A Simple and Easy New Years Resolution

Some of you may recall that last June we ran a piece about mindfulness exercises. For some time I had been emailing out regular weekly mindfulness/meditation exercises to the members of the West Wight Sangha and to other friends and associates. Last New Year I introduced an additional Daily Mindfulness Exercise and post a reminder of this with each weeks email.

Quite simply, the exercise is to remember to pick up and dispose of one piece of litter every day.

Read more here.

So it was with interest that I read the following letter from Marion Draper in the Isle of Wight County Press just before Christmas................

"MANY will soon be making new-year resolutions, most of which will probably be abandoned before the month is out. 

How about we all make a resolution to keep the pavement, verge, gutter in front of our home, shop, business or school free of litter for the whole year? 

It will cost each of us nothing more than a minute of our time each day to do that and it will help turn our beautiful Island into one of the cleanest places to live and to visit. 

Of course, it would be wonderful if the slovenly, thoughtless people who discard all the rubbish could be persuaded not to, but that's a harder nut to crack. 

However, if we can enthuse the youngest in our communities to come up with ideas to encourage the older children and adults who do the littering to alter their behaviour, perhaps in tune we can reduce the amount of rubbish that is so carelessly discarded in the streets and countryside, sometimes no more than a few feet from a bin."