10 GIFTS

Yesterday was the "official" day when all the shop-till-you-drop craze begins leading up to the big Holiday Season. (Cue the music...) Gift giving is such a BEAUTIFUL thing, but it has become really manic and destructive in our society. People wracking up debt because they feel they have to buy and buy, literally harming others in the quest to get something they think they must have, so much stress, so frantic. How about we step out of all that this year?! I submit some suggestions for a loving and stress free holiday season, helping the Earth in the process. We can give and NOT pollute the land, water and air. YAY!

1. Buy Less.
Seems a no-brainer. The more things we accumulate that we don't really need from people who think they have to buy us "something", the more that winds up in the landfill. While it is really fun to give, most of the gifts now are so destructive to the world we live in. So much plastic! So much manufacturing waste. We don't need to add to that in order to give.

2. Re-Give.
(What an odd sounding word.) There are many things you may have received that you don't use or enjoy that someone else may need or adore! When I was doing my huge "cleanse" to downsize before moving to Kauai, it was so fun finding new homes for things I didn't want to take with me. I thought I didn't have much "stuff" to start with, but it was amazing how much I had to give in my closets. There is an organization online at http://www.freecycle.org where you can get things to give to others for free! Craigslist also has a "free" section under the "For Sale" column. And of course you can post things there you want to give away if you can't find another home for them.

3. Donate.
One of the wonderful traditions started in my family awhile ago is making a donation in someones name to an organization that person would want to support. There is money flowing to a fantastic cause, rather than to a "thing" that sits on a shelf or in a store room. It is exciting to me that the Earth can get extra help at this time of year if people are willing to give in this way.

4. Talents.
When we are kids we make things for people. Like the painting Mom still has hanging and says she likes, or the pot holder she still uses. (Yes, it's true). But who says we can't do this as adults? One of the most delicious gifts I ever got was a 2 hour massage from a professional massage therapist friend of mine. BLISS! Someone may be able to offer tutoring on a computer to another who is lost. (That would be me). Write a poem or song as a gift if you are a writer or singer. I have a friend who is a pianist and donates himself as entertainment for parties as a gift. Is there some skill you have that others could be blessed by?

5. Time.
Even if you feel you are a talent free zone, time is a gift that many can use. Babysit for a couple with kids so they can have a night out. Be a chauffeur for someone who has no car. Clean someones car, or house. (Well maybe not the WHOLE house...). You can create a "certificate" to be redeemed for a certain number of hours of your time. Lots of people need gifts of time!

6. Free Tickets.
Give a subscription to season tickets for something fantastic! Or maybe just a single show of something passing through. A year's admission to a museum, art gallery, arboretum. That gift keeps on giving the entire year.

7. FOOD!
O.K, who doesn't like food? Maybe you want to not like it so it won't tempt you, but you DO. Everyone needs to eat. Making food to give as gifts feels very special to the person receiving. "You made this yourself? Wow." Even if it's not yummy to them, the love that went into it is what is received. Your shopping is no more than a few extra items the next time you are at the grocery store.

8. Re-use.
A lot of the wrapping, bows and bags that things come in can be re-used. I had such a collection of gift bags and bows from packages I got over the years I gave a bunch away on my big "cleanse" and I still have more to use this year. Even the wrapping paper if it is taken off carefully can be used again another year. Just cut off the parts with tape and voila, new paper with no trip to the store. (Just don't give it back to the same person...hee!)

9. Recycle.
There is so much packaging on new products but lots of it can go to recycling rather than the landfill. And all those holiday cards and envelopes can be put in paper recycling. Here in Hawaii they do not have curbside recycling (on an ISLAND!...don't get me started...), but ALL paper can be recycled, and both cardboard AND paperboard, if you know where to take it. Check with your local recycling centers for what they accept. In most places none of it has to go to the landfill.

10. E cards.
Lots of people give cards only at the holidays, and have a HUGE list! But now we have the Internet and don't need to cut down forests any more to send a card. Of course there are cards printed on recycled paper, but they are still made in factories adding to the pollution. We can step out of all of that. There are many online card "stores", and most are free! Even better. The cards can be SO creative, even singing and dancing for the recipient. How fun is that?! So give tons of cards and create no waste. Wow.

I know there are lots of ways not mentioned here to give gifts that don't involve buying at a store and more stuff for the landfill. I hope this list has given you ideas to make your own holiday season this year more loving and stress free for both you AND the Earth! YES!
Thanks for listening.

THANKSGIVING

It has been just over a year since I started writing LightonEden. A YEAR!!! Wow. That has gone really fast. Much has changed in the last year, and I would like to offer thanksgiving for many things that have happened.

I have no idea how many people have read these posts or how many may have become more aware of their actions and made shifts through reading them, but I would like to give THANKS for all the people who HAVE let me know of changes they have made to help our beloved Earth. I am SOOOO grateful every time someone tells me about some new shift or discovery they have made, so keep talking to me!!!! It gives me hope. And I also give thanks for the ones I don't know about!

I am truly grateful for the dear friends and family that I have who are actively searching for ways to do less harm and are willing to listen to my rants! It is always amazing to talk with someone who "gets" how important it is to everything that exists in this world that we as a species become aware of what we are doing. Thank you for caring enough to act.

I give thanks that environmental issues have become a GLOBAL conversation with more and more people realizing how we must act to help the Earth and do it swiftly. A few years ago "going green" was not the popular phrase it is now. More and more stores are offering CHOICES of things that don't destroy our planet, so as people become more conscious they can shop at the stores they usually do and still care for this place we all call home.

Then there is my Mom. I have been so moved by how determined she is to find ways to be kinder to Creation. This woman does research! I cannot tell you the number of phone calls and letters asking me about some new product to try or telling me of some discovery she has made to make a difference. And there are all the phone calls and letters to stores and companies to ask about Earth friendly products. Makes me squirm with delight. I am so thankful for all of it. YAY Mom!

Lastly, I offer here a song for this Thanksgiving celebration.

We come together to share our Stories
We come together to share our Love
We come together to blend our Voices
This is my Heart Song

We come together to walk in Sacredness
We come together to walk in Peace
We come together to join the Circle
This is my Heart Song

We come together to live in Thankfulness
We come together to live in Joy
We come together to be One Spirit
This is my Heart Song

So to all my readers, whoever and wherever you may be, I give thanks for you, and
Thanks for listening!

RAISING CARE

Lately I have been watching a lot of videos on enviro things rather than just reading articles, and I keep finding more I want to share. Here is another brilliant one, only 2 minutes long, and so inspiring! (The link is different from what I usually do. Just click on the picture below.) I find it really powerful when it is YOUTH teaching us about caring for Creation. I love this line: "Stop trying to raise awareness, and instead raise CARE"!!!!! YES. I have found what he says to be so true; people may be aware of an issue but not necessarily care enough to DO something. And I cannot even count the number of times someone I am talking with dismisses a harmful action with "I don't do it very often", or "it's not that much". I LOVE when he says "people need to not do it AT ALL!". Tell it like it is J.D.
So how does one inspire care?
Thanks for listening, and caring!

GO WITH THE FLOW

This gorgeous place that I swim every day has a sign at the top that reads "No Safe Swimming. Deadly unsafe currents have killed 14." So I get a lot of questions when people see me there every day with my swim gear! It is true that it is unsafe, if you don't know how to deal with a strong ocean current and don't know where the channels in the reef are that suck people out to sea. There are days that I can't fight the current even though I swim there daily, so I just have to get out. This daily shifting in the flow of the current got me pondering the phrase "go with the flow". I have read and heard SO many times that we need to learn to go with the flow and not fight it, and if we are not in the flow then we are going the wrong direction. My experience in the water and life has taught me something else.

Sometimes the "flow" is taking you someplace that you don't want to be, or someplace that is dangerous. Like being swept out to sea, or joining the majority in making destructive choices for this planet. In times like these we actually need to work to NOT be swept away by the flow, and find our way out. As an example, my parents just moved to a new city and my Mom called 6 different stores looking for recycled toilet paper so she wouldn't be contributing to cutting down trees! Go Mom! She could have just "gone with the flow" of whatever they had in the first store she went to. Too many people just LET themselves be part of the flow and continue to make choices that are harming themselves and the home we all live on, because it is too much "work" to not do harm, and mainstream society has set up this path that is not aware of the consequences of their actions.

No-one likes being told they are doing harm. When I bring it to someone's attention that they are harming themselves or someone else or the Earth by the enviro choices they are making, there is a large range of responses, from actually thanking me for bringing their attention to whatever it is, to making me the villain for "attacking" them. From me it always comes from the same place, GREAT love and compassion for the harm that is being done and a sincere desire to lessen or eradicate that harm. It never comes from a desire to be cruel to whoever that person is. I have no control over how they perceive my showing them the harm they are causing. I can do my best to be gentle, but their reaction depends on their own mental, emotional and spiritual health and their ability to face difficult truths. Some people actually WANT to know the harm they are doing and welcome someone who is brave enough to help them see it. Others somehow think that in pointing out how they could make different choices to lessen the harm they are doing, that I am being nasty or unkind. It becomes about me, rather than what they are doing, and takes the focus off themselves which is really where it needs to be. There is a HUGE risk in showing people how they are doing harm, because so often they turn on me in very negative ways. I will always be grateful for the ones who don't turn it into being about me, but rather are willing to really look at the harm they are doing and make different choices.

So why do I keep trying to show people they are doing harm when it is so painful and risky? Because I believe it honors the truth that LIFE calls us to. I believe God, or the Life Force, or whatever you want to call that power, does not want us to harm ourselves, others or this magnificent creation. I could just stay silent and observe all the harm being done, but then my silence is part of the problem, not part of the solution. Speaking up is difficult, but imperative if anything is going to change. And so I continue to step out into sometimes very painful interactions, rather than going with the "flow" of what people are doing that is harmful.

I would like to propose something radical. Be one of the ones who swims against the current! Don't just get swept along with the millions of people who "go with the flow" and are not interested in looking at the harm they do. Be willing to look at the harm you do and ways to lessen that. And be brave enough to challenge those around you to make choices that bring healing rather than harm to this Earth and themselves both. Imagine a day when the "flow" of the majority actually sweeps you toward CARING for our beautiful home! Let's build a new current. Will you help?
Thanks for listening.

YOUTH TRUTH

Here is the video I promised in my last post. This kid is amazing. So full of passion and truth at such a young age. Tell it like it is! He packs a LOT of important information into a short period. Definitely worth 5 minutes of your time. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Id9caYw-Y

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD

One of the extraordinary things about my current life is the ABUNDANCE of food that comes right from my yard on a daily basis. Besides my garden which of course I have to plant and tend, there are dozens of fruit trees that have been here for decades just giving and giving! The picture above is a yard harvest from one day. Beautiful! Since getting so deeply into enviro things, the old adage "you are what you eat" has become so clear and simple to me: what we put in our mouths becomes our blood and flesh and bones. If it goes in our mouths, it becomes part of us, unless we can somehow expel it. What has also become really clear is the circle that we are a part of. What we put into ourselves then travels into the Earth when we eliminate, and what we put into the Earth travels into us when we eat. So simple really, but it seems that most people don't make the connection between their own health and the health of this planet. The following are thoughts about food from a bunch of different articles I have recently read and there is much to ponder here about this circle.

This first one I have to quote directly because it is just so...well you'll see:

"The majority of people in America begin their morning with a cup of tea or coffee and a dose of DDT, malathion, paraquat, diazinon, and a bit of Round Up (sprayed on the plant). Milk or cream comes with acceptable amounts of bovine growth hormone, a shot of antibiotics, and a few steroid molecules for good measure. One or two teaspoons of sugar filtered through slaughtered bone ash prevents it from caking, and a bowl of genetically modified cornflakes carries up to 50 different pesticides just to bring it to the table on this lovely morning." YOWZAH. We are choosing to make this part of our bodies? Hardly seems possible, and yet there is the majority, every day.

We have SO many additives in food now and for quite some time it has become perfectly acceptable by the "masses" to consume all these things every time they eat. But now there are more and more studies appearing linking these additives to all kinds of diseases that are showing up in ever-increasing numbers. By the time the government "proves" the link and acts to remove the additive, great damage has already been done. The following is a list of food and drinks that have been "proven" to be carcinogenic, meaning they can and do create cancer in your body:

Red Meat

Processed sugar

Heavily salted and smoked foods

Farmed fish (wild caught fish has LESS toxins but still has plenty: 100% of fish tested in rivers had chemical poisoning above "acceptable" levels from agricultural chemical run-off. Again, the circle. We spray it on our plants, it goes into the stream or ocean, into the fish, and into us.)

Fries, chips and snacks with trans fats

All charred food

Artificial sweeteners like Aspartame

Excess alcohol

How many of you reading this consume some or all of these things? And how many of you actually WANT to get cancer. I'm sure the answer is no-one wants to. And cancer is not the only disease now linked to food choices. There are so MANY linked to food, from diabetes to heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Alzheimer's, and on and on. So when does the majority start to connect what they want in health to what they buy in food? I know SO many people that think they can't afford organic food, but they pay HUGE health care bills because of what the non-organic food is depositing in their bodies! So would you rather pay the farmer or pay the hospital? (I must give credit for that last line to a VERY savvy teenager who did an incredible talk about our current food system. I need to post his video for you to see.) The latest research has now discovered that the chemicals sprayed on plants are not just on the surface. They are actually absorbed from the soil through the roots so there are toxic chemicals in the cells of the plants. Yikes.

There is another aspect to this circle of food and that is wasted food. Everyone knows that restaurants throw a lot away, but are you aware of how much food is thrown from U.S. households? The figure is 28%! Astounding. Just 5% could feed ALL the hungry in this country. And listen to this: more energy is wasted from food thrown away each year than is extracted from ALL the oil and gas reserves on U.S. coastlines in the same year. So we are extracting oil to manufacture, package and transport food that is going to be tossed. WOW! I have witnessed this kind of waste with my own eyes. Things get left in the fridge so long they can no longer be used and go in the trash. At the end of a meal all that is left over gets tossed. My niece used to call me "hoover" (affectionately of course) because I would clean up everyone's plate at the end of dinner so it wouldn't get thrown out. Why is it o.k. to throw so much out? Because we can. Because we aren't starving. Because we have money to go buy more. What if everyone suddenly didn't do that any more? What if you eat everything in your fridge before it goes bad and if you can't finish what's on your plate you put it away for another time? Think of the oil that wouldn't have to be pumped out of the Earth to keep this circle of waste going. PLEASE consider this the next time you are upset about an oil spill. How your own food choices are part of this circle.

We really CAN wake up people. And this beautiful Earth NEEDS us to wake up and look at ALL our choices because EVERYTHING we do is part of the circle. Even the cup of coffee or tea to start the day makes a difference. So go make a difference in every meal.
Thanks for listening.

SAVE THE OCEAN!

This is an absolutely beautiful 5 minute video shot entirely here on Kauai including lots of footage at my beloved Larsens beach! YAY! The baby seal in the film is one of "my" pups that I babysat for. It is titled "Save The Ocean For Our Sake", and was not only filmed and edited, but the original music was written and played, all by the same young man when he was only 16!!!! He is wildly talented. It won the student award at the Hawaii Ocean Film Festival last year, and I was privileged to be there at it's debut. Gabe, who created the entire thing is the son of a dear friend here on Kauai, and there are more amazing films coming from this inspiring young man. Enjoy my island home!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBngyoSPP8M