Positive Progress

Currently, there is a lot of literature available about creating more healthful, natural, self-sufficient lifestyles in your home. Amongst that literature are people pushing agendas who have a tendency to dwell on the negatives things that are ruining our society/economy. This does not really help you to make positive changes. Perhaps it may educate you and open your eyes to some more political type issues, yet it generally takes time away from the positive changes you could have already made had you not read so much of the negative.

Popular example: we are so wasteful that we are creating enough trash to cover the earth by......

Point taken. However, in there I was not informed of any way that I could reduce that waste. That statement already took enough of my time, imagine reading an entire book on the subject! Facts can be fascinating, but they are fatiguing when they present no solution. Why not look for subject such as waste management, recycling within the home, better organization, reusable resources. Such a book would give you plenty of new ideas, and probably even slip in some facts in the side bars about the statistics of waste production. Yet, you do not want to focus on the waste production, we do that already, that is why you were trying to find a book to stop it.

Another popular example: Today's manufactured foods are laden with toxic chemicals that......

Disgusting! Revolting! Ugh, how could anyone eat any of that?! Well, we do and it is debatable whether we are surviving or not. You have already ingested a lot of those toxic chemicals, are still living, so best move on to a better alternative. Now don't jump right to the 'organic' left wing. Remember, what is labeled 'organic' in the store is still regulated by the companies/departments that have been feeding you chemicals for years. Let's just learn, to emphasize, LEARN how to make our own food, or buy better food, or find out where our food comes from, or even just feed our kids fruits instead of fruit snacks. I don't need to know what my child will possibly contract in the future because of the past mistakes I have made, what's done is done, and what others continue to do is their own business. What I choose to do now will not make it necessary to know about the latest Frankenstein fish on the market. Check out books of homemade recipes, how to make homemade preserves. Oh I just got a whole book full of canning recipes and I am in love! Not one page tells me how bad store bought fruit is, just pages and pages of wholesome recipes that are simple.

One last Popular Example: Our country has become so consumer based that it can no longer sustain......

What is the opposite of consumption? Well, at least in my world it is frugality. And that is where this all comes from, is it not Mrs Child? Why not learn from those who are frugal instead of being just like everyone else. Yep, those penny pinchers are odd-balls, but they sure can sustain their own lifestyle. Speaking of penny-pinching, helpful resources abound on how to maintain your own personal wealth without depending on others. I will warn that most of them go back to the same basic frugal principles that my husband sums up in his motto "If you don't have money, don't spend it." Yet, isn't it more helpful to hear that than the negative drag of an economic decline into pure depression. Just the word alone tells me I must steer clear!

In short: Find resources with positive suggestions for changes that are applicable to you (beware of those that depend on a whole society to change). This is sometimes called 'grassroots movements.' Just another term. If you want to be fancy and use it, go ahead, just don't forget that when you are applying your time to gain knowledge, make it conducive to progress.