WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT: Small Things Can Make a Big Difference

Words and photo by F LoBuono

With the complexities of living in the computer age where massive amounts of information is being processed at a dizzying pace, it's easy to become emotionally lazy. We are so wrapped up in dealing with the pressures of work, home, children, aging parents, health, and wealth, etc. that we lose our sense of mindfulness, i.e. the ability to meet even the simplest of challenges that present themselves to us on a daily basis. It all just seems too much. We are overwhelmed. So, we tend to nothing - even when the most elementary of measures can make a significant difference now, and into the future.

Let me give you an example.

I was shopping at one of my favorite stores the other day (The Dollar General, of course) and cued up to check out with the few items I had gone there to buy. In front of me was a woman, whom by the type and amount of items she was purchasing, was obviously the mother of a large family. After she paid for her items, the cashier helped her to bag them - using at least a half dozen doubled up plastic bags.

Now, I'm sure that the mother of a large family has other things on her mind than the fact that the environment can't stand to have any more plastic, including bags, heaped upon it. I'm sure that she is more worried about how she is going to keep feeding all of those hungry mouths!

And, this is what I mean by loss of mindfulness - she was thinking about everything else BUT the impact using so much plastic will have on her CHILDRENS' futures.

Well, if she wants to save the planet FOR hers and other children, she needs TO think about it. 

And, the solution is SO simple - just bring reusable canvas bags - like I do. I never leave my apartment to go shopping without at least one stuffed into a pocket. It's become such an integral part of my shopping routine that all the merchants in town now know not to bother offering me a plastic bag, usually saying: "oh, you always have your own bag."

When You Think About It, it's one of the easiest and most effective ways to create positive change, not only in your own lives, but in the world at large. We don't need for the law to solve this. We just have to be mindful enough to make it a part of our regular routine. Not everyone can create sea change, like Greta Thunberg, but we can do the SMALL things that when added up, make a BIG difference.

Let's start now.