EARTHFUTURE.COM by Guy Dauncey

Another year’s dawning
– what will it bring?
A burden to carry, or a banquet to sing?

Here, based on 57 years experience of living on Earth, are my accumulated insights, designed to serve you, your friends and family, and our shared progress towards a better world. Choose one and hold it close to your heart.
1. Attune my work to my life’s purpose.
There is nothing more fulfilling than knowing that your work has meaning, and that you are doing what you were born to do. And yet for many, this understanding does not come easily. Simply stating your intention is a good beginning. Inscribe it in the sand. Write it on a piece of paper and place it somewhere special. Speak it to a friend. Then be open to everything. Our soul longs to find purpose, and if we give it space, it will find its home.
2. Abandon cynicism as a disease of the soul.
To be cynical about yourself is to wound your innermost being. To be cynical about a friend is to abuse his or her heart, even if they never hear you. To be cynical about the world is to lose hope and the belief that we can make a difference. Even our politicians do their best to serve us, according to their ideals. It is you that you hurt the most when you give up hope, for hope is the fuel that feeds your spirit and brings laughter to your soul.
3. Embrace gratefulness as the delight of the soul.
There is a magic to gratefulness that nothing can erase. When we say thank you to a person, a river, or the universe, there is a presence that smiles, and says, “Yes, for you too, I am grateful.” Being grateful acknowledges our ordinariness, our humble equality with all that lives. In our unadorned humanity, we are all inestimably rich, thanks to the gift of life.
4. Become more involved, politically.
If you don’t become involved, who will? Maybe others, whose views are not your own. For some, it may be picking up the phone to call Amnesty International or Results Canada, and asking, “How can I help?” For others, it might be calling the constituency office of the party or candidate you supported in the last election. Engage joyfully in the struggles of the world, that your hopes will sooner be fulfilled.
5. Adopt a project and get involved.
Every change for the better that has ever happened has been because someone made it his or her project. And each person who breaks fresh ground needs the help of many others. Wherever there is pain, sadness, or stupidity in the world, there is a project waiting to be born.
6. Read more, and learn what’s happening.
The media is a mind-numbing brainwash, unless you are very selective. It really does not matter what happens in the reality shows and sitcoms. What does matter is hiding in the pages of good books and magazines such as Yes! and the Ecologist.
7. Eat more organic food. Everything else is harmful.
Our bodies have evolved over millions of years with plants that have grown organically, and when we think that modern chemical farming can really feed us, we are making an enormous mistake. We need organic food for the health of our bodies, the resilience of our ova and sperm, and for our immune systems.
8. Cycle and walk more and buy carbon offsets to mop up the difference.
Two legs are good, whether you use them to walk or pedal, forms of transportation that invite conversation and community. I neutralize my annual carbon emissions by calculating their tonnage and make a donation to the Solar Electric Light Fund’s Carbon Neutral Club at $10 US a tonne, to help install solar lighting in developing world villages, in place of burning kerosene (www.self.org/cnc.asp).
9. Embrace grief, illness, and hurt and let them heal you.
It is one of the universe’s mysteries. When we surrender to pain and grief and embrace them, the magic process of healing can begin, even with illness. Illness is a gift from your soul to help your self on its journey to the whole.
10. Be courageous and take risks for the things you believe in.
This is the hardest to put words to, for only you know what kind of courage you need. But if you do take those risks, you will thank yourself for it, and be proud that you did. So be bold and take that extra step. There are not that many years left in our lives, no matter how young we are. If not me, who? And if not now, when?

Guy Dauncey is author of Earthfuture: Stories From a Sustainable World and other titles. He lives in Victoria.
www.earthfuture.com