For many years I considered myself an environmentalist ‘fem-bot’ and supported the environmental movement with my money. I wanted to save everything and would feel despair and anger when I saw what people were doing to our planet. I did whatever I could to ‘be part of the solution’ by:
- Recycling long before recycling was the norm,
- Using my car as little as possible,
- Only buying things that were from socially responsible companies,
- Planting trees and huge vegetable gardens,
- Turning the lights off,
- Using less water,
- Keeping the heat turned down low,
- Reducing meat consumption,
- Occasionally riding my bike to work to reduce fuel consumption.
I felt guilty when I did something that wasn’t socially responsible, like throwing something in the garbage knowing it would end up in a landfill.
SAVING THE WORLD, LETTING GO OF THE GUILT AND PUTTING MYSELF FIRST
Many years later, I realised that in all of my efforts to save the world, I was forgetting about myself. I was putting myself second – or possibly last – and living in a way that did not support me by giving my power away to a belief system about how I should be living and not considering how it was best for me to live. Photos of seals being killed or polar bears that seemed to be stranded on icebergs or monkeys and cute animals in cages would instantly bring up strong emotional responses in me – grief, anger, despair and desperation. I felt a deep connection with them. At the same time, I held myself back from connecting with people around me, and took very little care of my own body – and had the health issues to show it.
Eventually, I cancelled all my memberships, started throwing away (or recycling, rather) invitations to donate money to charities. The veggie garden got smaller and included only things I wanted to eat. I bought a reliable car and kept the gas tank full. I looked at where I could make changes in my life that supported me and therefore in return naturally supported how I lived and interacted with everything around me. I started taking a water bottle with me whenever I left the house, and keeping lights on so that I wouldn’t run into furniture if I got up in the night. I started eating animal products again as I felt more into what my body needed for nourishment. I started to plant what I would once have considered completely impractical flowers for no other reason than that I felt they were beautiful. And – horror of horrors! – I actually cut the flowers to put in a vase for us to enjoy in the house…
When I let go of guilt and developed a greater commitment to myself and began putting myself first, I felt a huge weight being lifted and felt more open and lighter. It was amazing.
It was easy to see how, as a society of human beings, we’ve bought into a belief that we are the problem, even though we have as much right to live harmoniously in this world as any other part of nature.
OUR TRUE CONTRIBUTION TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Recently I realised something else about the ‘saving-the-world’ movement that doesn’t work. We pour billions of dollars into saving this or preserving that, but we never once consider what our TRUE individual contribution is to the environmental problem and the problems of our natural resources.
When do we stop to look at how each of us is personally living that is not in harmony with nature? Pointing the finger at societal problems does not consider each one of us as individual contributors. We allow ourselves to blame big business, governments and societal norms, which is looking at how ‘everyone else’ is living but not how I am living; not just in my actions, but also my relationships with others, my health and well-being, my commitment to work, how I connect with and feel compassion for others and live life in a loving way with myself first so that I can truly love others.
Taking personal responsibility is not about fuel efficiency or clean energy. It’s not about rebuilding forests and wetlands. It’s not about feeling guilty for living or feeling that human beings are a plague on the Earth. And it’s certainly not about saving endangered species that I believe are meant, by the natural order of things, to become extinct.
I feel that we all have a personal responsibility to look at how we are on an emotional, energetic, and behavioral level. We can look at our energy usage behaviours, but have we also looked at the excessive drug and alcohol consumption that we use to numb ourselves? What about the fact that we live in emotional drama and conflict, and justify it by seeing life as a challenge that needs to be overcome? Have we considered what the impact on our planet is of us being silent about violence in the world?
Until we consider ourselves in all of the ways that we live, we don’t know what living in harmony with the planet looks like. We live on this planet too. We are part of Nature too.
I still do things that support our environment because I am a responsible person and understand the importance of acting with personal responsibility in my relationship with Nature. But I no longer consider myself to be an environmentalist on a mission to save anything: I just feel a deep sense of appreciation for the beauty that is all around me, and that this beauty is also within me. I celebrate nature now, but no less than I celebrate and cherish me.
Inspired by the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine (UniMed).
by Julie Goodhart – Human Resources Coach and Consultant, Vermont USA
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
Thank you Julie , its so wonderful that you have come to the clarity of true support for ” your environment ” and not ” the environment ” . The environment of your body and how this lives in harmony with your environment on this planet just lovely.
Once I learnt about energetic integrity – the quality of my movements with decency and respect for all and everything around me was I now ‘saving me’ and the world.
Caring for and loving ourselves first as a foundation, then allows us to bring this energy and quality naturally to everyone and everything else.
We all have a responsibility in how we are, the quality of our energy and what we bring to the world, and so it is important to have, ‘developed a greater commitment to myself and began putting myself first, I felt a huge weight being lifted and felt more open and lighter. It was amazing.’
Thank you Julie, it is easy to fool ourselves into thinking we are taking responsibility when we are putting the environment first, yet when we do something at the cost of our own wellbeing, or simply ignore looking after ourselves we cease being responsible, love how you have turned things around for yourself.
Julie the subject of personal responsibility is one we overlook. Thank you for raising it and also drawing attention to how important it is to take care of ourselves.
What a wonderful turnaround Julie… Truly an inspiration and a article of reflection for so many people who have become casualties of the same inner dysfunctional voices pushing one into looking after everyone else but oneself first
How we are in every way matters and we choose to ignore the effects that this has on everything around us.
Julie this was me all over. My most incredible wake up call my from held belief was when I started to look at everything as energy. With this fact I seen how my hardness within was contributing to everything I detested. Being the change you want to see in the world is the only way to give to our world. Be love.
The notion of feeling guilty for being human is actually a very thick consciousness that people choose to believe in. It then runs peoples movements to avoid society, the systems and being part of humanity. These are the people living ‘off the grid’ struggling to not be seen, felt or heard by the majority. Ultimately, this consciousness is asking people to renounce the fact that they are human and have a job to do here, which is evolve out of here!
An amazing transformation Julie from environmentally-correct nazi to lovingly appreciative, respectful and honouring of yourself AMIDST the environment that is equally there to support you as well as all else.
I love how you describe so well the difference between our perceived idea of what we think being responsible is and true personal responsibility.
I love that you have come to realise the power in taking personal responsibility for how we are on an emotional, behavioural and energetic level and the harm we otherwise perpetuate, contributing to the disorder already present across the globe. When we truly cherish and honour ourselves is when we can truly honour and cherish nature from a truth rather than a reaction to a belief.
Julie I couldn’t agree more.The more care I take of myself the more gentle is my impact on the earth. Life is more simple when I am in harmony with myself, my work and others, and I do not need ‘things’ to make me feel better.
Thank you for your sharing Julie. You are on track when you say we need to consider ourselves,by loving and nurturing ourselves first. We cannot save every animal on the planet from extinction or all of humanity from suffering, we first have to start in our own backyards.
A great topic to write about Julie and you have expressed very clearly how convenient it is for us to jump on a bandwagon or crusade about something in an emotional way, thereby unwittingly adding to the emotional soup of disharmony that we all have to live in, regardless of how right or worthy we may believe our cause to be. Living in harmony is such an important thing for us to learn how to do on this planet and this includes living in harmony with nature and each other and ourselves. Harmony for me means collaboration, inter-connection with everything, and no disturbance of anything inside or outside ourselves.
Having been in this place myself, the despair of how the earth is being treated, I can now look back and see that the understanding of energy was not there. Now my perspective is more like ‘well, I look around and see us human beings not caring about our own bodies, the vehicles that we move around in and with every second of every day, so how on earth are we supposed to care or have any regard for the planet and it’s native inhabitance..?’
It is not so much the action that we do, for whatever reason, but rather the quality that is held in by us, in that movement… is what offers all a potential next step of evolution.. or not. this is learning what true responsibility is.
The belief, ideal, investment or attachment to something as in this case ‘saving the planet’ can be huge. The most harmful thing about it is that we think we are doing good but in fact we are contributing to the evil in the world.
The care of ourself first naturally will extend to the care of all around us, people and the environment.
Reading some of the other comments, makes me realise how many of us adopt these issues in our lives so we can feel like we are making a difference, all the while completely neglecting ourselves. Saving the world is a really good distraction.
It’s great to read another angle around our responsibility when it comes to Environmental issues. We call it Global warming, and we make it look like we believe it’s our doing, by saying it’s the cars we drive and the factories we built, but that’s only scratching the surface. What if, it’s the disharmony amongst us that impacts nature? If we are part of nature, then it makes perfect sense that every choice we make affects it. There is far greater responsibility to be taken re: our environmental issues than just saving water and reducing fuel consumption.
We all have a massive responsibility to humanity and this planet, that we have not yet chosen to take. Thank you for the blog Julie
This is brilliant Julie, thank you. This particular line is an absolute heart-opener, “It was easy to see how, as a society of human beings, we’ve bought into a belief that we are the problem, even though we have as much right to live harmoniously in this world as any other part of nature.” Reading this I could feel that I have continued to subscribe to the belief, albeit a deeply hidden one, that humans are a plague on the planet – a classic and common belief for an environmentalist. But you’re absolutely right. It makes no sense for humans to suffer in order to save everything else. The key is to live harmoniously and respectfully with nature and each other. To live the balance and flow that we see and feel around us reflected in nature.
“….. and living in a way that did not support me by giving my power away to a belief system about how I should be living and not considering how it was best for me to live” I too have found this – in my earlier years trying to save the world – but without any consideration of how I was living my life and my impact on everyone around me. Looking after, loving and appreciating ourselves first inevitably affects and can inspire those around us – without resorting to any marches or campaigns. Choosing to live a responsible life……
Oh dear I can relate to that across many pockets of years in my life. I was way more erratic than you, a bit of a yo-yo activist! Trouble was I would get so exhausted I couldn’t maintain the campaign. Now I realise the first person I have to look after is me so that I can build consistency in every area of my life. It has meant I have a different set of priorities and things I feel are for me to engage in, I cannot save the world but I can take personal responsibility to speak up if there is injustice and to live with energetic and physical responsibility.
Thanks Julie. I too was caught up in the ‘save the world’ mission. I now realise, thanks to the teachings of Serge Benhayon, that the emotions I was imposing on nature was causing more harm that the ‘good’ I thought I was doing. Living in harmony with ourselves, our fellow human beings and with nature is the way to live in harmony with the All.
True responsibility and caring for our environment is considering the impact on the planet of the way we move and the way we express and ensuring this is at a bare minimum gentle, non emotional and non imposing.
The environment gets an enormous healing when we live our lives in a loving way and take personal responsibility. If humanity saw the impact on the environment that their thoughts and emotions make, they may think twice about the pollution they are creating and adding to the mix.
This is a great point to make Julie.” I celebrate nature now, but no less than I celebrate and cherish me.” This acceptance and awareness of the self component, has put balance to your life.
It got me thinking that this subject, as are many that are presented in our lives have a component of truth, but devoid of the complete truth has the potential to become radical. This can be seen in religion,education, culture, nationality, political, ….the list is endless. A system that is not considering all components equally will show signs of wobble.
So many great points raised here Julie… How can we say we’ve saved a tree when our personal lives and bodies are often a mess? It’s only when we take personal responsibility for our own self care that this will naturally flow into being responsible in the way we use our environment.
Great blog Julie, it showing us clearly the facts of our ignorance of the whole, only looking outside for parts we think are not good for our planet, but we forget all the things that are not good for ourself and humanity as a whole.
A brilliant rethink on the nature of individual responsibility for our environmental and societal problems, starting with how we treat ourselves first and then onto each and every choice we make in our interaction and relationship with the world from there.
The wonderful thing about tuning into expression , and understanding that everything is energy, is that quite soon you start to feel the energy coming through , or behind the grand words of activists and others, this is when ones eyes really start to open and see what is really happening .
‘When I let go of guilt and developed a greater commitment to myself and began putting myself first, I felt a huge weight being lifted and felt more open and lighter. It was amazing.’ Awesome debunking of the energy behind being mission driven about anything and how it avoids the taking of personal responsibility by focussing on everything ‘out there’ rather than our inner environment and how we are looking after ourselves first and then reflecting that out to the world. Thank you for this loving call to positive action.
Thank you Julie – it’s very harming to our bodies when we disregard ourselves by putting anything or anyone ahead of our own wellbeing.
Just gorgeous to read thank you Julie, “I feel a deep sense of appreciation for the beauty that is all around me, and that this beauty is also within me. I celebrate nature now, but no less than I celebrate and cherish me.”
Being deeply responsible in every aspect of our lives is fantastic. Our role as individuals is to be responsible in every aspect we are capable of doing. From this place we can be considerate of what we eat, how we behaviour, what we put our money towards and how well we live and love in general.
This may sound very broad and general, however living from a place of deep responsibility and respect for yourself and everyone around you is an excellent place to begin to consider everything we wish, as a human race, to get right on a global scale.
This is great Julie – debunking all the rah rah, banner waving, ‘we are better than others’ behaviour that so often accompanies the environmentalist movement. You bring it back to something so much more simple, that we all need to work on.. our responsibility to be ourselves, to love from there and then out to the rest of the world. Without that important first step we are just selling, promoting or ranting in exactly the same way as the opposite viewpoint is, making us no better – magnifying the disharmony rather than healing it.
Its refreshing to read and feel the evolution in Julies writing, from a stand-point of anger and reaction that was able to be seemingly totally justified, to a sense of reconnection with how one can truly be self-sustaining in this world, and with this awareness the bigger picture is automatically included.
We do not realise our natural place in this world and become obsessed with injustices, causes outside of ourselves, whilst not energetically discerning our own footprint
So well said Deidre, and it is only by truly cherishing ourselves that we are then able to truly equally cherish nature, as well as each other.
Great article Julie. I feel like you are speaking on behalf of a large section of society here. I still have to be careful about not wasting food – well not wasting anything- it was so ingrained in my belief system. Slowly slowly I let go of these ideals that I have taken on and allow myself to make choices that I know truly support me.
Julie, you raise some great points about being an environmentalist, and lovely to read your own evolution back to taking true responsibility for yourself. I liked your words “Until we consider ourselves in all of the ways that we live, we don’t know what living in harmony with the planet looks like.” A great opportunity for us all to take responsibility for how we live.
Beautiful comment Carola. I agree the change comes from within when we live in harmony with the divine cycles. Nature is reflecting us the magic of God.
Awesome Julie, I liked how you explained yourself as a ‘environmental fem-bot” we are all too good at taking Care of ourselves last..
I have not been an environmentalist, but worked always very dedicated to women’s rights and gender equality without ever claiming what it means to be a true woman and a true man. I almost gave up on it, as it seemed to make no sense as violence just transformed into more accepted forms of violence, rights got interpreted and manipulated and women loved the safety of living just as mothers and wives and not in the full power of true women. Through Universal Medicine and Esoteric Women’s Health I learned to start with myself and embraced being the sacred woman I am and today I am a role model of being a true woman and wherever I go and work this is offered to every woman I meet and they can choose it too. No need for exhausting missions anymore! Very awesome.
I stopped watching the news on tv ages ago as I couldn’t handle all the killings, environmental issues, wars and so on. Through connecting to myself and getting to know me and how my body works, I am seeing the world from a different perspective. I’m understanding why it is happening and I’m not getting as emotional. The environment and the wild life still tug at my sympathy emotion every now and then but I’m working on it.
I love this Julie. I could really feel the passion that you had to save the planet, and how now you put saving yourself at the top of your list. It is so easy to look around and blame everyone else for the mess in the world but beginning to take true responsibility for our own “mess” is the first and most important step in making the changes the world so desperately needs.
Julie – thank you for such ground breaking information re what it means to give your power away to a belief vs taking true responsibility for ourselves first, by lovingly taking care of ourselves, openly and honestly interacting with others, and speaking up where matters count instead of remaining silent. “Taking personal responsibility is not about fuel efficiency or clean energy. It’s not about rebuilding forests and wetlands. It’s not about feeling guilty for living or feeling that human beings are a plague on the Earth. And it’s certainly not about saving endangered species that I believe are meant, by the natural order of things, to become extinct.”
I have often seen life as a series of challenges to overcome but in this attitude I am tense, my body is tense, as if waiting for the next challenge. The joy in life completely disappears when we live like this.
A beautiful blog Julie, I loved being in nature and always felt the harmony when amongst it. I love these words ” a harmony within when amongst it. I celebrate nature now, but no less than I celebrate and cherish me.”
I used to find it much easier to have opinions or get upset about things outside of myself which stopped me from taking responsibility for how I lived in the world. I agree Felix that for me to be in harmony and to not impose is the best gift I can offer others and nature reflects that to us constantly.
Definitely agree with this Anne – so much easier to concentrate on the outside, than actually have to sort ourselves out first!
You made me giggle a number of times Julie. I will have to keep an eye on my save the world one mission at a time approach 🙂
Julie I can so relate to this truly ground breaking blog. I was the environmentalist who used reusable bags and ate local organic food long before it was fashionable but totally ignored my body, as well the emotional states I constantly lived – that also impacted our world. Like you have have let go of the pressure to save the world and made it about saving myself first. And in committing to this, I have completely changed how I live which does still include consideration not only for the environment but for everything in nature.
Great post Julie, and agree when we’re bothered about everything/one else except ourselves, then it’s a convenient distraction away from seeing what’s in front of us: your words here sum it up well: “When do we stop to look at how each of us is personally living that is not in harmony with nature? Pointing the finger at societal problems does not consider each one of us as individual contributors” – it’s a way used to just abdicate from responsibility.
When we are able to appreciate nature and care for ourselves, because we are apart of nature we tend to live in a harmonious way with it. I havn’t been an environmentalist but I notice I tend to do things that support the environment as well. Caring for yourself just tends to lead to living simply and in accordance with what’s around you too.
So true Julie. We have a responsibility to look at how we are living emotionally, energetically and behaviourally. If we all became students of ourselves in this way much would change in our world.
That is beautiful to read and feels much more all encompassing and with ease then your choices before as a “fem-bot”
This opens up such a great discussion Julie, thank you for your deeply honest blog.
It all feels so emotional and exhausting – the life you describe when caught in ‘saving’ everything… and I hear what you are sharing here, that in all that this lifestyle entailed, one vital piece was left out of the equation, that being ‘you’.
Serge Benhayon’s presentations have really opened my eyes to the importance of this, i.e. our deep responsibility to consider the energy we bring to whatever it is we do, and that we can only truly know this by knowing and deeply loving ourselves…
A life of angst, despair and anger (such as you’ve described) must beg us to question just what energy was being driven into all the causes you were involved with. If we all know that anger feels awful, when we are on the receiving end of it, for example, surely the planet feels this too – as the living being it is also – as a form of assault?
We clearly need a true difference to be made on this planet – for our environment, and desperately for the way in which we treat ourselves and each other. The equation just doesn’t seem to ‘add up correctly’ however, if we neglect looking after ourselves, whilst pursuing the welfare of a cause we choose to follow. In fact, we may well be grossly distracting ourselves from things that require attending far closer to home – the quality of our relationships, our own health and wellbeing, just for example…
Brilliant blog Julie, turning on its head the notion that it’s all about ‘the mission’. Many of us get caught up in causes of one kind or another – saving the earth, children, impoverished people, sick people, homeless people – particularly in the nonprofit sector, where it’s extremely common to completely ignore one’s health and well-being. Yet the very key to change lies in our relationship with ourselves, first and foremost: it is from this place we can bring harmony to others and the planet.
What a truly great turnaround Julie, so practical, common-sensical and useful.
Wonderful Julie that you feel that nature and yourself to be part of the whole of the cycle of life! That you can celebrate nature as much as you celebrate yourself: that the two are not mutually exclusive.
A very thought provoking blog Julie. Your words ‘I feel that we all have a personal responsibility to look at how we are on an emotional, energetic, and behavioral level.’ make sense to me in many ways, especially when I consider all that is dis-harmonious in the environment. A great reminder for me to stop and check in with myself right at this moment as I am preparing to go about my day.
An environmental blog that doesn’t scorn you for living but just simply states how are you living as an individual has a greater impact then most realise
There are so many ways that we can push ourselves and compromise our bodies for the sake of this or that mission. Putting ourselves first and appreciating ourselves as another part of the magic of nature brings about a much more precious responsibility and level of care and consideration.
I feel you raised some important points about taking responsibility in the way we interact with one another and what a huge impact that has on the environment. Imagine billions of people on our planet all going to work in the morning, exhausted, propped up on Coffee and closed off to one another. Maybe that has to have an impact on our environment?
This is a lovely blog Julie, I love what you say here “I celebrate nature now but no less than I celebrate and cherish me”.
Great blog Julie, that gets to the very heart of what true humanitarianism is, which is every individual taking responsibility for their contribution to life. A bigger picture perspective that shows we all have a part to play in the way in which humanity continues to evolve.
Thanks Julie for sharing this insightful article , getting bogged down and stuck in saying anything when in truth it could be a diversion from feeling where we are at and may be it is us that needs the care and nurture to save us from the mess we are in and then when we are clear, harmonious and loving then we naturally pass that on to others.
Beautiful Julie, it’s a great reflection of how we are responsible for our-self and how we are with people around us first. And we don’t need to save endangered animals or something else, because of the natural order. That’s a great thing to realise.
A wonderful reminder that those ‘do- gooding’ things may not actually be contributing to the betterment of humanity. Rather, perhaps they, at best, create a distraction from looking at what is really going on: the fact that people are divided and not loving each other.
Julie, these words are a much more loving way to be with ourselves and nature.
“I just feel a deep sense of appreciation for the beauty that is all around me, and that this beauty is also within me. I celebrate nature now, but no less than I celebrate and cherish me.”
By putting our focus on ‘saving the world’ – we know we want to save it because it is a beautiful place and a part of us feels that it is worth preserving – we focus on all the negative aspects that are causing the decay rather than if we just observe, nature has many ways of regenerating itself. Plants will return from bushfires eventually is just a small example. But what this has reminded me of is, like you mentioned Julie we, our bodies, are a part of nature and they too naturally can regenerate. If we were to stop focusing on all the negative parts about ourselves and striving to be better, do better etc and just feel the beauty within us things will naturally heal. I have understood and been presented this way of life before through what Serge Benhayon presents and it never ceases to amaze me as to how one subject can be explained a thousand different ways, all with the same one core. Thank you.
Thank you Julie and these words are relevant to anyone whether ‘saving the world’ or not!
“I feel that we all have a personal responsibility to look at how we are on an emotional, energetic, and behavioral level. We can look at our energy usage behaviours, but have we also looked at the excessive drug and alcohol consumption that we use to numb ourselves? What about the fact that we live in emotional drama and conflict, and justify it by seeing life as a challenge that needs to be overcome? Have we considered what the impact on our planet is of us being silent about violence in the world?” I reckon most people feel somewhere deep inside the world is not working as it is and what is written is a great starting point to begin considering the ‘why?’
Thank you Julie. We sometimes don’t realise the actual detriment that the ”save the world” mentality can have on ourselves.
The responsibility that you speak is something that is not in the conscious awareness of most people. I certainly did not think that being angry and stomping my way through town affected anyone… until I learned that life is not just about me and how I am at any given moment has a ripple affect that will go way beyond what my human mind can conceive.
Julie, I love how you say that you celebrate nature but no less than you celebrate and cherish yourself. It is such a valuable and important point your are raising here as we learn always to look outside of us and fight and stand up for good causes. But no matter how ‘good’ the cause might be it does not have any value or true benefit for the whole when we do not include ourselves and humanity in this equation. And it can never be fighting for one cause but meanwhile neglecting so many other causes, which mostly are always our own or others well-being and health.
New spin on saving the world – ‘saving yourself first’ (in short terms).
I laughed when I read about you leaving on the lights at night so you didn’t run into the furniture.
I love the point you raise here Julie, that rather than be the ‘saviours of the world’ we actually start looking at ourselves. “When do we stop to look at how each of us is personally living that is not in harmony with nature?”
Often the inner angst is projected and directed into a cause rather than dealt with in oneself. I also did this when I was younger as a way of relieving the tension of feeling all that was so wrong with the world. But we are the people that make up our world. This is a lovely reminder to bring the focus back to ourselves and reflect on what quality it is we are adding to nature, the environment and the world we all share.
Yes Ariana, and I would add our emotions can also be very polluting. Everyone can feel the dis-ease when another is speaking harshly or acting out in an irrational way, it has an impact.
Awesome addition Victoria re ‘a way of relieving the tension of feeling all that was so wrong with the world’. We do need to feel that tension for there is much that is ‘wrong’ but reacting with anger, dismay, judgment, despair – emotion of any kind –is not the answer. If you want more love in and for the world, be that love first and others will follow, inspired by what you emanate.
Yes Victoria L, we do need to allow ourselves to feel that tension, and we will feel it as it is not in harmony with our nature to be living with such disconnection to the love we know to be true.This is inspiring.
Ladies, you’re on to something here. Imagine if all our thoughts and emotions were made visible – the sky would be thick and black. We need to realise our thoughts and emotions are present even though we can’t see them, like TV and radio waves – and that perhaps these are amongst our greatest polluters. So, is it industrial pollution alone that’s harming the environment? I have a feeling if we reduced our ‘thought and emotion output’ the planet would be a lot lighter and clearer.
Being hung up about the environment was for me a cause to resent anyone who was not taking extreme eco friendly measures. This only tends to alienate ourselves from others though as no-one likes to be preached too, and certainly not when there is an air of hypocrisy about the whole thing. The anger towards others for not being eco friendly is a pollution in itself, something I now recognise.
Well said Stephen. I know this one only too well. I was a volunteer warden of the small nature reserve around our house for nearly 20 years and spent most of that time being angry with everyone else who I perceived did not see and treat the area in the same way as I did. I came to realize that I was causing more harm to my environment than anyone else. Letting go has not been easy but I now go for a walk, enjoy the wildlife around me and take time to connect and enjoy the people I meet as well.
Great insight Stephen. It challenges the nature of all mission-based activism, whatever form it takes.
Yes Stephen the pollution of anger is huge and for me was a great distraction from taking personal responsibility for my footprint on the earth.
Great piece of writing Julie and great clarification of exposing and explaining where the responsibility lies.
Wow Julie – you really call out the difference between true appreciation and responsibility, vs. a drive and mission that is so far outside of yourself. It sounds like taking responsibility for your actions first and your individual imprint is so important on the scale of things. I love the revelations you offer here.
What I love about this blog Julie is how you have really shown the lack of true love in the environmental movement. Having been heavily involved in it myself I can say that I would get emotionally upset and angry about all the devastation to various wildlife habitats and animals, however I was taking horrible care of my own body; abusing it and throwing “trash” in it like drugs, alcohol, sugary heavy foods, etc. and staying up until after midnight on a regular basis, when this did not feel to truly support me.
Last time I checked, there is no other species of animal that treats there bodies so poorly. I can now see how hypocritical I was. I also feel that when environmentalists go out and protest against an organization or group with anger and resentment, they are merely creating another mini-war that only tends to separate people further, not bring them together.
This blog is really insightful Julie and very funny! Great how you can laugh at your old Fem-Bot ways. What you share about our personal responsibilities to our environment is key. Before the work of Universal Medicine, I always accepted emotional drama and conflict as a part of life. Now my eyes have been opened to the fact that life can be lived differently, but the key person in making a change to live harmoniously is me.
This blog is amazing Julie Goodhart and I love your style of writing and I did laugh out loud because I can really relate to ‘saving the world and doing my bit’. I was obsessed and deeply troubled about landfill sites and where was it going to end and recycling was not enough. YES I still recycle today and absolutely love doing that but I am not subscribing to any of the ideals and beliefs you have mentioned because like you they are not true. What is true is that I need to take responsibility in the way I choose to live everyday and not harm our planet which enhouses you, me and every other animal and plant.
Having a common sense approach has also helped me to come off my soap box to save the world because all I was really doing was adding to the ra ra of trying to save the world when in fact I needed to start with looking at how I was living and trashing the planet with my ugly thoughts and loveless lifestyle.
Thank you, Bina, for your expression. I can feel the truth in your claim of taking responsibility. I can relate to the landfill thing – I used to have worrisome images of the planet becoming one huge landfill!
I’ve since come to understand that holding onto these fears has never helped, and instead just seemed to be a way to ‘hide’ from the fact of what true self-responsibility really is.
Beautifully put, Bina. It’s amazing our propensity to jump on a bandwagon without considering what we might be leaving in our wake.
Absolutely Victoria I had an amazing propensity to jump on bandwagons in my teens and beyond as a way of dumping so many emotions that I did not know how to deal with and getting angry and raging against the way the world was treating x, y or z was a useful distraction. Taking personal responsibility for dealing with my emotions has meant that I am leaving far less emotional carnage behind me but the fallout can still be felt.
Julie. reading you blog again is lovely. It really is amazing how we can rage against the world yet refuse to see how our behaviour impacts it – so obvious. And super simple it all starts with us, what a relief, no world to change, just to learn to lovingly be us in the world.
Thank you Julie, for a very refreshing and liberating article. Liberating us all from the heavy sense of guilt, felt by many. You make a great point about looking inside ourselves, and developing a greater commitment to ourselves.
Reading your comment, Jonathan, I could feel again how our environment is simply a reflection for us – and a huge one at that! – of how we live in our bodies, and whether or not we choose to nurture or trash it. Great comment.
Yes, it’s so interesting that we never stop to consider that the environment starts with us and what we put into it; not just rubbish but emotions and changing how we live and care for ourselves has a knock on effect to everything on the planet!
I love the simplicity of what’s been shared. I have not been an environmentalist so your experience is great to bring understanding to the drive behind this way of living. However, I have been someone who has lived in ignorance of the fact that how I am has an affect on every other person, animal, plant and the environment. Therefore I can relate to what you have shared in terms of taking responsibility for our energy usage and how super important this is. Awesome, Julie, thank you.
This is awesome Julie. I love how you raise the point about us looking at our own energy usage and the affect that this has. A great area for us to take responsibility for.
Thank you, Amina, for your loving words. It IS simple, and energising. I see this more and more every day!
Thank you Monica.
Oh my Julie, I can sooo relate to your experiences from my own life. I was one that marched angrily stomping my message of dissatisfaction and blame into the streets, with no regard or awareness of the lack of natural tender womanly harmony in my own ‘battle hardened’ body. I can relate to almost every aspect you share, thankfully also including the realisations and transformation from fem bot mission to stopping and knowing that in nature, self care comes first and the way I am in my body impacts so much more than just me. Having allowed so many of the beliefs to be retested, and discarded (and not recycled!) if they do not really feel in keeping with what supports me and my body, (such as the taboo and frowned upon embracing of synthetic fibres in clothing if that’s most supportive, to name just one), I can now walk and actually feel no separation between me and nature. I am no longer the empty cranky finger pointer on a mission and focused on what’s outside of me. The respect has shifted enormously, whereas before there was this divinity in nature to be revered and ‘gung ho’-‘saved’, (and frankly imposed upon), today I know of this divinity equally within us all and my reverence is one of equalness.
In celebration of your sharing!
Thank you, Kate! It is amazing and also just so natural to feel how we can be more connected with the world around us (not less!) when we stop being so mission-driven to save the planet. It was such an eye-opening moment for me to feel that true connection with Nature starts with loving myself deeply and fully and connecting deeply and fully with myself first. 🙂
So true Julie, and as I deepen my relationship with myself and my inner flow and rhythms, I can feel the same divinity in nature – beautiful and getting more so everyday.
Is it possible that if we as human beings live less mission driven in all parts of our lives, the natural flow of things would reveal to us how a lot of species on this planet no longer would be endangered and we, like all creatures on this planet, would become extinct at some point in time, also as part of natural evolution?
That’s a great question, Suzanne. I feel that when we are more in harmony with the world around us, we will have less fear and anxiousness about what is happening with and in the world around us.
Dear Julie – I so know what you are talking about. I spent two decades in the anguish of what is happening to the environment, planted 1000’s of trees, combatted weeds invading the local rainforest remnants and refused to live in any kind of physical comfort. All the while I was saddened if not depressed about the state of the world and not realising that these emotions were contributing to what our environment suffers from – not us human beings per se by virtue of our sheer existence, but our emotions and unresolved issues with each other, all covered up by mission driven agendas that seem to give meaning to life, even if only for a while. Now it is rather simple – with self love first I have no desire to hurt or damage anybody or anything, whether human, animal or the environment and it is a natural flow rather than a set of rigid tenets at the expense of my health and sanity.
This is so beautiful, Gabriele! Thank you for sharing this. Everything is about self-love first…
Well said Gabriele. I agree with what you have written about the emotions and unresolved issues and it is beautiful you bringing yourself to this understanding in your last sentence – ‘it is rather simple – with self love first I have no desire to hurt or damage anybody or anything, whether human, animal or the environment and it is a natural flow rather than a set of rigid tenets at the expense of my health and sanity’.
If we acknowledged and taught self-love, to every child, woman and man on earth and did nothing but, we would eventually have harmony and a great deal less wrong with us and the planet than we do now!
Just lovely Julie, so true, we are an equal part of nature – great reminder
Hi Julie, love your article. I just wish everyone could see this article as it could make a huge difference in how people see themselves in this world of saving the environment, animals and other people but not take personal responsibility for how they live their own lives with self-care and self-love and at the same time still be there to look after those that need support. I have one question though. What is a ‘Fem-Bot’? 🙂 Love, Sue
Hi Sue, Thank you for your comments and I love your question. ‘Fem-Bot’, as in ‘female robot’, means to me a woman who is on a mission and lets nothing stand in her way.
Thanks for getting back to me and explaining ‘fem-bot’… I thought it might be something like that, but wanted to be sure plus others may have had the same question. I can totally relate to in the past being a ‘woman on a mission’, but now I have purpose rather than drive. 🙂
So beautifully put Julie and an amazing turn around. If we are to truly save our world we do need to ask different questions and make it about turning ourselves around first and foremost and learning how to live harmoniously with self, others and our planet. Thank you for such an honest and inspiring post.
I love what you write here, Rowena. So very true and it can be lovingly done! 🙂
Well said Rowena. I love how you have summarised this blog and that it really what it comes down to. If we want to change the world or change others it’s not something we have control over single-handedly but if we change ourselves then to live in a way that is harmonious with ourselves then we are absolutely playing our part.
What an amazing perspective to “changing the world”. Thank you for sharing this with us, Julie.
Yes, doesn’t changing the world start with changing how we see ourselves in it? 🙂
Yes Juliegoodhart ” Responsibility in our beingness” quote Adele Leung.