Creating Satisfaction: Part 2

One thing we seem to overlook sometimes is that interaction is a great tool for health and well being. Today,we will focus a little more on interactive sustainability. When we build relationships, we build community. When we obsessively dive into our Man Caves, Internet, television programs and the like, we are doing something that is counter to our natural instinct. We are social beings and need interaction to feel good. Some of us even go to the lengths of dramatic behavior (anger, lashing out, sharing too personal information), just to get some kind of interaction. What are some positive things we can do to interact?

Reading
I remember cold winter Saturday nights living in the country. We had few TV channels and barely watched television. I remember on more than one Saturday night, my brothers and sisters and I gathering up all are blankets and pillows and all meeting down in the living room listening to my dad reading "Little House On the Prairie" to us until we dozed off in front of the kerosene heater. For some reason I felt closer to my brothers and sisters. I don't know why; maybe I wondered if they could see the vivid pictures described so well by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We shared the experience of the story told. Personally, it helped me visualize well and the stories gave me a compassion for those who made something out of nothing and that having that kerosene heat, a roof over my head and a full belly of food wasn't such a terrible life. I was 5 or 6 years old at the time. I'm not sure if it was typical of someone that age to be thinking about those things, but I didn't know any different to ask.

Reading to your kids shows you have time for them and it encourages the use of their imaginations to visualize the words coming from the page. I think it is one of the most important things you can do for a kid. It encourages educating yourself and builds a trust between parent/guardian and child.

It is also good to start book clubs or read the same book with a friend and discuss it later. Reading this way encourages free exchange of ideas and interpretation while keeping people safe from "wedge" conversations such as politics and religion (though I believe those should be discussed as well, just in a thoughtful way).

Recommended Non-Fiction Reading: Deep Economy By Bill McKibben


Farmers Markets
Do you ever stop and have a conversation with someone while you are shopping in the supermarket or grocery store? Most people don't...and when I say most people I mean ALMOST ALL. You spend a couple hours at the Farmers' Market and you will have ten...or so. Not only is it a great place to visit with the locals, you can get all kinds of great deals on all kinds of produce. There are many things there that you won't find in the produce section at your big stores. Also, many farmers that sell at the market grow organic food that is beautiful and tastes better. Plus, when you buy there, you are supporting local economy before global economy. When  Bentonville, Arkansas needed a new water waste treatment plant, Wal-Mart, a multi-billion dollar company refused to pony up anything to help out. If they are going to refuse to help their hometown, what makes you think they have your best interests in mind? These farmers growing and selling at the farmers' markets DO have you best interests in mind, because this is their livelihood. Try out the farners' market. See how many people you engage in conversation with and check out all the cool stuff you can buy. I'm sure you'll be pleased.

Link: USDA Farmers' Market Search Page

Cooperatives
In the town I work in we have a number of successful cooperatives, or co-ops. We have a tool co-op. You pay a minimal fee every year and have access to a shared garage that is stocked with various tools for use. For the most part it is wildly successful and it helps those who can't afford tools or don't have enough space to put their own. There is a lawn mower co-op. Why have your own mower when you can chip in and have a number of people use and maintain the mower. There is a garden co-op. This venture gives people space to grow food, while sharing hours with one another to get the more difficult tasks done. Mostly, everyone shares the produce. The importance of this concept is to practice interaction and sharing with people you may not see on a regular basis. It saves money. It, once again, builds relationships and cooperation, encouragement and organization. Think about starting one of these cooperatives or a bicycle or car share in your town.

Link: Join A Local Ride Share

Parks

The Natural Beauty of the
Kankakee River. 

One of my favorite past times when I was a teenager fresh out of mom's and dad's was to get out and explore my immediate surroundings. I am sure my Paxton, Illinois friends understand what I mean. I think we all did it at one time or another. What I found out is that there is a lot of natural beauty near us, we just have to seek it out. And aside from the occasional drunk, belligerent camper next to your site on a Saturday night, many fellow hikers and campers are very friendly and more than willing to stop and talk with you about this or that. It's nice to get out and see what your area has to offer. So get on google and seek out places near you that you have never been. It is quite an experience and a great way to share the outdoors, the journey and the natural beauty of your local environment.

Link: Find A National Park Near You
Link: Find A Campground Near You

Carpool
When I was a teenager we would carpool and didn't even realize what we were doing. We would arrange rides with the people we wanted to hang out with so we could have a good ol' time to or from school, or on the weekend out hiking at the forest preserve, or on Friday nights on the way to the football game. We chose the people to ride with because we WANTED to communicate with them.Now we have our lives and our needs for getting around on our own. Have many of us made time in the last 15 years to go out cruising together, just to catch up? The car is a great way to commit yourself to communicating. You are locked in this two ton projectile going 70 miles per hour; what else do you have to do other than get to know your fellow rider. When you have your grocery day, pick up a friend that needs to go to. Coordinate it. Not only do you have a way to communicate with a good friend, you are being responsible by saving fuel. Try taking more trips to the store with someone else who needs to go and you will not only have a good time, you will reduce a good portion of your fuel bill. Bring a picnic lunch instead of eating at a restaurant and you will save even more.

Link: Carpooling Facts (article)

Hopefully these latest tips will help you connect or reconnect with people while living more responsibly and frugally. Remember, the powers that be don't want you to do any of these things because it is in their best interests to continue consuming.

Next Blog I will get more broad with the subjects of community and also transportation. And also a couple more cool things you can do to hook it up in the New World.

What Is Satisfaction?

We look at our lives and many of us are satisfied with the direction we are taking. I find others are looking for a new way to live that isn't so demanding that they can have more opportunities to spend time with family and their interests. And isn't that why we live and reproduce?

As many of you have come to find out, I am pretty fed up with both sides of the aisle. No one is working for us anymore. And after research, I found out that they may never have been working for us in the first place. When the revolution was happening, our new government was encouraging people to buy "their" land out "west". These loans were low or no interest. We were taught in school that these people were expanding the U.S. territory for no other reason than to try to capture the American dream. The truth is the newly formed U.S. government was providing these loans to homesteaders to create equity and a credit line for the purpose of purchasing weapons for the Revolution.

So from our inception our country has built a line of credit to borrow...and borrow...and borrow...in this instance, borrowing to fund their war. Now I believe that every man has the natural right to be free to make his own choices. And I would personally stand up for the rights of people who are being wronged or their natural rights were being violated.. But we have built debt from day one. Don't get me wrong, there have been a number of times in this country's existence that we have paid these debts, however we perpetuate this belief that unregulated capitalism and borrowing are going to be our economic salvation. All the while, good, honest, hardworking people are losing everything from their homes and jobs to their retirements and investments.

Anyone who still believes in the "Right/Left" paradigm is only encouraging this behavior further. It is up to us to decide when we have had enough of their "representation" and create our own, new representation.

Is there a such thing as too much technology? When we begin working to pay for our technology, we have bowed to another slavemaster. Don't get me wrong, there are benefits to technology. But when technology becomes our obsession, we tend to forget there is a beautiful Earth beneath our feet and a mass of wonderful people who mostly want the same things we want. How did we get along until 25 years ago?

We want security for ourselves and our families. And we want to enjoy our loved ones and watch them flourish. How can we do that when we our breaking our backs just to keep up with the pace of an economy? Many a man and woman work so hard trying to attain and keep comforts so their families can live well. But stuff is not life. When we die we take nothing from this Earth but our reputation. And included in our reputation is the picture family and friends have created as a result of the quality of life and love we have offered to them.

So, would you be willing to comprimise a small amout of your quality of physical life for a larger portion of the quality of mental life so your loved ones can feel more secure? Is it all about stuff over satisfaction? You can still have stuff, but when do you have enough stuff and when you begin acquire new stuff are you feeling that there is not much satisfaction to "more"? And there is solid evidence that claims your quality of life peaks at a certain point of financial prominence before it plateaus and sometimes even begins dropping while wealth still rises. So, how can we make time to enjoy those around us? Simplify.

What does "Simplify" mean? In the next blog I will attempt to demonstrate what we can do to save a little money so our lives are a little less demanding that will hopefully free up a little time for us to enjoy and interact more with the people we care about. Some of these ideas are practical. Others may be a little unorthodox. But while we wait to find out, please ponder on the following question:

Would you give 80% of what you have so 5 people could have 80% more than they have?
I tend to believe I know what mothers will say..."I already have." So maybe the rest of us can be more like moms....

Every dollar that is made at the top is being taken from some unfortunate soul at the bottom.

Next Blog...Simple tips that will save us money and care for the Earth and its inhabitants.