What is “sustainability”? What does “sustainable” mean? According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, here is one definition of sustainable: of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged <sustainable techniques> <sustainable agriculture>

The resource that I am most familiar with is myself, this being typing at the keyboard right now. In my experience (and referring to the definition above), awareness practice is a fantastic tool for discovering how to “use myself so that I am not depleted or permanently damaged.” To the contrary, with awareness I have the tools that help me to see how I “deplete or permanently damage myself.” In other words, I have the opportunity to see how I cause myself to suffer so I can drop that and end suffering.

What is sustainable for this being?

Regular meditation, workshops, and retreats.

A deep and ongoing commitment to turning to awareness practice, turning to sangha, turning to a larger perspective as I approach any challenge in my life.  I have proven to myself over and over and over that, to paraphrase Cheri Huber, “Going through difficulty is the only way to approach it.” When I face life squarely, not angling away to avoid a difficulty, not chasing a difficulty to the ground so I “can be done with it,” I invariably come out the other side, still alive, and with gratitude for a larger perspective that comes from a commitment to being present to life.

Taking care of the physical form through which I perceive the world. At what seemed like a shockingly old age, I discovered, with awareness, that conditioning had been “taking care of” this body. It’s not a form of “taking care of” that I want to continue. With awareness, with a willingness to explore and experiment, I have new avenues for taking care of this form.

Work that is valuable to me and in which I PARTICIPATE. Participation, being part of a larger perspective, working toward a greater good, is the antidote to being stuck in “small mind,” conditioning, and self-hate.

What is not sustainable for this being?

Listening to the conversation from conditioning about how I’m doing it all wrong, how this is not well-written, how I’m starting to ramble on, how I haven’t stuck to the topic, and on and on and on and on.

With deep gratitude for this practice and for the opportunity to turn my attention to sustainability, I wish you all a sustainable (not to mention fun and participatory!) future.