The impact of community and doing less but meaning more

Hello!  I hope you all are doing well.  

It’s I think week 6 or so of social solidarity.  Maybe you are like me, and finding some benefits to the way things are going.  I think when change happens, even changes that we are not in control of, we still have some choices.  Making the best of what we have and finding the gems are key.  There is always some choice.

We are not all in the same boat, and in no way do I mean to under estimate how much some people are going through, as my own situation is feeling ok, for now, for me.  I am not saying this is easy for anyone and many have very big challenges and I empathize with you.  We all have different things that are not working well for us in this time, and some of those things are huge.  But, some of these life changes maybe, if we really look for them, actually working better for us.  

I think in large we all have felt that the situation, even long before this pandemic, needed to change.  Weather you agree with climate change or not, we, as humans, cannot deny that we are collectively using more resources and creating more pollution than our beautiful world can keep up with.  

In very general terms our current lifestyles greatly effect land, trees, water, air, soil, landfills, the survival of many animals, and so much more.  These are pretty big and important areas to our earth and our survival.  This novel virus got our attention.  This attention just happens to somewhat help our world at the same time by doing what we thought was not possible.  Greatly lessen our footprints on the environment.

When previously the thought of making a difference for the benefit of the world seems so daunting, and almost too much to not even know where to start, look at what we have all done.  This is quite an incredible feat.  

The side effects of less travel, less disposable living, less out and about, more at home, more connecting within our walls, more reflection, maybe even more reading and finding purpose in what we do each day for the safety of others.  The clearing of skies and air, water, as well as the showing of support and love across our communities should be a source of pride and motivation to see what can be done. 

The current situation we are in is more limited than maybe what feels ok long term, but what if it was even half of what we are doing now?  Just some thoughts to think about how to maybe start to look at how to do less movement and find new ways outside of our once comfortable habits creating a good feeling about how new habits can create positive changes.

That all has been on my mind the past few weeks, and I wanted to comment on this, as we need to pause, breathe, and give ourselves and our community a pat on the back as what we each are doing is not easy, and not always comfortable nor what we’d likely to choose to do on our own.  

However, when we reflect and see what we can do, and what these results are showing to be, maybe what we thought was comfortable and important has changed.  Comfortable now looks to me like different priorities and feeling like I am more focused on the big picture and doing what I can today and not taking things for granted, even more than I thought I already was.  

Now, back to the area of food and nutrition!  Your Quality Greens market is bursting with amazing fruits and veggies!  The warm air outside is starting to create those warm summer feelings and the time to create some fun patio snacks and meals is here!  Salads, smoothies, dips, and BBQ dishes - oh my!  Check out what all is in stock and see the recipes online for some inspiration! 

Have a great week!

Lisa.