Achievement of Week 1

Gorgeously Green is an eight week program.  Week one is all about becoming aware.  With a few exercises to evaluate what you can about and why they matter to you.  This chapter seemed somewhat redundant to me.  Obviously I’m fairly aware or else I wouldn’t have picked up this book to start off with.

I’m trying (before I begin the next step) to think of all the things that I do that I consider green.  Like using a BPA free reusable water bottle, bringing my sandwiches in Tupperware for lunch instead of plastic baggies (which I’ll just throw away later), attempting to use a handkerchief instead of the paper towels in the bathroom, etc.  I’m really looking forward to seeing if these are considered green or just popularly accepted as green but not really proven.

Sophie gave some background about how she got into the green movement and some of the stories are rather hilarious.  My favorite example was when she bought a suit made out of burlap.  She convinced herself that it would be all the rage if Kate Moss was wearing it (a small possibility).  It was the look of astonishment on her husband’s face when he saw her ready to go out in said suit that made her realize that she’d gone way beyond her level of green/sanity.

An exercise within this chapter was to answer these questions using a full one-sided sheet of paper:     Envision yourself as at the end of your life, sitting on your porch swing contemplating your life. 

•  How well did I love? 
• In what ways did I help to make this planet more habitable for future generations? 
•   In what ways did my life have meaning?

This exercise is supposed to take no more than 15 minutes.  One of those: get into your stream of consciousness and don’t think too much things.  I also believe myself to have epically failed this exercise; I do have all intentions of doing it all over again though (thinking positive thoughts, of course).

Another exercise suggested was Savasana, or corpse pose in yoga.  This pose is great for meditation.  Focus on how your body feels, make sure it’s completely relaxed.  Letting your mind wander, not focusing on any one thing in particular.  During this exercise I always remembered the strangest occurrences.  For example a hike up to Avalanche Lake, Glacier Park Montana, and the water was just as cold as Lake Superior and reflected the rivers flowing down the mountains from the glacier.