Our Autumn Equinox ‘thanksgiving table’ from a few years ago – just one string of lights and two candles – simple – none of which actually need to be lit.
Some people are asking “Will we be able to afford Christmas lights this year?” while others are asking, “Will we be able to feed our children next week?”
Am I really referring to my own community here in Wales? Can this be happening for real? How have we arrived at this terrible state of affairs?
If I was younger, I think that I would begin a revolution… or at the very least, stand for parliament… but as it is, I choose to work peacefully at grass roots level – hopefully with useful and comforting suggestions which will make the lives of others easier and pleasanter…and more authentic.
I have already begun to address the worry over feeding ourselves and our families with my little recipe and menu book, ‘Eat Cheap’: This booklet is freely available online or to download and print. To get your copy please visit: https://www.gillianmonks.com/2022/09/06/free-e-book-eat-cheap-or-making-much-of-little-survival-strategies-in-the-kitchen/
Audaciously, I now would like to address everything else, because it isn’t about what we have, but how we choose to view it and use it.
Many of us have been nurtured and raised in a social and economic system where endless quantities of everything are available, everything is dispensable, and nothing is valued. In the past it has been frequently referred to as the consumer or ‘throw away’ society. This has all come about as a way of falsely stimulating commercial markets. It is ruining the health of our planet and poisoning and destroying the environment in which we live, as well as taking away our peace of mind. We have been brought up to want more… and more… and more… to never really see what we already have and to be always looking into the far distance of what we might like next, more of, or instead of.
Now is the time to stop!
Look around your homes and truly assess what you already have. How can it be used to greatest advantage? How can it be re-vamped, done up, re-utilised? Use what you have to the very best of its – and your – ability. Make the most of what you already have.
Also, take good or greater care of what you already possess. Look after your possessions so that they will last for many years. Choose well and wisely when you do buy something new, with an eye to it lasting for a long time or being flexible to use in many different ways.
Consciously scale back on what you use, have, display and/or decorate your home with. Choose carefully. To coin one of my favourite phrases, make much of little. A single lighted candle in a darkened room has incredible impact. All too frequently we suffer from not being able to see the wood for the trees. A single strand of lights can show to far greater advantage and give a lot more sensory pleasure than a whole rat’s nest of intertwined coloured lights bombarding us senseless.
Perhaps we all really need to see what is in front of us… around us… and be thankful and appreciative of it? We cannot do this if we are completely overwhelmed and in sensory overload.
This year, put up less decorations but what you do use display mindfully, thoughtfully, and make the most of it. Look to sharing a selective little and engendering a deep appreciation of it. Even with small children you can achieve this by slowly, carefully building the anticipation and ‘magic’ of a situation, so that one candle, one bowl of holly, one small tree and one gift assume quite huge proportions – same amount of excitement and pleasure – far less effort and outlay – except in how we present it all and put it across to those around us – and for that we have to give the most precious and expensive gift of all – ourselves.
