Bringing it Home (from Joe)

In an effort to gain wisdom from past staff members and the ways they have been affected by the Farm I asked people to reflect on how they have brought the farm how after spending at least a year on staff. Our first response comes from Joe Ciesielski who was on staff August 2007-August 2008. Joe now teaches in Philadelphia. Here's what he has to say...

Hey Mike,

So I listen to a lot of NPR on my drive to work. On the local station they have a psychologist who just received an award for in Taiwan. He was talking about how life-changing this experience was for him. He was struck by how much kindness was shown to him and how he wanted to be more aware of kindness in his life, of showing kindness to other and being thankful for kindness shown to him. He wanted to do a better job of not passing judgment on individuals (which I'm sure is really difficult as a psychologist). The key to making changes in your life, such as the ones he was trying to make, is to set small, measurable goals. "I'm going to try to be aware of kindness and not passing judgment" is an attainable goal while "I'm going to be a better person," he says, is easy to let slide. You have nothing to hold yourself accountable. The mind always gravitates towards whats comfortable, so if you don't set yourself up for success by setting small, attainable goals, it's going to be very easy to let them slide away.

This has been very true in my life. When I was at the Farm, I knew that one of the things I wanted to do was keep up with relationships with those I loved in Baltimore, Philly and West "by God." So I set a goal for myself of writing a letter or a note to some one every day for the 40 days of Lent. Now, did I write one every day - heck no. But I did feel really good about staying in touch with people and growing in my relationships. But when I left WV, I didn't set a goal like that for myself. So I started a new job, got a new car, bought (actually am buying) a house, and I let those relationships that I had nurtured slide.

But it ain't all bad. One of the things I wanted to do was incorporate simplicity in what I am consuming. So I set goals for being more aware of where my food was coming from, cooking more myself and growing some. I joined a food co-op that gets all it's food from local farmers, and members can even help grow some of it, made some delicious dishes and have a few tomato plants that look pretty good so far.

There is always room for improvement and there always should be. I can build off these small success and take this aspect of simplicity to the next level. But you have set goals for yourself and set yourself up for success and keep people around you who can hold you accountable.