Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean

What are you tolerating in your life?
As a coach, one of the exercises that I recommend is to eliminate or zap “tolerations.” The dictionary definition for tolerate is “to put up with, to endure.” When you are eliminating tolerations, you want to zap those things that are draining your energy. This way you free up your energy for positive action or relaxation!


Zapping Your Tolerations
1. Make a list of 10 things at home and work that you are tolerating. (Download PDF of Tolerations Worksheet)
2. Start to zap as quickly as you can. One or Two per day.
3. Help: Ask for help. Hire Help. Make strong and respectful requests of others.
4. Buddy up with a friend. Zap together.


Tolerations can be little things that annoy you continually, that you just haven’t taken the time to address. Perhaps you haven’t even been aware that these things are sucking your energy- niggling for attention at the back of your mind. Or maybe each time this thing occurs you curse and scream, but still don’t do anything about it. (Think about Tupperware falling out of the kitchen cabinet every time you open it, the font on your outgoing emails is the wrong color, the steering wheel of the car is sticky, etc…)


Some examples from my life:
Every time I open an email with an attachment or try to send an email with an attachment, I get a dialog box that asks me if I want to change the MS Outlook Database. NO, I don’t want to change the database- If I get asked that one more time I will scream! This really slows down the process of my checking email and drains my energy.


I make beeswax candles as a hobby. For months now, every time I sat down to meditate, I was staring at a burned out candle my altar. It bugged me every time. I have about 50 candles downstairs in a box. Huh? I am happy to report that this toleration has been zapped. The candle holder has been cleaned (this was also holding me up), the used wax went into a bag (I didn’t know where my used wax bag was), and I brought candles upstairs to an easy to access place for next time. Ahhh… this feels good.


Tolerations can also be big things that are draining your energy. There are “pivotal tolerations,” tolerations that when they are taken care of will eliminate about five other tolerations.


For me a pivotal toleration is my house. The lack of organization inside has made it an uncomfortable place to live, and the neglected outside maintenance has made the house unattractive for rent or sale. By eliminating tolerations associated with my house, I clear up many other tolerations as well.


I find it very hard to keep the house clean and organized. I bought about 5 large Rubbermaid storage containers and for the past two weeks I have been organizing and storing. This has really eliminated the amount of “free floating” junk that was without a place in various parts of my home. There was camping gear in practically every room. Winter clothes strewn about. Half completed craft projects in the kitchen, office, etc… you get the picture! I now have storage containers for each of these things (camping gear, crafts, winter clothes, etc..). If one container was not enough (and often it wasn’t, which is why stuff was not put away) then I used a second container. I also realized that access to the containers was very important to continued organization. Over the last year, I had many craft items that I wanted to put away in my craft box- but the box was unreachable in the back of the storage closet! I was tolerating that all year long. And then that turned into tolerating craft items stuffed into the storage closet without being in their box. See? tolerating tolerations can be a slippery slope!

Add Music and Friends
Zapping tolerations can be fun! My girlfriend Susan gave me 4 house cleaners (herself included) for 4 hours as a Christmas Gift. We deep cleaned my house like you would not believe. After cleaning, my other friends joined us and we made a memory board to keep photos organized, hung pictures that had been off the walls for two years, changed knob pulls on an old dresser, and re-fashioned an old chandelier. I can’t even count how many tolerations were eliminated that day. And it was fun!

Today is Janmashtami, the celebration of Lord Krishna’s birth. Thoughts of sweet cows and spinning wheels are dancing in my head. The connection between sustainability and spirituality is stronger for me today than it has ever been. I have been struggling to find words and context for this journey. Yesterday my eyes were suddenly drawn to a book I purchased some time ago, but never read. The book is Vedic Ecology by Ranchor Prime. Suddenly a whole new world was opened up to me. I started searching on the Internet and found that there are entire university departments devoted to the study of the connection between religion and ecology. There are colleges, organizations, and villages devoted to living and teaching about the connection of spirituality and sustainability. I knew this was a spiritual issue, I just didn’t know that others knew too.


Sustainability Chronicles is my personal project to align my actions my closely to my eco-values. I attempt to do this by implementing a new eco-action each week. The action must be sustain-able, meaning I have to be able to make a permanent change, not just something that has high promotional value (like not using toilet paper for a whole year!). It was relatively easy to make changes like bringing my own reusable grocery bags to the store and not using to-go containers, but I am finding other changes to be a downright spiritual struggle. I am a few weeks behind in my weekly eco-actions, stymied by my inner struggles and not sure where to move next.


What I am seeking is a peaceful place within myself where I am living in alignment with God and Nature. I am deeply inspired by the example of Ghandi. (And NO I don’t wear the “Be the Change” t-shirt.) I am speaking about Ghandi’s internal commitment. Ghandi was not just resisting British oppression, but fighting the ego at the deepest level. He had the strongest commitment to his struggle for truth and was willing to sacrifice the comfort of his body (that we mistakenly hold so dear) in the process. I so admire the strength of spirit that is willing to give up small personal comforts for the good of the spirit and the whole. My life feels tainted at every level. I have this American guilt that I can’t seem to cleanse or shake. The clothes that I wear are woven with the misery of others and dyed with their blood and sweat. The occasional organic cotton clothing purchase from Patagonia just does not wipe me clean. In a moment of inspiration I was exploring the possibility of giving up all of my clothes for one simple outfit. Ghandi’s simple dhoti said so much. It spoke of his commitment to local economy, to simple living, to his unconcern with how others perceived him. My husband has dubbed the huge pile of laundry on the floor of our bedroom as Mount Laundry. Trying to conquer Mount Laundry is a burden. The never ending piles of laundry that I have to wash and put away are a huge chore. Then I thought that perhaps a modern modification could be made, I could just choose three outfits and limit myself to those for a time. Last night before I went out to a community party, I tried on and discarded at least three outfits. I looked too fat, not cute enough. How about the lace trimmed undies? Higher shoes? My concern with appearance far outweighed my supposed need for simplicity and concern for humanity. Later on at the party, I was concerned about how I looked to other people watching me dance. Can’t I dance my own sweet, authentic and simple dance? Dancing through life in my dhoti. Isn’t the only relationship that matters the one between me and my creator?

At the root of our destruction of the environment is desire. I really can’t see it any other way. Desire for unhealthy factory foods, desire for acceptance, desire for cars, clothing, sex, success. I have had the thought “I love my ipod.” I am not sure that ipod and love should be used in the same sentence. One of the things I bought with money I inherited from my father was an SUV. After years of driving a beater car, I had an intense desire to be perceived as successful. I thought that a new car, the ultimate status symbol would actually make me successful. Would even somehow manifest this supposed success. The SUV is now 10 years old and has been my badge of shame. My husband put a “Jail Bush” bumper sticker on the rear. I want to change it- “Jail Me”. I am responsible for the war. Do I now understand that desire is a beast that wants to be continually fed?


To address the ill of consumerism, I want to stop buying things that are not necessary. The day I had this thought I saw an ad on the bulletin board outside the post office “Tipi for Sale.” I have always wanted a Tipi, suddenly my resolve dissolved. If I want the Tipi, why can’t I have the Tipi? Having gone through stages of life when I didn’t have enough money for anything, I am afraid of forced deprivation. For the last 10 years I have pretty much bought whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I don’t consider myself an excessive consumer. Just the usual- consumer electronics, clothes, dining out, books, music, etc… Has any of this made me happy? No, not really. It has actually made me unhappy. The equipment breaks, the clothes no longer fit. What remains?


When I started Sustainability Chronicles I thought it was going to be easy to do something green every week. After all- there are all these books and articles that tell us it’s “easy to be green.” The thoughts are easy, talking about it is easy. Living it is hard. It is a disciple. My home and office are the ashrams and I am a disciple on the path of spirituality and sustainability.

Mary Traynor was visiting with me this weekend on the Big Island. We were working on the Marketing Plan for my company. We are working on the concept Go Green with Andrea Dean. My company is focused on the journey of sustainable living and working and employs coaching, consulting, projects and education in the righteous pursuit of living a deep, meaningful and eco life. Following is an interview/brainstorming session with Mary focused on Authenticity and the importance of a Compelling Story in marketing.

I recently had a girlfriend visiting from Maui and we were comparing notes on how we maintain a balanced life. She mentioned that she has a three legged stool comprised of these three things- self care, work and fun. Fun? I couldn’t believe it! I never though of adding fun to my list. My list of three is- meditate, exercise and eat healthy foods. A good list to be sure, but there is a lot of discipline and not a lot of joy in there. With my friend visiting we had a lot of fun- eating sushi, beaching, dancing, kayaking and a day at the spa. That one weekend was more rejuvenating to me than weeks of sit ups and vegetables. I am still going to keep my three core strategies, but have added a fourth to the list- fun.

Coaching Questions

· Can you give yourself permission to have fun?

· What are the daily or weekly habits that you have that keep you happy, strong, balanced and productive?