Mindfulness is suppose to be calming and all zen. It’s suppose to help you better live life & be a better you. Mostly what I’ve found though, is mindful STRESS.
Being INFJ, I see every path that leads to and stems from every decision I make. Add in mindfulness to this and top it off with some anxiety, I’m almost always stressed in some form or fashion.
Throw in any life situations or circumstances to the mix (such as my son being strangely sick this past month) and the end result is health problems for myself.
(Such as stress induced ovarian cysts.) *Que extreme self care & stress management*
Mindful-Stress
What things do I stress over? I really want to live a zero waste life AND eat organically. But all the organic food in my town is individually wrapped in plastic.
My husband is resistant to everything I try to implement in our lives that requires him to do any extra thinking or work (He’s heavy in Earth Sign-magic).
I want to be vegan, which at this point for me only means cutting out meat but by gosh do I love some tacos, hamburgers and seafood. There’s vegan burgers and imitation meat but once again, it’s all individually wrapped in plastic.
Not to mention my gluten and sugar free concerns which narrows my food choices down from difficult to nearly and seemingly impossible.
None of my family respects my choices. They all think I’m ridiculous, unyielding and selfish which is all fine and dandy except, they keep my son. I can’t for the life of me get through to them how bad sugar is for you.
They don’t understand the effects of gluten and the fact that dairy is BAD goes against everything they’ve ever been taught. AND I’m pretty confident they give him soda behind my back. *insert cringy face here*
We’re not even going to get into the anxiety I feel every time I open the fridge (cause ya know, electricity = carbon footprint) or turn on the faucet (cause, ya know, conserve water).
And have you ever tried to plan a healthy, ethical, zero waste, eco friendly birthday party for a 2 year old with 55+ guests that don’t even know what most of those things are without spending a fortune? *insert exasperated gif here*
The Art of Balance
BUT the point of this post is not to complain. But instead, to show you that it’s ok to give yourself permission to let go of things. Because my worrying and stressing over all of the above is making me sick.
Literally.
No matter how healthy I eat, the stress is going to counteract it all if I can’t let go of some of my ideologies.
We are all only one person, and perfect is a state of being that doesn’t exist. All we can hope to do is our very best. To be mindful, compromise and trust that we are enough.
There are so many things in this world that need to be improved. So many things that need our attention and innovation. Too many for any one person to handle.
Unfortunately, those of us who are conscious of every single one of these many things feel as though we have to compensate for the lack of other people’s concern. To carry the weight of the world on our shoulders because we see so many others who carry none of the weight.
We have to trust in the natural balance of nature and the world though. Even though we may be in areas and paths where we don’t see many people helping shoulder the weight, doesn’t mean they aren’t around.
Perhaps the universe has evenly distributed them throughout the world so that, even though they may or may not be as common as those who seemingly do nothing, they are capable of carrying the weight that needs to be carried, together.
Evolution of Attention
Our minds are not designed to make the good things in life significant. When the world was wilder, rawer and more dangerous, it was important to know where the danger was.
What was going to kill you, where the food was, who was participating in dangerous things that could potentially harm you or your family took precedence over the happiness of life.
Fast forward to present day and although, generally, we are safer, the instinctive need to spread negativity remains. It naturally interests us more than the cute puppy pictures or the excitement of a child on their birthday.
Add this to the growing speed of news consumption from every where we turn and it thoroughly seems like the world is absolute chaotic and evil shit.
We have to believe that the world is inherently good or at least in balance with the bad. If not, then what are we all working toward? If this isn’t true, then any efforts we make to improve the world around us is a waste of time. And I deeply believe it isn’t.
The Spectrum of Good
Society makes things even more difficult on us by their definitions, boxes and judging nature. Calling us names and trolling us if we don’t fit their definition of a particular lifestyle. Missing the point entirely of the lifestyle.
Everything is a spectrum, as humans themselves are not clear cut black and white and do not fit neatly into boxes, neither can the things we create. They are all relative and ever evolving.
Example: Minimalism has a spectrum, ethically sourced has a spectrum. Since I cannot be a minimalistic, zero waste vegan who only eats organic and gluten free, never impacts the carbon footprint, always ethically sources everything I touch and still live stress free, I must make some compromises in my life.
I have to be ok with a gluten free, organic, natural diet of ethically sourced as best as I can, often wrapped in plastic food. I have to be (for now) ok with minimal meat instead of no meat and I have to be ok with making some foot prints in the carbon crisis and watering my garden so that I can buy less wrapped in plastic food.
Every thing is a work in progress. These off the beaten path lifestyles aren’t created over night. They take time, often years of tweaking and fine tuning to get use to everything and make it easy. The important thing is that I’m mindfully trying. And that makes a huge difference.
It’s ok to not be able to save the world all on your own. To make mindful decisions about what works best for you and your family because every little bit helps is good enough.
Every little piece of good tips the scales more in the favor of good.
No one should ever be made to feel bad about trying simply because they don’t measure up to other people’s standards. We should lift each other up and celebrate all the good that we do together.
I have to allow myself to be ok with throwing things away. To trust that my mindfulness is enough to help me cut down and do my best.
I have to trust that as long as I take full responsibility in leading the battles in the wars of my life, others will do the same and together, we are all making the world a better place. Trust myself, trust the universe, trust the process. It’s ok to not be perfect.
Best Vibes Always
S.S.Blake
P.S. You don’t have to do it alone. AND SHOULDN’T! Message me here.
The better we take care of ourselves, the better we can take care of the world.
Other Articles You May Enjoy:
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- How to Become Empowered Through Healing Your Generational Curses
- How to Find Self Love & Acceptance Through Healing Cultural Shame
Author
S.S.Blake; Spiritual Life Coach, Yoga + Meditation Teacher and Founder of Earth and Water
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