Renewable or sustainable energy, climate change and environmental pollution are in the headlines daily. Are you considering a shift to a greener lifestyle and making changes in your home to bring it into more harmony with the environment? Is it time to take action on your thoughts? Should you invest in a green lifestyle and eco-friendly products?
Whether you agree or disagree with everything you hear and read about the greening of America, you can definitely agree upon the fact that a lot of time, money and effort is being dedicated to this endeavor.
Defining a Green Lifestyle
I am sure that every person has their own definition of the greening of America and what living a green lifestyle would look like. And, sometimes those definitions are vastly different and totally at opposite ends of the spectrum. My rather simplistic definition of a green lifestyle is: people who support and replenish their environment and an environment that supports people through providing life giving atmosphere and resources in order that they both can flourish.
The second way I could describe a green lifestyle would be to live a Feng Shui lifestyle. The original Form School of Feng Shui is all about creating your home and life to be in complete harmony with your surrounding environment.
If you think about it, Planet Earth some 3000 years ago was in perfect balance. To be somewhat simplistic, Earth experienced day and night, heat and cold, wet and dry over a yearly cycle. It had oceans and land masses, mountains and valleys, barren land and crop supporting land. The earliest civilizations learned to work with their environment and to manage the resources.
The Ancient Chinese civilizations lived in harmony with their environment. They altered their environment by cultivating the land and building homes so as to survive. But when they learned to position their homes in harmony with the energy forms provided by the environment such as trees, hills, rivers and sunshine as noted in the Form School of Feng Shui they began to thrive.
Feng Shui Tips for a Greener Lifestyle
Since we cannot turn the clock back 3000 years nor do most of us wish to, there are a number of things we can do today, right now to live in better harmony with our environment. Rather than think about the environment from a global perspective which is out of reach for most of us, look around your home to find those things which are within your reach, you can control and do something about right now.
o Recycle everything. Most people recycle the obvious such as bottles, plastic items, bags, newspapers, boxes and the like but take a closer look at things like electronic equipment, cell phones, computers, tools, books and appliances. Many areas now offer places to drop off electronic items and libraries love to receive new books that have been read only once. See what is available in your area.
o Donate all useable clothing and household items to charitable organizations so they can be recycled to those in need.
o Check in with local organizations like those dealing with domestic violence to see what items they regularly need that you may be ready to part with. Keep that list handy for future use and to share with others.
o Remove your name from as many catalogue and flier mailing lists as possible to reduce the amount of printed mail you receive and toss. If you like certain catalogues but are receiving duplicates be sure to notify them to remove the extra name from the list. Encourage all of the catalogue companies you purchase from to print on recyclable paper.
o Use canvas, cloth or mesh shopping bags to bring home your groceries. This will lower the number of plastic bags clogging up the environment plus save on the use of petroleum to manufacture them.
o Get in the habit of using old towels as rags for some of those simple cleanups and spills throughout the house and garage instead of grabbing for the nearest paper towels. Old towels are easily recycled by simply washing and disinfecting them whereas paper towels add to landfills.
o Use as many eco-friendly soaps, detergents and cleaning supplies as you can find. They are better for you to use because they are less toxic and are better for the environment because they are bio-degradable.
There are easily thousands of other things you can do and products you can buy that lend themselves to a greener lifestyle. However, you may have a question at this point, what does all this have to do with Feng Shui.
It has everything to do with Feng Shui. First many of the suggestions above are about clearing the clutter out of your personal environment which provides you better energy. Second, you’ve recycled a lot of your stuff which provides the environment more positive energy rather than having to deal with more waste. Third, you’ve improved your quality of life and that of the environment by using more eco-friendly products.
When it comes to the environment, everything you say, think and especially do, does matter.
© Pat Heydlauff, all rights reserved 2008