How Healthy Is Your Home

We all like to think that our homes are healthy places, but here are some interesting facts …

5,100: the number of petrochemicals available for home use which have never been tested for exposure to human health and the environment.

63: the number of synthetic chemical products found in the average home, translating to roughly 45 litres of harmful chemicals per household.

100: the number of times higher that indoor air pollution levels can be above outdoor air pollution levels.

10 million: the number of dust mites that may inhabit a standard size double mattress.

1000: the number of dust particles which settle on a square centimetre each hour.

2.3 billion: the weight in kilos of chemicals that the cleaning industry uses each day.

 

You can information on keeping your home healthier at www.ukecoproducts.com

Plastic Waste and How You Can Prevent It

I’m constantly shocked at what we are doing to our planet, especially with all the waste we just dump without any thought to the damage it’s causing.  And not just for our own generation, but generations to come!

This article explains all – but also how we can all help today.

 

Fruit and Vegetables Task Force

Wow, what an opportunity for every nature and fruit and vegetable lover to participate in a task force, sounds kind of cool doesn't it!

I just came across this report on the DEFRA (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs … not quite so cool!) website which I thought you might be interested in.  The report, by the industry-led Fruit and Vegetable Task Force, includes proposals for action by industry, as well as ideas for the Government to consider. They identify four targets to encourage people to eat more fruit and vegetables:

• making produce more available and more convenient;
• providing value for money;
• maintaining a high standard of quality and taste; and
• building up a competitive supply base and an efficient supply chain.

You can read more about the Fruit and Vegetable Task Force here. Wonder if you get a uniform!

Of course if you want to be a real rebel you can always grow your own

Hope you enjoyed this post and that it's given you some 'food for thought'!

You can find my own thoughts on nature on my website www.stevetallamy.com

What If The World Embodied Our Highest Potential?

I just had to share this video from the ‘Global Oneness Project’ with you ….

What if the world embodied our highest potential?  What would it look like?  As the structures of modern society crumble, is it enough to respond with the same tired solutions?  Or are we being called to question a set of unexamined assumptions that form the very basis of our civilization?

This 25-minute retrospective asks us to reflect on the state of the world and ourselves, and to listen more closely to what is being asked of us at this time of unprecedented global transformation.

For more videos, visit www.globalonenessproject.org

In Praise Of The Earth by John O’Donohue

This has to be one of my all time favorite poems by John O’Donohue, it says so much so beautifully.  I hope that you enjoy this poem as much as I do ~ Bless You and Thank You John.

In Praise Of The Earth.

Let us bless
The imagination of the Earth,
That knew early the patience
To harness the mind of time,
Waited for the seas to warm,
Ready to welcome the emergence
Of things dreaming of voyaging
Among the stillness of land.

And how light knew to nurse
The growth until the face of the Earth
Brightened beneath a vision of color.

When the ages of ice came
And sealed the Earth inside
An endless coma of cold,
The heart of the Earth held hope,
Storing fragments of memory,
Ready for the return of the sun.

Let us thank the Earth
That offers ground for home
And hold our feet firm
To walk in space open
To infinite galaxies.

Let us salute the silence
And certainty of mountains:
Their sublime stillness,
Their dream-filled hearts.

The wonder of a garden
Trusting the first warmth of spring
Until its black infinity of cells
Becomes charged with dream;
Then the silent, slow nurture
Of the seed’s self, coaxing it
To trust the act of death.

The humility of the Earth
That transfigures all
That has fallen
Of outlived growth.

The kindness of the Earth,
Opening to receive
Our worn forms
Into the final stillness.

Let us ask forgiveness of the Earth
For all our sins against her:
For our violence and poisonings
Of her beauty.

Let us remember within us
The ancient clay,
Holding the memory of seasons,
The passion of the wind,
The fluency of water,
The warmth of fire,
The quiver-touch of the sun
And shadowed sureness of the moon.

That we may awaken,
To live to the full
The dream of the Earth
Who chose us to emerge
And incarnate its hidden night
In mind, spirit, and light.

© John O’Donohue. All rights reserved

You can find out more about John and his work at www.johnodonohue.com

John O'Donohue

Pilgrimage Of Life

Everyone should go on a pilgrimage of life, a time set aside to find or rediscover the peace and harmony within yourself and the wonderful connection we all have with our Earthly environment – Nature and Mother Earth.

To me there is nothing more splendid than sitting on a cliff top and feeling the wind on my face, listening to the roar and hiss of the huge breakers crashing against the rocks below me and then receding back out into the wilderness of the ocean; the cry of the gulls cart-wheeling across the sky and the feeling of warmth in my soul and the sense of the powerful connection with everything that is.

The peace and harmony obtained by having just a few hours of solitude is the gift of Nature, the best tonic you can take for mental and physical healing and it’s Free for you to take anytime you wish, No Prescription Required!  You will be amazed at the well-being you receive from connecting with Nature for just a short time, whether it be on the cliff top, in a peaceful garden or park, anywhere will do so long as it is away from your usual surroundings and the distractions of everyday living.

As I write this I feel a pilgrimage inside me, yearning to escape into the wilds of Nature, to take me to a chosen but as of yet unknown place of refuge.  Often this refuge is unknown until you get there, you come to a place and it just feels right for you; your soul connects and you have arrived.  Spend some time there, it is meant to be.  My pilgrimage of life has already started, that feeling I have inside is the seed of connection germinating and soon the time will be right to seek out the refuge and fill my soul with the harmony of Mother Earth.  The great thing is that before I even step outside my front door, this feeling is healing and restoring body and soul.

Plant your own seeds right now and see where your pilgrimage of life takes You!

A message from the late John O’Donohue …

The Simple Things In Life

“To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter… to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life.”  ~ John Burroughs

I have traveled down many roads on my continuing journey in search of inner peace and harmony with myself and Mother Nature.  Some were the right roads, some were wrong, some were happy and some were sad but they all had something in common.  They all had lessons along the way and the biggest lesson I have learned is that to be able to take the most out of these lessons is ‘Keeping It Simple.’

Whenever I stripped away confusion, stopped trying to understand everything and allowed acceptance and appreciation to lead the way I gained the peace and harmony I was seeking.  We all so often dismiss the simple things in life because we accept them as too simple to be of any importance.  Instead we look deep inside ourselves looking for the answers to questions that we think are ‘important’ to us, and we complicate our lives by seeking things we will never completely understand or appreciate.

We may never fully understand ‘the meaning of life’ but we will get a far, far better understanding of it by stepping back into the realms of simplicity, the simplicity of appreciating everything around us, the things we have, the people we love and certainly in my case – Mother Nature.  When you re-learn to do this the facts and figures of ‘the meaning of life’ don’t matter anymore, they are not important, by clearing them out-of-the-way you make room for appreciation and acceptance to enter your soul.  That is all you need to know, that is enough.

So don’t complicate things, don’t try to fully understand everything, accept that some things just are what they are and will be what they will be – complicate it and you will miss the simple answer.

Exploring Our Hunger To Belong – John O’Donohue

We all desire to belong, whether it be with a lover, our family, or just with a group of like-minded people, we all want and need to belong.  My desire is to connect as deeply as possible with Nature and Mother Earth, to belong and be amongst the beauty and power of the universe and all that it offers.

I am always recommending people to read ‘Anam Cara’ by John O’Donohue, who is sadly no longer with us physically but remains among us with his beautiful and powerful writing.  ‘Anam Cara’ is probably the book that set me on my journey of belonging which is one of the reasons I tell people to read it, however I have just got my hands on another of John’s book, ‘Eternal Echoes’ and it has knocked with sideways!  Rather than me prattle on about it here is an excerpt from the opening pages which if like me you have a yearning to connect with Nature will start to set you on the same journey I am traveling.

“Deep within us we long to come in out of separation and be at home again in the embrace of a larger belonging.  The wonder of being a human is the freedom offered to your separation and distance from every other person and thing.  You should live your freedom to the full because it is such a unique and temporary gift.  The rest of nature would love to have the liberation we enjoy.  When you suppress your wild longing and opt for the predictable and safe forms of belonging you sin against the rest of nature that longs to live deeply through you.  When your way of belonging in the world is truthful to your nature and your dreams, your heart finds contentment and your soul finds stillness.”

See what I mean?  WOW… so powerful!!

I recommend you get a copy of ‘Eternal Echoes’ now and start exploring your own hunger to belong.

Love And Compassion Gives Me Hope For Our Future

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of compassion and love there is in the world.  Despite the conspiracy theories and the negative attitudes adopted by certain Governments, Corporations and the Media I sense that there is a realization by the majority of the Worlds residents that the way forward is to ignore these scare-monger’s and to show and spread appreciation, compassion and love throughout mankind, to every living creature, nature and  far out into the universe.

Looking at the way the population reacts following a disaster shows what I mean.  From a the major disaster of an earthquake right down to the single death of a neighbor, people rally and give support.  Complete strangers connect with love and compassion to show a oneness among the human race.

People everywhere are realizing that their connection with each other and with the world they live on is far more important than the modern material society around them.  The dawning of an age of reconnection is upon us, reconnecting with nature and inner-self, millions of people are going through a transition and will not be long before this new way of thinking and acting will knock the smug scare-monger’s, the power brokers and warmonger’s from their pedestals.

Reconnecting with Mother Earth has been a real personal challenge but the emotional upheaval is proving more than worthwhile.  I now look forward to the future instead of dreading it, and knowing that I am not alone on this journey of life makes it a time of discovery and awakening.

Inspiration Came From The Song Of Nature

Today is a typical early spring day here in Poole, gray sky, persistent drizzle with a chill in the air.  I had promised myself to get down to some serious writing but it’s one of those days when all you want to do is to shut the weather out and settle down with a good book, well that’s how I felt about it anyway.  I have been struggling to get focused and to put anything worthwhile or meaningful down on paper – or my laptop!

Whilst brewing yet another cup of caffeine I suddenly tuned into a sound I hadn’t previously noticed.  It came from outside, sounding like an angel giving me a message, I was mesmerized for a moment awakening full of inspiration.  I can still hear the sound now whilst writing this post, it’s beautiful, melodic and heart warming.  A song of nature filling my soul.

But who is the creator of this day brightening song, who has the gift to lift the mist of negativity shrouding me in idleness and melancholy?  The source of this enchanting, enlightening sound comes from nature and is a friend I see everyday, he shares my garden, he eats the seed I give him and he repays me with his song, but today it’s as if he knew I needed some help and is singing his heart out for me, going through his entire repertoire.

Who is this super star?

All is revealed in the video below, so join me in gaining inspiration from the sing of nature