Jen Mayer

Today  I got so anxious. Living in this place and time there is so much pressure to save the world. We’ve got wars, and failing whales, and global warming, and peak oil, and evil food empires and…..

Goodness, saving the world would be a wonderful thing. But it’s also an overwhelming concept to hold onto. One of my favorite bloggers, Ran Prieur posted the other day in response to an ongoing thread on his website’s discussion board. The board was conversing about permaculture and whether it is possible to save the world through the actions of permaculture. He writes:

I’m seeing what I call the Utopian Dictator Fallacy: that it is both right and possible for us to decide how everyone else is going to live. Combine this with historical narcissism, that we live at the most important moment of all history, and you get the arrogant (and stressful) idea that you and I can and should decide the whole future of the planet.

I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of days now and it has inspired me to look at my actions in a different way. In addition to looking at the role my actions play in the contribution to the future, I have challenged myself to look at how my actions contribute to what is happening right now. And I came up with a recipe to chill.

Recipe to Chill

1. Put some pure lavender essential oil on your hands
2. Poor a tall glass of raw milk
3. Recline into something supportive and soft
4. Breath lavender, drink milk
5. Meditate on the joy of the present
6. Repeat and continue with the rest of your day

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June: the sixth month. My birthday month. 26 years here.  Also marks my 6th year in practice as a massage therapist. So it’s a year of six.

I graduated three weeks ago from CU. Already I am feeling able to let go of that section of my life. Good-bye academia, I fell for you while I was there but now I am so excited to move forward. For the past four years I have been aspiring to learn the arts and skills of midwifery. There are many different avenues to pursue the training for midwifery in the United States, but for me earning a BA was part of this journey.

This summer I am taking two classes at the local community college. My friends and family think I am insane for not taking a break, but it feels so different to be taking these classes solely for the purupose to get into the midwifery program. I can totally geek out on science while being energized by becoming *that* much closer to starting my midwifery education. Plus my microbiology class is all of 12 students. A welcomed change from the 200+ science lecture halls at CU.

The garden is growing. Slowly the starts come up as we planted later than many here in the Front Range. Oh! And we have a new creative project going on: www.homesteadpretty.com, a collaboration with my neighbor Anthony.

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