Welcome back to the ecoTrain highlights post! What better way to take your mind off of the cryptocurrency prices then to read a good magazine!? We are here to save you from yourselves by distracting you with amazing and useful posts! The @ecoTrain is running on full Steem and sharing some brilliant articles on an ever more diverse range of topics. Today I have listed our posts in reverse order of popularity according to engagement and up-votes! Many of our best posts go unnoticed, so here is a better chance for them to be seen!

 

@clara-andriessen

Chanting with you-tube before meditation. (7 day meditation challenge)

Namaste everyone, If you wanted to do some chanting before your meditation but don't know what to chant? Look on you-tube it's got so many wonderful chants often with the lyrics given in the video. I usually pick a chant that feels right for me that day and that suits my mood. I have stuck with the original Gayatri mantra for many years, and I think it is still my favourite. I will make a more elaborate post about that sometime. There are more then one Gayatri mantra's. Many different forms of the Divine have a mantra following the set up of the Gayatri, in which Their specific Divine quality is honoured.

@sharoonyasir

One Smile and a Deep Breath to Quickly Fight Stress

I just had a little emotional breakdown and a panic attack about 40 minutes ago. Husband and I were having a financial discussion and things weren't looking good at all. Normally, I am quite strong in such times, but I guess everyone has their bad days so I guess today was mine. My day had been fairly good till that point, but I don't know what happened to me and I went under quite a lot of stress within minutes. I was just so depressed that for about an hour, I stayed grumpy and couldn't think positively.

Day 99: 5 Minute Freewrite: Friday - Prompt: sunset

Omg, omg it is the 99th day of the freewrite curriculum and I am just so happy about. One day more and it will be a 100 days old. Woohooo! Way to go @improv and @mariannewest for starting this and making it grow so big in just 100 days. Congratulations to you both. Now back to the prompt. Today's prompt is sunset which is something I absolutely love. Here's my freewrite on the prompt.

@ecoinstant

Sustainable Tourism - Is it an oxymoron or a new opportunity?

Happy Sunday to All! The last Sunday of January, this wonderful and prosperous new year 2018, we are in the final days of a visit from my father and grandfather to our little part of South America. They have come to see and experience, the best they can, our lives and lifestyle here living in a small rural town in Colombia. This isn't the first visit for either of them, in fact it is my Grandfather's fourth visit here, but due to the rapid biological growth in the tropics, and our continuous efforts, there are new things to see each time.

@bristena94

Diary of a Free Spirit Ep. 3 - The Day That Changed My Life

15th of September 2014 was the day that radically and irrevocably changed the course of my life. It was one of those days when a choice between the red pill and the blue pill had to be made. And it had to be made quickly. It was the first day of my second year of university. I was 20 years old and a proud student of the legal department of King's College London. We hadn't even started the lectures yet, but it was already expected of us to have read a hundred pages from the introduction to tort law.

@kiaraantonoviche

Product Non-Spotlight - LiveSustainably “Don’t Buy It” Challenge

Yesterday I didn’t post a product spotlight because I spent my time considering how I could avoid buying one of my previous spotlights! That’s right, I wanted a glass water bottle like the one I featured in my Product Spotlight #13, but I also wanted to participate in the most recent “Don’t Buy It” challenge by @livesustainably! Also, I couldn’t justify buying a $14 empty water bottle when I could get a grocery store drink for a fraction of the price and just reuse the bottle. So instead, I went dumpster diving because I remembered drinking a tasty kombucha from a glass bottle last week! I hoped the bottle was still in our recycling so after a few minutes of digging, I found it!

@stillgideon

Ecotrain visits Kibbutz Lotan - an ecological village and educational centre in the Negev Desert

Today I was on an Ecotrain assignment to visit a very special place called Kibbutz Lotan which is situated in the Negev desert in the deep south of Israel. Driving along the highway through the arid Jordan valley, you might never know that such a place as this exists, tucked away, out of sight.. a little oasis of green. A living vision of how the world could look like everywhere, if humans lived in harmony with their surroundings - with care, creativity, intelligence and respect for the environment and our place in it. With its focus on ecological building and permaculture in desert environments, Kibbutz Lotan operates as an education center where people can come to learn and practice these vital skills, express their creativity and share their own gifts.

Sleepless in a strange city. Midnight rambling

Twelve o'clock midnight, restless and sleepless in a strange hotel by the incongruous name of The Astral, situated on the edge of the Airport runway. Planes carrying passengers from Egypt and from Tel Aviv come in to land, gliding deafeningly right past the balcony where I sit, smoking cigarettes and drinking instant coffee with powdered milk from a white hotel tea cup in this noisy desert Babylon. I drove all day heading south from the green hills of Galilee, through the valley of Jordan, past the parched and decimated wasteland of the dead sea with its sulphur fumes, chemical factories and sink holes. All the water has been drained. All of the salt plundered and sold. Huge diggers dredge up the remaining mud to be sold the world over for beauty products and anti ageing creams. The product's name - Ahava - meaning Love.

@mountainjewel

Biochar is Black Gold for the Soil | What Is It & Why It's Important

Soils are the most important and yet least appreciated structural element of our Earth (not that we're treating air or water any better). We even go as far as to call it dirt, alluding to it being impure or unclean. It Matters, literally Soil is what sustains terrestrial life, and as a species we are treating it as if it didn't matter. In truth, it is the matter we are made of! This article will highlight how in small ways on our homestead we are dreaming in & stewarding a better world and creating better soil.

In Search of North America's Forgotten Caffeine Plant | Part 1

Having lived most of my life in North America, I can report that we love caffeine here. It’s kind of a really big thing. Mention the coveted stimulant caffeine and coffee is most likely the first plant to come to mind. For some it may conjure up green or black tea, or even kola nut, yerba mate or yuahusa. There’s an elephant in the room here, all of these caffeine containing plant come from far away, sometimes across the globe. The negative social and ecological implications associated with our morning cuppa are often overlooked. Even if we’re talking fair trade organic (which is a big step in the right direction) the products are still shipped from afar. Why has a native and hardy shrub that boasts high levels of caffeine fallen into obscurity? Good question. Read on to find out why.

Bioregionalism | Ozarks | A Vision for the Present

Ever since I went to the permaculture course in the rolling verdant hills of Southern Indiana at a very magical place, my eyes have been open to the realities of changing our course of action to make a brighter and better earth experience for all of life. One of the keys to achieving this is Bioregionalism | Cultivating a Sense of Place.

@vangelov

Neglecting Emotions Leads to Inner Oppression

Something I have noticed is that people tend to think that emotions come for granted, nobody ever finds any interest in understanding how Human emotions work, which is quite understandable because people often look at others mainly. But the one sad and depressing thing is that some neglect to see that they too have Emotions of their own, others think that they are created out of peoples actions, where they are actually created from our own reactions based on the way we see things in others. Where are the Teachers?

Carl Gustav Jung and the Jungian Psychology A wise and somewhat forgotten Psychologist

Throughout the time I've found myself reading a lot of Carl Jung's publications and work. A man dedicated to unraveling the great mysteries of the self. What set apart Jung from other philosophers, mystics and men of knowledge was his attempt to relate and describe our inner working as much as possible with known Psychology. Hence a new breed of Psychology was born, named " Jungian Psychology ".

"Normality" Where are the borders and is "Normality" just an expression of Judgmentalism derived from a Fear of losing integrity?

There is a strange concept called "Being Normal" that seems to derive from certain criteria. I need not ask anyone what "Normal" really means because I'm quite sure that everyone would have a different answer. The dictionary and the way science describes this is thus: Normal: conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected. So out of that, I derive that being "Normal" really mean that one needs to live a life "Based" on other peoples expectations of him. But luckily, there are there are different concepts of Normality, some being: Normality as Health, Normality as Average Normality As Utopia, and Normality as Process.

@schoonercreek

The Herbal Tarot. The Moon. Lemon balm

Tonight while pondering a friend of mine a ways away and how she is fairing... I drew this card. I think I might have drawn it for her. People have used various divinatory methods for millennia. From ancient runes, to palm reading, tarot, astrology, and more. Usually a culture's choice method corresponds with their mythos. I was gifted this Herbal Tarot deck many years ago by my love. It has been used with great joy and care in several situations and every single time it has given stunningly accurate results and insight. Typically divination methods are used as tools to open our own hearts and minds to our own intuition and inner knowing.

Growing "Basket" Willow. Myriad Uses On The Farm With These Named Varieties

Many are familiar with wild willow, but did you know there are some fantastic named varieties of "basket" willow? Some of them bear names such as "Britzensis" and "Polish Purple"; they've been propagated and bred intentionally for their long straight rods, with very little branching, making them ideal for construction of all kinds. Some max out at about 6 to 7 feet tall and some of the tallest varieties grow to 10 feet or so... Some have thin diameters and some thick. These are ideal for "living willow" construction such as fences, baskets, trellises, and so much more! These varieties of willow also make beautiful hedges and windbreaks. They're non-invasive, and they have a neat, tidy clumping growth habit.

Herbal Allies 4. Pokeberry

Do you know this herbal ally? It is a long time favorite of mine. That's right, even some poisonous plants can still be allies. Phytolacca americana has a thick juicy pink stem that can reach the size of your forearm. It has large ovate rubbery green leaves and in late summer- tons of bright purple berries which are happily carried off by wild birds. It is a strong weed. I've seen it grow to 8 feet tall! One tiny little sprout can turn into a huge shrub in just one year. "Poke", as we call her around here- has a deep, thick, tough white taproot, making it quite difficult to relocate once established. It is native to Eastern United States. The plant is considered poisonous to ingest and in some cases may cause dermatological allergic reactions.

@geke

Sustainability for Kids: blockchain governance

In the journal, Nature, Guillaume Chapron suggested that smart contracts could help solve sustainability issues through blockchain governance. So let's explore one way a smart contract might be able to do that. Imagine a public lake on the outskirts of town that's being over-fished. Too much of the lake's resource of fish is being consumed too quickly and the fish population can't recover fast enough. Over-fishing at this current rate isn't sustainable and eventually the fish population will be depleted. So a group of conservationists get together to form the EcoFish Protection League. They want to help solve this problem of over-fishing. But what can they do?

Sustainability for Kids: green crypto

Yesterday, we looked at how “proof of stake” (POS) mining was a sustainable alternative to the energy-consuming “proof of work” system. Steem is a POS crypto, and some others include DASH, EOS, NEO, PIVX, NAV Coin, and ReddCoin. But are there other sustainable options for people involved in cryptocurrency? HydroMiner uses water power to generate electricity for mining and for hardware cooling. Users can get involved either by investing in their tokens, H2O and H3O, or by signing up for cloud mining. NastyMining uses solar and wind energy to power crypto transactions. And the Harvest Project is using wind energy to mine crypto that will be used to fund climate change research.

Sustainability for Kids: smart contracts

Last May, Guillaume Chapron, a PhD who studies conservation, wrote an article in Nature suggesting that environmental sustainability required not central planning, but blockchain governance. We're going to look at this idea in-depth for the remainder of this series, which ends on January 30. “Today's modes of governance,” Chapron wrote, “are prone to corruption and are unable to steer humanity towards sustainability, despite the ongoing global environmental crisis.” He pointed out two pertinent features of the blockchain that are applicable to environmental problems because they have to do with trust. The first is that the blockchain lacks a central authority and the second is that the blockchain assumes everyone behaves selfishly. But because the blockchain is decentralized and transparent, it retains integrity even if individual users don't.

@trucklife-family

Celebrate the Earth Awakening

We are coming to the end of winter, where we are meant to have cocooned ourselves and nurtured ourselves just as the natural world has all around us. What we have sown in the winter, our ideas and seeds, it is now time for them to germinate and sprout , it is time for them to awaken to the light. Our days are getting longer and all around us nature is showing signs of waking up, buds are starting to form, the sap is starting to rise.

HOW DAMS ARE OUR MIRROR IMAGE!

So much of the worlds fresh water is held in dams, preventing the earth's water from flowing. This is like a mirror image of ourselves holding on to everything. In some ways paranoid that we will lose all we have, if we let it go and end up with nothing. Afraid that we may become empty. The water that is being held in Dams has a huge, impact on the surrounding environment. So much land loses it's life line, making it dry, losing it's vegetation, it's trees, eroding the soil. Leaving the land desolate. Yet dams are still being used and more are being created. Yet this post is not about dams. Instead it is about how the way we treat the environment reflects the way we are treated, and treat ourselves.

Welcoming new Steemians and why we should be all doing it!

Steemit is such an amazing platform that has created a huge global community. Bringing together so many different people from all over the world, from all different walks of life. It is a true representative of the great diversity we have on this great planet. I continue to learn so much from everyone's blogs and to be truly inspired.

@solarsupermama

Living the Immigrant Life in the Eco Wonderland of Belize

I fell in love with Belize about a million years ago. Ok. That's an exaggeration. I came here for the first time in February of 1996 for the second semester of my junior year in college. I was 21. I was an environmental science major, so I cared about environmental and ecological issues and figured an ecological wonderland would be a good place to spend a semester. Also, Belize beats the hell out of February in Indiana. It was bitter cold in Indiana when I left, and when the door to the plane opened and I stepped out onto the stairs, I almost fell down from the wave of heat and humidity. I know a lot of people don't care for hot and humid, but it's totally my jam, so that was already a check in the "yes" column.

Finding the Right Educational Path for our Family: How I Ended up Helping to Start Katuah Sudbury School

The Initial Intro When my oldest child was a baby, I was living in Denver. Almost all the friends I had were made through La Leche League. It’s a really wonderful community, and we all had a lot in common and a lot of shared values. Through the sharing of those friends, especially the ones with lots of experience under their belts, I made the decision to homeschool. From a few I began to hear a little about a new school opening called Alpine Valley. The jury was still sort of out on it, but we were all intrigued. Some of the mamas I respected most said they would put their kids at Alpine Valley if they ever had to put their kids in school.

@likedeeler

Ecotrain Question of the Week: The Meditation Challenge - Meditation Light To Go

When @eco-alex came up with his idea of a meditation challenge I laughed, because he had presented me with a wonderful oxymoron. If there is anything I can do, it´s meditate. After 25 years, I´d better. But actually the real meditation is not doing, it´s being, it´s a state of mind. So all this doing thing about meditation are meditation techniques or preparations, tricks and gimmicks to put the meditator in the right mood, to facilitate meditation, to trigger meditation, to fool the mind or the ego or the tax collector. Even the mantra is a crutch and in the end you have to throw it away, and since you have to throw it away anyway, why use it in the first place, the arrogant bastard that I am thinks. So I hardly ever meditate with mantra, only if the monkey mind is all over the place for whatever reason, I use mantra, because thinking one thought only is always better than thinking one million thoughts, during the so-called meditation.

 

😎 Likedeeler Kalashes 😎

“Hello sir!“ the young Kalash woman greeted me friendly.
I almost got a heart attack!
I had grown so accustomed to the total separation of the sexes in public in the mountain regions of Pakistan, there were areas where you saw hardly any women in the streets, men were even doing the shopping for groceries, that when I suddenly met this young woman in her colorful costume on a mountain path I intended to walk past her without looking at her, like I had learned before.
When I was right beside her she greeted me, looking me directly in the eyes and smiled.
She was rather surprised that I seemed so distant.
I think she was hoping for some friendly chit-chat with a foreigner, but at that moment I was so overwhelmed and puzzled by this sudden culture shock that I just kept walking, flee Fleance flee! 😅

@eco-alex

The Earthship Hut Workshop Finale! 20 Volunteers, 14 Days, $5,000 Budget

Welcome to this final instalment of the Earthship Hut Series! If you have just found this for the first time then please do read and enjoy, and then you can also read previous chapters. As anyone who has self built before can testify, it is hard and rewarding work. Many people take months and even years to self build, and yet we were able to have the roof on before everyone left, 2 weeks after starting from the ground up. The main reasons for this are: 1 We made a small home and kept things very simple 2. We used Earthship Biotecture techniques 3. We worked as a team of volunteers with good guidance. I hope this final chapter will inspire you and show you that even in just TWO WEEKS we can achieve great things together.

How Steemit has changed my life and unintentionally become my only source of income! THANK YOU!

It happened! It has finally happened! I have been delivered into the lap of digital nomadism like never before! Since 1998 I have made money solely from web development, and I have worked for myself as well as many companies. I have been lucky enough to have had my last job for the last 12 years, and have been busy making websites on the side, whilst simultaneously holding workshops and doing the things I really want to do. That job has been dwindling for 2 years now, and step by step the company that I worked for have seen their business fail. Three days ago I got the final nail in the coffin to that part of my life, as the company have now stopped paying me quite suddenly, and are moving on to greener pastures.

The 7 Day Meditation Challenge: Holy * Cow * What A Difference!

I'm happy you have stopped by to read this, because it is going to be quite a read if you have any interest in meditation, or are curious to try it but don't really know why! I have been meditating each morning now for 7 days and it has definitely been a VERY interesting experience. I would like to share with you the differences an changes that I noticed during the week:

 

This week @ecoTrain have started an inspired initiative called the 'meditation-challenge'. We are all committing to this, and are inviting you to join us at any time

Will You Join Us For The Meditation Challenge?

Anyone who already meditates on a regular basis can testify to the powerful and wide range of effects and benefits that they get from it. These days meditation is starting to gain traction in mainstream media, and we are seeing meditation being taught in schools, even in Europe and USA. Many of us make important decisions every day whilst leading stressful lives. It is often when we are feeling fearful or under stress that we make bad decisions, and are unproductive and inefficient.

What better challenge could we have here on Steemit than a meditation challenge!? This challenge is for everyone, whether you have never meditated before, or you used to meditate but haven't in a while, or even if you do meditate regularly. I hope you will join us in this opporunity to make your day and the world even better!

The @ecoTrain will also be participating in this challenge, and we will be kicking things off starting on Sunday 21st Jan. Therefore we will start posting our experiences starting on Sunday 28th Jan. Are you ready for the details! !?

Click here for more information and how to join us
https://steemit.com/meditation-challenge/@eco-alex/7-day-meditation-challenge-everyone-wants-to-meditate-but-no-one-actually-does-it-join-us-today

@ecotrain

Supporting People Who Help
Make The World A Better Place

find previous ecoTrain magazines at @ecotrain

DRIVER
@eco-alex

CONDUCTOR
@likedeeler

VIPS
@bub
@omdemian
@kalima

PASSENGERS
@bristena94
@clara-andriessen
@ecoinstant
@gardenbsquared
@geke
@hopehuggs
@kiaraantonoviche
@misslasvegas
@mountainjewel
@schoonercreek
@sharoon-yasir
@solarsupermama
@stillgideon
@trucklife-family
@vangelov

If you are new to Steemit, love to write, and would like to join the ecoTrain community as an official passenger please email me on [email protected]

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