CHAPTER 9. GET YOUR MIND IN ORDER
Before ending the main body of this book, I have one more topic. Last but not least, get your mind in order. The phrase “It’s all in your mind” gets a bad rap. Usually people use it to mean “You’re making things up” or “You’re imagining things.” I use it to mean “The mind is Ground Zero and Command Central of everything we do!”
“With our thoughts we make the world,” said Buddha.
How you look at things, what you focus most of your attention on, what you believe about yourself and the world——these things are bigger factors in your success or failure and your happiness or unhappiness than any external circumstance, however large.
Anyone who is committed enough to the planet as to pick up a book called DEEP GREEN, let alone read this far, is a sensitive individual who may be carrying a lot of pain and worry. Sometimes, our emotional reactions from personal stuff in our lives get overlaid onto the present moment, distorting our present-time perception.
Also, sometimes our personal pain gets mixed up with our pain for humanity, thus intensifying our emotions and making it hard to speak clearly or act calmly. It’s essential to clear our minds of distortion so we have maximum attention free for the tasks at hand. We need to be on point!
The best advice I can give anyone who’s trying to make a better world (or do anything else for that matter) is, “Get your mind in order!” Sort through your feelings. Work through your traumas. Get support to put the past behind you. Own up to things you’ve done wrong and make amends. Rise above victim-consciousness.
I’ve had a long journey in getting my mind in order. I’ve done psychotherapy, which helped me sort and process my emotions. I’ve done a program for addiction, which helped me take responsibility for my life and stop feeling sorry for myself by owning up to my wrongdoings and making amends. I’ve read and reread mindfulness books and tried meditation and yoga. I’ve taken many different kinds of workshops.
Every bit of time and money I’ve invested in working on my “inner landscape” has paid off in unimaginably rich dividends. Therefore, I offer everyone, especially you, my deep-green comrades who share my commitment to the planet, the same advice: If you want to be truly happy and successful, get your mind in order. In the appendix I list a select few of the resources that have helped me most.
CHAPTER 10. IN CLOSING
Goodbye for now, but I hope to see you soon.
For a long time, I was impatient with my fellow green-minded people. Folks were always saying they admired my lifestyle so much. Well, then why weren’t more of them doing it? Then I woke up and realized what a golden opportunity I’d been missing: the opportunity to help people create their own version of this lifestyle! I hope the guidance in this book will be of use to you, and that together we’ll spark a widespread and enduring craze for extreme-low-footprint living.
Thus concludes the body of this book. In the appendix you’ll find pointers to books, websites, social movements, and other riches (without which this book would not exist). Your adventure is just beginning! May you enjoy a long, fruitful, deep-green life. (And, I look forward to meeting up with you in the Riot community online!)