Today I have something special for you ... my bloggy friend Lynn, from Smiling Green Mom, and I are swapping posts. Yep ... she's writing for Reduce Footprints and I'll be writing for Smiling Green Mom.Smiling Green Mom is a wonderful blog. Lynn covers all kinds of topics ... from a recent recipe for Dairy-Free Creamy Potato Soup to a wonderful post on how living green can save your life and your pocket-book. She writes with sincerity and humor ... I think you'll enjoy her style.Okay ... relax and enjoy her post and then, if you have a few more minutes, click on the bus for a ride to Smiling Green Mom where you'll see what I have to say today.As the mom of two, one being our four-year-old who suffers from food allergies and Eczema that once covered his tiny body, our family has embraced “true” foods and natural green living. You could say that we “stumbled” onto this path or perhaps a more accurate depiction would be that of someone actually being physically, mentally and emotionally picked up and deliberately thrown inside of a tornado. It was a whirlwind of frustration, tears and exhaustion. I say deliberate because I don’t believe anything happens by chance.Now that our son is so much better, (I am always happy to share how this happened with anyone who wants to listen) I can look back and see that so much of what we experienced through our son’s Eczema and allergies, became an opportunity for us to see how ordinary and everyday things that surround us can impact our health. We were “forced” to learn how to read food labels, we saw first-hand how even a small amount of a synthetic ingredient could impact our body by seeing our son’s skin immediately react. We knew, just by looking at our small baby’s red and inflamed skin that our home needed to become “toxin-free”. And so our story began.All of us have a story! Maybe your story involves depression or anxiety? Maybe you know of someone who has suffered from disease – or maybe you feel overwhelmed with daily “clutter”? Our lives are made of many small events that have the ability to shape us and to make our story an amazing one. We have a choice to embrace our challenges and experiences and turn them into something meaningful and positive. And guess what? Living green is a lifestyle made of small choices everyday that add up in so many ways and have the power to be healing to our inner-selves and the whole world around us. Sometimes, all it takes is for us to slow-down and de-clutter our lives and our homes to really feel the peace that comes from simplifying.Living green to me means just this. It means choosing to live a natural, simple and abundant life by making daily choices that are good for my family and good for our planet. Some of the small choices we have made in the past year have included planting a garden, making our own laundry soap, shopping our local farmer’s market, avoiding processed foods, cooking homemade and making our own cleaners. There are so many shades of green and no two people are ever the same. But if we all started changing just a few things, avoiding over-consumption and really simplifying our daily lives - it could have a huge impact for our planet, for ourselves and for those around us.All it takes is one voice. One change. One life to make a difference. How exciting that all of us have the opportunity in front of us everyday to make small choices with great impact. I urge you look at the experiences that have shaped who you are today and to use these, whether good or bad, to become better. I just read a great quote somewhere that said, “it doesn’t matter how good you are, it matters how good you want to be”. Small changes really can make a difference and I encourage you to turn your story into a fantastic novel!A big thanks goes to Lynn for that great post. Okay ... ready for a ride? Hop aboard!
