Sustainable Thought

TAI Blog # who knows, written from The Green Man in Asheville, NC and also Folly Beach, SC
Sustainable Thought: The New New Year’s Resolution

As a preface (see how long my posts are getting, now I have to write prefaces) : If this gets to long and involved for your state of mind, whatever it be, at your time of reading, skip to the last page or so on change and go back later for the tidbits when you’ve got your game face on!

When it comes to sustainability and health, there are so freakin’ many topics to broach! Many have to do with our physical bodies or how our treatment of the world can and does affect us. But this blog began around the idea of thought: what is sustainable healthy thought?

Many things came to mind: positive thought (of course), no long term allowance for repetitive negative thoughts regarding the self, being both open minded and critical towards new ideas, understanding your own general motivations… but when it came down to it, there was one aspect that I felt stood out beyond all the rest in terms of having a healthy attitude.

Drum roll please….!!!!....

Oh geez, now I’ve built it up!

I believe that the more a human acts in congruence with his thoughts, the better he will feel about himself and his life, hence, sustainable thought!

The more you can align your actions with your thoughts, the better you will feel. It is when these things are in conflict that we start to have self doubt and insecurity. When we live in accordance with our ideals, that is when we are confident and comfortable with who and how we are!

Now, you’re saying to yourself, big fat DUH Morgan. And I totally agree! Big fat duh, but then why do so many of us display such hypocrisy on a multitude of levels?!?

This is what my brain and its own self discussion and analysis of the situation set to find out.

***If you’re not on board with me yet, still battling the idea that we all live within some element of hypocrisy between thought and action, let me provide a few simple examples:

Thoughts/Ideals

Ø Oil companies are corrupt and driving pollutes our air
Ø We need more jobs here in the USA. Companies should stop sending jobs overseas
Ø Eating fast food is unhealthy

Contradictory Actions

Ø Driving to work, the store, or anywhere you need to go
Ø Buying things made outside the USA (electronics, clothing, food)
Ø Feeding yourself or your family fast food for dinner

(This, of course, assumes you’re not predisposed towards the destruction of yourself and the world at large…just checking! )

Perhaps you don’t fit into any of the above examples (clearly you are angel, but should read on in order to assist your friends who might find this plight applicable).

So pause (insert 60 minutes into your day, magical time travel style) and just think about your actions thus far in the day. If you’re lucky it’s morning and far fewer infractions will have occurred ;)

Now that we acknowledge the existence of these silly mismatches that occur between our thoughts and actions, let us dissect a bit to find some possible sources for this insanity!

Really, we’ve got two possible options to pick apart; it’s either the thought or the action which hold the flaw. Let’s look at the thought aspect first.

Perhaps your thoughts/espoused ideals don’t match your actions because they’re not really your own or you don’t actually believe that they are true. Maybe you have been coerced into thinking you like to dance, but it’s actually the sociality and human contact you crave and so shakin’ your booty at the club has never been your thing. Maybe you think you like vegetables, but only because the government has now deemed pizza a vegetable.

Certainly, we all do some self-convincing at times and often pretend to think in certain ways, but we also have some false perceptions and motivations behind what we are actually saying.

Ok, now for a meatier, tastier, and likely more necessary analysis: Why is it that our ACTIONS don’t match what we think (now, of course, assuming that what we think is what we actually think we think…you think?)

Divin’ in!

I think one of the biggest reasons that humans act in contradictory ways is fear: of change, of judgment, of work/effort. Hold onto your horses, we’re going in.

We humans often recognize that we should be doing things differently, but we hesitate to change. Why this fear of change? I believe that one component is the effort and work involved with changing a habitual occurrence and honestly, we’ve gotten lazy. But just as great is the psychosocial effect people fear. Changing your action to be better or more in cahoots with what you believe naturally insinuates that you’ve been doing it wrong all this time. Additionally, people fear that others will not understand why they are making a change and worry that they will be judged negatively by those around them…and nobody wants that!

It's also possible we just don't know how to change our actions to match our ideals, but this is less likely than the other possibilities.

Because we spend so much time caught up in the day to day, humans rarely take time out of their lives to truly analyze and inspect who and how they are…nor are we taught that we should! So perhaps it is a complete ignorance of our own hypocritical nature and the inability to truly sense that we are not acting in accordance with the ways we 'think' we should that creates our hypocrisy. So many of us act out of sync with the ideals we would vehemently proclaim, but do we even realize?

Be it the golden rule, thoughts about the economy or nutrition, or how you should raise your children, hypocrisy runs rampant in our society. Runs I tell you!

While some of these are likely more obvious (like the examples I gave earlier), many are more discrete… not perhaps so much so that the average American couldn't figure it out given the chance...but perhaps that is a chunk of the problem as well, the lack of thought given to these matters!

I think this lack of self analysis, done to oneself, by oneself, in an objective, non-judgmental fashion plays a huge-mungous role in the hypocrisy of people today. If everyone gave themselves 20 focused minutes each day to sit and go through their day, analyzing each and every action and spoken idea and really thought about just how it is their actions do or don't reflect their words and vice versa, we’d have a different world…or people would just play more video games with their magic 20 minutes and beat Angry Birds Level 27 ;)

So now we are asking the real questions, not only 'AM I HYPOCRITICAL?' and in what way, but also 'WHY AM I HYPOCRITICAL?' This delves deeper than most might care to go, but perhaps that is only because they've never thought that they should ;)

First, (like we said) you must identify in which part of the question your hypocrisy lies: is it the action or the ideal? From there you need to figure out not only where the discrepancy is, but why it exists? Is it a lack of awareness, a feeling of peer pressure to think or act a certain way, laziness or fear of change, a true lack of understanding of what it is you say or how to change your actions?

And how far do you take this?

It is easy to think,
“I believe in humane treatment for animals”
and feed your dog everyday and give him love.

It is easy to think,
”I believe in buying local goods”
and shop at the farmer’s market,
but then more difficult when you want to save 5 dollars on some unfindable item only available from Amazon.com, where you have to use your credit card and the item travels hundreds or thousands of miles to your doorstep…

It is easy to think,
“I believe that all children should have food and shelter”
and feed your kids and tuck them in at night,
but more difficult to deal mentally and volitionally with the knowledge that there are millions of starving children all over the world that could all easily be provided for if our country would allocate our bank bailout money a bit differently…

It is easy to think,
“I believe that saving the environment is important”
and donate to Green Peace and recycle,
but yet more difficult to avoid buying things individually wrapped in plastics that end up in the great trash gyre in the Pacific Ocean or use paper created from Amazonian rainforests being chopped down each day, increasing greenhouse gases and global warming…

It's easy to say,
“I want world peace and no war,”
but harder still not to drive or fly anywhere using oil (the only real reason we've been at war for decades)…

It's easy to say,
“I think our economy sucks because all of our jobs have been exported” (and you'd be right),
but not so easy to buy things only made in the USA, including all clothing, furniture, food, and electronic devices (computers, I-phones, I-pads, cell phones).
It’s easy for me to write this blog and think about all these things, and yet harder to encompass it all into my life. It’s hard for all of us!

So how far do you take this? As far as you can without going bankrupt or mentally insane with social responsibility (both could easily happen...ok not that easily, but beware).

So what can be done? Change. Get over your fear. The peers you think will judge you will see your example and perhaps they too will see how easy it can be and RESPECT you for it. Stop being lazy and implement ideas you have that will bring you more in line with your ideals. This might mean riding your bike or walking more instead of driving. This might mean not buying things that YOU KNOW were made with bad practices or bad business standards. This might mean being more respectful of those around you or raising your kids the way you thought you would. This might mean sacrifice, of time or things or convenience or ego, but none will seem that way once you've found sanctity of mind and realized how easy it is to change your ways to fit your principles.

Plus nothing beats habit. Make a habit of saying hello to everyone you pass and making eye contact, of leaving 15 minutes earlier for work and riding your bike or taking the bus, of only buying things made within your home state, of doing things you've always said you 'wish you could.' It will feel good and in 3 weeks it will seem easy…I don’t know why 3 weeks is the magic number, but apparently it gets to be ;)

Because I believe that repetition is learning, I’ll say it again:

The more you can align your actions with your thoughts, the better you will feel about your daily life and who you are. It is when these things are in conflict that we start to have self doubt and insecurity. When we live in accordance with our ideals, that is when we are truly living the good life! And that’s sustainable!

There are many things in life that take a bit of self discipline, awareness, and consistency. Some would tie a ribbon around their finger, others would send themselves text messages, but I like to have a small personal mantra, something I can conjure up at any moment that will remind me what to do and why, something that will give me a touch of strength: an ACRONYM!

I love acronyms :) but I vow not to completely bore the bejeezus out of you listing all the RAD (Rockstar Amazing Demonstrations) of self-reminder acronyms I came up with! But I will share one: ATTA. Applying Thought To Action. In Hebrew, the word 'atta' (pronounced ah-tah) means 'you' and I thought that was appropriate (not to mention easier to remember).

ATTA: Applying Thought To Action: what we all should all do, what I need to do, a reminder in that split second before the reach, the stride, the credit card swipe. Don't just do what you would do, do what you think you SHOULD do! Make it match.

If I think I can change the world, well I better just go and do it!