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West Virginia UniversityExtension Service

WLG 208

ustainable LivingDoug Hovatter

Extension Agent, Berkeley County

Are we born with the ability for sustainable living?As we develop and age, what happens to our atti-tudes about living? What are the secrets to enjoyingand sustaining life?

This program topic will assist the participant to:

identify what sustains us in living,assess behavior toward positive living,learn positive ways of living, andlearn effective communication for living.

Introduction

Do you know what sustains you in your life? If youlook at people who appear to enjoy life, you will

notice they have learned what sustains them inliving. They have learned to celebrate the day.Most people have much to celebrate throughout life,but become unfocused on what sustains them inliving. Lets explore how this happens and how youcan learn more about sustainable living.

Activity: Provide paper and pencil for each person.Ask members to list five of their lifes mostoutstanding memories. Then, ask them to describewhat makes each memory outstanding. Third,ask them to list one very positive memory andwhat they believe makes that memory so special.

You may want to take a few minutes to list thesememories and why they are outstanding.

The greatest sustainers of living occur each daywithin our minds.

Personality Skills of Sustainable Living

The following are some typical skills common toindividuals who have learned what sustains them inliving. A short description is provided. You may

want to have examples and allow the members todiscuss their definition of each personality skill of sustained living. You may want to expand the list of

personality skills. The important thing in thisexercise is for all members to determine for them-selves what behaviors they see as positive skills insustainable living.

Caring and Thoughtfulness have a broad meaningbut denote certain characteristics that most people

will agree on. Being caring and thoughtful means tobe kind and compassionate through acts of kindnessand service to others. It also means having aservants attitude in actions and responses towardothers; looking for opportunities to serve rather thanbe served; expressing gratitude easily and often toothers with thank you and please as part of ones daily vocabulary; forgiving others and notholding a grudge; and helping people in needwithout thought of reward or recognition.

Use these skills to become a caring/thoughtful person:

Be kind to others through your actions andcommunication. Look for opportunities to serveothers.

Express gratitude freely and often to others andlet them know how much you appreciate them.

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Learn to use thank you and please as part of your speech.

Send thank-you notes and tell others aboutanother persons acts of kindness toward you.

Forgive others and yourself daily.

Help others in need. By doing this you will fulfilla greater need in yourself.

Activity: Ask members what caring/thoughtfulnessmeans to them.

Respect and Honor How we give and treat otherswith respect and honor is learnedwe are not bornwith this ability. Respect and honor begin with self.What sustains us throughout life is learning torespect and honor our strengths and weaknesses. Aswe develop self-respect and honor, we learn torespect and honor others.

Develop these personality skills for sustainable living:

Respect and honor the Golden Rule in treatmentof others.

Respect and honor all people and their differences.

Respect and honor your family and friends.Respect and honor your country and flag.

Respect and honor your spirituality and thespirituality of others.

Respect and honor the feelings of others.

Respect and honor other peoples time.

Respect and honor natural resources.

Activity: Ask members how they show respect.

Fairness and Justice are very important aspects of sustainable living. Everyone has his/her ownmeasuring stick to determine how fairness and

justice are measured and what is fair and just. Asyou develop your skills in sustainable living,remember these strategies of being fair and just:

Play by the rules.

Take turns and share resources.

Be open-minded; learn to be a good listener.

Dont take advantage of others.

Dont blame others carelessly.

Affection and Love can be defined in many ways.Individual needs for affection and love are different,but all individuals need some form of affection andexpression of love, such as a kiss, hug, handshake,or pat on the back. Affection and love are emotionsthat can be very powerful in sustainable living. It isvery important individuals understand these humanbehaviors and the need in all of us for some form of affection and expression of love. You can:

Give a pat on the back.

Give a warm handshake.

Touch the persons hand or arm. Touch is a verypowerful form of affection.

* Remind members some people are sensitive tobeing touched. Respect others personal spaceand dont cause a problem for yourself. Safe

areas of touch are usually the hand, lower part of arm, or shoulder. Affection and expressions of love also can be communicated through tone of voice, smile, and selection of words.

Joy and Happiness normally come from within aperson. They are expressed through many ways,such as smiles, body stance, posture, walking, tone,and quality of voice. We all know some people who

are joyful, and they are a joy to be around. Theirpersonality is like a beautiful sunrise after a stormynight, which reminds us that joy comes in themorning. Here is another secret for sustainableliving. Individuals need happiness and joy in theirlives. Because they want joy and happiness, they areattracted to positive behaviors of joyful and happypeople. Announce your Joy and Happiness!

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Learn to be joyful and happy by doing the following:

Smile.

Keep a list of happy thoughts.

Learn what makes you happy.

Learn to say whats good for you today insteadof saying whats wrong.

Be positive and have faith in yourself and others.

Always see the day as partly sunny, notpartly cloudy.

When you wake each morning, say this will be a joyful day and believe it.

When you go to bed at night, remember thehappiness of the day.

Learn that joy and happiness come from within.No one makes us happy or joyful; we do itourselves.

Activity: Have members tell of some joy orhappiness in their life.

Strategies for Sustainable Living

1. Understand the needs of people for sustainablelivingfaith, hope, and love.

2. Surround yourself with positive thoughtsand ideas.

3. Learn what makes you happy in life and whatyou have faith in.

4. Learn to smile.

5. Learn to treat all people equally.

6. Find something positive in everyone and everysituation.

7. Develop personal goals.

8. Develop your personal mission statement.

9. Develop a Happy Bag/Box where you keepreminders or memory stimulatorspicturealbums, cards, notes, letters, messages, pressedflowers, songs, poems, etc.

10. Identify your strengths and areas for growth.

11. Continue to develop your body, mind, and spirit.

Guidelines for Sustainable Living

1. Confirm for yourself what has sustained youthus far in your life.

2. Be honest with yourself and others.

3. Confirm what you care about and love.

4. Identify what makes you happy and brings joy.

5. Develop goals and work to meet them.

6. Be appreciative of others and let them knowthrough random acts of caring and love.

7. Remember the good in people and forget thebad. Give honor and respect first.

8. Remember you cant change people or events,and theres no going back.

9. Dont dwell on past mistakes or live life saying,I should have, I could have, I would have...

10. Develop your body, mind, and spirit every day.

11. Confirm that fairness and justice for all are apart of your sustained living.

12. Work to increase your faith, hope, and love as afoundation of sustainable living.

Remember.... Live each day as if its your last; it may well be.

What will be said of us when our living is complete?Creating the memory that will be left of us is anopportunity we each have today . Yesterday is gone.Tomorrow is a maybe. But we each have todayaday to realize what sustains us in our living. Our

faith in self, others, and our spirituality; our hope inself, others, and our spirituality; and our love of self,others, and our spirituality.

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_______________________________________________

Programs and activities offered by the West Virginia UniversityExtension Service are available to all persons without regard torace, color, sex, disability, religion, age, veteran status, sexualorientation or national origin. Issued in furtherance of CooperativeExtension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperationwith the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Director, CooperativeExtension Service, West Virginia University.

ES98-018

References

McCroskey-Richmond, InterpersonalCommunication, Burgess Publishing,Morgantown, W.Va., 1992

1998: 1M