Following Our Vision

A Road illuminated by guiding principles

“The World is changed by your example, not by your opinion.” - Paulo Coelho

When my kids were small, I had the opportunity to take them to see the 2010 Suzan Beraza film, “Bag It.” If you have never watched it, I highly recommend it—it is life changing! It presents a highly engaging exploration of our society’s dependence on plastic and its effects on our oceans, waterways and health. My two youngsters were deeply moved by the message of the film, and for months they urged me to bring reusable shopping bags into the supermarket. Honestly, I agreed with them and had the best of intentions; in fact, I kept a stash of fabric bags in the back of my van. However, nine times out of ten, I would find myself in the check-out line before realizing that I had forgotten to grab the bags.

Any of you who have tried embarking on a new diet or exercise program, or instituting a New Year’s resolution, know as well as I do that new habits are very difficult to form, and old ones are just as hard to break. Conventional wisdom states that it typically takes 21 days to form a new habit. However, a recent study found that a more accurate number is 66 days. I eventually did get into the reusable bag habit, I’m happy to say, but it took a concerted, family-wide effort to form the new pattern of behavior.

In my last post, I talked about the importance of “visioning”—creating a picture of the sort of world we wish to live in. Whatever your vision entails—from economic, gender or racial equality, to world peace, to a simpler lifestyle—making that goal a guiding principle in your life can be a subtle but potent force for change.

“Manifestation” is the embodiment of something abstract, such as an idea.

I often hear people talk about manifestation in terms of bringing about something desired by the individual; for example, manifesting wealth or success in one’s personal life. I would like to apply this concept to higher ideals, specifically the “greater good.” Manifestation requires applying intention and consistency to our thoughts, words and deeds. If we wish to manifest peace, for instance, then we must commit to embodying this principle—to letting it be the guiding principle for all that we think, say and do.

Let’s return to my story about reusable bags for a moment. From this anecdote, you can probably tell that my family is concerned about the environment, and that it most likely plays a part in its visioning. To give a little background, both my husband and I were raised with a connection to nature. Our parents loved the outdoors, camping and hiking, and passed on this love and a sense of stewardship to us. Both of our mothers happened to be avid recyclers and reusable bag users, long before these practices were fashionable. Both were, and continue to be, enthusiastic gardeners. We learned from them not to waste food, and not to litter—in fact to leave places cleaner than we found them!

It is no big surprise, then, that we continue to internalize this value and attempt to pass it along to our own children. Sometimes it feels like swimming against the stream, in the context of our increasingly consumer-oriented culture. Our recycling bins overflow with unnecessary plastic packaging. Appliances and electronics that previously would have lasted for twenty years now stop working after just a handful of years, and are often not designed to be repaired. We watch as urban sprawl gobbles up farmland and an increasing number of cars on the road contain just a single driver.

Yet, we continue to try our best to make decisions that favor a healthy environment—from the food we eat, to the companies we patronize, to our methods for farming our vineyard. This guiding principle led us to a decision to invest in solar energy for our business and use only recyclable and/or biodegradable shippers and other products. We are far from perfect—we recognize that we could do better in many areas, and we do make mistakes and miss opportunities. But this is a process and a discipline. If we stay focused on our core values and our vision for the future, we continue to learn and grow into them.

Regardless of which principles guide each of us, living in harmony with our core values can energize our lives and give us a great sense of satisfaction, purpose and peace. It can also inspire those around us and cause some of those ripples we have been talking about.