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Green Living

What is Composting?

Composting is recycling your kitchen waste and lawn trimmings and turning them into a valuable resource for your garden or houseplants. This is done by speeding up the process that the materials you use to compost go through on their own – decomposition.

Compost is not soil. It is a common misconception that the end-result of composting is the dirt that you find in the ground. It is a substance that acts as a fertilizer (enriching the soil) to grow hardier and healthier plants.

Before you begin composting there are choices to be made – what type of container and style suits your project, what you will be putting into your compost bin, and the location of your bin. But regardless of these decisions, how you convert your waste into compost happens the same way. It is a breakdown of waste materials as they are digested by microbes (bacteria and fungi).

The microbes are the workers of the composting equation. They need air, water, and food to do their job and it is up to you to supply it to them in the right amounts. If you have heard that having a compost bin or pile creates a foul odor it is most likely the result of not enough air circulating throughout the waste material. Without air, the material will still breakdown but it will be done by anaerobic microbes (organisms that do not need oxygen) as opposed to aerobic (ones that need oxygen). So if you do have an unpleasant smell coming from your compost bin or pile you can rotate the material to let in more air or add a substance to create more room for the air to circulate. Wood chips or hay are good for this.

Composting is good for the environment and your garden – it eliminates the amount of waste you throw away and enriches the soil your plants grow in.

Organization

Time to get moving!

When it comes to doing away with stress in your life, you really have to get moving – and I mean that in every sense of the word.

Get moving physically

Exercise is a great stress buster! Physical movement releases endorphins in your brain that can help you feel more calm and relaxed. You don’t have to go to the gym for a workout, either. Just going for a walk can have a calming effect. If you’re in a bad neighborhood, try walking somewhere safe like a mall – although best to leave your credit card behind or it could be stressful in another way later on. If you’re at work, try taking the stairs instead of the elevator after a stressful meeting. It can work wonders.

Get moving mentally

Don’t procrastinate – it’s not called the “thief of time” for nothing! If you put things off, you’ll just be more stressed later. The sooner you start that difficult task, have that awkward conversation, or anything else you don’t want to do, the sooner you’ll get it done and put it behind you. The nice warm feeling you’ll get inside is much better than having your guts in a knot through stress anyway.

Wow, we’ve covered quite a lot in our articles, let’s just recap.

We talked about how you can develop systems and routines for handling regular tasks. We discussed why it’s important to create a work/life balance. I told you what SMART goals are, and why you should create them. We covered the 4 A’s” of stress management, and I told you about mindfulness – a neat trick to stay calm that works every time.

But you know what?

Within the confines of this short e-course, I’ve only been able to scratch the surface of this fascinating subject. There’s a whole bunch of stuff I just haven’t had the time to tell you about – I cover in detail in my Course Chaos to Calm. It’s still available.

Grab your copy right now:

To your success!

Organization

Reprogram your mind to stay calm

A lot of people say that stress is all in the mind. That’s true to a certain extent. Outside forces can put all of us in stressful situations from time to time, but have you ever noticed how some people can manage those situations better than others?

Some of the most successful people in the world reprogram their minds through meditation to help them think more clearly, stay calm and deal with stress better. Just the mention of the word “meditation” puts people off, though. They think it’s too difficult, time consuming or means having to sit in an awkward position on the floor and chant a mantra. Others are fearful of it and think it’s all to do with cults or religion.

Let me put your fears to bed.

The type of meditation I’m going to talk about today does not require you follow any faith (or none), nor does it require you to take up an uncomfortable posture. You don’t have to devote a specific time to it either; in fact, you can fit it in whenever you have a spare moment.

The meditation I’m talking about is called Mindfulness.

Do this for me right now: Put down your phone or look away from your computer. Close your eyes and listen. I mean REALLY listen. What can you hear? If you’re indoors you might hear the hum from a heater or air-conditioner, perhaps the radio or TV on in another room. If you’re outdoors you might hear birdsong, traffic in the distance or maybe an airplane overhead. Now concentrate on your breathing. Listen to each breath. Try and clear your mind for as long as possible, but when the thoughts come, let them drift by like clouds in the sky. Don’t pay too much attention to them. Just relax for a moment, then slowly bring yourself back to reality. When you open your eyes, you’ll feel much more calm and relaxed. That’s mindfulness.

PS. There’s no stress in getting a copy of my chaos to calm Course. See for yourself here: