So I have been in this sort of toss up for a while. Especially after getting married. My husband is an inspirational teacher, so he is often on the road, and I'm often on the road with him. He teaches in the States, Europe, Australia, different parts of Asia and of course across India. It's fun travelling with him, but I do feel I've become a bit idle when it comes to the work that I feel really passionate about. Which is green communities and creating green communities. I love every aspect of it, from the idea of reinvigorating old buildings to become new thriving works of art, to reinvigorating areas of town to become the new cool centers. Through a variety of means but mainly creating green spaces, community gardens and not to be without strips and patches of native plant communities to support wildlife-wildlife coordidoors :).
This is would include patio gardens, rooftop gardens, native and food plants filling the streets and windows. Fruiting vining plants up sides of buildings. Buildings built in perhaps more pyramid-like shapes in order to support more plants! Banning vehicles in certain parts of town, more walking centers, more bicycle friendly roads.
Reinvigorating our soils, I would love to learn remediation techniques where toxins can be broken down to harmless particles. The book, Mycelium Running, by Paul Stamets is excellent! He talks about how mushrooms can break down different sorts of petroleum compounds into safe substances! Even some of the mushrooms once grown in petroleum filled soil, have been tested safe for consumption! (please don't try this at home, because I can't remember the exact details of the exact experiment, but it shows the potential possibility of how bioremediation could really benefit our lands!)
Not only remediating our soils, but taking care of it in such a way that it can thrive!
Of course, in places which are colder, building structures - green greenhouses. Meaning no fossil fuels are used, but perhaps natural building techniques combined with efficient water recycling systems and perhaps solar panels.- just some ideas.
Creating a culture where nothing is thrown away, everything can be either washed and reused or composted. Containers which are composted, are only made from sustainably harvested materials, and nothing is really produced on a large scale.
Because of the healthy soils and plants which would inundate the cities, the air would be fresh and clear. There would also be many greywater gardens, and either natural or man-made wetlands in order to naturally filter our water. Clean water and foods (from plants!) would be available to all.
Buildings would be made of natural materials, and everyone would learn in school about taking care of soils, plants and natural buildings.
Everyone would then have full access to food, clean water, and shelter.
This would free up ALOT of time. We could dedicate our lives to creativity, connection and not taking life too seriously.
We could share in each others gifts, hand made bamboo clothes, beautiful music, dancing, poems sharing of stories and the playing of many games, as well as playing in natures abundance (haha am I a total hippie or what?) swimming in clean water, climbing trees, etc.
Welcome to my dream world!! I hope you enjoyed it :).
Anyway back to reality.
I went off on a slight tangent, but my point in this, is that my interests are focused yet.. I mean come on for me to learn all the details of how to create everything I just listed above.. well it may or may not be realistic but haha I guess that's what dreams are for, right??
And of course there is another slight addition to everything above, of course this is from my perception. But I do believe all of our health problems today are because we've really lost touch with joy in our lives. We've lost touch of that connection to ourselves, to our community, to our lands and animals. We have lost touch with wholesome food - both physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
I believe that if we can start taking steps towards more wholesome environments, we too can become healthy. Atleast a little more than what we are today, with all of the flying figures of terminal diseases and what not we have today.
So, see how many tangents I have a tendency to go off on?
My point is, after many circles of where I should focus my energies, what should I learn first. I feel that what I have boiled it down to is soil science -agroecology.
Before I have a chance to live in my perfect little world (the descriptions found above) I live in this one. And I would love the opportunity to learn a little more in depth about why soils function the way they do, and what are the best ways we can make them healthy? Once soil becomes healthy, then everything that comes out of the soil must also be healthy? Right?
It may or may not be true, but I would love to learn more about it. I would love to be able to visit these organic farms and understand more indepth why they have the certain pest problems they do, how they can adjust their farming practices to enable their plants more resiliency for the challenge of climate change. Right now, we have a lack of people really skillfull in this area, in developing and planning landscapes to be healthier and more productive- in a sustainable way!
- And of course, I always have ideas and thoughts about why certain plants are not growing well, etc, and ideas for change, but whether or not that is the BEST solution, I can't know for sure.
I have thought so much about whether or not college is the best option, or if just experimenting on my own is better or picking up jobs with people who are really doing awesome work. But what happens is, I see that I end up not really pushing myself to learn as much as I could. I buy a lot of books, I am always reading, but the retention of knowledge is sometimes there and sometimes isn't. And of course, I end up travelling a lot, which doesn't really help in my will to really sit down and study one thing for a long time.
So I feel pretty strongly at this point to go back to school.
However, I'm thinking of going back to school in the states, and currently I am in India.
Which does create a bit of turmoil inside of me. Because there are a lot of really amazing things happening in India at the moment. For example, I've recently met someone who is an amazing vegan chef and together we make an awesome team! And she is really into this idea of working together and creating a vegan business, hehe I even shared our menu on this blog. We do have amazing food if you all are interested in us delivering :), our prices are negotiable as well.
We are also really into sustainability, so if we start something, I want to make sure all of the containers we use are reusable. If we open a restaurant, I want to invest as soon as possible in alternative energy, grow our own food... etc etc. It would absolutely be an amazing place.
As of now, I feel this kinda pull. Is it possible to do both? (go back to school in utah plus have this business in India .. lol)
The edge of a decision!! The funny thing is I'm about knee deep in both options at the moment. I've already been corresponding with the school back in Utah, they are expecting my application, and I have already started my application, everything. And I have been working with my friend on vegan healthy foods and selling stuff- which has been a lot of fun.
hehe. What to do.
But I realized one thing, I learned something really nice from my dear husband, whatever advice you try to give others, is actually only meant for yourself. So haha of course, like usual my mind was playing over a conversation from another time, and I felt like I had just found the solution to one of my friends problems.. LOL i know right, pretty pathetic... but I turned it around.. and decided to apply it to my situation.
I've been feeling a bit stuck in my current situation. I think because I am not fully involved/dedicated really in anything, and it's difficult for me to become fully involved in anything because I have a tendency to want to be involved in EVERYTHING.
I keep expecting an external environment to grant me freedom, to be soooo appealing to me that I do dive in head first. I want to be free of this stagnation I have been feeling.
but only WE can grant OURSELVES the freedom. It has nothing to do with our external situations.
Ugh, tough lesson to learn. India is good at teaching those ones!
Anyway the thought that I am the only one actually in control of my freedom was relieving.
I guess the point is, I can be happy no matter what I do. I can be happy no matter what the outcome is.
I can appreciate and love the world just the way it is. I can appreciate and love myself just the way I am.
Nothing needs to change in order for me to be happy.
and in this, my freedom is granted.
I can still apply for the school. I can be honest with the people around me about how I feel. I can still put my all into vegan cooking as long as I am still in India. And I can leave the rest to fate.
And I can still be free.
And I can still be happy.
SO thanks guys for listening to my internal discussions on whether I should go back to school or not!!
Hehe come again. :)
This is would include patio gardens, rooftop gardens, native and food plants filling the streets and windows. Fruiting vining plants up sides of buildings. Buildings built in perhaps more pyramid-like shapes in order to support more plants! Banning vehicles in certain parts of town, more walking centers, more bicycle friendly roads.
Reinvigorating our soils, I would love to learn remediation techniques where toxins can be broken down to harmless particles. The book, Mycelium Running, by Paul Stamets is excellent! He talks about how mushrooms can break down different sorts of petroleum compounds into safe substances! Even some of the mushrooms once grown in petroleum filled soil, have been tested safe for consumption! (please don't try this at home, because I can't remember the exact details of the exact experiment, but it shows the potential possibility of how bioremediation could really benefit our lands!)
Not only remediating our soils, but taking care of it in such a way that it can thrive!
Of course, in places which are colder, building structures - green greenhouses. Meaning no fossil fuels are used, but perhaps natural building techniques combined with efficient water recycling systems and perhaps solar panels.- just some ideas.
Creating a culture where nothing is thrown away, everything can be either washed and reused or composted. Containers which are composted, are only made from sustainably harvested materials, and nothing is really produced on a large scale.
Because of the healthy soils and plants which would inundate the cities, the air would be fresh and clear. There would also be many greywater gardens, and either natural or man-made wetlands in order to naturally filter our water. Clean water and foods (from plants!) would be available to all.
Buildings would be made of natural materials, and everyone would learn in school about taking care of soils, plants and natural buildings.
Everyone would then have full access to food, clean water, and shelter.
This would free up ALOT of time. We could dedicate our lives to creativity, connection and not taking life too seriously.
We could share in each others gifts, hand made bamboo clothes, beautiful music, dancing, poems sharing of stories and the playing of many games, as well as playing in natures abundance (haha am I a total hippie or what?) swimming in clean water, climbing trees, etc.
Welcome to my dream world!! I hope you enjoyed it :).
Anyway back to reality.
I went off on a slight tangent, but my point in this, is that my interests are focused yet.. I mean come on for me to learn all the details of how to create everything I just listed above.. well it may or may not be realistic but haha I guess that's what dreams are for, right??
And of course there is another slight addition to everything above, of course this is from my perception. But I do believe all of our health problems today are because we've really lost touch with joy in our lives. We've lost touch of that connection to ourselves, to our community, to our lands and animals. We have lost touch with wholesome food - both physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
I believe that if we can start taking steps towards more wholesome environments, we too can become healthy. Atleast a little more than what we are today, with all of the flying figures of terminal diseases and what not we have today.
So, see how many tangents I have a tendency to go off on?
My point is, after many circles of where I should focus my energies, what should I learn first. I feel that what I have boiled it down to is soil science -agroecology.
Before I have a chance to live in my perfect little world (the descriptions found above) I live in this one. And I would love the opportunity to learn a little more in depth about why soils function the way they do, and what are the best ways we can make them healthy? Once soil becomes healthy, then everything that comes out of the soil must also be healthy? Right?
It may or may not be true, but I would love to learn more about it. I would love to be able to visit these organic farms and understand more indepth why they have the certain pest problems they do, how they can adjust their farming practices to enable their plants more resiliency for the challenge of climate change. Right now, we have a lack of people really skillfull in this area, in developing and planning landscapes to be healthier and more productive- in a sustainable way!
- And of course, I always have ideas and thoughts about why certain plants are not growing well, etc, and ideas for change, but whether or not that is the BEST solution, I can't know for sure.
I have thought so much about whether or not college is the best option, or if just experimenting on my own is better or picking up jobs with people who are really doing awesome work. But what happens is, I see that I end up not really pushing myself to learn as much as I could. I buy a lot of books, I am always reading, but the retention of knowledge is sometimes there and sometimes isn't. And of course, I end up travelling a lot, which doesn't really help in my will to really sit down and study one thing for a long time.
So I feel pretty strongly at this point to go back to school.
However, I'm thinking of going back to school in the states, and currently I am in India.
Which does create a bit of turmoil inside of me. Because there are a lot of really amazing things happening in India at the moment. For example, I've recently met someone who is an amazing vegan chef and together we make an awesome team! And she is really into this idea of working together and creating a vegan business, hehe I even shared our menu on this blog. We do have amazing food if you all are interested in us delivering :), our prices are negotiable as well.
We are also really into sustainability, so if we start something, I want to make sure all of the containers we use are reusable. If we open a restaurant, I want to invest as soon as possible in alternative energy, grow our own food... etc etc. It would absolutely be an amazing place.
As of now, I feel this kinda pull. Is it possible to do both? (go back to school in utah plus have this business in India .. lol)
The edge of a decision!! The funny thing is I'm about knee deep in both options at the moment. I've already been corresponding with the school back in Utah, they are expecting my application, and I have already started my application, everything. And I have been working with my friend on vegan healthy foods and selling stuff- which has been a lot of fun.
hehe. What to do.
But I realized one thing, I learned something really nice from my dear husband, whatever advice you try to give others, is actually only meant for yourself. So haha of course, like usual my mind was playing over a conversation from another time, and I felt like I had just found the solution to one of my friends problems.. LOL i know right, pretty pathetic... but I turned it around.. and decided to apply it to my situation.
I've been feeling a bit stuck in my current situation. I think because I am not fully involved/dedicated really in anything, and it's difficult for me to become fully involved in anything because I have a tendency to want to be involved in EVERYTHING.
I keep expecting an external environment to grant me freedom, to be soooo appealing to me that I do dive in head first. I want to be free of this stagnation I have been feeling.
but only WE can grant OURSELVES the freedom. It has nothing to do with our external situations.
Ugh, tough lesson to learn. India is good at teaching those ones!
Anyway the thought that I am the only one actually in control of my freedom was relieving.
I guess the point is, I can be happy no matter what I do. I can be happy no matter what the outcome is.
I can appreciate and love the world just the way it is. I can appreciate and love myself just the way I am.
Nothing needs to change in order for me to be happy.
and in this, my freedom is granted.
I can still apply for the school. I can be honest with the people around me about how I feel. I can still put my all into vegan cooking as long as I am still in India. And I can leave the rest to fate.
And I can still be free.
And I can still be happy.
SO thanks guys for listening to my internal discussions on whether I should go back to school or not!!
Hehe come again. :)
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