Sustainable living must be joyful

If sustainable living cannot also be joyful living we shall not be able to sustain such a way of living.

So hair shirts and long faces cannot be part of sustainable living.

I was flicking through a book last night which talked about sustainable living being joyful, although with all the biblical passages given I got the impression it was suggesting joy was a duty and therefore likely to be false and somewhat cheesey.

My own thoughts, which developed from that, are that sustainable living has to be a positive, life-enhancing experience, as well as a way of life that respects the world around us, otherwise we shall become discouraged and give up.

So, perhaps it needs to start with learning to love and respect ourselves, as so much damage we do is down to a lack of self-acceptance. Reckless consumerism may well be an attempt to fill the emptiness in our lives, whether a lack of love, a lack of acceptance, a lack of connection and community or whatever. To be told to stop the behaviour that comforts and sustains us will sound pretty draconian to many ears.

To be taught to feel loved and accepted may be all that we need to help us no longer feel the need to over-indulge and prusue a lifestyle that damages us and our loved ones as well as the world around us. At least, it is probably an important first step.