[SustainableTompkins] Gratitude and Sustainability

[Tony Del Plato]

Thanks Elan for sharing this beautiful site and ideas
Tony Del Plato

On 10/25/07, Elan Shapiro <elansla at ecovillage.ithaca.ny.us> wrote:
>
> Hi ST list serve community
> I received this message about "exploring gratitude" in our EcoVillage
> group email yesterday. It is part of a project on "Core Values and
> Sustainability" that my neighbor, friend, and
> permaculture/sustainability educator, Karryn Ramanujan, has
> initiated. I'm highlighting it because the underlying value shifts
> involved in sustainability are, to me, an essential yet
> insufficiently recognized and explored part of the work we are
> beginning to do together. This set of value shifts is more nuanced
> than just broadening our sphere of concern and compassion and then
> feeling pious about doing what's "right" for all species and for
> future generations (that didn't work so well for the environmental
> movement, sad to say).  Some of this work, as I see it, is about
> noticing the divisive cultural conditioning operating in our
> interactions and communications with the world and with each other,
> and consciously practicing new possibilities that can help build
> sustainable community in our lives.
> So here's her message.  Perhaps some of her suggestions can inspire
> some entries on this list in this month before Thanksgiving.
>
> With thanks for the wisdom and support you all provide.
> Elan
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> Folks who came to the "Core Values and Sustainability" Salon in
> August suggested that we next explore as individuals and as a
> community the virtue of Gratitude or Thankfulness. They also
> suggested having a "virtue of the month".
> Since we're a month away from Thanksgiving, this is the perfect time
> for reflecting on what we are grateful for in our lives.
>
> I invite you to join me in experimenting with incorporating gratitude
> more deeply and consciously into my life during the next 30 days.
>
> Some possibilities for practice:
> Start a "gratitude journal" to enter thoughts daily.
> Create a work of art or a dance that illustrates the bounties we receive.
> Meditation.
> Start a list of all the things one is grateful for, and see how long it
> gets...
> Verbalize our appreciation of the people we encounter each day.
> Write/post/draw your thoughts on the Gratitude Display in the Frog
> Common House (between the piano and the couch).
>
> I'm sure you have lots of other ideas, and if you'd like to share
> them, please email me and I'll compose a master list and send it out
> later in the week.
>
> There will be an opportunity to celebrate the end of the month with a
> Gratitude Circle at 7:30pm on November 19th in the Frog Sitting Room.
> I hope that you and your families can come and share!
>
> With gratitude for our community,
> Karryn
>
> (PS: There is a worldwide network, easily found through
> www.gratefulness.org, started by an amazing person living in our
> area, Brother David Steindl-Rast. A Network for Grateful Living
> (ANG*L) _is a non-profit organization "dedicated to gratefulness, _a
> universal principle that serves as the core inspiration _for personal
> healing, cross-cultural understanding, _interfaith dialogue,
> intergenerational respect, _and ecological sustainability". es)
>
> --
> Elan Shapiro
> Sustainable Tompkins Program Co-Chair
> Sustainable Living Associates, Principal
> Frog's Way B&B
> 211 Rachel Carson Way
> Ithaca, NY 14850
> 607-275-0249
>
> "We must be the change we want to see in the world"
>                   Mohandas Gandhi
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-- 
He, who by good deeds covers the evil he has done, illuminates this world
like the moon freed from clouds. - Buddha