Ancestral Medicine Women
Photo by Corey Leopold [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

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“But I am just one person, what can I do?”

Welcome. This is Mother Sha-Riah.
We often hear and people often say to us:
“But I am just one person, what can I do? I see all of these things in the environment, I see these things in humanity, I see these things in my community, I am angry about them, I want change to occur and so on and so on, but I am just one person, what can I do?”
And our response to that has become: “If not you, then who?”
“If not you, then who?”
“Who is going to do it?”
If you are the one that is seeing these things and they are angering you and they are sort of propelling you to action, then we suggest that you are the one, you are the who.
Now the thing is though on that, does that mean then that you have to create a world-movement?
Does that mean that you have to get a lot of supporters behind you and make things happen in the wider community?
No, it doesn’t. It can mean that if that’s the kind of work that you want to do or the kind of action that you want to take. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to do that though.
One person can make an enormous difference. Just by doing what they can do.
So, let’s look at the environment and look at the plastic bags or disposable foods, the disposable everything. Everything is disposable, if you buy a fridge and within three years it is broken, do you get it fixed? No, you throw it away to buy a new one because that’s how they’re made. In fact sometimes is cheaper to buy a new something because the parts are more expensive.
So you buy the new thing and the way that manufacturing and businesses have set themselves up is in exactly that way. To keep people coming back we have a small life expectancy on the product and then when it’s done they have to buy a new one. That’s the business model for many, many businesses around the world.
So as an individual you make the decision that you are not going to participate in that kind of business, in that kind of lifestyle. You are not going to constantly be replacing, you are not going to buy disposable things, you are not going to buy things that won’t last, you are going to make things that last. You are going to recycle things that last.
You are not going to be polluting the world with masses of rubbish whether that’s from paper, plastic, food stuffs and so on and so on. You’re going to actually not buy the ready-made-food, you are not going to buy food even from the supermarket like tomatoes and zucchini that are packaged already for you to take. No, you are going to go to the local market. You are going to buy from your neighbours who might have chickens and so on and you are going to take your plastic container, or your basket and you are going to get those things and bring them home.
Well, you might say “Well, that’s not very much!”
That’s an enormous thing, because what happening is, you, are deciding to live a particular kind of life with the social conscience of your environment. Not just the social conscience of your environment but the social conscience of humanity and making sure that not only is there a place for humanity to live in the future, but that humanity itself is taking charge, taking responsibility and being accountable.
If you start to do these things you’ll find that people around you will be a little bit more careful when they’re with you. Now they might just go and do whatever they do normally when they’re not with you, but the point is, that when they’re with you, they will attempt to be more careful.
Now if that translates into a rippling effect around into your community, whether that is your family, your descendants, whether that is neighbours, work colleagues, it doesn’t make any difference, you are making a stand, you are making the effort, you are being responsible and you are holding yourself accountable for the part that you can play in the world in change, in effecting change, in making things happen and not just sitting back and getting angry and blaming the Government and blaming the neighbours and blaming the businesses, no! You are taking action quietly, confidently and you are doing it in a way that is making a ripple effect with those that are around you.
One person can change the world.
It might take a little while for that change to occur, but, once one person starts on this kind of path then it catches people up and even now you can see this is the kind of effect that this is happening. More and more people around the world when we talk about the environment like this they are starting to really hold themselves accountable and they are trying to make a difference themselves in their own way.
So if not you, then who? Well we say – you are the who!
The other thing that we say: “If not now – then when?” because a lot of people say : “Oh, I’m going on a diet on Monday”; “I’ll start to look for a new job on Monday” ; “On the weekend I will do this” – it never happens.
If not now, then when? NOW is the time.
Don’t be the WHEN, be the WHO and be the NOW!
Don’t be the NOT YOU and the WHEN!
Do it – start right now.
Start as soon as you get the idea into your head and you work out how you are going to be able to contribute to that particular thing, to that particular movement.
The more people that start to take accountability for themselves, or start to take responsibility for themselves and hold themselves accountable; the more people that start to do that, and if they start to do it now, then the more and more and more energy will build so that that particular thing, whatever it is: you don’t use so much power in the house, you don’t use a mobile phone, you don’t use the data, you don’t buy plastic bags, you don’t buy pre-possessed food, and so on and so on and so on.
The more people that do that, the better humanity is going to be. Not just the planet, but the better humanity is going to be, the growth and development of humanity.
And that is important if we want to come to terms with ourselves, as a human group and our environment.
So remember: “If not YOU then WHO?” – be the WHO
“IF not NOW then WHEN?” – be the NOW
Thank you so much, many blessings,

Mother Sha-Riah,
one of the www.ancestralmedicinewomen.com

This is one article in a series called “Do your work”

Corey Leopold [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

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Brad Dunn / Hinorayam

Hi, I'm Brad.
The Ancestral Medicine Women are a lineage of healers from my Mothers ancestral line, and I'm delighted to be able to share the experience of these amazing people from our past.
I am an apprenticed shaman and healer. I have more than 10 years consulting experience, and a love for spirit, gardening, farming and people.