Personal Sustainability quote of the day on mindfulness

Change requires mindfulness. One must be aware of the conditions that lead to undesirable behaviour or mental states and act to avoid those conditions. In the practice of sustainability these conditions often lead to consumerism, poor dietary choices, wasting of time with pointless media, or unnecessary driving, for instance. Mindfulness is required to avoid the conditions that lead to these negative behaviours. Full awareness of the emotional triggers that lead us to seek solace in the acquisition of consumer items that lose their lustre within days of purchase, or the emptiness within which leads us to over-eat in an attempt to fill the void, the lack of planning that leads us to hop in the car to run insignificant errands that could be combined in fewer trips; and perhaps the most pernicious, the need to shut off our mental activity in front of a screen controlled by interests antithetical to our own. Mindfulness in all our actions is required. "We live under threat from painful emotions: anger, desire, pride, jealousy, and so on. Therefore we should always be ready to counter these with the appropriate antidote. True practitioners may be recognized by their unfailing mindfulness." - Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche