I’m really appreciating participating in No Buy July & Beyond (which is evolving into an ongoing conscious, compassionate spending movement to step up, speak up, and spend well) as a practice workshop. There is so much to see, and at every turn I can apply the One Rule: We will use everything in our experience to see how we cause ourselves to suffer so we can drop that and end suffering.
The voices (no surprise here) are on the prowl for all of the ways this can be a workshop to focus on feeling bad and deprivation. “You shouldn’t want that. You should want that. You should feel bad, bad, bad!” It’s always at the ready with all the ways “I’m doing things wrong.” If I drop that, there’s just simply so much to see and find out more about.
I’m particularly loving looking at this through the lens of one process doesn’t lead to another. If I would like, for example, to see gun violence end, and see the planet being cared for -- and the way I’m going to get there is by hating and blaming “others,” despairing and railing -- well, that’s probably not going to go well.
So instead, I’m practicing with something I have heard the Guide say in various ways: if I want a happy, kind, and loving world, I need to choose that. How can I expect others to choose that if I won’t choose it?
Some of the delightful things I’m exploring on this path:
--Buying less.
Not as a “should,” but just getting curious. I’m seeing how often the desire to buy something comes from wanting to feel better when the voices are making me feel bad. This seems like a perfect “cut out the middle man” place! If I practice being with myself to care for whatever’s going on with me, there’s so much available right here and now to enjoy that is free. And if I do choose to buy something, I can take the time to make the purchase from the most centered place possible, leaving me less vulnerable to the “buy something then get beaten up” program.
--I found out there is a local, woman-owned market that donates a portion of all proceeds to great causes where I can purchase almost all of my groceries. It feels really good to support this place on so many levels.
--Working remotely is allowing me to share a vehicle with another person currently. Ego loves to complain about how inconvenient car-sharing is; the heart is excited to explore this way of supporting the kind of world I wish to see (and saving money too - win/win!)
-I’ve participated in a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program for some time, and the No Buy July/conscious compassionate spending workshop has rekindled my excitement for how awesome this is: Supporting local farmers who care for the earth! Fresh, delicious, pesticide-free veggies that are not shipped from far away! No shrink wrapping and endless packaging required! (Also: the joy I experience from that first fresh, local, organic sweet corn of the summer is pretty outrageous. It’s a real Thank You, Life moment!)
-Signed up for the planet-supporting bank the Guide recommended a while back. Every month I get an email telling me how many trees were planted by my purchases. I’ve never looked forward to receiving a bank statement…until now!
-Opted to get electricity through a green provider. It costs a little bit more than the non-green option, so ego likes to gripe about that too. At one point, I remember the Guide saying something like -- as privileged people, perhaps getting things at the cheapest price need not be our highest priority. Perhaps we can feel good about paying a little more to support what we truly want for the world. Considering this perspective is helping me to chip away at some deeply entrenched beliefs about what a “good deal” really is…and this whole workshop has opened up what a good deal it is indeed to look at spending through a conscious, compassionate lens. It’s the best!
Gasshō
Jen Y