experience in a same way than cleaning a wardrobe – you go through all the old stuff, get rid of them and make room for new ones.
Before you start to do your first dream map, I recommend to do a little meditation where you visualize your dreams and think also, how is the life when you reach your goal. Keep that image in your mind when you start cutting inspiring pictures from magazines. Think also, what meaningful life means to you? What is your ideal everyday life like? What you want to reach in your professional life?
This holiday season I have managed to avoid creating Christmas stress. I have breath in the slow mood and accept the fact that Christmas time goes as it does. I am not going to force it to be perfect, and I don’t want to poison my mind with stress.
How to do this? Well, firstly I am not going to stress about buying Christmas presents. This year again we won’t buy presents for adults. We got a couple of books and games for our daughter. Recently, when I asked her, what she wanted, she told me an orange present. I realized by asking this question that I am about to teach her a manner that in Christmas time Santa is going to bring lots of gifts. I said to myself: stop. What she really needs is that we spent time with her and that we do things together, like baking gingerbreads or making snowmen. The biggest gift is the time and our presence, not the number of gifts. And lets face it: the more kids have presents at the same time, the less they concentrate on playing any of them.
Also, in these past few weeks I have consciously started to slow down. I have stopped to notice the Christmas magic around us. I have pay attention how the city is full of beautiful Christmas lights, how the snow falls down, how the Christmas trees look in the market. I have eaten in a mindful way a piece of chocolate and smell how the warm glögi brings the Christmas spirit to our home. I have woken up early to do my meditation and yoga practice. I lit the candles and then wake up my daughter with lots of hugs and kisses. Together we look at the Christmas decorations and that little elf that is looking at us. In the morning we play Christmas songs that she loves to sing and dance. We share the magic that she experiences when she opens her Advent calendar.
The joy of Christmas is in these little moments, don’t let them go by.
Christmas spirit starts to be everywhere, but can we really get into the mood, when we need to do so much?
Christmas time is definitely not that easy for everyone, not at least for us, adults. Before the end of the year you maybe want to finish all the unfinished projects, prepare your house for Christmas, do all the delicious bakings and run around all the cool pre-Christmas parties. You feel tires already?
Relax. This year: don’t make all this pressure for yourself. Try to do less and be more present.
Maybe my good will list for December will help you. Here it is:
In my diffuser: Fresh Kapha from Finnish Frantsila’s essential oil. This is meant to be for Kapha dosha from Ayurvedic medical system, but I found this fresh and energetic essential oil and it is perfect for this darkest season of the year to fresh your home and yourself. Add a bit to a carpet to give good scent to your home.
Drink of the month: YogiTea’s Christmas Tea that tastes like Christmas: a bit cinnamon, liquorice, anise and cardamom. Love it. As a non-alcoholic drink I serve Belvoir Fruit Farms Spiced Ginger Punch. With this punch I offer from my cookie box Organic Health’s gluten free tattar gingerbreads which are sweeten with honey.
Asana of the month:Malasana. This is a good asana to calm down and to connect with the earth, to be more grounded. It is a good asana to practice when you need to calm down. Benefits: Malasana strengthens the lower back and core. Plus, it works the quadriceps, hamstring, calf muscles of the leg and gluteal. Also, it activated the digestive system and tones the belly.
How to do it:
Start with standing pose Tadasana. Spread your legs a side of your yoga mat. Exhale and lean forward such that your torso fits snugly in between your tights. Place your hands in Anjali Mudra and press with your elbows against the inner tights. Close your eyes, if you want to and stay in asana 5–10 inhale and exhales. Modify: If your need, add tower to your heel, if it doesn’t touch the ground.
Normally weekend holidays in a city represented for me shopping and tiring running around from fancy cafés to another. Nowadays I choose my hotel well and invest on sweet idleness.
Four years ago we were just met with my husband and we spend a couple of days in Tallinn. It was the Christmas season. We went to fancy restaurants and cocktail bars, and I wanted to go shopping – a big time. It was the winter sales season. Big discounts. We did have a lovely time, but when we took the boat back to Helsinki, I started to feel hangover for over shopping. As the boat was swinging I felt sick in my body.
After that trip, I never wanted to experience that feeling again. Since then a lot have changed.
This I came face to face when, after four years, we returned for a weekend in Tallinn and in that same Swissôtel that we were before. This time we did enjoy eating in good restaurants and pampering ourselves in spa section, but something had definitely changed.
Before I would have market down in my notebook all the good vintage and fabric stores, Instagram cool cafés and so one, but not this time. The idea of making of list of where to do shopping beforehand started to feel – well, something not for me. Even when I know that buying second hand clothes is not as bad for the planet than buying new ones, but the idea behind: to make yourself vulnerable of the seduction of shopping. The truth is (like for the most of us) we don’t need anything. I don’t need any damn vintage dress at this moment, so why even bother and buy something that you won’t necessary need just because it is unique and you probably never visit this store again.
So we didn’t go shopping or any of those cool places. Actually I didn’t enter to any of shops. When it goes to shopping, I have started to follow the same life instruction than in my person and working life: if it is meant for me, it will happen. If I need to force it, it is maybe not meant for me in this moment. So this rule for shopping goes something like this: I am not going to use my time and energy to look for that special shop for just to go shopping, but if I pass by a nice boutique, I enter. It is simple as that.
In this trip the only thing that we bought was this ridicule Minnie Mouse beanie for my daughter that she chose from an artisanal market (there were all the animal beanies, but this rose one she absolutely wanted). And what goes for eating, that Instagram cool vegetarian restaurant was so full that we didn’t have chance to get in. Instead of we found this quiet Italian restaurant where were only a couple of clients. We ate excellent food and enjoyed that peaceful atmosphere. What a luxury!
In the hotel we enjoyed that fancy room and view from 21st floor, ate too much in delicious breakfast and pampered ourselves in the spa section. In my birthday evening (after relaxing sauna) instead of forcing us to go to eat a fancy diner, we decided to stay in our room with our bathrobes on and order food from room service. And then as a birthday girl I get the chance to dance with 80’s music playing in a music video chanel. Perfect and relaxing weekend, I would say. Again, I followed my life guide: to not force.
In Sanskrit and Tibetan language the nearest words to meditation is bhavana (to grow, to cultivate) and gom. These words emphasize the point to do meditation: to find that true and clear mind that observes us and the world, and through that we can grow to become that better version of ourselves, and with only that we can serve the world and others better, too. This all demands practice, meditation. By changing ourselves, we can start to change the world around us and help others.
I have to admit, that it wasn’t easy to start to do meditation at the beginning. Listen to music or by reading a book was the closest to that I could get to meditation state. Then I found yoga, and little by little I started to find my focus, too. Thought, at first I was into powerful yoga practice and I found those slow yoga classes boring, to be honest. But with years practice I started to be more interested in meditation.
This summer I started to do meditation practice every day, and I have been doing ever since. I started in a complicated period in my life. Last summer we were making important decision about our future and where we are going to live. We decided to sell the house in Alella and move to Helsinki, as you know. But that wasn’t easy decision to make, and it still hurts me to think of it. Anyway, in that moment I found comfort, relief and more strength to deal my emotions when I started to do a little meditation practice besides yoga.
Every morning I went to this big empty room (that was planned to be our master bedroom in one day), lighted a candle and sat down on my yoga mat, put on my headphones and started to listen to a guided meditation. At first it was painful to deal all the stuff that kept coming out, every time I end up crying – but I kept returning to that space and to do my meditation practice.
When we moved to Helsinki I continued my practice, even when my mind kept returning to Alella and that empty room. I noticed that I started to become stronger, even when I was hurting inside. I believe, for me, meditation helped me be face to face with my emotions and thoughts – I didn’t escape, I dealed them. I became calmer and stronger.
With regular practice I have noticed some differences in me and I think I have became a better version of my self.
Here are the benefits that I have discovered:
1) I have more patience, and I don’t get nervous that easily.
2) I am more present
3) I stress less about the future
4) I think more positively
5) I have better concentration skills
6) I know better how am I doing
7) I sleep better
8) I am not in a hurry
9) I breathe more slowly
10) I accept the fact that some things I can effects, others not. That sometimes it is better to just let the things go as they go, and try not to force them.
11) I spend less time in social media
This is not a surprise that I have found these positive changes in me, because there are many researches about the benefits of doing meditation on regular base (Ricard 2008/2010 18–20).
Do you find meditation practice difficult?
Nobody is a master at the beginning. Start with slow steps. At first try to find 5 to 10 minutes a day to do your practice. Sit down in a quiet place. Find a good seated position that you can spend a little time. If you don’t like to sit on the floor, you can sit on a chair. The most important thing is that, your back is straight that all the energy channels in our body can be in straight line and this is how your mind is free.
Close your eyes and just start to pay attention to your breathing, how it moves your body with inhale and exhale. If you mind keeps wondering, that is normal. Minds mission is to create thoughts, but you can always turn the focus back on your breathing. Try to calculate your inhales and exhales, that might help too. Try not to control your breathing, let it go as natural it goes. That is how you start, learn, and keep your focus to become a master of meditation.
Or you can always try this easy mantra meditation. In your inhale say silently so and with exhale ham. That means I am that/he/she. Repeat it several times. Then later let go of ham sound, and then later give up repeating so. The idea in the end is to let go all the guided meditation and get to that pure state where there is peace and harmony – this is a place where you can enter with your mind.
Start to day. I promise that this is a best and free investment you can do for yourself in a long run. In life, we all have experienced some painful situations and we will. With solid and balanced mind we can deal what’s coming better, talking about the effects what regular meditation practice does your every day life.
The darkest season (in North) is here, and it is perfect excuse to carry light and warmness to your body and soul.
November is one of my favorite months. You might think, I am kidding, but nope, it is. And I am going to tell you why:
It is time to slow time. Literally here in North we need to start walk slower not to fall down. This is a perfect moment to walk more intentionally, to be more present.
November is a perfect month to turn attention to your inner self and get cozy. It is time to change cold drinks to hot ones, like Finnish glögi or tea, take breaks during the day on your yoga mat or just read a couple page of a good book on your sofa. It is time to light candles and praise the soft light. I would say that November is an official month of hygge.
Also, for me, November is a good excuse to start prepare for Christmas without the stress of buying gifts and all the other things we have to do before that big day. It is just the perfect time, slowly, to start enjoying Christmas lights and to eat chocolate, not to forget all the fun pre-Christmas parties that are waiting (well not for me that much parting this year).
Here is my pampering list for you to make the month even better:
In my diffuser: Last week, when I tried a new yoga studio, I smelled a little spicy, Christmas-like scent. “What was in the diffuser?”, I asked. “It is an essential oil called Thieves by Young Living”, answered the yoga teacher. I bought one bottle for myself right away. Thieves is a perfect essential oil for Christmas season. It is a mix of special aromatic combination composed of clove, rosemary, lemon, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus radiate. It definitely fills the place with seductive, rich and spicy aroma. The name thieves comes from 15th century French thieves who combined this special mixture. High recommendations. You can get your own bottle from here.
Drink of the month: Spicy Sweet Chai tea by Yogitea.
On my plate: dates and chocolate
On my skin:Himalayan Body Scrub by Flow Cosmetics. This vanilla & orange mix body scrub purifies my skin and makes it soft. After this I am addict to Melvita’s Argan oil, which I have been using this autumn non-stop. After adding the body oil, I like to put another layer of Mossa’s Intense Nutrition, Sea Buckthorn body lotion. This season calls for an extra attention to my skin. Oh boy, how the skin feels different when living here in North than it was in sunny Spain. Luckily we have the sauna in our apartment. My favorite routine after the sauna is to do a slow body nutrition routine and do it in mindfully.
Asana of the month: Baddha konasana, butterfly. For us women, we attend to have a lot of pressure on our hips. This asana helps you open more your inner tights and hip area. Make it a routine, do this asana every night before going to bed and you will notice the difference after a couple of weeks. This asana helps you also during periods.
How to do it:
Bent the knees and bring the feet together. Sit tall on the sitting bones (both sitting bones rooted) with the hands of the floor. Open the feet like a book, press the heels together while stretching the knees out toward the floor. Rotate the pelvis forward to draw the hearth center toward the horizon. If you feel any pressure on the knee area, add a block under the knees.
I recently wrote about our decoration philosophy, and that our new apartment we are going to buy everything we can on second hand markets. So, now we are in our new place. It is time for a little analyze what did we buy and how did we succeed in our project.
Our budget for home décor was 1300 euros. This is the money we got when we sold our old stuff in our home in Spain before we moved to Finland. What did we get with this money? A lot, in the end we didn’t even use all. Before going through the list, I have to say that some of the home decoration stuff we brought from Spain to Finland by car, for example lamps, home textiles and some of the most important kitchen devices.
So here is the list:
This is what we got for free from our friends or found from dumpster:
rattan sofa + baskets
ktchen table and chairs
mattresses
two bureau
rack for shoes
stool
three chairs
pot
coffee machine
Bought as used:
child’s bed 40 e
couch 50 e
terrace sofa and cushions 165 e
plates 20 e
other moving expense 30 e
rocking chair 65 e
cottage table 70 e
bureau 50 e
children’s armchair 30 e
bedcover 2 e
in total 522 e
Purchased as new:
Kitchen’s side table 99 e
Junior chair 50 e
Wooden step 10 e
Slatted bed place 60 e
Two houseplants and pots 30 e
Two floor pillows 32 e
In total 271 e
All together 793 e
How did it go?
I have to say, that most of the home decoration you can find in used and in good conditions, but this demand time and energy to be alert all the time. Also, there are some miscalculations, too. We bought some furniture really upmarket price, like that used terrace table and sofa with pillows. That was actually the most expensive piece of furniture that we bought! We got them from the former tenant. The same goes to the plates that we bought from him. We thought that he would leave in the apartment all the plates that he showed, but when we moved in there were only a half of them, and all the normal plates (that we actually needed) were missing. So that was too a shopping that was annoying afterwards, and I should have trusted my instinct that said no. Luckily, I cancelled all the other furniture that he wanted to sell us.
Otherwise I found really easy to buy home decoration from Facebook’s second hand markets and other online marketplaces. But this I did learn: you need to act immediately, check often what is available, and most of all, picking up the furniture you often needed a car. In many occasion, without a car, we couldn’t have bought the furniture that we wanted and as fast as we needed them. Also, we did face some logistics problems, like how to get that big cottage table from one place to a top of the car and then again to carry it to the sixth floor. Well in the end we found help from the place we bought the table and when we got to our place, I asked help from the street from two teenager boys who wanted to earn ten euros.
However, I found it tiring to hang in Facebook to find that special piece of furniture, but at time that was rewarding. For example I was the first one to book a rocking chair, that 200 people were asking after me. Also, we found two bureaux for free, and when we went to pick them, we found in the same trip, by accident, from a dumpster a bureau for my husband.
I tried to avoid buying new things, but in the end, we needed to buy some necessary things, that were helping every day life. In our new kitchen there is hardly any cooking place, so a little side table was obligatory, the same goes to the junior chair. In our Airbnb place we had one and our daughter got used to it and we found it practical. And lets face it; it wasn’t nice to construct a chair for our girl by adding a carton box on top of the kitchen chair every day.
As you go through my list, you can notice that not all things were so necessary, like those plants or floor pillows, but I found them useful and they give comfortable atmosphere to our home. If we really wanted to go more zero waste what comes to our home, we could have do it, but so far, I found that we did a pretty good job.
I think for me, after packing and moving, I have started to let go on material things. All the ownership and buying new things make me uncomfortable. Our place I wanted to get to together fast, so we could actually start living here. For me, my decoration philosophy was to make a cozy home, and that is what I hope for our friends and family will experience too when they come for a visit.
Recently, I talked to a woman on the phone according to my upcoming working project. Over the conversation she mentioned that she owned way too much shoes that some of them she hasn’t never even wear. The woman told me that she wanted to, but in real life she was wearing a pair of sneakers when she needed to walk during a day from a meeting to another. To put it shortly: she owned shoes that in real life she wasn’t using.
Hands up if you recognize this situation? I mean, most of us this is a reality. We western women own too much clothes, and it is a fact that we only wear approximately 10 per cent of the content of our wardrobe, and most of the stuff is just waiting to be used in one day. This overstock causes a problem, because we have too many choices but in the same time we find nothing to wear. Why did we end up in this situation? According to Clare Press’s book Wardore Crisis – How We Went from Sunday Best to Fast Fashion (2016, 42) it is because of the low prices of clothes and the fact that 40 per cent of our in-store purchases are unplanned.
In these past two years I have followed conversations on sustainable fashion and read books about the subject. So far I have learned that one of the best choice we can do is to lengthen a life cycle of clothes that we already own. So I thought about sharing my tips, how I try to do it.
Organize and be aware what is inside your wardrobe. Do wardrobe analyze and get to know yourself by just looking at what you have. Think about your shopping manners. What colors you prefer to buy? Or what shape of clothes? Do you own way too much pattern clothes that you end up on a situation that you don’t know how to wear them? Or maybe you have notice that you don’t own basic clothes like a black jacket or pair of smart pants? It is interesting to ask yourself these questions and learn more about yourself. We tend to buy same style clothes and by seeing it through your own eyes, you might think: I have enough of this style of clothes.
Recycle clothes that you haven’t wear for a while. Yes, it is a simple sentence and I do keep repeating it, but this is how you organize your wardrobe, make more space on it, and make it more functional and find more wearable clothes. But before doing that, think again, could you wear that old skirt if you modify it a little bit? Maybe shorting the length of it or make it a salsa skirt by adding a new hemline on it will make it work again for you? There are so many possibilities for upcycling your clothes, be creative! If you don’t know how to sew yourself, ask help from your talented friend or go to a professional who will make the skirt suitable for you again.
Ok, you want to make more space on your wardrobe? One killer tip is to separate autumn/winter and spring/summer clothes. This is a best way to make more space on your wardrobe and be aware what you have for the following season. Keep in mind that if the clothes won’t fit in your closet, you own too many. Remember also: Quality over quantity – that is what counts when it comes to the content of closet!
Break the rules. I just told you to separate seasonal clothes from each other, but at times I keep breaking this rule, like you can see in these pictures. One way to lengthen the use of clothes is wear them in a new way on off the season too, like I do with this colorful summer dress. I mix it with dark color jacket and ankle boots and voilà: the style is not that summer-like. Or what do you think? It is a simple rule, but when you mix bright colors with dark ones, you can make a piece of clothing work a little bit longer than you would normally wear it.
Same rule goes to party outfits, which tend to stay in the closet most of the time. Especially now when we are heading to a big party season, you can easily start to mix party clothes with basic ones to spice up your style.
How to do it? For example wear a white t-shirt or turtleneck shirt underneath a black shoulder strap dress. Then add sneakers to the outfit and you are far away from going to a fancy party. Just try!
Take care of your clothes, I mean make a real caring practice like you do a beauty routine on your skin. This is one of the best ways to lengthen a life cycle of clothes. Wash clothes only when needed, often a little dustup is just what clothes need. Invest to a brush for shoes and woolen clothes and look for tips of how to do the caring process rightly on Internet.
My to-do list: I have a suede pair of boots that has some liquid on it (a little accident happened when they were in a suitcase) and some old COS merino wool dress that has a little holes and naps on it that need some taking care. Lets see if I can make them wearable again.
Lets go back to that conversation with that woman who own too many pair of shoes. What did I told her? Well, I gave an advice to start wear some of the shoes more often. How? By adding on pair of high heels in her bag and switching them on before the next meeting. Here in Finland, when most of the year it is impossible to wear high heels, I tend to follow the same rule: I put on pair of high heels in my big bag – just in case. You never know where you end up!
IPPC published its climate report this week, and this week’s news has been all about it. It is hard and scary to read that we only have like twelve years to stop the global climate warning not reaching to the two degrees. The action needs to be taken now, and we all need to do something. But sometimes I feel hopeless. In the mornings when I have read all the news about climate change, I have been thinking, what I could do more. When walking on the street I look around those busy people passing by with their plastic smoothie cups in their hands and then I saw rubbish on the street, and I feel hopeless. We are the western people and we should know it better. And at the same time I am busy too and hungry, it would be tempting to buy green smoothie, I need energy! Anyway, does it really matter what I do in a big picture? Does it really matter my little sustainable choices that I try to make, when the oceans are full of plastic, in the other side of the world people are working in bad working condition and out planet’s carrying capacity is about to collapse?
Well, does it matter?
As I talk to my husband, he is underlining that if we really wanted to live according to sustainable values, we would be living like his best friend in Brittany. He is living without electricity, in a minimalist way, he doesn’t consume hardly anything, he buys his food from food market and from locals and he is recycling or reusing everything. Only a few of us could live like this. I mean think about: warming your place every day, going to a cold shower and doing your needs to a bucket. Still, I really admire this person, I am proud of that we have chance to call him as a friend. He is a role model, and I don’t know anyone who is living like he does.
Anyway, I still want to believe, that it does matter what you and I do in every day level. And I do want to write about our sustainable lifestyle that we try to put in practice in our everyday life. You must have notice that this blog is about sustainable lifestyle and good life, right? So tips are coming now too, because we need action. Normally different reports and medias lists three categories that we can start doing changes and minimize our carbon footprint. These categories are: our eating habits, reducing taking a plane and paying attention to our consumer habits. Here are my tips for minimizing carbon footprint in each category. Yes, they are easy on paper, but not so easy put in the action.
Reduce eating meat
It is a meatless October (at least here in Finland), it is a perfect excuse to stop eating meat for a month at least. Participate a challenge and find your support group on Facebook, if you feel like it is easier when you share your results with others.
Start with little steps. For example, if you eat meat three times a week, start replace one meal with vegetarian food. Make it a habit.
Try new vegetarian recipes and try to replace meat with vegetarian substitute. Try to make a lasagna with vegetables only, for example! In the best case you will get excited to try new recipes and learning to make more sustainable meals. This is what happened to me, when I started to be vegetarian three years ago.
Do you have kids? Tell them to about why it is important to reduce eating meat. Do you have little kids? Think about, is it really necessary to start learning them to eat meat in weekly base.
Traveling
This is a hard one! I mean would you say no to a summer holiday in a warm destination or weekend in Rome? Probably not. And I cannot blame you. Discovering new places is broadening and you always learn and experience something new. But you know the truth: taking a plane is a bad for the planet and it is raising our carbon footprint. Of course you can buy yourself better conscience by living more sustainable way in your everyday life, but the best solution is to minimize your flying trips.
My solution: try to think in a new way. Is it really necessary to fly for this city holiday for just a couple of days? Is it really recuperative after all? Think about how tired you will be on Sunday evening when you are returning home after a weekend trip. Think about all the time wasted when getting to an airport, waiting in lines and so on.
If you are traveling a lot, stop to think: why am I doing this? What is it that I am not happy about my every day life where I am? Is it possible to move to another country or start looking your environment with new eyes?
I surely do know what I am writing about. We just moved back to my cold and dark home country from sunny and warm Spain. I could start booking flights to a warmer destination, but instead of doing that, I want to travel near by and get to know my county better.
If you traveling for a work, think if you can replace some of the flying and meetings by just making a Skype connection.
Remember: you can always compensate your carbon footprint by paying an extra flight fee for example here.
Change your consumption habits
This action we can take immediately. Think, what you really need. Try to find other solutions for buying, like borrowing books, tools and clothes from your friends or neighbors. And what goes on fashion and decoration trends, stop following them, and get out to be a fashion victim – it is not fashionable at all! You must know that fashion industry is one of the polluting industry in the world. When a shirt costs ten euros, you can be sure that it hasn’t been made in an ethical or environmental friendly factory.
So what should you do? Buy clothes on occasion, and buy only quality clothes that are made near and with natural fibers. Buy only for the need and ask your self every time: am I going to use this for another ten years? (Or like me: when I am a grandmother.) The best solution would be not to buy at all, and use the clothes that you already have.
Summary: Take care of the clothes you have and try to prolong their lifespan.
What goes on grocery shopping, avoid buying food that are packed in plastic (definitely not easy here in Finland).
Try to buy local and seasonal food and buy food on food markets, if possible.
Buy only food what you need and just a little at time (if you have chance to go to a super market often) and try to minimize food waste.
Carry a fabric bag with you.
Protect and be active!
Protect forests; they are important carbon throat for cleaning the air from carbon dioxide. Stop taking free distributions, read your magazines in your nearest library or if you buy them, change magazines with your friends. This is one way to safe money, too!
Support environmental groups.
Alongside our daily decisions towards sustainable living, we need more rapid action from a political level in global and in local basis to guide us to make better choices that are necessary to take in a long run.
Meanwhile, start doing something today, pick up a trash from the street or avoid buying that smoothie in a plastic cup. The important thing is that you start consciously think about your daily actions and what you could do more, because it does matter.
Recently, I listened twice a ten days meditation class Manifest Your Ultimate Goals & Dreams by Kenneth Soares via Insight Timer (yep, it is my favorite application at the moment). Kenneth is a mental coach, a member of a Power Thoughts Meditation Club (I recommend to check their web page) and free spirit. I really like this guy. Anyway, the topic of the ten days class was goals in life and how to reach them. The subject really spoke to me in this time, so I wanted to share Kenneth’s tips to you too. I mean, if you are wondering why the goal setting is difficult or often so out of reach. I felt like this when we were living in Alella. I had all the time during the day to do what I wanted, but I hardly get anything done really. I lost my focus and purpose, and most of the time I was wondering what I should do. To avoid this same feeling, here is what Kenneth propose for reaching the goals:
1.Write done what you want. Really, do this. Kenneth mentions that when you write down your goals it increases 75 % the chance to really reach them.
2. Make clear goals and make deadline. For example, I will meditate every morning for ten minutes till end of November or I will finish writing that article by the end of October. Also, do a planning on daily base so that the goal is easier to reach. Slice the goal like eating an apple. It works!
3. Why? This is your key question. Have you ever wonder why you really want to reach this goal? Why it is so important to you? Kenneth mentions that answering the question why you more likely will reach your target. To put it in other words: most unlikely you will reach your goal if you haven’t stop thinking ‘why’.
4. Engage and accept that there will be stones on your road – like in life in general.
5. How to get start? Make a one goal of each of these categories:
– mental growth
– physical well-being
– relationship (family, friends, relationship)
– working life / study
Follow the steps mention earlier.
I hope these steps will help you as they have helped me. I have made dream maps in every New Year’s Eve since 2014, and I noticed that some of the goals were forgotten on my fancy mind map. Afterwards I have realized that I didn’t make them precise enough and thought about the question why.
So to turn the new chapter from now on I will try to answer the question ‘why’ whenever setting new goals.
