Hello dear friends. Rob Greenfield, here.
I'm making this video today because I know
a lot of you are sitting at home in some
very difficult times in isolation
because of the current situation that many
of us are in all over the entire world.
My heart and my love goes out to all
of you. These are absolute difficult
times and I am here with you.
I wanted to really share this video
because I think for a lot of us this is
an opportunity to actually improve our
lives. I think this can be an
opportunity for a lot of us to actually
set ourselves on a path of living more in
alignment with our beliefs. Setting our
actions in alignment with our beliefs and
living the way that we've been, maybe,
yearning for and striving for for years.
Or for some of us, decades.
And so the focus of this video today is
things that you can do to use your time
wisely in the current situation that we
are in. But not just use this time, but
actually come out of this situation
possibly better than you went into it.
How you can actually walk away from here
having set your life in the path that you
are striving for.
I want to share about 10 or 15 different
ideas that I have for you.
First of all, one of them I'd like to
share with you is growing some of
your own food. Millions of people
right now are waking up and realizing
that they want their food to be growing
right there at home, in their communities
and not having to be shipped from far
around the world. So some of us who
have access to our yards and who can order
seeds online, or already have some seeds
at home, can start growing some of our own
food. Now, some of us are in a little
more of a difficult situation where we
might not be able to have access to a
garden. But you might be able to order
seeds online and get some basic soil and
start growing a little bit of food in pots
on your balcony or in your window sill.
This is a time when we can start
connecting with our food, start growing
some of our own food and start gaining
independence from the global industrial
food system.
Along that same note, the next one is
foraging. There is food growing freely
and abundantly all around us and what is
amazing is that a lot of us have food
growing right in our yards, in our front
yards and our back yards and the
abandoned lots next door, along the
sidewalk, on our walks to the grocery
store. There is food growing freely and
abundantly all around us. So one thing
that we can do during this time is learn
foods that are growing in the area.
You could pick up some foraging books.
You can order those online or pick them up
at a library if there is a library open
still. But there is a lot of foraging
resources online as well. Foraging is
something, learning the plants of your area.
Another thing that you can do during this
time is be of service. There are a lot
of people in need right now. I mean,
let's be honest, there is a lot of people
in need always. And now is a time when
you can be of service to people in
whatever way that is. If possible, maybe
you could be delivering groceries to an
elder who is not able to go out
themselves. Figure out ways that you
can be of service. There are a lot of
ways that you can be of service without
leaving your house. Through the computer
or through the phone you could be giving
people comfort calls and checking in with
them. If you have a skill, maybe you are
a psychologist, you could be helping
people over the phone, instead.
Think about it, brainstorm, what are your
skills and how can you be of service to
people during these difficult times and
all the time. Now, this is also a time
when you can be of service to yourself, as
well. And one of the ways that you can
be of service to yourself is to educate
yourself. This is an amazing time to gain
knowledge that you have been wanting to
gain. A lot of people are very
interested, that follow this channel, in
permaculture and you can actually earn
your permaculture design certificate
online. And you can do it in a matter of
a couple weeks. So, imagine that this
situation that we're in, you are able to
walk out of it with a permaculture design
certificate, extremely knowledgeable on
permaculture. And that's just one thing.
There are many things that you can educate
yourself on. What is it that you have
been really wanting to educate yourself
on? You can take this time to do that.
Another thing you can do right now is you
can build skills. There are a lot of
skills that we can develop at home.
Just as a few things to come to mind,
it could be repairing. Maybe you want to
learn how to sew. It could be craftwork.
Knitting, for example. Or maybe it's
something like art. Maybe it's woodwork.
Maybe you have a garage with some tools.
There are a lot of skills that we can
learn. There are also computer based
skills. Maybe you want to be able to
design websites to help people with
sustainability, who have ideas that you
want to get out there.
So, this is a time that we can learn
skills. Another thing is a language.
Maybe you've been wanting to learn a
language. This is another beautiful time
to be able to do that and you could do
some of that via face calls with people
who speak that language, and at the same
time, have some connection in that way.
A really important thing to do is just to
maintain. If we want to come out of this
situation actually better than we went
into it, then we have to take care of
ourselves and we have to maintain
ourselves and not let ourselves slip away.
Some physical activity. If you are in a
place where you can still go for a walk,
that's something that I would highly
recommend and encourage is just
getting out, going for a walk and being
able to do that in a safe way.
If you aren't able to even get outside and
go for a walk, then at home yoga is
something that you can do in small
spaces right in an apartment or a house.
Just basic stretching. A lot of the
stretching that I do, people would maybe
call it yoga, but I was stretching long
before I ever did any kind of yoga.
Just basic stretching. Oh, I mean, I don't
want to stop this already feels so good!
Along with that, you know, some physical
movement, the other thing is our minds.
We have to take care of our bodies...oh,
along that line, this is a wonderful time
to be able to eat healthy. Could be an
option to build good eating patterns which
could be difficult but making sure to take
care of ourselves and eating healthy
during this time will help with our mental
clarity and depression and things like
that. It's really helpful to eat healthy.
Along the lines of that is also meditating
or breathwork. So, taking care of
ourselves mentally. Some basic meditation
goes a long way. You don't have to be
good at meditating. Just taking the time
to sit..I was just about to cross my legs,
because that's what I generally do, but
you don't even have to do that. And just
taking a little bit of time (closing eyes)
and something that I love to do, myself,
that really grounds me, is doing 10 oms
a day. I am not especially good at oms
but I am going to do one just to show you.
(Takes deep breath and models a sustained om mantra)
(Takes another deep breath and opens eyes)
Wow. I mean, (laughs) just once...I feel
the difference it makes and the
peacefulness that I feel from just doing
that once. And, again, you don't have to
be good. It just has to feel good.
That's all the matters. Along those same
lines is just breathing. Just deep
breathing. Just (models a deep breath and exhales)
And if every hour you can just do 10 deep
breaths, (models another deep breath)
that makes such a huge difference.
And for others who have skill in that
already, who have done a lot of that, you
can go deeper. Deeper with your
meditation and with your breathwork and
deeper within yourself. That is a very
positive way to use this time and to work
forward. This is also a time to expand
our minds. There are many ways to expand
minds. For some people that could be that
this is a beautiful time to work with
plant medicines to expand our minds.
But for other people it could be just
basic breathwork and meditation,
going within. A time to really self
reflect. There are many ways to expand
our minds. Education is another one.
So that's a beautiful way to spend this time.
Now back to some more physical things.
If you are not really happy with your
house then this is a beautiful time to
downsize, declutter and organize.
Imagine that, once we are able to go out
into the world again, imagine that your
house is the way that you've wanted it
for years. That you've managed to
organize it and declutter it and downsize
your life and get rid of all stuff that is
not serving you. And, sure, at the moment
you might not be able to get rid of
everything, but you could pack it all up
and have it ready to be able to donate
and distribute after we are out of this
situation. Imagine having your house
really be comfortable and the way that
you want it where you can use the space
well and really be efficient with it.
So it's a beautiful time to downsize,
declutter and simplify.
Another wonderful thing to do right now
is finish projects. You might have
projects that you have been working
on for weeks, months, years, and
maybe this is a time when you
could finish those projects so that
when we are done with this situation
and we are out of it, you have created
that free time to be present and in the
moment because you finished these
things that were sort of holding you
back. These projects that you have
been trying to finish. So finishing up
those projects is a wonderful thing.
And then a couple more things.
This is a beautiful time to strengthen
relationships. It can be a time to
strengthen relationships with ourselves,
but a beautiful time to strengthen
relationships with others. A lot of us
are kind of locked down with a couple of
people or a few people. It could be our
families, our roommates. This is a
beautiful time to choose to really nurture
those relationships. Go deep into them
and have discussions that are needed to
make sure that the relationships are
serving everybody and their best interest
and really expressing your care and your
love and your commitment to those
relationships and ironing things out
that need to be. Strengthening
relationships. And another meaningful
thing to set forward could be using this
as an opportunity to either say sorry, if
there are people that you feel like
deserve an apology for things that you've
done wrong, this could be a beautiful
time to muster up that strength and say
sorry and apologize to people that
deserve it. And on a personal level, for
you, this could also be an amazing time
to forgive. Forgiving can be beneficial
to the person that you forgive but,
really, forgiving is for yourself.
If you are holding on to things that are
holding you back and holding you down,
forgiving is one of the best gifts that
you can give to yourself. By releasing
that and not letting that hurt continue to
hurt you. This is an amazing time to
forgive. So, I just wanted to share
those with you. I am, personally, here in
Southern France on lockdown. I'm in this
room that I am staying in. I am thankful
to be next to some woods that I am able to
go out for a walk in everyday, just some
small woods. I've been here for over
2 weeks and I got to go to the grocery
store once. But I am choosing to do a lot
of what I just described. To use this as
a time to really be of service, to connect
with people. For me, I'm using this as a
time to really catch up on some things
that I have been wanting to do and so I
am using this as a beautiful time. A lot
of us live in privileged scenarios where
we still do have the ability to and I am
sure you can't do all of these things
and it's easy to look at your situation
and want to focus on just the negatives.
But if you are watching this video there
is a very very very good chance that you
have the power right now to make
positive changes. And the idea of these
positive changes is to use this time
wisely and actually, again, be able to
step out of this in a better place than
you went into it. That is how you can
turn this negative situation into
something positive for you.
And, again, my heart and my love pours out
to people who are really in deeply
difficult scenarios because of this and
this is in no way me downplaying that.
But for so many of us, this is a time
where we can grow and use that as a way to
improve the world around us and create
more resilient communities, create more
resilient selves. That's it for today.
I will be here, producing more videos
to help you live the lives that you have
dreamed, that you desire, and if you got
a lot out of this video then definitely
share it with friends. Definitely
subscribe and go ahead and ask
questions in the comments section
if you would like, as well.
I love you all very much. Sending my best
to you and see you soon, hopefully for a
hug in real life one of these days not too
far off! Alright, bye!