|
|
|
Newsletters >
February 2023 Practising With The Spruce
February 2023 Practising With The Spruce
Jan 30, 2023
You may wonder what to expect when practising with the Spruce Initiative. February is the last month of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the final month of summer in the Southern Hemisphere. In some places in the planet it may be too cold and snowy to be walking outside. In other places it may be too rainy with monsoons. We need to allow for the climate where we live.
If because of the weather you can’t walk outside for a while you may like to continue Sprucing in your home or office. We looked at this last year in the September and October issues. The Spruce Initiative is a practise and while it is helpful to practise every day sometimes we can benefit from taking time for rest or reflection.
We may make a conscious choice not to practise for a time. Give yourself permission to do what you need to do and when the weather clears take up your practise again with renewed enthusiasm. As we have emphasised the Spruce Initiative is a practise. It’s not about slavishly repeating the same thing every day. It isn’t even about getting it right.
Allow yourself permission to rest and reflect. Give yourself permission to falter. You don’t have to do it perfectly. Believe your practise is making a difference even if it is only making plans to practise when the weather clears up.
Of course some places in the world have clement weather all year and you can do your daily walk practise every day. When you are out on your daily walk be observant. Is there more or less rubbish today? Did you have to think about which piece of rubbish to pick up or whether to pick up more than one piece.
What does the state of the rubbish in the neighbourhood tell you about the state of the neighbourhood? Do you ever wonder where the rubbish comes from? Did you see anyone drop it or does it blow out of trash cans or off the tip?
Maybe you only go for a short walk between buildings or from the parking lot to your office some days. You can still practise the Spruce Initiative and look for any out of place looking rubbish. Be a good citizen. Chip in and keep your community clean and neat.
Maybe when you were out on your daily walk you got thinking about your problems and forgot to pick up a piece of rubbish or even forgot to look for one. It happens. It is a practise. This means we give ourselves permission to have other priorities on occasion. We will do better with the practise if we follow the principle “hold on loosely but don’t let go” from the words of the song “Hold On Loosely” by Songwriters: Don Barnes / James Michael Peterik / Jeffrey S. Carlisi.
So you’ve remembered to look for a piece of rubbish to pick up while you are out on your daily walk. This particular day you don’t pick up the first piece of rubbish you come across. Maybe you don’t find any more. You have missed your chance that day. However what a good thing that the neighbourhood was clean. Maybe someone else will notice that piece of rubbish looks out of place and pick it up. We can hope.
So we come across multiple pieces of rubbish. How do we choose which piece to pick up? I will leave that one to you to decide for yourself. Good luck with your daily walk practise. Do feel free to join our blog.
Remember: one piece a day sends the rubbish away. Don’t just clean, let’s Spruce!
Cheers,
Felicity
Clean and green is our motto. Remember: one piece a day sends the rubbish away! Don’t just clean let’s Spruce.
www.thespruceinitiative.info
|
|
