Even if you question your power and ability to make a difference in the world at large, you cannot deny that you, and you alone, are the most qualified person to change your own immediate world. All change starts within and spreads. With that in mind, the most important thing you can do to heal the world is to make healing choices in your own life.

-Take time alone daily to be quiet and connect with Spirit. Breathe. Clear your head. Listen to your heart.

-Become aware of the natural world around you. You are a part of nature. There are lessons and insights all around you. Learn to listen and see and feel. Allow your body to harmonize with the natural rhythms of seasons and cycles.

-Create a sanctuary in your home (and yard, if you have one).

-Eliminate toxins from your personal environment. Practice organic gardening and natural pest control. Use natural cleaning products. Eat foods that nourish your cells. Drink clean water. Recycle. Compost.

-The single most important factor in establishing and maintaining good physical health is exercise. Accept the challenge of finding physical activities you enjoy and then doing them. The choices are limited only by your imagination. Take a walk. Dance alone in your living room.

-Build a good social support network. Having friends to talk to about your feelings, and being able to disclose yourself to a confidante are vital to your health.

-Establish a relationship with someone in the animal kingdom. You don't have to have a pet to be friends with one. Offer to walk a friend's dog. Offer to "baby-sit" your neighbor's pets when they go on trips.

-You don't know your neighbors? Why not? Host a neighborhood clean-up day. Supply the trash bags, latex gloves (available in boxes of 100 at most chain stores), refreshments, and meeting location. Have a definite starting and ending time (two hours or less). Provide a sign-up sheet with phone numbers. This may evolve into other neighborhood activities.

-Speaking of trash bags: Take one with you when you go for a walk. All that bending and squatting will give you a better workout, and you'll leave a trail of beauty in your wake. Take a child or two with you and teach them the joys of helping clean the planet. Be sure and wear latex gloves.

-Practice mindfulness. Become conscientious. Be aware of your self and your surroundings. Live in the present moment. The past is past. The future depends on the choices you make today. When you find yourself drifting away unintentionally, stop. Take 10 VERY deep slow breaths, and focus your awareness in the center of your being. Then live life from your center.

-Examine your beliefs. Challenge your thoughts-especially if you feel angry, hostile, or depressed. Often what we think of as "reality" is simply an opinion based on a feeling based on a belief that we accepted without even examining it. You have the power of choice. Try looking at a situation as if you were someone else. You may be amazed at the new things you see.

-Practice and teach empathy. Put yourself in someone else's shoes.

-Focus on desired outcomes rather than dwelling on the same old problems. Use your thoughts, words and actions to create something new and better.

-Change your routine.

-Use humor to deal with stress.

-See if you can go an entire day without using the words "should" or "need" or "have to." Don't allow yourself or others to "should" on you.

-Learn the art of listening.

-Take an elderly person to lunch and see what you can learn.

-Invite someone else's child to your home to make lunch together and color, or bake cookies, or engage in some other act of creation. Ask lots of questions and let a child teach you something you may have forgotten.

-Learn to speak your truth in love. Do not expect others to read your mind.

-Ask for what you want, but realize that no one else is obligated to meet your needs.

-Accept the responsibility for taking care of yourself.

-Clarify your values and goals. Focus on and change one behavior at a time.

-Make time for rest, recuperation and renewal.

-Engage in life-affirming activities and relationships.

-Use your purchasing power to create positive changes. Buy organically grown produce. Request natural foods from your local supermarket. Rent uplifting videos. Read books that feed your mind with positive thoughts and ideas. Support individuals and corporations who are creating beauty, joy, and wholeness.

-Practice the art of spreading good news.

-Buy an extra copy of your favorite inspirational book, and start it in circulation. Inscribe the front cover with a note which encourages the reader to pass the book along to a friend.

-Sprinkle some loose change on the sidewalk.

-Buy wildflower seeds and scatter them where they are most needed.

-Affirm people when they make creative choices. Thank people when they are kind. Write thank you letters to businesses and individuals who do something right.

-Honor yourself.

-Honor others. Ask questions of people whose ideas and input are often not sought (i.e. children, teenagers, the elderly, yourself?).

-Look people in the eye. Acknowledge their existence and individuality.

-Make friends with your body. Make a list of all the things you like about your body.

-Make peace with food. It is not the enemy.

-Do something each day for your spirit, mind, body, home, society, and planet. It could be as simple as saying a prayer, or planting a flower. Just acknowledge your power through action.

-Choose quality over quantity in your conversations.

-Relinquish image in favor of honesty. Be real. Let people see who you really are.

-Share those things which bring you joy. If you find something that delights you-flowers from your garden, a sunset, a song, a cartoon, a quote, a smoothie, recipe…whatever…share it with someone who would also enjoy it.

-Donate an air purifier to a local classroom.

-Teach children to be considerate and respectful of all living things. Remember, they learn best by example.

-Replace fluorescent lights with full-spectrum lighting.

-Give what you wish to receive: understanding, acceptance, kindness, honesty, a smile, etc.

-Count your blessings.

-Choose joy.


 el & Women of WOVA, 1997