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Seasoned Living™
Winter 2009 |
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by Bret S. Beall |
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Seasoned. Adj. 1: flavorful, zesty,
interesting; 2: cured, tempered; 3: improved or enhanced
via experience; 4: colloq: of or pertaining to the
seasons.
Living. Noun. Maintaining life in a particular
manner or style; vitality.
ACCEPTANCE, COURAGE, WISDOM AND SERENITY: THINK, DECIDE, ACCEPT
The Serenity prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr begins, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the
difference."
These are powerful words. Living by them is even more powerful. It is difficult to know when to accept something and when to have the courage to change, and how to tell one situation from the other. Our entire lives are devoted to learning how to tell
one from the other, and the sooner we learn that life lesson, the sooner our lives are filled with serenity, courage and wisdom.
Take it from me: These life lessons of acceptance, courage and wisdom are really tough starting out. The weather that frustrates us as children can't be changed, so we must accept it. The bad grade that we receive in grade school can be changed by hard
work, so we must have the courage to work hard. A broken relationship as a teen must be evaluated with wisdom (and courage) to determine if we should just let it go, or if we should fight to make it work ... we must think about it, evaluate the variables, and make a
decision. Once that decision is made, we must accept it and all of the consequences. That is what growing up is all about.
As we continue to "grow up" throughout our lives, we encounter situations that require new evaluations and decisions and acceptance. Some of these situations are major, and some are minor.
Here's a minor example: I share my home with cats, and by doing so, I must accept many things. Cats will use a litter box, and it's stinky, so I accept that odor, and accept I must keep it cleaned, but I can change that situation by using an odor
absorbent litter. Cats will throw up, and I accept that, and have learned to change that by feeding the cats food that prevents hairballs, and to brush them regularly to reduce loose hair. Cats will claw furniture, but accept that I value my cats more than the furniture
(but I also try to educate the cats, and am usually successful).
Continuing the cat example, I recently encountered a situation new to me. Eight years ago, Shala the Wonder Kitty died due to oral cancer; I had to accept that any treatment would have reduced her quality of life, and that death was a blessing (FYI, as I
carried Shala to her euthanization, she purred, and continued purring until the injection ended her life; she was grateful to be relieved of her discomfort).
After mourning for many months, I adopted brother and sister white Persians, Lugh and Luna, to their great joy, as they had been neglected for the past year, and had lost 1/3 of their weight. In May 2007, ten-year-old Luna was diagnosed with Renal
Insufficiency; I wrote about this in the summer 2008 edition of Seasoned Living®. The disease was supposedly manageable with saline injections, but eventually terminal. I gave her saline injections regularly, but knowing she would eventually die, I wanted to adopt a
companion for Lugh, who had never been alone, and who is a very social cat. In a conversation with a friend, she asked me if I wanted to adopt another cat. At the time I said, "No," but told her that I'd consider it once the cat's owner returned from Ireland. Well, upon
her return, I visited the cat, and immediately fell in love with him, an 18-pound Seal Point Ragdoll. I adopted Muscat to be a pal to Lugh, which he was to some extent, but when Luna died one year ago in late September 2007, the dynamics changed. Dear, sweet Luna had been
the powerful matriarch, even though she was 2/3 the size of Lugh, and 1/3 the size of Muscat, and she ruled with a tight paw. Muscat started refusing to use the litter box, and I had to retrain him. And Lugh and Muscat merely tolerated each other. They sometimes played
with and chased each other, but they would never be best buddies.
I had to accept that, but kept wondering if I could somehow change the dynamic. I began visiting www.petfinder.com and
searching for large female cats who could take over the role of matriarch while dealing with the huge Muscat. After many false starts, I identified a cat that I wanted to adopt. Not a female, but a large male Maine Coon Cat being fostered 180 miles away in Madison,
Wisconsin; Maine Coons are known for their gentleness and intelligence, and I thought I had a winner. On May 4, 2008, my friend Beverly and I drove to Madison to meet Carrick, who had been shuffled among a dozen homes over 18 months after his master had died and his mistress
had become an alcoholic ... the poor guy needed stability and love; upon taking him out of the carrier, he crawled into my lap and nuzzled my armpit, and I knew he had to come home with me. He has ameliorated the frustration that Muscat felt with Lugh's insistence with play,
he encourages Muscat to play and get exercise, and he has been the tonic I needed in this feline household. He's magnificent, intelligent, and fits in perfectly; all three sleep either in my bed or in my bedroom nightly. I accepted some things, changed others, and I think I
handled the entire situation with wisdom. I hope you agree. I feel serenity.
Now, here's a major example: Making the decision to live organically, locally, sustainably, and seasonally. This decision impacts our entire planet. By insisting on eating organically, we reduce the toxic chemicals added to soil around the world. By
moving toward local products, we reduce the demand on fossil fuels used for transportation, and encourage and enhance local economies, while increasing our nutritional intake. By selecting products that are sustainably harvested, we continue to aid the planet's health by
reducing the requirement for artificial enhancements and ensuring whatever we take is replaced. And, by living seasonally, we enhance all of the above, and have the added benefit of enhancing appreciation for those products that are NOT available during a particular season (ie,
"absence makes the heart grow fonder").
There are many consequences inherent in making these decisions, and we must investigate those consequences with acceptance, courage and wisdom. I cited the positive consequences above. But there are potentially negative consequences, which we need to
explore:
Organic: If you want to eat organically, you have the option of buying from major retailers. Most of them offer organic products, but some of your concerns should be whether the produce is truly organic, whether the organic produce has traveled so far
that its nutrition and flavor have been compromised, and whether the importer has put pressure on producers to offer low prices to enhance the importer's bottom line while hurting the producer? We also must accept that organic foods are slightly more expensive than general
produce; are you willing and able to make that investment? Local: If you commit to consuming locally, you have to realize you must visit local farmers markets, or regularly pick up your delivery from the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) you've joined, both of which
impact convenience. You have to accept that you must invest considerable time to preserve your food for the off-season, and that means drying, canning and preferably, freezing (this preserves the most nutrition). It means you must learn the techniques of preservation, and
that takes even more time. Sustainable: Requiring your food to be sustainably produced requires accepting that you have to monitor the producers to keep them honest. You have to ask questions, you have to have the wisdom (and courage) to ask intelligent questions, and you
have to know intuitively and intellectually when you are being BSed. There's also that time factor involved with searching for sustainable producers, and researching just how sustainability relates to a particular producer. Do you have the time?
Seasonal: If you accept the value of eating seasonally, you must accept that some of your favorite foods will only be available part of the year in fresh form. Either you have to give up arugula in the wintertime, or you need to search out a local
hydroponic grower, or make arugula pesto and freeze it (http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipesMay05.html); these are
either time inconveniences or time commitments. You'll need to embrace every possible fresh tomato preparation during the summer and early autumn, and then make ragout or roast tomatoes for freezing
(http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipesSeptember03.html), while realizing you won't have to tolerate those nasty
imported winter tomatoes.
You'll need to accept the sacrifices of doing without lots of fresh ingredients during the off-season, and recognize that freezing seasonal produce will enhance your nutritional and flavorful lives during the winter while supporting local economies when
they need it the most (http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipes_Winter2005_2006.html).
There's a time commitment for all of these options, but there is a payback in the form of taste and health and local support.
So, you have to prioritize. Are you all about "you," or can you accept that you can contribute to a healthy planet for the next generations? Do you only care about your own life, or do you accept that you can adopt a role in supporting the "little guys"
near you instead of corporate giants? Do you want to march in step with the masses, or do you accept that you can stand out as an individual and leave a legacy? Do you accept that you are one (albeit, important) piece in the puzzle that we call The Earth?
Seasoned Living is devoted to education, encouragement, environmental enhancement, economic energizing, and empowerment. I hope this column offers education and encouragement to accept the downsides while celebrating the upsides. I hope that you can
take pride in enhancing the environment by accepting the decision to support organic, local, sustainable, seasonal products. I hope that you have the desire to energize your local economy, and accept that will in turn energize the national economy (this I shall term "trickle
up economy," and you have a role in building that economic foundation). I hope you accept the empowerment of making a difference in the world.
Acceptance. Whether it's major or minor, embrace it along with courage and wisdom in all aspects of your life. You can do it! And you can have serenity in your life!
© Copyright 2008 Bret S. Beall. All Rights
Reserved.
Read Past "Seasoned
Living" Columns:
Summer/Fall 2008 Celebrate Your Life Every Day Winter-Spring 2008 - "Your Personal Power Can Save the World"
Spring-Summer 2007 - "Spring Forward and Connect"
Winter 2006-'07 - "The Awe of Autumn and the Wonder of Winter"
Summer-Fall 2006 - "Tis the Season to Be Courageous"
Jan-Apr 2006 - "Life is a Lesson in Every Season"
Oct-Dec 2005 - "Honk if You Love Silence" July-Sept 2005 - "A Recipe for Balanced Living"
April-June 2005 - "Trash and Treasure"
Jan-Mar
2005 - "Life Reflection: Looking Into Mirrors"
Bret S. Beall, MS, PhD (Cand). As the CEO of GOD-DESS,
I help people live fantastic lives with minimal time,
effort or money. I have used my rigorous scientific
training to synthesize psychology, sensory input, and
logic, with global cuisine, décor, lifestyle concepts,
indoor gardening and travel for each individual in an
easy-to-understand, easy-to-create and easy-to-maintain
style. For more information, please visit my website, www.god-dess.com,
or call me at 773.508.9208, or email me at bret@god-dess.com.
Let’s start at the beginning,
though. I was born in California’s San Francisco Bay
area and lived there until I was seven. During this
time, my family often took vacations to the seashore and
to the redwood forests. There, I first felt the great
interconnectedness of all life. At seven, I moved with
my family to St. Louis, Missouri, where I continued my
environmental interests (including growing houseplants).
When I was twelve, we moved to the Ozarks of southern
Missouri, where I lived on a farm and witnessed
intimately the cycle of birth, life and death. We raised
cattle, ducks, geese and rabbits, and I worked on our
neighbor’s pig farm; we also grew a variety of produce
and I first learned about preparing and preserving food.
It was also at this time that I truly began acting on my
interests in art, design and esthetics.
I did my undergraduate work in
geology at the University of Missouri - Columbia,
graduating with general honors and honors in geology; my
coursework included a typical array of liberal arts
courses (art, philosophy, history) along with the
sciences (geology, physics, chemistry, biology,
anthropology). By living in an off-campus efficiency, I
learned the basics of simple cooking and living. After
graduation, I went on to Masters and PhD work in
evolutionary paleontology at The University of Michigan
in Ann Arbor; my studies included geology, paleontology,
biology, ecology and evolution, all presented within the
framework of proper scientific methodology.
Ann Arbor has a terrific
Farmer’s Market, which inspired me and helped me to
act on my interest in ethnic cuisines and entertaining;
this had to be done on a budget (given my graduate
student salary) and efficiently (given my graduate
student time requirements). I satisfied my artistic
inclinations by doing extensive scientific illustration
to accompany my original research. Teaching courses and
speaking publicly at student seminars, at national and
international meetings, and at various clubs and
organizational meetings provided a level of excitement I
had not experienced previously as I shared the
information and data that I had collected. “Sharing”
was the key, I realized, and this is when the seeds of
GOD-DESS were planted.
I left Ann Arbor for
Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History to accept a
position as Curatorial Coordinator of Mazon Creek
Paleontology. My long hours working on both museum
responsibilities and my own research required living
both time-efficiently and cost-effectively. In a very
short period of time, I realized I did not want to spend
the rest of my life within the academic world. I had
already experienced a high level of international
success, praise and recognition, for which I am grateful
(including making it into the Guinness Book of World
Records, and having Johnny Carson make a joke about
my research on The Tonight Show). I
eventually left the rarefied world of paleontology. This
is when the seeds of GOD-DESS began to sprout and grow.
I spent the next decade in the
field of not-for-profit healthcare association
management, honing my skills in efficiency maximization,
streamlining, prioritization, customer service,
budgeting, organization, communication and
simplification, and applying the rigors of my scientific
training to the needs of my clients. My clients
experienced extraordinary growth and profitability.
Although my salary was better
than it was in academia, I still practiced my
cost-efficient living, including preparing meals at home
to eat at work. The hours were often very long, so
time-effectiveness and efficiency-management continued
to be important, if not vital. I traveled extensively in
my various roles (including organizational
representative, event organizer, executive manager, and
lecturer); often, I tacked on vacation time to
cost-effectively explore the various cities and regions
that I was fortunate to visit, which further enhanced my
travel planning skills. On my own time during this
decade, GOD-DESS grew into a fledgling company, relying
on the empiricism of my own experiences and my research.
After more than a decade of
helping my clients experience almost 900% budgetary
growth, 900% membership growth, 400% meeting attendance
growth, and enhanced visibility that cannot be
quantified, I knew it was time to become my own boss and
devote myself 100% to GOD-DESS.
I believe we are always in the
right place at the right time. Because of that belief,
everything that I do, whether paleontology, or executive
healthcare management, or lifestyle counseling, I do
well, to the absolute best of my abilities. A lifetime
of experience and research has now created GOD-DESS and
everything it can do for you. I am grateful.
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THOUGHTS"
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