YEAR-ROUND RELEASES
RESOURCEThe "Simpler Living Alternative Calendar" Works ANYYear!
July 29 - Debt is the Enforcer of the addiction of overconsumption. Debt is a mobster that would control our lives! Avoid debt by controlling consumption.
October 14 - Vow to eat at least one meal a day together. Often we allow the school, the community, the TV, even the church to take away our common meal.
November 3 - Simplicity is a disciplined life - disciplined, not deprived or joyless. We are given great freedom to care about all of God's Creation, rather than nurturing the perversions and idols that our society has created and worships - our stuff. Stuff exists to meet our needs. But if we spend our time, energy and money nurturing it instead of our relationships with God, others and ourselves, it will own us, control us and ultimately destroy us and the Earth.
The New "Simpler Living Alternative Calendar" Works ANY Year!
"The Simpler Living Alternative Calendar strives to help change our wasteful habits into Creation-Conserving, Earth friendly ones," said Gerald Iversen of Simple Living Works! - successor to Alternatives. "We can start by living the Environmental Tithe - by reducing our consumption by at least 10%." The word "tithe" means "a tenth" or 10%.
This 366 day calendar can be used during ANY year. "Start any day. . . Start TODAY!" Iversen said. "Time and seasons are circular, continuous. Time does not begin with January and end with December. Jump in ANYWHERE. The calendar includes no days of the week."
This calendar attempts to impact various aspects of our lives. It is designed for people at any level of commitment and ability. Each month has a theme and each week has a related topic. Each month includes time to Contemplate, to Self-evaluate, to Investigate and to Act. For serendipity a different topic may appear out of the blue from time to time.
Alternatives' Any-Year Calendar booklet also serves as Bulletin Insert masters.
Read each day's thought alone, with the family, in a study circle or small group, or with your faith community. Use it at home, at the office; as church bulletin blurbs, newsletter fillers, etc.
Th entire text is available free of charge at SimpleLivingWorks.org >> Archives.
Alternatives' mission "equips people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly, and celebrate responsibly" - is carried on by Simple Livign Works! Started in 1973 as a protest against the commercialization of Christmas, it encourages celebrations year-round that reflect conscientious ways of living. Throughout its 38-year history, Alternatives has helped lead the movement to live more simply and faithfully. The many staff members and volunteers of Alternatives have developed a wide variety of resources, organized an annual Christmas Campaign, held the Best and Worst Christmas Gift Contest, led numerous workshops, and reached countless people with the message of simple, responsible living. Alternatives emphasizes relationships and traditions over things, hoping to avoid stress and debt, and promoting alternative giving - helping the truly needy instead of spending so much on ourselves.
Alternatives produced resources on living more simply, and resources for children and adults. It offers free resources on simpler living and related topics (such as hunger, the environment, media literacy, etc.) for Advent and Christmas, for Lent and Easter, for weddings and for year-round use - some in Spanish.
Other resources produced by Alternatives are usable year-round. Wedding Alternatives: A Guide to Planning Out-of-the-Ordinary Celebrations comes in English (soft cover or packet for copying) and Spanish editions. The video Break Forth into Joy!: Beyond a Consumer Lifestyle won a Gold Medal at the Houston International Film Festival! The new Treasury of Celebrations aims to help create celebrations that truly reflect your values and don't cost the Earth.
Alternatives also produced resources appropriate for reevaluation of Christmas, including Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?; collections of Christmas stories to read aloud or alone; and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas video.
One needn't be a member to use Alternatives' resources. Contact SimpleLivingWorks@yahoo.com. Visit SimpleLivingWorks.org. #####
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This page last updated 4 October 2012 (originally 27 February 2003)
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MISSION: Equipping people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly and celebrate responsibly // An all volunteer educational organization.