JULY & AUGUST 

The entire planet is heating up right now. Global warming is playing havoc with weather patterns, which in turn affects all plant and animal life. Our emotions are fired up and disagreements are reaching a boiling point, as is evidenced by the ever-increasing and escalating geo-religious-political-economic conflicts around the globe.

Time out! 

Now is the time to turn our attention to positive solutions and focus our thoughts and actions creating peace. Peace of Mind. Peace of Heart. Peace on Earth. There is a chance for peace.

So much bad news So little time. What’s a gal to do?

Well, do something, certainly. We can’t just sit here and watch this wonderfully woven world unravel around us. Like many of you, I pledged myself on the Summer Solstice to engage my efforts in some endeavor for the environmental good.

For me, it was the summer of the paper bag.

My old friend, Ryan spent the summer doing construction work around Mama Donna’s. In addition to all the great repairs and improvements, he also brought La Cruella coffee back into my life. Big time. Every morning I’d set off to the Dominican Castillo for two cafe con leche grandes to go for us, my own paper bag in hand.

Each time I handed over my crumpled, much-folded bag along with my money, I would comment, “I’m re-cycling.” In the beginning, the guys were disgusted — a used paper bag, how uncouth. Then, after weeks of the same unwavering procedure, they began to show interest and soon it became a contest of sorts. Just how long would one bag last? Were they taking bets, I wondered?

Eventually, I began to give status reports. “Four weeks. Times seven days. That’s 28 bags we saved.” How many bags makes a tree? I used that same bag again and again, toting 20 ounces of liquid plus cups – almost one and a half pounds in weight — each time. I discovered what the Japanese have known all along, that paper is nearly indestructible.

I finally retired that bag into the re-cycling bin when it began to feel too flimsy after nine weeks of service. That’s 63 bags-worth. At that rate, a person would only need to use six bags a year, saving 359 bags in all. And that’s just for coffee. Times how many people, how many meals? How many trees?

Very impressive. A perfect example that everything, everything, matters. Every single thing counts. We live in a participatory universe and since everything is connected, there is no such thing as an outsider, a disinterested observer. According to quantum physics, observers, by the very fact of observation, affect events.

Our not doing is a potent as our action. In other words, that by doing something positive, even just by thinking positive thoughts, the negative trends are altered and transformed. as are we.

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Donna Henes is the author of The Queen of My Self: Stepping into Sovereignty in Midlife. She offers counseling and upbeat, practical and ceremonial guidance for individual women and groups who want to enjoy the fruits of an enriching, influential, purposeful, passionate, and powerful maturity. Consult the MIDLIFE MIDWIFE™

The Queen welcomes questions concerning all issues of interest to women in their mature years. Send your inquiries to thequeenofmyself@aol.com.