WORD UP PG

This week's mantra BE AN INNER ENVIRONMENTALIST. We’re prett y lit here in Byron - you don’t see nearly as many single-use coff ee cups, plastic water bott les or straws in these parts as you do outside of the Byron bubble. Mamas and Papas pack plastic-free lunches and shun cling fi lm and att end protests with babes in arms. Reusable razors are all the rage. Organic food and fabrics and compostable packaging abound in our beautiful Bay. Which is awesome and important. I’m so proud of the way we are all doing small things together to create a big change. Protests and plasticfree living are important. Because environmentalism depends on outward action. But what’s happening outside of us is a refl ection of our inner lives. So environmentalism also depends on inner work. We need to turn our gaze inward and refl ect on what aspects of ourselves have contributed to this catastrophe. The best way to create change in the outer environment is to change the inner environment. And the best tool I know of for doing that is meditation. Meditation off ers us the opportunity to develop equanimity, a word derived from Latin which translates to “balanced internal state.” By sitt ing still and noticing the changing landscape of emotions and thoughts in meditation, we practice staying (rather than leaving or resisting) and listening (without judgement or att achment). Equanimity deepens our self-awareness and amps up our emotional intelligence. It also schools us in non-att achment which makes responding wisely to our impulses and emotions a heck of a lot easier. We eat, buy and act more consciously, rather than in reaction to distorted feelings, unconscious cravings and self-soothing impulses. In other words, we can investigate - and relate diff erently to - the underlying discomforts that cause us to move with more speed than we should and consume more than we need. So take action with your life, yes. But also, be an inner environmentalist. Be an inner activist. Change the inner landscape and the outer landscape will shift , too. Because when you become more conscious, your choices do too.

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