Embracing All Things Green
Photo: Brian Mulvany
Growing up in Ireland surrounded by "40 shades of green," it would certainly not have been considered a compliment to be told "you're green." While that once only implied naiveté and lack of street smarts, green has now become the new black—it's sexy, cool and current to be called "green."
As a child in rural Ireland, green is indelibly imprinted on your soul, in every sense of the word. Literally, green was all around us—it was certainly the dominant color in the environment—and figuratively, we were also kept in the dark regarding many of the facts of life that are common knowledge among today's youth. (At 10 years of age, I still believed the doctor was delivering babies in his suitcase!)
In this world we lived in, we grew all our own veggies and fruits, which instilled an innate respect for the land, as it was the source of our nourishment. We fertilized with manure from the local farms, got our milk in cans from a local farmer and carried big straw shopping baskets to go grocery shopping. Our water came from pumps or the well, and we didn't have such thing as a rubbish bin or trash can—scraps of food were instead returned to the earth, where they completed the cycle to give life to new plants. Empty cans and bottles found other uses, as flowerpots, vases or crafting materials. We didn't call it "recycling" or think of ourselves as being "environmentally conscious." It was simply the only way of life we knew, and we took comfort in it.
The color green, therefore, is soothing, calming and balancing. It's the color of nature, the color of the heart chakra, the color of life and abundance. The foods that provide the best nourishment to our bodies are green, and these days, green is also the symbol for a new movement back toward the wisdom of more traditional ways of life.
Green is also the national color of my homeland, and in honor of this, I'm focusing on ways we can nourish our bodies, minds and souls by embracing all things green.
Learn the real reasons it's good to eat your greens
As a child in rural Ireland, green is indelibly imprinted on your soul, in every sense of the word. Literally, green was all around us—it was certainly the dominant color in the environment—and figuratively, we were also kept in the dark regarding many of the facts of life that are common knowledge among today's youth. (At 10 years of age, I still believed the doctor was delivering babies in his suitcase!)
In this world we lived in, we grew all our own veggies and fruits, which instilled an innate respect for the land, as it was the source of our nourishment. We fertilized with manure from the local farms, got our milk in cans from a local farmer and carried big straw shopping baskets to go grocery shopping. Our water came from pumps or the well, and we didn't have such thing as a rubbish bin or trash can—scraps of food were instead returned to the earth, where they completed the cycle to give life to new plants. Empty cans and bottles found other uses, as flowerpots, vases or crafting materials. We didn't call it "recycling" or think of ourselves as being "environmentally conscious." It was simply the only way of life we knew, and we took comfort in it.
The color green, therefore, is soothing, calming and balancing. It's the color of nature, the color of the heart chakra, the color of life and abundance. The foods that provide the best nourishment to our bodies are green, and these days, green is also the symbol for a new movement back toward the wisdom of more traditional ways of life.
Green is also the national color of my homeland, and in honor of this, I'm focusing on ways we can nourish our bodies, minds and souls by embracing all things green.
Learn the real reasons it's good to eat your greens
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