Creating Change
For those of you who have been on this journey with me for a while you know that come this time of year I get a bit obsessive about one of my favorite summer past times: gardening!
It is amazing to me how Mother Nature gives us so much. While my daughter calls tending to the garden "yard work," I call it my passion. I get to connect with bumble bees, ladybugs, see some pretty crazy looking spiders and of course enjoy the fruits of my labors. Embracing the daily changes and working in harmony with the many elements the garden gives me in great personal satisfaction.
And after all these years of gardening in the lovely place I get to call home, I have had many challenges and successes. This year I finally have been able to overcome the challenge of growing blueberries. It's quite a challenge in our dry clay soil here in Colorado.
This year however, I decided to do a lot of more studying around the art of growing blueberries due to our above average rainfall these last few months. The conditions were perfect to grow these delicious treats and this week's featured picture shares with you my beautiful ripening blueberries!
The process of gardening gives me a lot of time to think and is really a form of meditation for me.
This past week as I was gardening and had a number of things that were on my mind. My thoughts got me thinking about my generation and what we are leaving behind for our future generations. The thought caused me to pause and think about my parents and what their generation brought to us.
The bottom line is that they brought us many changes that were great. But they also made some bad choices that have affected our day-to-day life. I think it's important to look at four major things that can be of great value to change for our future generations.
4 Things the Previous Generation Didn’t Get Right
1) Fast food = Unhealthy
Now I could spend an entire Victory Letter on this alone but I will be brief. The Ding Dongs, Big Macs and soda we were raised on didn’t do us any digestive favors. But people are now discovering the reality of these bad food habits over a long periods.
I am delighted that my daughter Bailey has decided to be part of this change toward eating organic food and has created a new business, Straight to Source. She is committed to getting people to eat healthy foods that fuel and nourish the body - while still tasting delicious!
Visit StraightToSource.com to learn more
2) Mother Earth Was Not Treated with Proper Respect
I think it’s pretty clear to each and every one of us how hard our “just throw it away” generation has been on this planet. It really is up to each and every one of us to make a change in what we throw away. This is not just trash, but also water we waste and energy we consume unnecessarily. Awareness and making consumption changes is a great positive change for the planet.
3) College Tuition Was Required
Graduate High school, go to a good college, graduate college, get a good job, get married and have kids. That was the textbook plan from our parents. Unfortunately, tuition has gone up in many states as much as 77% in just the last few years. I know within my family that we are currently dealing with over a $100K to pay off for two children with basic degrees. College originally was only for only the wealthy and now things are quickly returning to just that.
4) Work Hard and Start Enjoying Life at 65
This final one is something that I see so often with people. Staying in jobs they hate, just waiting for the day to end so they don’t have to be there any more. It has always seemed a little out of proportion to me to miss out on so much of life’s pleasures by not finding work you truly love.
So what can each of us do about these issues? Rather than point the finger at someone else, we can begin to create the small consequential changes that are necessary to make a difference on issues that we are care about.
Item number 4 of the list (again check it out on the blog) is one that I love assisting others in working towards finding the joy in the daily victories right now - as opposed finding them once they turn 65.
How about you? What change do you want to see in the world?
Share your idea for positive world change with in the comment section below.
I love a quote that I have been sharing a lot lately in my workshops from the late and great Robin Williams who said, “No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”
Separately and collectively we can make changes that not only give us personal pleasing changes – they can change our world and make it an even better place today and into our tomorrows. Enjoy the difference that you make.
To Your Successes and Victories,
- Cheri
Cheri Ruskus
Author, Business Growth Coach,
and Founder of the Victory Circles
www.VictoryCircles.com
