​As we explored in our first November blog on gratitude, gratitude includes both an appreciation of, and a willingness to pay back kindness. In last weeks blog we looked at gratitude for Mother nature - our sustainer and supporter of life. so how do we repay the kindness of our Mother Nature?  It seems to me that making efforts to protect our environment is the way to go!

I have been watching 'The War of Waste' which has been giving me lots of insights into the environmental impact of waste and some valuable suggestions about how to reduce waste. While the enormity of the problem of waste can be overwhelming, I am calmed by the fact that 'peace begins with me'.  In Buddhism there is a truism which  says you cannot cover the earth with leather for protection, but you can cover your feet with leather to protect them and the earth both!

So, how do we care for the earth, tread lightly on it and reduce our environmental footprint? And how do we return the kindness of our precious Mother Earth? One in the same really!

Here are a few suggestions. I am sure you can think of many more, but here are a few I am trying to put into practice...

• Take shopping bags to prevent using plastic ones. And remember to put them back in my handbag so they are there when I need them! I have some great ones I bought at the Good Market in Columbo - they are made from recycled sari material. I will look into the WDC women making them for sale here.
• Avoid buying bottled water. In Australia we fortunately have safe water and we do not need to buy it in plastic bottles. So I am trying to remember to take my water bottle with me and fill it up from the tap. 
• Reduce waste by reducing the amount of packaged foods you buy. I have been aware of this lately, and it is amazing how buying wisely can reduce the amount of food packaging waste, especially plastic. I have been mindful to buy things in glass where I can and have been reusing bottles and jars for making tomato sauce and jam. The family have been very accommodating by drinking stubbies in clear glass bottles, so I can reuse them!
• Use hankies instead of tissues. This is controversial with my yoga students as some are understandably hanky adverse and others say they take energy to wash anyway. Each to their own. Personally. I like hankies and have bought them back into our house.
• Use a reusable keep cup for your coffee. Take away coffee cups are not recyclable and an environmental problem, so I have been trying not to use them and to keep my 'keep cup' with me.
• Pick up rubbish and put it in the bin when out and about.
• Shop at op shops and recycle or upcycle. Consider if a new item of clothing, footwear or home-wear is really necessary, and if it is, whether one from the op shop would do the trick. 
• Compost your organic waste or feed it to the chooks.
• Recycle responsibly by separating your recyclable material
• Reduce consumption of take away and processed food. Again better for our health and the environment. I am old enough to remember mum and dad going off to get take away from the local Chinese restaurant with the saucepan in hand. Maybe  we could bring this back!
• Use waxed wraps to wrap and store food. I have only recently discovered these and they are great. Apparently there is a workshop, Northside of course, to learn to make these. I'm in, in the new year. They may be on  the Kris Kringle present list for next year. We have a homemade family KK each year and I have had such fun preparing my gift. I will tell you about it in the new year. Maybe you would like to introduce the idea to your family Christmas. Here is how it goes in this Giving -More about Presence and Less about Presents blog from last year. 
• Repair where you can. I am mindful to watch my 'replaceable rather than repairable' attitude as I am tempted to chuck out old shoes, clothes, electrical goods or other items, rather than see if I can repair them or have them repaired. I love to mend things, on the sewing machine, with glue or any other way I can before I throw it away or recycle it. Recently I had our TV and vacuum cleaner repaired by an electronics wizard in Mulgrave. 
• Reduce the use of the car, where you can. Walk, ride or take public transport as an alternative to the car. It is better fro your health and that of the environment too. 
• Have a diet that is better for your health and that of the environment too. Reducing meat and dairy consumption might be something you want to try. 
• Buy local food that is in season to reduce the number of food miles and adverse environmental impact. Buy Australian where you can for the same reason.
• Shop locally and buy at Farmer's Markets where possible. The produce is local, fresh and supports the growers and local shopkeepers.
• Avoid 'fast fashion' temptation by buying only what you need and considering where, how and at what cost to the environment its' production costs.  

I feel very fortunate and grateful to be in a position to be able to afford to make many of these choices. Many people do not have such a choice. They may need to buy water in plastic bottles because of lack of clean drinking water. Others may not have the finances to allow the more expensive choice with less processing, packaging or environmental impact.

As I write this blog from this beautiful spot, I am surrounded by the wonders of Mother Nature and reminded of how she sustains, supports and lovingly takes care of us all, so perfectly. I am truly grateful for this opportunity to restore and appreciate the wonder of my life and put into practice the suggestions in last week's blog. It has been fun to think about ways to be mindful to appreciate, return kindness and care for such wonderful, gracious gifts Mother Nature provides. 


As I said last week, no matter where you are, especially at this potentially busy time of year, try to remember to take some time out to let Mother Nature replenish you, be thankful for Her sustenance and support and put into practice some ways to repay that kindness by caring for Her too.

Have a great week. Thank you all. 
Kind Regards and Best Wishes, 
Maree xx ​

​We have been having some pretty wild rain here in Melbourne recently, and there has been lots of hype around possible floods. While I have been tempted to be fearful and negative around the rain, I decided to overcome my negative bias and enjoy the wonderful rain and its cleansing, fun, replenishing elements. On Sunday I walked the Carmen's fun run with my friends Kelly Kacey and Fiona and lots of other amazing women. I was so happy they did not cancel the event because of the weather! Despite being heard to say 'I hoped they did'! Seeing the bay a swell with waves, getting wet and blown around was quite exhilarating and refreshing. So rather than reject and be unappreciative of Mother Nature and the weather elements, I decided to embrace them and give thanks.   

As I said last week I often forget how amazing my life is and all those people and  other factors involved in sustaining it, and making it so amazing!  This week, with all our rain, I have been contemplating the wonder of Mother Nature and how she sustains, supports and lovingly takes care of us all, so perfectly. Such unearned grace we can be truly grateful for!!

So as I sit to write this blog and look out to our backyard I can see the rain falling, the veggies almost visibly growing, the beautiful tree gently moving with the wind, and the pink flamingo (plastic - though quite like the real thing) floating happily in the pool. I can hear the light fall of the rain, the birds chirping away and the stillness in between. 

So this week and beyond I am going to make a special effort to be mindful of gratitude for Mother Nature.

• The fresh air I breathe 
• The clean water I drink 
• The trees and plants that provide oxygen, food and beauty 
• The sky and its beauty and rain clouds 
• The warmth of sun that sustains life
• The animals that bring joy, companionship and food
• The sounds of the birds, wind and ocean  

I am going to be mindful to remember to be grateful to Mother Nature as I

• Walk around 
•  Look out the window 
• Take time out in nature to sit quietly in the park 
• Breathe 
• Feel the breeze and warmth of the sun
• Look up at the sky in the day time and wonder at the clouds and beauty
• Look up at the sky at night and wonder at the stars and beyond 

So no matter where you are, especially at this potentially busy time of year, try to remember to take some time out to let Mother Nature replenish you by being thankful.

• Give appreciation and thanks for your breath, the sky, the ocean, plants and trees, animals, insects whatever it is. And wherever it is. It may be the sight of Mother Nature, outside your office window, on your walk to work, sitting on a tram, or walking in nature.  
• Take a five minute shavasana or rest. As I have shared before, my yoga teacher Andrew recommends to take 5 minutes to lie down and rest each and every day. You can choose to focus on your breath or a practice I like to do is to lie down and breathe in gratitude and love, and breathe out fear. It is such a restorative, energising practice. You may want to gift yourself or someone you know a POM eye pillow for this practice.   
• Take a walk in nature and be aware of and thankful for the beauty, sustenance and abundance Mother Nature provides, free of charge.
• Lie down in the park or on the grass or beach and watch the sky float by
• Star gaze at night. Again, you may like to lie down and simply wonder at the night sky, its stars, galaxies and beyond

It is such fun to practice gratitude and to have this spring to mind rather than negativity and discontent. And don't forget to be grateful for yourselves too!! All those ways you are showing kindness and being a positive force in the world no matter how small. And to remember to give yourself a break to restore and replenish. I will be enjoying my break in Foster and my daily 5 minute rest and feel so grateful for the opportunity to restore and replenish with and in Mother Nature. 


Have a great week. Thank you all. 
Kind Regards and Best Wishes, 
Maree xx ​

I think the main reason I often don't think about being grateful is that I forget how amazing my life is and all those people who are involved in sustaining it, and making it so amazing!  As I said last week one of the ways we can remember how we are beautifully connection and to practice gratitude is to ... 

• Take a moment before every meal to express gratitude for the food on your plate. Make up your personal gratitude contemplation or prayer to say before eating. 
• Include those anonymous kind people we don't know who do so much to make our amazing lives possible, especially those who work so hard to produce the food that sustains us.

I realise I write these blogs as a reminder to myself really!. When I am mindful of gratitude I am so much happier! Hopefully they are a reminder to you too. It is interesting to watch that negative bias. Why it is that we think it is so desirable or even that we are somehow smarter or more credible when we are negative or cynical? The opposite is true, when we have a positive state of mind and are grateful for EVERYTHING we are so much happier and able to ride life's inevitable ups and downs with resilience. 

So as I am eating my breakfast I have been trying to be mindful of just that, and to be grateful for all those involved and give thanks! It has been blowing my mind a little, as I think about all those people and animals, known and unknown who are responsible for my egg on toast!!
Gratitude for.. bread for my toast

• The elements, weather and farmer, that grew the grain, that fed our chooks, Mabel and Myrtle, and became the flour for my bread
• The farmer who grew and harvested the grain and
• Those who milled it and processed it into packets of flour for me to use
• Those that transported it to the mill, and the factories and finally to the supermarket!
• Those who made the machinery and transport that made all that possible! 
• The shopkeepers who make the product available.
• The oven to bake the bread and electricity and all those involved in there production!!
• The water that comes out of the tap! How does that happen? Many people do not have access to clean safe water let alone taps in the house!
• Jack for teaching me how to make bread!!
• Myself - for the efforts I make to bake the bread and the efforts I am making to be kind and a positive force in the world.

Gratitude for chooks... 

• Mabel and Myrtle who somehow miraculously make the eggs for us! How does that happen, that they produce an egg each day? Well, most days, we all deserve a day off now and then! 

I could go on and on and that is only my egg on toast! So many people, things, and animals make our wonderful lives possible. THANK YOU ALL!

It is such fun to practice gratitude and have this spring to mind rather than negativity and discontent. And don't forget to be grateful for yourselves too!! All those ways you are showing kindness and being a positive force in the world no matter how small.


Have a great week. Thank you all. 
Kind Regards and Best Wishes, 
Maree xx ​

​It is 'Thanksgiving' today. Thanksgiving is an annual holiday in North American which began as a commemoration of and thanks for the annual harvest. So it seems fitting to spotlight giving thanks for our food system today, this week and beyond! And to give thanks for EVERYTHING.

Most of us eat three meals a day (or more) and plenty of snacks and drinks too. I don't know about you, but I often do not stop to think about where my food comes from and all those anonymous people and elements who are responsible for it! It can be mind boggling and certainly good for our minds to think about being grateful for all those involved. 

If you trace even a food element like milk back to its original source and express gratitude fro each step of the way it would be like this...

• The cow that produced the milk
• The seeds, crops, soil and weather that provided the grass that fed the cow 
• The workers on the farm and the farmer who cared for the cow and milked it at some ungodly hour.
• The truck driver who transported the milk 
• The workers in the diary that processed the milk 
• The factory workers who produced the packaging for the milk 
• The truck drivers who transported it to the shop
•  The grocery shop and workers that stock, and sell the milk 
• The check out assistant who smiles and helps you with the milk 
• You, who purchased the milk and prepares food with love and gratitude 

As you can see there is plenty to be grateful for! This is a beautiful illustration of interdependence and how everything is so wonderfully connected - we just have to be mindful to notice and be grateful!

Here are some ways we can remember this beautiful connection and to practice gratitude. 

• Take a moment before every meal to express gratitude for the food on your plate 
• Shop locally at farmers's markets or local businesses 
• Visit a local farm or contemplate how food is grown.
• Have a go at growing your own vegetables - it is such fun. 
• Include those anonymous kind people we don't know who do so much to make our amazing lives possible, especially those who work so hard to produce the food to sustain us. 

Have a great week. Thank you all. 
Kind Regards and Best Wishes, 
Maree xx ​