Can you cut 1 Tonne of carbon pollution out of your life?
Take the challengeWe launched our series on happiness last week and decided to ask our audience about what makes them happy. The responses are a joy to read and incredibly inspiring when it comes to living more mindfully and meaningfully with less stuff...
We've been delving deep into the habits around what makes us 'happy'. We're all fed this idea that happiness comes from buying stuff, and the more we buy the happier we'll be. It's simply not true.
In fact, we are literally drowning in stuff! This next fact is pretty shocking, but the average household has 300,000 items. The waste produced and resources drained from this level of consumption is devastating our fragile planet and accelerating global warming.
Avoiding overconsumption through our everyday choices is a key part of the solution to climate change. We know so many of you in our community already live more mindfully and meaningfully with less stuff, and that many others are on the journey too, perhaps even just starting out.
We asked 'what makes you happy?' and would like to thank everyone who took the time to send us their thoughts and comments. If you didn't get the chance yet, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post.
Here's just a few of inspiring comments we received:
"For me, happiness is teaching pre-school children about sustainability and waste reduction..."- Sam Ferrara
"1. A dip in the ocean on a warm day, 2. A good long walk, especially with a friend, 3. Creating something beauiful and plentiful in my wildlife garden."- Bronte Hodgins
"#happiness for me is...Kayaking Puget Sound and working to restore waterways."- @mmmMeggie
"Happiness is...freedom <3"- Maylise Talgo
"A meal shared with family/friends. Walking, trekking, catching a wave. Cycling especially fast downhills. Camping in remote areas. Enjoying the solitude of being alone with nature. Waking in the morning to the cacophony of rainforest birds and to see my husband/lover of 42 years sleeping beside me. Listening to music. Dancing spontaneously to whatever inspires my feet to move. Picking our own produce from the garden. Getting lost in a book/movie and later discussing it with others. Looking out from our verandah and reminding myself how lucky I am to live in such a magnificent environment. And so much more."
- Libby Malter
[Image below: Shutterstock]
"What has made me happy today is that I have finally installed a below ground worm farm."- - Susan Pepper
"Happiness for me turns out to be about Family and then meaningful work - having a purpose that allows me to use my strengths. "- - Tammy Logan
"Happiness is in nature... enjoying the breeze, watching the sunrise, especially with my little granddaughter, relishing a sunset, enjoying walking in the bush, marvelling at patterns in the natural world, immersing myself in the refreshing waters of our glorious oceans, sleeping out under the stars, taking time to put myself “out there” especially with loved ones, and thinking of all those people who are not yet our friends, simply because we don’t know them yet..."- Jo Vallentine
"#happiness for me is reducing my carbon footprint every chance I get...- @annetteharidan
"This is such an important question: what makes me happy, or do I even aspire to being happy. Right now, I'm satisfied at the end of a tough two days with an executive team - seems they genuinely got a big outcome out of our time together. I am pretty ecstatic that I am now heading home (Singapore to Melbourne). I can't wait to hold my husband, dogs, cats, family, see my beautiful garden. Do these things make me happy? Sometimes, very. And sometimes I confess, losing myself in a crowd at a market makes me happy. Seeing my staff calm, focussed and achieving makes me incredibly happy. But happiest? Seeing the world move forward on the back of visionary women who care to take action - leadership for the greater good. That makes me feel happy beyond measure."
- Fabian Dattner
[Image below: Unsplash]
"#happiness for me is...seeing my kids massive smile as they run towards me when I pick them up from daycare"- @kristiedrucza
"Happiness to me is making a positive impact on our planet in ways my children can relate to, learn from and physically benefit from down the road..."- Raina Brett Russo
"#happiness for me is...living with less & making my own lotions & personal care products to eliminate chemicals in my home."- @KhadeejaNicolle
"Not eating, drinking or wearing animals makes me so much happier each meal, each day and for over 30 years. A truly and deeply happy and aligned feeling."- Jan Rodda
"I have finally reached the stage in my life where I am content to be me. I like who I am and am grateful every day for the journey I have been on and the path I will keep following. I have realised that overeating, over spending, over indulgence in many ways cannot fill the void within. Gratitude, acceptance , compassion and kindness are the things I strive to achieve daily and being human I am not always successful. I left the city for the Far South Coast and Happiness is waking up every day to trees, huge expanses of sky, unpolluted air, laughing with my friends, music, being a shoulder to lean on..the list is endless.. and to top it all.. my beautiful 18 month old Labrador. Blessed. "
- Helen Jennings
So, what is it that makes you happy? Is it the adventure of each new day? Birds singing? Reducing your waste? Let us know in the comments below!
READ THIS NEXT:
Money buys happiness up to a certain point, but is it happiness that we really need?
How the 1 Million Women community will reduce their impact on the planet in 2016
Tips and tricks from the 1 Million Women community!
[Header Image: Unsplash]
1 Million Women is more than our name, it's our goal! We're building a movement of strong, inspirational women acting on climate change by leading low-carbon lives. To make sure that our message has an impact, we need more women adding their voice. We need to be louder. Joining us online means your voice and actions can be counted. We need you.
