To be honest, this week was very stressful, and I was not really focusing on being mindful of others. Even though this week was about being aware of your surroundings and certain paradigms that may harm our society and environment, I did not care to notice anything but myself. What does that say about me? I was assigned to read the article in which the context explains that we need to change our culture because it is the only true way, we can save are environment. During the read, I fully supported what the author was saying. However, when I was discussing with my classmates about what was the best option for sustainability, me and the other person that read the “no” article immediately agreed that changing the culture will be more difficult overall and it is easier to enforce rules that focus on the individual. Although we both agreed that changing the culture is possibly the best option in an ideal world, it is not a realistic one. Going back on the emotion roller coaster I went on this week; it makes sense that I would think changing the individual focused culture we have will be harder. Everyone in some way is selfish, meaning whatever is around us is most important issue we should focus on. If you have a nice house and food on your plate, you will not think about the people who fight just for a comfortable shelter and at least one meal a day.

            Why is it so difficult to change our mindset? Our society’s paradigms (specifically in the U.S) are more focused on the person and not the community. Most of the population will not do something that does not benefit them. When we were discussing this in class, I mention that sustainability focused jobs are the type of work people would not want to do. Recycling and cleaning the environment (like picking up litter/trash, removing oil/ trash from the ocean, etc.) are not full-time jobs people want. Therefore, these are mostly volunteering work, but there are only so many people that can dedicate time to volunteer. I suggested that these jobs have the same mentality as pluming. No one grows up wanting to do these jobs for a living, but due to the high demand, these jobs give a great income. I wished we talked about this more in class, as it is full of college students that need to focus on how to make money once we leave college.

My major takeaway of this lesson is that sometimes life is unfair. Whatever our personal paradigm is, it will not overcome what society and our cultural has influenced others paradigm to be. Am I being selfish for wanting everyone to change their ways? Sometimes people must help themselves before they can even think about what to do for the environment. How do I know that I am in the right?

On a lighter note, medication for be has, for the most part, relaxing. I would go outside, and people watch. As creepy as that sounds, I mostly dose off and just let time go back. Whether this is or is not helping me become mindful, it was peaceful to just let myself think about nothing, even if its only for 5 minutes.