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| Me when I was younger with my best friend - Our rescue dog Goofy |
Ever since I was little, I have always felt connected to the earth and the plants and animals. It is a natural way of being for me. I love nature and spending time in nature, and being around animals. However, society as we know it (and as we have created it) provides little time and opportunity for connecting and tuning in with the earth. This is why I feel that many people, including myself until recently, have lost their way. We have lost our connection with each other and with our environment. We have lost our sense of harmony and balance. We have lost our sense of who and what we are. And most of all, we have exchanged our freedom and self-determination for some superficial, fallacious securities and comforts. In other words, we have given up all that really matters for lesser substitutes.
Upon realizing this, I started my journey of reversing my subconscious agreement with the status quo. I want to take action and claim back my life, step-by-step. I want to reconnect with the earth, other creatures, and myself and live in harmony with nature. That means simplifying my life and giving up all the luxuries and possessions that the world/economy has to offer, and getting back to all the richness that the earth provides.
I used to believe that changes like this can only be made through radical action, but I have learned that change does not need to happen in one step. In fact, it is probably much easier to take it one step at a time, because if you expect it to happen all at once, then you will be waiting for that 'big moment'. Waiting for the right place, the right time... and it may never come. That is when I decided to take it one step at a time. I will keep going until I am completely free, living in the flow of the present at all times, living in harmony with the earth, plants and other beings and living a sustainable lifestyle that is good for the earth instead of destructive. I know that I still have a long way to go, but I also know that I have come a long way already and that I am heading in the right direction. My priorities lie no longer with myself, but with the earth, all that lives and all the resources that the earth provides.
In October 2014 I started working as a PhD Candidate in environmental psychology here in Trondheim, Norway. Here I noticed that many people did not seem to know about the state of our earth nor what does and doesn't contribute to its destruction. This made me decide to take even more direct action and no longer just keep my decisions for myself. I started with my public Stop Shopping Challenge and noticed that many people got intrigued and even inspired. And that is how this blog came to be. This blog will be a record of my journey towards greater freedom, inner peace and living sustainably, in harmony with the earth and all its inhabitants.
I hope that my journey will inspire others and that this blog can be a place for sharing ideas on sustainable living.
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