Don’t Forget the Pictures!

Now I know I’m probably driving people crazy these days with the millions of things I’m asking my readers to do. There’s the Resolve to Love Challenge (including the word cloud contest) and my urging you to write your representatives. And oh yeah, the Naked Face Collage!

Dove's "Real Beauty" Campaign

I’ve only gotten two pictures so far and I need more! Anything goes! You don’t have to submit a photo of your face if you don’t want to. You can send in a picture of any part of your body that you are “revealing” to the world with acceptance and love. Toes you hate, wild hair, short eyelashes, a square behind (that’s me!), a scar…on and on.

There’s only about a week left to send in your photos, so please don’t forget! I would LOVE to include you!

(Please be assured, I will not be including the names of the people participating for privacy reasons. I will be making a collage out of all the photos sent to me, and posting them on the blog with no names or any other written identification.

March Challenge Check-In

How are you all doing with this month’s Resolve to Love Challenge? I got a couple of responses on the blog of people’s favorite things about themselves and several responses on Facebook (thank you!). Have you made your list yet? No, I really mean it – have you sat down with a pen and pencil (or computer) and written down at least ten things you love about yourself that don’t have to do with your looks or your roles within your relationships?

What you said you love about yourselves.

For many of us, this process is hard. Almost bizarrely so. There are a whole lot of reasons behind this, but one that I hear so commonly is that it’s “selfish.” And another I hear, far more often (I’m sorry to say), is “I don’t deserve to identify good traits in myself. After all, I’m so imperfect, people would laugh if I tried to pretend that I’m good enough.”

Well, folks, I’m afraid that’s not going to fly this time. If you are participating in this challenge, there are no acceptable excuses for skipping this step. I don’t care if you cry the whole time you do it, or if it takes you three weeks. DO IT.

I am convinced that building a healthy sense of self-esteem is essential to happiness and inner peace. That probably sounds really obvious, but it is a relatively new idea for me. I can remember reading something Marianne Williamson wrote about developing self-esteem: She said helping others is one of the best ways to learn to love yourself more because how can you not love yourself when you see others appreciating your kindness?

Well, I tried it and it wasn’t entirely successful. I spent years doing pretty intense volunteer work, and though I loved it, I’m sorry to say that I still went to bed each night thinking that I was a fake. “If only these people really knew who I was, they wouldn’t love or appreciate me,” I thought.

Now I’m not suggesting that volunteer work is a waste of time, nor am I suggesting that everyone with self-esteem issues should run out and sign up just because they need an ego boost. Volunteering is wonderful and important and I know it has been (and will continue to be) an essential part of my journey. All I’m saying is that helping others is only part of the equation. If you build up others but refuse to build up yourself, then ultimately, you can’t help anyone.

We’re all connected. We are all creations of a divine energy and we reflect that same divinity out into the world. If you can see it in yourself, you can see it more clearly in others. The reverse is also true – muffle your own brilliance, and you muffle the brilliance of those around you. How can you be of service to them if you can’t see their light? How can you experience true peace or joy if you keep yourself and everything around you in darkness?

Need more? Try this on for size:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
― Marianne Williamson, Return to Love

Don’t you owe it to your daughters to recognize your inner beauty? Wouldn’t it be nice to share your light with your life partner? Don’t you think your friends want to see you shine? Don’t you deserve to have total faith in yourself?

There’s still time to participate in this month’s challenge, and I’m going to up the ante. Go to tagxedo.com and create a word cloud with at least 10 words that describe what you love about yourself (remember, nothing physical and nothing regarding the roles you play or the contributions you make within your relationships – this is all about YOU). Send it to me at five5seed@gmail.com. I’ll post the word clouds here on the blog and let the readers vote for the winner! The winner will receive a tube of my Coconut Vanilla Bean Lip Balm*.

So come on, join in! You only have a week and a half!

*You must live in the U.S., Canada, Europe or the UK to be eligible for the lip balm (though ALL word clouds are welcome and will be used!). Deadline for submissions is Sunday, April 8, 2012. The winner will be announced during the week of April 9th.

How BP Affected Me, Part 3

As I discussed in my last post, two years have passed since the BP oil spill and not much has changed. Sadly, this event did not inspire any long-term change in America’s energy consumption habits. After two years of using my bicycle instead of my car (90% of the time – I’m not full-time yet!), I realized there was so much more to be done. A couple of people making a couple of changes is not enough. Further, I hear all of us complaining more and more about the rising price of gasoline, to the point where it’s starting to drive me crazy (even when I do it), and I wonder: What are we doing about it?

The first, and perhaps most simple action we can take is to simply use our bikes more than our cars. You don’t have to become a full-on bicycle commuter to make a difference. Even biking somewhere you would normally drive just once a week will save you money at the gas pump and will, of course, improve both your mental and physical health. More importantly, bicycling more often will change the pattern of consumer habits – and money talks! We need to show the oil companies and the government that we are ready for a change – no more fossil fuel dependency! We want clean, sustainable power and we’re not gonna stop pedalin’ until we get it! :–)

Now I know, some of you say you have too many errands, too many kids, too little time (etc.) to bicycle. While I totally respect this, I do have to give props to all those who have been willing to try it…because in many instances, it can be done, if you want to do it.

Please note that I said “in many instances” and for those of you who want to do it. I totally understand and respect that many people don’t choose this route for any number of reasons (safety issues, time, convenience, etc.). I’m not here to make everyone a die-hard bike commuter. Yes, I want to push people to give it a try, but my ultimate goal is to break free from Big Oil. And that’s what these posts have been all about.

So whether or not you choose to try a little bicycling, we can all do more to create the changes we want to see. Changes that include less expensive commutes, cleaner air for ourselves and our children, safer roads, economic opportunities and sustainable energy for our country. How do we do it?

1. Every time you complain about gas prices, go online and write to your senator, representative or President Obama. Complaining without action is a waste of time and only drops a lot of negativity on yourself and everyone around you. Turn your frustration into action. (And by the way, sending letters criticizing your representatives doesn’t count! Express your sincere feelings about the situation and ask for what you want. Less “This is all your fault, you waste of my tax dollars,” and more, “I’m frustrated by this issue and would like see the following changes…”.)

I think this is something many of us neglect to do. I haven’t written a letter to any of my representatives in about 5 months. That’s too long! They should be hearing from us on a regular basis. Frankly, I think we have gotten a little lazy. It’s so easy to gripe and complain about the politicians and to be enticed by the latest promises being fed to us. But are we actually participating in a positive and constructive manner in our own government? I think most of us would answer NO. And if that’s so, then who can we really blame for where we are but ourselves? Let’s take action and make our voices heard!

2. Demand continued lobbying reform. As long as legislation is so incredibly influenced by corporations, the public needs and interests will be set aside. This is our government, and we cannot afford to let legislation be driven by profit-hungry Big Oil. I personally don’t believe we will ever see a genuine attempt by the government to pursue sustainable energy until Big Oil is no longer allowed to grease the palms of those in power. And the only people who can change this is US!

3. Do your best to wean yourself from fossil fuel dependency. Admittedly, this is a hard one. It seems that everything is made from fossil fuels these days! But there are so many ways you can make small changes that add up fast. Buy more locally-produced goods. Support sustainable businesses. Choose non-plastic products whenever possible (and don’t even think about going to the store without your reusable shopping bags!). Talk about oil dependency with your kids and teach them how to take a different path. Write your local businesses and encourage them to phase out plastic cups, cutlery, straws, etc. Write to your mayor and ask for a ban on plastic shopping bags.

There are a million more small examples I could give, but I’m sure you get the gist.

The point is: It’s so easy to get overwhelmed and discouraged. I get it. I find myself feeling that many times each day. It seems like it’s too much to change, too impossible for one little person to do anything. But what’s the alternative? Do nothing while we fume? The way I see it, we might as well do something useful with our time here and try our best. Even if we don’t see major change in our lifetime, wouldn’t it be great to know that you were living a life that was in line with your values? That you didn’t waste time complaining because you were too busy being an active, responsible citizen? And don’t forget – if enough of us get involved then imagine the changes we could make!

How BP Affected Me, Part 2

Almost two years have passed since the BP oil spill, which marks the two year anniversary of my bicycle commuting. This has been my form of protest against Big Oil. But what has happened in these past two years? Gas prices are still climbing, with no end in sight. Our gas consumption patterns have not significantly changed. And the Gulf Coast? Still suffering, two years later.

This could have been – and dare I say should have been – a huge wake-up call for America. But sadly, it wasn’t. Last year, the University of Michigan published a study that explored the aftermath of the BP oil spill. The conclusion was that the spill “is unlikely to leave a lasting legacy on our views toward fossil fuels, environmental management, and energy use.” (Source.) Co-author Andrew Hoffman pointed out that no one ever “fully challenged the identity of the Obama administration*, the oil majors, or the American public and its dependence on fossil fuels [italics added]… The economy is still fuel-based and little serious opposition to continued offshore drilling can be expected.”

Oil pipelines in Nigeria

I know a lot of people ask, “Why does it matter?” It matters because this fossil fuel dependency is not just an environmental issue. It is political and economic, as well. Where does our oil come from? We get it from all over the world, often from countries that are unstable and downright dangerous. These countries include Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Nigeria. Again, this may not seem like a big deal, but let’s look at the consequences of buying oil from these countries^:

1. As a major contributor to the global demand for oil the United States is paying to finance and sustain unfriendly regimes.

2. Our demand drives up oil prices on the global market, which oftentimes benefits oil-producing nations that don’t sell to us.

3. The regimes and elites that economically benefit from rich energy resources rarely share oil revenues with their people, which worsens economic disparity in the countries and at times creates resource-driven tension and crises.

4. Our oil dependence will also be increasingly harder and more dangerous to satisfy. [America uses about 25% of the world's petroleum supply, and roughly half of that - give or take a few percentage points - is imported.] Without reducing our dependence on oil we’ll be forced to increasingly look to more antagonistic and volatile countries that pose direct threats to our national security.

So as you can see, our dependence on oil is not simply an environmental issue. It affects our economy, our foreign relations, our national security and even the lives of people living in these unstable regimes that we support with our oil-stained dollars.

What do we do next, is the question – and I’ll answer that in Part 3! Stay tuned!

*Please note that I do not intend for this quote to be taken as blame toward President Obama. I don’t believe that our country’s problems can ever rest solely in the hands of one person, nor do I think it is a constructive use of time and energy to blame politicians or bicker across party lines. This is a democracy and therefore, we are responsible for pushing for the changes we want to see.

^These are all direct quotes from this article.

How BP Affected Me, Part 1

When people ask what prompted me to start bicycle commuting, my first answer is: BP*. After the BP oil spill of 2010, I was devastated. There is something about oil spills that is so unbelievably tragic. They destroy ecosystems and kill animals, birds and marine life in such a horrific way. And the worst part about it is that they are totally, 100% preventable. (Imagine a world in which we harvested clean, sustainable energy, instead of mining the earth for its finite supply of oil.)

When I was 12, the Exxon Valdez oil spill was the story du jour. My 7th grade science teacher, a very young woman by the name of Molly Brown (ironic that she had the same name as the “unsinkable” poster woman of the Titanic tragedy, at that time of another maritime disaster), was so affected by this oil spill that she brought in newspaper clippings every day to show us what was happening in a place that seemed to us, in New Mexico, very far away.

Images like this have haunted me ever since:

I believe that something like this is a crime against nature. This oil spill dumped over 10 million gallons (apparently, a conservative estimate) of oil into our ocean, affected over 1,000 miles of North American coastline and took four years to clean up. And this is not even close to the biggest oil spill the world has seen.

There have been more than 20 major oil spills in the last 50 years, including a 240 million gallon spill of oil into the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War in 1991 (most of which was, I’m sorry to say, deliberate).

By the time BP blew the Exxon Valdez spill out of the water (it’s estimated that 185 million gallons spilled into the ocean, making it the largest accidental spill in history), I was at my wit’s end. That was the day I dusted off my mountain bike and made a promise to myself that I was going to fight against our dependence on oil by riding my bike as much as I could, instead of using my gas-guzzling SUV.

Lately, however, I have realized that there are so many other aspects to this protest of mine. There is more to do – for all of us. Fighting oil dependence isn’t just about our cars and whether or not we use them. All you moms out there, who tell me how much you want to bike more, but don’t find it practical with your young children, all of you who don’t like biking and don’t want to do it, all of you who have commuting needs that simply cannot be met by bicycling…no worries! There’s always something that can be done to help the cause, no matter where you are in life, no matter what your needs and obstacles are. I’ll talk about that more next time, as well as other oil-related issues that go far beyond the spills.

*While it is true that I was ultimately inspired to get off my rear end and start biking by this environmental and political issue that is so important to me, I wanted to note that I was also incredibly inspired by my fellow bloggers, most especially bicycle commuters EcoGrrl and Suburban Yogini. It is incredible to me to see how one person’s actions can inspire another, and that person in turn inspires another, and so on!

Taking Yourself Seriously

For the past month, I have been literally manic with creative energy. I’ve been wanting to improve the design of my house, get back to drawing, create more tags, sew some clothing and work on photography ideas. I literally feel like a volcano, bursting with ideas, and the most frustrating part is the lack of time I have had to actually DO anything.

Around this time, I also found myself looking at studios on design blogs, almost obsessively. I have always wanted a nice studio/office/workspace, but have never really put any effort into it. I move a lot, and the idea of spending time and money and energy into designing a temporary space has always been enough of a frustration to make me give up before I begin.

However, I have come to realize a few things:

1. I deserve a beautiful, organized, happy workspace.

2. I need a beautiful, organized, happy workspace in order to nurture and harness my creative energy.

3. In order to make my business successful, I need to take it seriously, which means investing in that beautiful, organized, happy workspace.

Now, admittedly, part of me wants one of those perfect, softly-lit, totally organized studio spaces that you see on design blogs. However, I have to keep reminding myself that that is NOT the point. A good studio should be a little messy – creating things requires making a bit of a mess, after all. But letting my office space get buried underneath paperwork and tins of products that did not come out right is just not okay.

This is what it typically looks like:

Yes, I’m embarrassed to show these pictures. How can anyone take me seriously when I’ve got so much crap everywhere (even on the floor – which you can’t see in these photos)? Again, I’m not saying it should look perfect and pristine and ready for a spread in Home & Garden Magazine. But, I shouldn’t have ten million receipts all over the desk, hair pins and my iPod scattered about, tax papers still unfiled, supplies on every surface. This is not a workable environment and even walking by this room tends to make my blood pressure rise.

It’s time to take things seriously. I’ll be documenting the transformation here on the blog and I’m really excited about it! I have a ton of design ideas and have already bought some art for the walls and made some artful yet functional pieces, as well. My big challenges, however, are placement and furniture.

First, this room demands a certain type of set-up (at least as far as my preferences go). I like to have my main desk on the west wall, which gives me enough privacy from the front window and the perfect amount of light during the day. Where to put everything else is the problem. I’ve moved the furniture around in this room multiple times and have never found an arrangement that I both visually enjoyed or one that was as functional as I wanted and needed.

And as for the furniture – I hate it. All of it, except for the black bookshelf. All of it is hand-me-down furniture, or stuff I found with a FREE sign on a neighbor’s front lawn. I find all the pieces ugly and almost none of them meet my storage needs in the right way. This is a huge frustration for me because it prevents me from being able to function efficiently in this room. I’m constantly moving stuff around, trying to find places to store everything, and yet the simple fact is that nothing is going to work as well as purchasing another desk and/or dresser for this space.

Despite these challenges, I feel that just making the commitment to transform this space and to take myself and my goals seriously is a huge first step and that the rest will come in time.

I think a lot of us minimize our own life choices, our goals, our accomplishments, etc. I have more to say on this issue, but will save it for another post. Until then, what small step can you take today to take yourself more seriously?

Revisiting the Naked Face Challenge

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while may remember a challenge I posted a long time ago: The Naked Face Challenge. I asked people to send me pictures of themselves without makeup on so I could put all the pictures together to make a collage. Well, I only received about four submissions (and I still have them all!) – not enough to make a collage.

However, now that Picnik is closing (I’m sorry to say) and their collage feature is free, I wanted to try this challenge again and see if I could get at least ten more people to join in. And perhaps we should widen the scope, since our challenge this year is about body image (not just our faces). How about sending me pictures of yourselves “naked” – whatever that means to you.

I love Teri Hatcher for posting these honest pictures of herself back in 2010.

Perhaps you really hate your thighs. How about embracing them and sending me a picture? You can wear pants, a bathing suit…whatever suits you. Whatever pushes your limits just a little bit. You can just send a picture of a body part (LOL) or of your whole body. The point is to be NAKED – as in, revealing your vulnerability and loving it. It might be your toes, like The Organic Sister, who put hers out there for the world to see. Maybe you’ve got a crooked tooth, a beaky nose, a saggy bum. Put it out there! Make it your trademark.

I’ll even go so far as to say that I will accept nude and semi-nude photos, so long as they are tasteful and won’t get my blog shut down! I do, however, reserve the right to choose not to include photos I judge to be inappropriate in any way.

I would like to post the collage on April 9th, 2012. So please send in your contributions no later than April 6th. You may email your photos to me at five5seed@gmail.com. Any photos sent to me are considered fair game to use in the collage. I reserve the right to make small edits (for size) to the photos. The photos you send will ONLY be used in the collage. I will not use them for any other purpose without your written permission.

Please join in!

Resolve to Love #3: Claiming Your Inner Beauty

When I started the Resolve to Love Challenge, we talked about the fact that the body is not going to be around for very long and therefore, it just might be a waste of time to fret about how it looks. We then talked about how important it is to be grateful for the health with which we are blessed, no matter what our bodies look like. Our March challenge calls for us to claim our beauty – our true beauty. The beauty of our spirits, our personalities, our love.

This time, we are going to actually sit down and make a list. Go ahead, grab a pencil and sheet of paper, or open your word processing software. I’ll wait.

Did you do it? I hope you did, cuz I’m going to ask you a favor at the end of this post that will require you to complete this challenge.

You are going to list all the things you love about your inner self. Please note that I said INNER self. Nothing physical belongs on this list, with one exception: you may include your smile. Or, more accurately, the fact that you use your facial expressions to share joy with others. Everything else has to be about who you are, on the inside.

Here is a sample of mine:

I love…

…the hard work and discipline I put into my jobs.

…the patience I give to my students.

…my honest efforts to uplift everyone I see each day, even strangers.

…the care and love I give to my relationships.

…my earnest efforts to live a life that is friendly to the earth that sustains me.

And oh yeah – you can’t identify yourself in the context of a role you play in another person’s life. I’m going to ask you to drop the role and claim the beauty of who you are within it, instead. “I love that I’m a good mom” becomes “I love that I bless my children with my love and support each and every day.” Why am I asking you to do this, when it seems like a game of semantics? Because we are not our roles. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of feeling good about ourselves because of the roles we fulfill in the lives of others. So you’re not allowed to do that here! You get to claim who you are and what you do and what you give. You are beautiful, for instance, not because you are a good mother. (What does “good mother” even really mean, anyway? It’s all subjective.) You are beautiful because you share your love with your children, because you gift them with your patience, because you make their lives brighter by your nurturing guidance and support. You get to claim that. That is part of your beauty. And this goes for all the roles we fulfill – daughter, partner, wife, sister, grandmother, boss, etc. We are so much more than those labels. Explore it, name it and own it!

As for that favor I mentioned…? Well, it would just make my month if you would share some of your lists with me to post here on the blog each week for the month of March. You can leave yours in the comment section or email me at five5seed@gmail.com. Please feel free to leave only excerpts if yours feels too personal to share in its entirety. I do, after all, intend to publish the lists here on the blog as individual posts (or a joint post, if I only get a few contributions).

Now go write those lists!

Pedalin’: February 2012

Can you believe I’m actually posting this on time!

My bicycle commuting stats for my work days:

12 days on the bike

8 days driving the car

I would have taken my bike the past three days of February, but on the 27th, I woke up to this:

Copyright: Five Seed

Yep – bikes in the garage, car outside! I’ve got my priorities straight!

This was the first snow of the winter season! It’s very unusual in this area to have had so little snow. Unfortunately, these early days of March are not showing much of a change in the weather. It’s been bitter cold and I’ll probably be driving to work tomorrow.