What is the most effective way to obtain behaviour change for sustainability? Love everyone. People behave unsustainably because they are unaware of their true nature and that of the Earth’s. If people were aware they would not harm themselves or our living Mother who supports us.
People are wounded from disappointments in life. Be it not having their needs met when children or later in life. These unmet emotional needs leave a longing for more within them, a desire, a wanting. They search out things to meet those needs, those wants and desires, but things are not the solution. What people really want and need is to be seen, heard, loved and accepted as they are. They want to be themselves and follow their hearts doing what they are passionate about – then they are full-filled and don’t need things to fill the holes in their heart.
Life is really very simple. Human beings have made it complex and in that complexity is the materialistic, success striving, constantly more obtaining ethic. That is not God’s will or nature’s will. Mother Earth gives freely to all her children. If they live simply taking only what they need for themselves and their family’s comfortable survival then she can accommodate it. It is only because we live in excess, distorted balance, that the Earth is struggling to cope with our demands. She can balance back up, but doing so results in shifts and changes that we don’t necessarily like – natural disasters – floods, volcanic eruptions, ice ages, etc. These are catastrophic to those who live in those places, but the Earth has to regulate her energies and discharge the negative energy somewhere. It is at these pressure points that natural disasters occur.
So to solve the unsustainable behaviour we need people to choose to live more simply. Most won’t for they see that as a sacrifice. They don’t realise they would gain joy, peace, health and happiness from living more simply connected to nature and each other. They would gain peace of mind and true wealth through a greater inner connection with their higher self and God.
Each human will eventually come to realise this as they see the materialistic rat race as a dead-end street resulting in exhaustion, misery, confusion and loss. It results in disease, loneliness, fear, isolation and competition. These are not the natural state of human beings, but it is what we have become by focusing on work, achievement and success. When we could have just as easily chosen peace, harmony, community, sharing and supporting each other to enjoy life to the full.
The solution – awareness, love, healing. Helping people to realise they have a choice, that being more sustainable is not a loss, a sacrifice, but a treasure of wealth unimaginable for them and their families who would finally have time for each other, to connect deeply and share life experiences. A treasure for them to share with their children and so on, until after a few generations living sustainably will seem just as normal as the materialistic lifestyle. Those still being materialistic will not be envied, but pitied, for we know the burden they carry as a result of their choices and the shallowness of their experience of life.
So love one another, meet each other’s needs and share abundantly the harvest of the Earth. Live happily and peacefully connected to your hearts and the Earth Mother.
Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) can help to clear out the emotional pain from the past and any unmet needs. It can help people to come out of survival mode, using addictions, distractions or busyness to escape the pain. It can help people come out of shutdown, numbness, hopelessness, back into a calmer more peaceful state where they can then interact with themselves, others and Earth from a more peaceful place.
TRE helps to release the stress, tension and traumas of life. When your nervous system calms and your body feels safer then that emptiness, that painful hole no longer needs to be stuffed full with other objects, things, distractions or desires. Once the hole has been healed you are able to rest and BE. You are no longer driven in sympathetic fight or flight activation. No longer shut down in freeze dorsal vagal parasympathetic activation. You relax into ventral vagal parasympathetic rest and repair mode enabling your body to heal and for you to open to a life with greater peace, health and connection. It is these things that are truly rewarding, truly satisfying, and they are key to having people choose to live more simply and sustainably. Healing our hurts so we no longer are weighed down by them is a key step in creating the change we wish to see in the world. Be the change. Be the light and love of humanity by healing your own wounds.
By Jodi-Anne (15 June 2015).