Good Morning SuperForest!
Jackson here.
Something happened to me recently that reminded me both how flexible our minds are and how powerful the internet is.
Last month I read in the Times that a study had been conducted that showed there is only one proper way to blow your nose. Blowing your nose in any other fashion save for this one results in whatever was in your nose in the first place being forced backwards up into your sinuses.
What’s the proper method? Blow one nostril at a time. Never both at once. Blowing both at once does the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve. That, and take a decongestant…
The reason I mention this is that I happened to read the article just before I got the flu, which resulted in several weeks of me not blowing my nose in the usual fashion, instead being extra careful to clear one nostril at a time. (Forgive me, this is leading somewhere.)
I mention it because for 30 years I blew my nose the way most folks blow their noses. One day, I read a piece of information that showed me a better way, and I instantly changed my behavior to fit this suggestion. For the remainder of my life, in all probability, I will blow one nostril at a time.
Now, whether the study was correct or not isn’t as interesting as applying that sense of instant-flexibility to any human mindset.
Imagine if racism in a person was gone in an instant. Hatred, gone in an instant. Violence, gone in an instant. Replaced by a better idea. A more successful way of operating.
Much like the software on a computer, our behavioral patterns as humans are remarkably easy to shift and reprogram.
One only needs the right idea!
And we’re all sitting in front of the most effective idea-aggregator one could ever hope for! The internet, y’all!
Just as the idea was out there that changed the way I blow my nose, the ideas are out there that will change the ways humans treat one another. And thanks to the internet, when those idea hits, we’ll all get it nearly simultaneously.
Un-be-lieve-able.
So, changing your mind is easy! All you have to do is brush up ever so slightly against an appealing idea, and poof! Presto. Changed forever.
Which is what really thrills me about sustainability and the internet. Last week, SuperForester Jordan said in a post something I thought very interesting. He said: “we know that everyone comes to the sustainable table at their own engagement level.”
Mmmmm! Everyone’s personal engagement level with sustainability.
Then, I thought: What’s not important is your level of personal sustainability. It’s not really important to be living totally sustainably. It’s too extreme a life-style choice for most folks right now.
What’s important is knowing that sustainability even exists.
Whether you engage is actively trying to live sustainably, or not, simply knowing that there is a system whereby all human needs could be met, and future generations provided for in perpetuity, is the idea worth catching.
Sustainability exists. The technology for all humans to live in harmony with our planet’s finite resources exists. We could all live free of war, money, politics, and inter-religious strife if we wanted to.
You reading those words is enough to put this idea in your mind and there it will sit forever and ever. Ha! I just changed your mind! Whether it influences your behavior is up to you, but now you know. (Not that you didn’t already…)
So when you hear someone say: “Human nature doesn’t change.” Remember, human nature IS change.
We change at the drop of a hat.
Want further change? Simply stay online. That’s where the fresh ideas are.
Remember, one nostril at a time.
Love to ALL,
-Jackson
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