Making the Good Life Last : Four Keys to Sustainable Living

I have worked in the field of environmental protection for my entire career. Too often folks looking for planet protection measures look for technological fixes. This book expands the conversation on how we might best attend to our planet in peril. It is a thoughtful guide which gives pertinent examples of actions people can take individually that will make a difference to sustaining our environment over the long haul. Many people give up on trying to improve the plant because they think it will involve a life full of nothing but sacrifice. Michael Schuler's book beautfully illustrates that our own lives can be more meaningful and happier when we pay attention, stay put, exercise prudence and practise patience. If more people evaluated their own lives and attended to these key steps, our human community would be much better able to address the environmental challenges that face us. I believe to be the best we can be for the world, each of us needs to find a way to nurture and balance our physical, intellectual and spiritual needs. This book gives great examples in each of those areas. I found the last chapter, A Sustainable Code of the Soul, particularly inspiring. I believe it will serve me well as I work to maintain balance in my own life and continue to work in my chosen career path. Thanks to Michael Schuler for bringing the concept of sustainability home and into our hearts as well as our minds. Publisher's description: So many of us are beset by anxiety, depression, loneliness, and spiritual malaise, tense and unhappy despite our gadgets and goodies. Michael Schuler, leader of the nation's largest Unitarian Universalist congregation, says it's because, urged on by an aggressively materialist culture, we too often opt for short-term gratification and long-term denial. In this thoughtful and deeply honest book, he helps us find a life path that leads to treasures of perennial value: a beautiful and healthy earth home, enduring relationships, strong communities, work that contributes to the common good, and play that restores our bodies and lifts our souls.Deconstructing the assumption that consumption, stimulation, and constant motion comprise the good life, Schuler urges the wholesale embrace of sustainability as both an operational principle and a life-sustaining core value. His book presents sustainability as a coherent frame of reference that can ground us spiritually, heal us internally, and deepen our relationships. Schuler identifies four behavioral principles for living sustainably—Pay Attention, Stay Put, Exercise Patience, and Practice Prudence—and shows how to apply them in our daily lives. He uses stories from his own life to illuminate the rewards and challenges of sustainable living and shares insights from environmentalists, social commentators, writers, poets, businesspeople, and spiritual leaders.Sustainability means more than mere survival—for individuals, just as for natural and social systems, it's the key to thriving rather than burning out. For those seeking a more profoundly satisfying way of life, Schuler's heartfelt explorations offer a counter intuitive answer: the sustainable life is the good life Today, A Significant Percentage Of Human Beings Are Surviving, But Can't Be Described As Emotionally And Spiritually Prosperous. Depression, Apathy, Interpersonal Violence, Divorce, Vocational Dissatisfaction, Restlessness, And Anxiety Are Rampant In Our Materially-blessed Society. For All Our Gadgets, Gizmos, And 1,000 Tv Channels, Opinion Polls Suggest That Many Of Us Are Not Happy Campers.in This New Thought-provoking And Deeply Honest Book, Unitarian-universalist Pastor Michaelschuler Traces The Roots Of Our Unhappiness Back To Our Refusal To Confront The Long-term Consequences Of Our Immoderate Choices. Choosing Denial And Short-term Gratification, Many Americans Have Lost Their Connection With A Sustainable Life Path. To Help Readers Make Sustainable Living Second Nature, Schuler Identifies The Behavioral Principles That Make It Work -- Pay Attention, Stay Put, Exercise Patience, And Practice Prudence--and Shows Readers How To Apply These Principles To Their Daily Lives. In our materialist culture, the idea of “the good life”—fancy cars, designer clothes, once-in-a-lifetime vacations—leaves even those few who can afford it feeling anxious, empty, and dissatisfied. Michael Schuler deconstructs the assumption that consumption and constant stimulation equal happiness. He shows how, by applying the principles of sustainability to our personal lives, we can discover treasures of perennial value: a beautiful and healthy earth home, enduring relationships, strong communities, work that contributes to the common good, and play that restores our bodies and lifts our souls. Sustaining yourself Toward sustainability : four behavioral precepts Impediments to the practice of sustainability Impediments to the practice of sustainability (part 2) The first precept : pay attention The second precept : stay put The third precept : exercise patience The fourth principle : practice prudence A sustainable code of the soul. In a revolutionary, multi-disciplinary approach, Unitarian Universalist Pastor Michael Schuler shows how we only truly experience "the good life" when we de-prioritize short-term attainments and instead embrace sustainability as both an operational model and a life-sustaining core value In this new thought-provoking and deeply honest book, Unitarian-Universalist pastor Schuler traces the roots of people's unhappiness back to their refusal to confront the long-term consequences of immoderate choices