Diamond-Cut Life

Living sustainably takes an ongoing focus. It takes mindfulness. My experience is that all kinds of things, but especially addictions, destroy that mindfulness.

Years ago I was smitten with a man, a man beautiful inside and out, who was — you guessed it — unavailable. I obsessed about him for weeks, neglecting other things in my life, knowing it made no sense, but unable to regain my focus. As a casual friend, he knew nothing of my mental addiction to him. When he moved we lost contact, my fever finally broke, and my focus on my core values and real life resumed.

A few years later he returned to Portland and chance circumstances landed us working side by side on a sustainability project we were both passionate about. We collaborated beautifully, and I had no designs on him, none of the old need for him to see me in a romantic light. The focus was on the project and our shared goals and values. It was the perfect relationship between me and this particular man, untainted by any obsession. The old addiction was redeemed, and I felt deeply blessed.

Addictions lock us into the mainstream rat-race of ‘always wanting more’. Freedom from addiction gives us the ability to contribute and care about something beyond our immediate gratification — which is the core of sustainability.

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