Have you ever had a long day, gratefully crawled into bed for a good night’s sleep, only to encounter a mosquito buzzing your ears? And it seemed to be a mosquito that evaded all attempts at annihilation? I have. And in my experience, a perfectly wonderful night’s sleep was anything but wonderful.
How does one tiny insect have that much power, and what if we have that kind of power, but don’t realize it?
The challenges facing the world today seem overwhelming, and we can feel small and powerless. Yet if we reflect on the power of one annoying insect to affect us, we could be inspired to embrace the impact we do have on challenges that seem overwhelming.
The reality is that choice by choice, thought by thought, we are shaping the world we live in. This reality is easy to ignore when so many of our choices feel small and insignificant when we make them. “This little thing won’t make that much difference,” we can hear ourselves say.
Yet we are either in this moment creating a sustainable life and a sustainable future or we are not. The world is shaped by each one of us, day by day in each choice we make.
Take food for example. With each bite we cast a vote for or against the earth because eating is a political, social, and spiritual act. The kitchen table is the place where the essence of our beliefs is acted out. We both eat our world and choose our world in the ordinary act of eating.
Each bite of food we put in our mouth is a vote for or against soil erosion, deforestation, dwindling freshwater reserves, environmental warming and pollution. Each bite is a vote for or against the suffering of animals and other human beings. Each bite is a vote for or against our own health.
Or take the example of how we use our time and energy. Are we voting for or against sustaining our neighborhood and community, sustaining our family system, and sustaining our own vitality.
Or take the example of our choices for recreation. Are we voting for or against waste of the earth’s ecology and dullness of the human mind.
Or take our own anger, greed, and selfishness. Are we choosing to face our pettiness in constructive ways or unleash it onto the world. Are we voting for or against a world of peace and neighborliness.
Sustainability for the earth and the welfare of all beings cannot be sought after, it can only be lived, choice by choice, moment by moment. Peace in our hearts and in our world cannot be sought after, it can only be lived, choice by choice, moment by moment.
The earth changes with the shape of our daily choices. This is where our power lies.