Hi, Boomers,
Ever feel that you are out of sync with just about everything, with nature, with your mind/body connection or with the peeps in your environment. Off balance? Off your rocker? What’s happening, dude?
I was given an assignment recently to think about the concept of sustainability as it relates to the mind/body connection. What? OMG! What does that mean? I thought sustainability had to do with keeping all things green, or ecologically pure, water, air, the earth. We plant good things, therefore, we eat good things. We have good air quality; therefore, we breathe clean air. Keep everything growing the color of green not that awful off-green yellowish/brownish/puce color. Sure, we have lots of that coloration around but what does that have to do with mind/body sustainabiity.
I asked every yoga student who was a scientist/researcher in my classes (most of them are ) what sustainability means? Does green mean more than planting food products that are organic or building houses that are energy efficient. I’m new at this stuff. Green to me means buying a Prius. And you know how those guys drive? I’m not in that club. Every time I see one coming, I cut in front of them.
One genius yogini said after about a minute of hemming and hawing, “I think sustainability means things that last in life – that go on for more than a year at a time…that is, sustaining, which means lasting, that things will last.” Okay, now I was getting it.
Mind/Body/Green means reclaiming our mind/body connection in a way that will sustain our energy -or, as the yogis put it – our inner core. That is to say, our mindfulness (how aware we are in the present), our resourcefulness, our resilience, our positive attitude about living and life – all that produces a balance – like a balance in nature when everything is thriving with energy – that sustains humans at ahigher functioning level, which in turn maximizes our potential as humans on earth.
Wow! Who knew that your work life and your personal life have to be in balance. And if it isn’t, your stress level is likely to get worse and your productivity decreases.
If we are not in balance, if our core is not functioning to the max and pumping along with positivity (I don’t know if that’s a word but I like it anyway), then our personal model for living well and our business model for productivity, are not operating at a really efficient level. We are like a fine car, a Ferrari if you will, that purrs along a lonely desert road at 160 miles an hour. But if we have that mind/body/green connection, we will be performing consistently on higher levels for longer periods of time, unlike that Ferrari that spends a good amount of time in the shop. “Let me take you to a higher vibration!” You go, Bob Marley! He had it right. With a cohesive plan to sustain our inner core and to maximize our energetic output, we can bypass fatigue, depression, lost time with friends and love ones, lost productivity and a thoroughly disorganized lifestyle.
Most people spend too much time indoors. You knew that. Most people don’t get enough exercise. You knew that. Don’t you want fabulous health for the rest of your life? Yeah, dude, it takes work. Yeah, dude, it takes discipline. Yeah, dude, it takes a desire to be the best that you can be. Last night I watched a 74 year old man drink the following: one full to the brim large martini with 4 olives (I was salivating for the 4 olives and sip of the martini) and 3 white wines in glasses that were not for the faint of heart. I learned prior to watching him take his first sip of that dirty martini that he had already had a martini just before he came to the Catalina Bar and Grill to listen to some great music. He didn’t last the set. He got up from the table with his over filled wine glass and went to a dark corner in the back.
I believe, without any pontification, that the intention of sustainability is to eliminate negative environmental impact either in the natural atmosphere or within ourselves – mind/body. Dedicating ourselves to maximizing our potential shifts our behavior into the positive zone for decades maybe, even sustaining our energy until we pass into the next incarnation. With our renewed spiritual sustainability, we can then go to a more peaceful place where relaxation and reduced stress are possible alternatives. Anxiety can then just take a hike. Our puce vision has then, metaphorically, turned itself into “It’s easy being green.” You go, Muppets!
Namaste
Joan