Excellence is a habit

 “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” 

Aristotle

"You don’t set out to build a wall. You don't say ‘I’m going to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that’s ever been built.’ You don’t start there. You say, ‘I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid.’ You do that every single day. And soon you have a wall.”"
Will Smith

"It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen."

Muhammad Ali

Bricks and punches, habits and affirmations ... Excellence, great walls and super stars...

Not so difficult really, all we have to do is repeat whatever it is we want to accomplish or be everyday. Like yoga or playing harmonica, painting or learning a language, standing on one foot or standing on your head the limit is imagination not time. Like keeping positive, meditating, slowing down or being kinder ... 

The one thing I know is that not starting is the best way to run out of time!

Cheers

Jeanne

Notes on the weekly action challenge:

From last week: Where does our recycling go after the truck picks up our blue box?? And how much of it actually gets recycled/how efficient is the program?

The biggest obstacle and the largest cost of recycling is what we put in our blue bin and contaminated material. Putting material that does not belong in our recycling boxes means more time and energy sorting which results in higher costs to the municipality/taxpayer and can also jam up the automated separator systems. Everything to be recycled needs to be cleaned. Anything with food or food residue on it is contaminated and either cannot be used or results in lower quality end material. 

Pizza boxes and food contaminated cardboard and paper products cannot be recycled.

Most municipalities in Ontario have "single stream recycling". Everything recyclable goes into the blue bin (Compost is separate) and is taken to a transfer station where it is loaded onto different truck and taken to a Materials Recovery Facility. There it is sorted using a series of technologies to separate the materials, they are "baled" and sold to 'recyclers' who make new products from the recovered material. This article talks about the current state of Canada's recycling programs.

Reduce, reuse, recycle, rejected: Why Canada’s recycling industry is in crisis mode - The Globe and Mail

From first week: Look at energy use in my house and unplug things when they are not being used.

Now that I've unplugged most things electronics, stopped using google home, and turning off my devices that use wifi (except when I'm actually using them) I kinda wish I hadn't got rid of my cd collection (the hard drive I stored them on dropped and I'm not sure if I saved them in the clouds I'd really want to use that anyways) and I also am going to see about finding an old radio I can listen to CBC on. I understand that internet searches use energy, and I wonder what the comparison would be between the old plug in versions of music players and streaming?? 

It is getting more habitual to unplug and turn off in the evening. It is still weird thinking about it though after being connected 24/7 for so long. What if a catastrophe happened and I didn't find out until the morning? I'd probably deal with it better after a good sleep, and I will turn on if there is a chance of forest fires in the area. Maybe time to get a land line again??? I'm pondering still... 

Everything has an impact and I want to be clear on what I'm doing and why to make my impact a conscious one ... as much as I can

This week action from the recycling: See where I generate garbage/recycling, sort and clean and take the stack of old batteries and old electronics (sadly no radio) to a battery/electronic recycling place... and also look into ways to encourage companies to reduce packaging.

No to Good

 “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.” Steve Jobs

“The ability to say no is a tremendous advantage for an investor.” Warren Buffett

This morning I was looking for quotes about what we were saying Yes to when we say No... or maybe it was the other way around, regardless, neither of these quotes was what I was looking for, but both say exactly what I mean...

I'd like to get one thing out in the open, I don't think it was well hidden, but I want this to be perfectly clear: My "No" muscle is very flaccid! 

There are countless times, close to infinite, over my life that I said yes to something without thinking it through, and ended up stressed, overwhelmed, running around doing a half assed job of everything and feeling resentful. Many of the things I say yes to are very important to me, they are things I feel very strongly about like family, friendships, volunteering, and living up to my values. Yet, now I am realizing how counterproductive this is, how saying "yes" has become a habit that is standing in the way of me making the best investment in my life, this one short life I have to live. I am realizing that keeping busy doing all these important things is an excuse for me not doing the work of letting my deeper energy surface and put my focus on something that will make me feel a sense of accomplishment and pride rather than exhausted and not disappointed in myself, but not fulfilled either. I'm not sure how I'm going to change, how I'm going to selectively choose to say no to some things because I want to do everything! But being a Superwoman is not the work that gives my life meaning, I want to find my purpose!

It's a pretty cool statement that Steve Jobs makes, to be proud of the good things they didn't do. It takes a lot of discipline to do that, and even more it takes a sense of direction to know where you are going in the first place.

Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett both had very clearly defined and iterated reasons for how they made choices. They made their choices because they knew who they were and what was important to them and followed that purpose, with what their heart and gut told them was important.

This is an excerpt from an opinion piece in the Toronto Star by  Emmanuel Adegboyega on June 29th:

I would like to leave you with some words of encouragement from one of my mentors, Dr. Myles Munroe. He once said that the greatest tragedy in life is not death, but instead it is a life lived without purpose. He also once said that the graveyard is the wealthiest place on earth. You might ask, why is that? Well, a graveyard is where you find Best Selling books that were not published, award winning songs that were not written, drama pieces that were not acted, ideas that weren’t given expression, multimillion dollar businesses that weren’t started, leaders that were not established, and more severely, dreams that weren’t fulfilled; simply because many died without discovering their purpose.

Last week I talked about a challenge I would take on each week (and this is for real something that is part of my purpose lol): 

This week's challenge is something I've been meaning to do for a long time! To look into what really happens with our municipal recycling and what I need to do to make it work. It is too easy for me to feel good about separating what I throw out and trust that it is being recycled, composted etc, but when I see everything being thrown together in the truck that picks it up I wonder how that happens. I don't believe that 'faith in the system' is taking responsibility for what happens to the garbage I create.

Cheers
Jeanne

Avoiding reality and avoiding responsibility gives away our freedom

 

“We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality”
Ayn Rand

“Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty as well as by the abuses of power.”
James Madison

The more freedom we have, the more responsibility we have. Period!!

Paradoxically when we have freedom and liberty we absolve religion and government and even corporations from responsibility. Our freedom to choose means that they can be as corrupt and greedy and unfair as they want and take no responsibility because we, the people, have given them the power. 

The more I think about it, the stronger the answer resounds in my head; we have choices whether we think we do or not. Complaining is a choice we make that gives away our power. There are other actions we can take at any time... they just aren't comfortable. They likely mean we need to give up a luxury we've been accustomed to, or some of our precious time here and there, and we may end up having really difficult conversations with ourselves and others, even alienating some people we care about because this kind of change is threatening to the status quo and resistance to new thinking is a powerful force which gets stronger and more entrenched when we feel we are right and close our minds to the possibility of anything else. (such as resistance to believing the earth is round and revolves around the sun, or resistance to believing that human activity is causing or at the very least accelerating climate change)

I think we have grown so accustomed to compromising real value for what we think we want that it has become habit to overconsume, to believe that we are not hurting anyone when we are blind to institutional injustice and bullying, when we ignore the rights of other people if they interfere with what we want, and to complain that things are shitty but do nothing because it is easier to think that we are helpless to make a difference, but...

Sadly I'm coming to the conclusion that ignorance is not an excuse because if we have freedom we are ultimately responsible for the actions of those we vote for, otherwise that freedom is just a word. This, I think, is part of what constitutes the abuse of liberty... basically we want our freedom but have cherry picked our version of freedom to mean our freedom to determine our personal achievements and rewards and let "someone else" take care of our collective home; the earth, and all the inhabitants that share it.

The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free. 

Maya Angelou

Beyond the basic necessities of food and water (and billions of people do not even have these) there is nothing that is so important we are justified in not taking responsibility for its impact. 

Instead of focusing on our own comfort and continually sweeping the uncomfortable issues under the carpet, it is time we take some steps to bring the awkward and uncomfortable truth to the table and take action to address the issues.... If we don't make changes soon this "comfort" that we take for granted now will become a thing of the past. 

I'm not advocating going totally radical in one day, although I think that would be exhilarating and bring many of us to a place of feeling more alive and powerful than we have ever experienced in anything else we've done.

It is time though to evaluate what is really important... things like what kind of world are our children and our grandchildren going to live in. What kinds of "freedom" are going to be left to them

I hear people say we have no power but we have all the power. It is our dollars that purchase the goods, use the land and resources. Our dollars that own the corporations and us as shareholders and investors that are complicit in their activities. We have a wake up call to get our heads out of the sand and deal with the mess we are now while we still have a semblance of freedom. 

This may sound like a negative message and I promised positive so here's the really great part:

We have the power now if we can get out of our own way and use it responsibly! WE are determining the future by our choices; how liberating is that!!

Any little action compounds over time, ripples and multiplies like a smile:-)

I will make a new action each week that I will take and tell you as an example and I challenge you to take actions yourselves as we are all responsible people.

Starting pretty simple here... Going to look at the energy that is wasted in my house. Having appliances connected everywhere may not use much energy but imagine how many homes there are with things running in the background that we hardly ever use. My microwave is basically a clock on my counter because I use it so rarely, I just unplugged it. I'm going to turn off and unplug this computer as soon as I finish this message that has taken me all day and a lot of personal brain energy. 

If this seems like too little a gesture not worth your time I suggest unplugging the internet, turning off wireless routers and Alexa's and Google homes when we go out or go to bed. Maybe even trying a week without using them I wonder what would happen to us ... 

Thanks to all who read this whole thing.

Till next week

Jeanne

And it is us that owns the corporations that force people to work in atrocious conditions, use child labour and cause wars for the precious resources needed to feed our voracious appetites for disposable luxuries. If we even own a share or belong to an organization that owns a share in a company that commits these crimes against the earth and humanity then we are responsible. That is what our freedom means

We are getting a wake up call to address the rampant waste, destruction and injustice before it turns around and consumes us with violence and vengeance. There is no saying we're sorry, no second chance and we are doing this to ourselves so there isn't any excuse.

Canada Day 2021

 Happy Canada Day,

A day to celebrate the beauty of this land and a day to recognize that the foundations our country is built are not solid. 

Time to reflect on a year past. What a year! The Covid pandemic and the coming to the surface of  irrefutable evidence of the indigenous genocides perpetrated by our ancestors there does not seem much to celebrate. 

And yet there are gifts in this we are given an opportunity to mourn and recognize that we did not earn the gifts of this land we appreciate when we celebrate. Bullies do not 'earn' the rights they gain by overpowering and subjugating their victims. It is very clear that our ancestors who came here to escape bullies and persecution from their home countries became the persecutors and bullies in their new country. We need to take this in, there is no recompense that we can make, the only way forward is to do the work and to try to walk a new path that listens with the heart and acts with humility, respect and love. Forgiveness is the only way past our guilt and we are the only ones who can do that.

Our Indigenous people are continually sharing their stories with us and when we start to really listen we will discover their gifts. The wisdom and stature of these stories make our focus on material wealth and conformity to narrow views on what we should want and be seem not only trivial, but a waste of the potential of being human.

"According to the story, long ago, a messenger sent to see how the Neshnabék were living, discovered that the Neshnabék were living their life in a negative way, which impacted their thoughts, decisions, and actions. Some had hate for others, displayed disrespectful actions, were afraid, told lies, and cheated. Others revealed pride or were full of shame. During his journey, the messenger came across a child. This child was chosen to be taught by the Seven Grandfathers to live a good life. He was taught the lessons of Love, Respect, Bravery, Truth, Honesty, Humility, and Wisdom.

Before departing from the Seven Grandfathers, they told him, “Each of these teachings must be used with the rest. You cannot have Wisdom without Love, Respect, Bravery, Honesty, Humility, and Truth. You cannot be Honest if you are only using one of the other teachings. To leave out one teaching would be embracing the opposite of what the teaching means.” The Seven Grandfathers each instructed the child with a principle. It was then up to the child to forget them, or to put them to use."

Seven Grandfather Teachings | NHBP (nhbp-nsn.gov)
 


“And then there was the sad sign that a young woman working at a Tim Hortons in Lethbridge, Alberta, taped to the drive-through window in 2007. It read, “No Drunk Natives.”

Accusations of racism erupted, Tim Hortons assured everyone that their coffee shops were not centres for bigotry, but what was most interesting was the public response. For as many people who called in to radio shows or wrote letters to the Lethbridge Herald to voice their outrage over the sign, there were almost as many who expressed their support for the sentiment. The young woman who posted the sign said it had just been a joke.

Now, I’ll be the first to say that drunks are a problem. But I lived in Lethbridge for ten years, and I can tell you with as much neutrality as I can muster that there were many more White drunks stumbling out of the bars on Friday and Saturday nights than there were Native drunks. It’s just that in North America, White drunks tend to be invisible, whereas people of colour who drink to excess are not.

Actually, White drunks are not just invisible, they can also be amusing. Remember how much fun it was to watch Dean Martin, Red Skelton, W. C. Fields, John Wayne, John Barrymore, Ernie Kovacs, James Stewart, and Marilyn Monroe play drunks on the screen and sometimes in real life? Or Jodie Marsh, Paris Hilton, Cheryl Tweedy, Britney Spears, and the late Anna Nicole Smith, just to mention a few from my daughter’s generation. And let’s not forget some of our politicians and persons of power who control the fates of nations: Winston Churchill, John A. Macdonald, Boris Yeltsin, George Bush, Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Hard drinkers, every one.

The somewhat uncomfortable point I’m making is that we don’t seem to mind our White drunks.

They’re no big deal so long as they’re not driving. But if they are driving drunk, as have Canada’s coffee king Tim Horton, the ex-premier of Alberta Ralph Klein, actors Kiefer Sutherland and Mel Gibson, Super Bowl star Lawyer Milloy, or the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mark Bell, we just hope that they don’t hurt themselves. Or others.

More to the point, they get to make their mistakes as individuals and not as representatives of an entire race.”
― Thomas King, The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America

Cheers
Jeanne

angel

“The world is full of angels; if you can’t find one, be one.
Matshona Dhliwayo

“The world is already full of critics; to stand out, be an encourager.”
Matshona Dhliwayo   

Maybe it is time for us to start becoming what we want for ourselves.

Not enough to be encouraging to those we love,

not enough to be an angel to those we care for,

We must go beyond ourselves to be an angel to someone we fear.

Judas couldn't live with himself

Money is temporary and meaningless compared to our value of ourself

We only learn what we had when it is gone, exchanging what we value to accumulate money is the greatest waste

And we become wasted living in wilderness when we bury what we value to conform to conformity

The pain we inflict and harm we cause to ourselves and others is great learning 

only through humility can we take in the lessons and stop making the same mistakes over and over and over again.