going sustainably

             We tend to bury our burial wishes because we don't really want to think about death and dying.  My husband and I decided quite a while ago to be cremated and our ashes thrown into the wind - from whence we came.  Perhaps it's a bit more sustainable than embalming the body in all kinds of chemicals for an open cask viewing, which I personally find kind of creepy, spending all kinds of money on a casket that takes 25 years to rot, and both, body and casket leeching all kinds of yucky chemicals into the soil (and our ground water!).  But even the burning is a toxic and energy intensive process.

            Did you know that embalmers have to wear full body "armor" while embalming because of the toxic fumes associated with the preservation chemicals?  There are more sustainable burial practices than cremation, from the weird (we saw the Jain funeral towers in Bombay from afar many years ago, where the bodies are laid out in the open on the top of the towers and the vultures take care of them) to the simple (wrapping the body in a shroud and burying it without casket and chemicals).

            Better yet may be this method.  One of my faithful blog readers (thank you, Alice) reminded me of this 2011 TED talk by MIT trained artist Jae Rhim Lee.  Lee has created a mycological burial suit embedded with mushroom capsules that assist in the quick decomposition of the body and digestion of toxins, as well as mushroom spores allowing mushrooms to grow and use the body as feeding ground while composting it all completely and sustainably.  Cheap and non-toxic!  Watch the talk on her website Coeio.

            I think I'll change my mind about cremation now that I know about the mushroom burial suit.

aesthetic shift

           Our cultural values and beliefs define what we find beautiful.    Mattel  recently had to redesign Barbie to keep pace with a shifting feminine body image, away from the anorexic long legged 60s model to a somewhat more realistically curvy one,  although Rubens' buxom female bodies would still be considered overweight. Someone in our small town had a problem with the looks of a solar panel array in the midst of a field off a local country road.  But with changing times and changing values what is perceived as beautiful or ugly changes as well.

            I have always liked the juxtaposition of old and new, such as an old building that has been renovated and to which contemporary elements have been added, like the glass pyramid in the Parisian Louvre courtyard.  The Europeans are very good at melding old and new elements so the old elements don't seem stuck in the past.  On the contrary, in juxtaposition the new elements looks more new and the old elements looks more old.  They both inform each other in a very attractive way.

            I love the traditional looks of our charming little Norman Rockwellish town.  Yet, I find the mini solar panels, newly added to the downtown street lanterns, really cool because they fuse old charm with new technology, a layering of values expressed in the streetscape.  Respect for the old with the recognition that things must change and evolve.  What do you think?

do you kythe?

            This intriguing word kything means telepathic communication.  My daughter and I previously took a workshop in animal communication because we were interested in "speaking" with our cats.  We weren't too enthusiastic because it seemed to require a lot of practice.  Recently a kything workshop came up locally.   Kything is usually used to communicate with non-verbal people (i.e. in a coma, severely autistic, or otherwise unable to speak) or deceased loved ones; but I inquired whether it could be useful in communicating with animals and was told it was. 

            Lo and behold, it's not too difficult, although practice makes perfect of course.  We practiced dropping from the head into the heart, just like you would for meditation, and getting out of the way of our mind's chatter.  Then we established a line of communication by simple thought - name the animal or person and hold them in your mind.  Next we learned to offer a positive loving thought about our partner to establish heartfelt communication without agenda.  This needs to be a constructive thought about what your partner might need emotionally, such as "You are loving kindness," or "You are radiantly healthy." Keep repeating it mantra style in your mind.  With animals just like with people it is crucial to formulate your "mantra" in the affirmative. "You are whole" instead of "You are no longer sick," or "Your heart is open" or "I miss you" as opposed to "Don't shut me out of you heart."  One of our cats came from the shelter several years ago and still gobbles treats up so fast that he regurgitates them out of fear that there might not be enough.  So my daughter put out " There is enough." You may get a message back right away, or not.  Keep trying.  Both my daughter and I established channels with our cats and with each other quite quickly, and you know it's not your imagination when you feel your partner's energy.

            Try it sometime.  Our cat kept his tuna fish treat down yesterday.

love is in the air

                    Coming from Europe, where Valentine's Day is not taken too seriously, I used to find it, well a bit corny.  To illustrate the importance of Valentine's Day in this country in comparison:  In last Sunday's social Q&A in the NY Times Styles section a woman expressed feelings of insecurity and dejectedness because her boyfriend had scheduled some sports competition for Valentine's Day, would have to go to bed early on Saturday night and presumably fall into bed exhausted on Sunday.  What was she to do, all alone on Valentine's Day?

                   Maybe the answer lies somewhere in between buying your loved one a diamond every Valentine's Day and scheduling a sports event when you know this day is important for her, a happy medium between forced commercialism and meaningful relationship affirmation.  Relationships take effort, and expressing and reiterating our appreciation and love for our partner is important, whether the calendar says Valentine's Day or not.  Personally, I think that overpriced and overcrowded restaurants are not the place to go on Valentine's Day.  But celebrations are always great fun, and another excuse for doing something special is wonderful, in whatever way, shape or form you chose to do so.  For the past few years we have organized a red themed family dinner at home, with each family member in charge of preparing one red course.

             What are your plans?

face-to-face is best

                  Phone conversations and Go-To Meetings are one thing.  Sure, they save time, money and energy, and permit easy communication across long distances.  Facetime, Skype and other apps that permit you to see your communication partner are better.  But nothing beats an actual face-to-face, whether in a business or private situation. 

               Real people, deep communication.  There is simply no substitute for experiencing your partner's emotions, facial expressions, body language and, dare I say, vibes.  We pick up so much information subconsciously from eye expressions, gestures, body language and energetic qualities that simply gets lost otherwise.  Without face-to-face contact we easily misconstrue and misunderstand because we literally don't get the full picture.  When we are together face-to-face we experience the whole person, seen and unseen aspects, and get the complete picture.  Would you rather have dinner with a screen apparition of your friend or the real thing?  There is a reason for business lunches and dinners, for meetings, for business travel.  A virtual  experience will never be the same as the real thing and the cost savings may not always be worth it.

super superfoods

                      A lot has been written in the past two decades on the need to return to real food, which consists of one-ingredient foods from nature put together in a meal (i.e. fresh spinach sautéed with garlic and olive oil), as opposed to manufactured foods that come in boxes and packages (i.e. breakfast cereal or Western omelet mix).  But evolution is always about shifts and new developments in order to evolve to higher levels.  Going "back" to grandmother's foods is a good thing but not necessarily sufficient and the end-all.  Our soils, even organic soils, have been depleted of minerals and trace elements resulting in less nourishing produce, and our bodies are subject to more pollution than ever.

       superfood dried goji berries

              Superfoods to the rescue.  These are foods that are only now available to us outside their geographic growing area, both because enlightened interest and scientific research have brought them to our awareness, and because modern transportation logistics make them accessible.  Superfoods are foods with an incredible amount and array of nutritional components.  David Wolfe, Renaissance man and superfood guru, has been researching superfoods for over twenty year and has written many books on greater nutrional subjects.  I hadn't even heard of some of his superfoods such as maca, AFA blue-green algae, or marine phytoplankton.  The others on his list of 10 were more familiar to me: goji berries, cacao, all bee products, spirulina, aloe vera, hempseed and coconut.  From radiation protection to cleansing the body from toxins and metals, to immune system rebuilding and activating the body's own healing powers, these new and not-so-new foods are exciting to learn about and incorporate into your meals. 

superfood AFA algae

grasshopper or ant?

             You may remember LaFontaine's fable of the ant that strategically planned its food reserves during the summer in preparation for winter, and the playful grasshopper who ended up without food because it played all summer long. 

            Short-cuts don't always work, and it often takes hindsight to realize it.  We have taken many short-cuts on environmental and agricultural issues in favor of quick monetary gain.  Whether fracking, pesticides, factory farming or a host of other quagmires, the money comes quick, but then.....there is always always always an ugly hidden cost, and in the end it costs much more. 

            Take the recent dramatic drop in oil and gas prices, which almost immediately led to people buying fewer electric and fuel efficient cars.  While buying that less expensive vehicle right now, deferring getting those solar panels or better insulated windows, or delaying insulating your house, may indeed save you money this year, the long-term consequences are no savings.  Take the purchase of solar panels for example.  Payback is around 6-8 years.  That means that after 6 to 8 years your electricity will be free for the life of the panels, which is around 20 years or so.  So you get 12 years of free electricity!  And keep in mind that the cost of electricity keeps going up.  In addition you are helping to cut down on the pollution caused by burning fossil fuels, which contributes to the warming of our planet.  Win-win for all. 

            The hook?  It requires an investment and a short-term material sacrifice in favor of long-term environmental and monetary gain.   What's so bad about that?  You do the same for retirement.  You sacrifice something now for gain down the road. 

            Think like the ant, think long-term!