Living in Harmony

I can’t open up MSN, turn on the television or listen to the radio without seeing or hearing something about “going green”. We are being inundated with “go green” articles, advertisements and movies. It’s a huge sociopolitical movement right now.

As a cancer survivor or a person living with cancer, “going green” may seem to be irrelevant, and frankly way off the radar screen if you’re fighting for your life. But actually, living green can be incredibly personally healing. It just depends on how you enter this new realm. If you take it on like another burden or task that you have to do, it's probably best not to do it. But, when you begin to conceptualize living green as another way that you can heal you from the outside-in You’re contributing to a global immune system which directly affects your immune system. Furthermore the daily engagement with this kind of awareness for life can be incredibly soothing.

Take this tiny little example: Sally ordered GDiapers the other day, which are chlorine free, disposable, flushable diapers; these diapers are so environmentally sound that they can even be used as compost! When it came time for Sally to switch her daughter into these diapers however, her first reaction was to stick with her old diapers that were easy and simple, after all, her routine with diapers was well greased at this point and she felt reluctant to add another potential "hassle" to her life.

Surprisingly, it turned out to be anything but a hassle! Every time Sally used the new diapers (just a small little change she made toward serving her environment), she felt so darn good about herself, responsible and connected to the world around her that she almost wanted her daughter to pee her pants. Using Gdiapers is a teeny-tiny little step, but healing happens in small steps.

Give it a whirl; put yourself in harmony with the planet. Look around you. Are there little things that you could change to go green? Maybe bring your own bag to the grocery store? How about the holidays coming up, tons of consumer goods to be had. How about trying to buy homemade products and/or avoid plastics? Try this www.buyhandmade.org.

Don’t overhaul everything, just take a small step.