Welcome back to the ecoTrain highlights post! Today I have listed our posts in order of popularity according to engagement and upvotes. To be honest though, they are ALL amazing posts and I can barely keep up with such incredible people that we have on @ecoTrain. A big shout out to all ecoTrain passengers for being beautiful, authentic and inspiring people! I don't need to say ... SteemOn!

@eco-alex

13 Ways To Live A Balanced Life - must read! The Path To Enlightenment Part 7 of 9

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The whole universe is in balance, in a seemingly delicate and perfectly orchestrated harmony of infinite proportions. The planets spin around the sun, and they all dance around each other in a great cosmic ballet. Here on earth our ecosystems and all life live together in harmony. Over billions of years life has evolved as part of a connected whole that uses, re-uses and recycles absolutely everything. Within each life-form an incredible symphony of events happen constantly, each maintaining a fine balance of perfection that allows us to live and survive the harshness of the elements. Our muscles are coordinated in nanosecond timing by our brains, and our brains function from the moment we are born to the moment we die without ever stopping. When we look inside a single microscopic cell, there are 37 thousand billion billion chemical reactions happen each second! All of this perfectly co-ordinated, managed and maintained by the delicate balance that is nature and our universal natural laws.

My Meditation-Challenge Journal - Days 4-5: My Thoughts About Detachment, Equanimity And Surrender !

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Things are getting deep today folks! This week the @ecoTrain have initiated the 'meditation-challenge'. We are sharing our experiences and I am sharing my personal experiences and journal in these posts. I hope it helps to inspire you as it has me to try meditation out, because it seems to be Very interesting so far!

7 Day Meditation Challenge: My experiences so far (Days 1-3)

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This week the @ecoTrain have initiated the 'meditation-challenge'. We are all committing to this, and are inviting you to join us at any time. We are sharing our experiences, and below are my experiences from the first three days. I hope it helps to inspire you, as well as help me to commit to and journal this process.

@geke

Sustainability for Kids: green crypto

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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?

Sustainability for Kids: 'proof of stake' mining

The most pressing sustainability issue for people involved with cryptocurrency is the massive amount of energy it takes to add new blocks to the chain: to verify, calculate, and broadcast transactions. It's been estimated that crypto mining consumes as much energy as a small country. According to the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, each transaction consumes 251 kilowatt hours of electricity. That amount of energy would power 8 homes in the US for one day.

Sustainability for Kids: efficiency

Another way to move toward more sustainable living is to recognize when the term “sustainability” is used by corporations simply to get us to buy something new or something different.

A great example of this was the push we had a few years ago toward “green” light bulbs. Light bulbs that use less energy are a good idea. That's a benefit we should compare to its cost. But corporations often hide behind a good idea when they're pursuing government-protected profit margins. And just because something is a good idea (in some ways), that shouldn't mean we should be forced to buy it.

Sustainability for Kids: savings snowball

Now that we've covered all the reasons why we're in such an unsustainable state, it's time to start looking at ways we can change things. One of the first things we can do, as individuals, is to find creative ways to save our money and our personal resources. Remember in Irwin Schiff's story about how an economy grows, that our savings give us our capital. So saving should always come first, before spending. This is why some financial planners advise their clients to “pay yourself first.” This means saving a portion of your money before paying bills or buying things.

@trucklife-family

BEING TRUE TO MYSELF!

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I have read some really amazing posts recently here on Steemit, where everyone who wrote was being very honest and open about themselves, sharing their experiences and learning. It has been really inspiring. It has made me think, it has helped me grow and connect more with the lovely community on here. It has led me to write this.

WHAT IS HUMANKINDS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE NATURAL WORLD?

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Too many put their faith in Science and Technology having the solutions to all of our problems. That someone, somewhere will invent something that will deal with all the environmental problems that we are faced with today. That we can just continue to live our lives as all is being taken care of. I have talked in some of my other posts, about how some people believe that they are above nature, that it is there for them to use how they see fit. There are others who go to the other extreme and believe that humans are just parasites on the planet and that everything is a lost cause. I have heard this argument too many times. To me this is an excuse that they give themselves so that they don't have to be pro active in looking after the environment. It's a cop out. Happily handing their responsibilities over to others, even over to the government. This same government that has shown us time and again that their world-view is one of dominance over nature.

CONVERTING OUR BUS INTO OUR HOME- NOMADIC FAMILY

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After writing my post The Call to be a Nomadic Family I got some really lovely feedback about the interior of the bus, so instead of continuing on our journey I thought I would take you all on a tour of our bus, from when we started to convert it, right up until we where living in it full time. So come with me into the first home we owned and converted ourselves. We had done a big job already on taking all the seats out of her, 30 to be exact, and after that we insulted the floor and covered it with 18mm plywood. We covered the normal metal steps with these lovely cut off pieces of Elm that were given to us by a man in West Cork when we visited his Mill.

@bristena94

Dreaming Out Loud: Steemit SUCCESS, Digital NOMADISM, Reuniting with my Aussie LOVE

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Imagine waking up one day with a sense of revitalized purpose. As if your entire life is glowing with meaning again, after a long period of gloomy, dense vibrations. As if your soul has reawakened to its own essence, having suffered from a temporary amnesia. As if your vision is restored, after an apparently incurable myopia.

Diary of A Free Spirit Ep. 2 - The Inner Voice

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Imagine being in an Airbnb room with a friend called Robert. Imagine having a deep, immersive conversation about important life choices, recent lessons and life-changing realisations. Imagine that you were feeling heard, understood, supported, allowed to be fully you. Unrestrained and uninhibited in expression, after a long period of dry rejection and judgments.

@schoonercreek

Garden Gnomes. Sturdy Kids

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My little garden gnomes...

The sweetest memories of our little ones growing are in the garden. I remember when our sone was just two and asked if he could taste a Yarrow leaf- after approving it, he did and the little bitter-face he made! Yet he learned something he never forgot about Yarrow that day- the medicinal qualities. Indeed, Yarrow's bitterness helps it heal colds and flus and fevers...

Herbal Allies 3. (& Dwellings 2.5?) Black Walnut Saved Our House From Burning Down!

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If you've read my 'Dwellings' posts you might remember that in the first post I mentioned the first property my husband and I bought. It was a little cottage up on a hill. That's where we lived before the yurt. This began as an 'Herbal Allies' post but I realized in order to tell my story about Black Walnut I also need to tell about the very first house we lived in! So here we have two in one- herbs and dwellings post!

@misslasvegas

7 Day Meditation Challenge: Everyone Wants to Meditate... Easy meditation for busy lives.

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@ecotrain started this 7 day meditation challenge that started on the 21st of January until Sunday the 28th.
We were going to share our experiences starting on the 28th.
I wanted to dedicate a post to the subject alone, but since I've been off-line pretty much the whole week due to some private issues, I haven't really thought about it much. But I would like to share my thoughts here now.

@vangelov

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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 ".

The differences and similarities between Physical and Spiritual Pain

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Pain is something that has a wide range of perception and experience, yet has one thing in common despite its multitude of sources and interpretations. That being the Human nervous system. I wanted to talk about the difference between spiritual pain and physical pain, so this article will describe that from my own personal perspective.

@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.

https://youtu.be/HEcn2Bvakr4

7 day meditation challenge: Balancing the feminine and masculine principles of meditation

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Hey everyone, Below is a link for the 7 day meditation challenge @eco-alex from @eco-train has set up for us. If you want to join you still can! https://steemit.com/meditation-challenge/@eco-alex/7-day-meditation-challenge-everyone-wants-to-meditate-but-no-one-actually-does-it-join-us-today I am Clara, I am also part of the eco-train and have meditated daily for years. I have moved through ups and down, trying out this and that. And, like I said in one of the comments on Alex's post: 'Meditation for me is like turning the light switch on inside. If I don't meditate or connect to the Divine in some way I feel like I am stumbling around in a dark room, feeling like I can't find anything.' So you can imagine how important meditation is for me. Basically I can't do without. I feel it's one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself and I would love it if you gave that to yourself.

@sharoonyasir

Why I am Grateful for My Hardships...

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Hardships are a part of life. No matter how you try to escape them, they will find you and ambush you. While hard times do make life rally challenging for us and sometimes even trigger depression and make us lose all hope, they aren't all that bad.

@qurator Membership Contest- My Favorite Steemian

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There is a wonderful contest going on that can help you bag a @qurator membership. You just need to write about your favorite steemian. Find more details about it here.This is my entry for the contest and today I'll be talking about my most favorite Steemian here and I am honestly really excited to talk about him.

Why Do We Attach Unnecessary Meaning to Everything??

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The title of today's post is a question I have been asking myself and several loved ones, especially my husband for days now. I feel we have a habit of attaching too much meaning to things which is why we often find ourselves feeling trapped in negative thoughts and thinking too much about stuff. I did not get this easily. However, as soon as I became more aware of and drawn towards practicing meditation and nurturing mindfulness, I understood that it is better to live in the moment and experience and accept everything as it is instead of holding on to everything you experience and attaching undue meaning to things.

@mountainjewel

Resistance to Meditating? Me Too!

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For the past week I have been meditating in the morning and in the evening. I’ve been meaning to meditate for quite some time. I’ve felt the benefits of it in the past and I know it makes me palpably happier, clearer and more effective. So why the resistance?

Bioregionalism | Ozarks | A Vision for the Present

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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.

Living With the Wise Woman Amidst the Trees

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So there we were. We had just arrived at the property in rural NC full of hopes, dreams and inspiration. Arriving at the top of the hill, we parked and were intrigued by an old barn, built with wormy chestnut before the blight hit and decimated chestnut populations. Just ahead was a gorgeous spring fed creek; crystalline flowing water framed the property.

@gardenbsquared

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I’ve got a bit of a writers block at the moment but then I saw that yesterday was my half-year anniversary on Steemit. Hooray! A good moment to write about my experiences on this platform. I Joined this amazing community on 24 July last year. In the beginning it was sort of frustrating. Spending days filming and editing to get zilch, nada, nothing on my posts. My first 7 posts had a total payout of 22 cents. LOL I started to feel a bit lost.

@ecoinstant

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Invisible Structures - A brand new original poem for Nihilistic Rainbow #4

Here we are in this fantastic Year of 2018; its the same old(er) me, but more dedicated and motivated than ever! I have many goals for this year and for life beyond, and one of which is to write more poetry; my specific goal for 2018 is to write 52 or more poems, the following is one of them ;p @sature hosts the very creative Satirical Poem Contest under the hashtag#nihilisticrainbow, and so far this year I have quite enjoyed participating, and have been rewarded handsomely for doing so! My previous entry won first prize in the #3 competition! If you are interested in creatively themed poetry, it might be wise to follow @sature. This week's theme is 'Humans - The Only Known Animal That Lives Within Borders'.

@solarsupermama

How do Children Really Learn?

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I was inspired by a post I read today by @slhomestead about passing along an ethic of environmental stewardship to children without burdening them with guilt or that horrible idea that somehow humans are a plague upon the planet. She has lots of brilliant ideas on how to do this, but I want to focus on one, which is to simply get kids out in nature. Hiking, camping, adventuring, scavenger hunts. Kids who experience and play in nature will have sweet memories and develop an ethic of stewardship.

Honoring the Feminine

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I was a women's studies minor in college. My senior year I did a paper for my Feminist Theory class that changed my life and my perspective on what feminism is. It was initially an effort to see what was happening in feminist movements at that time. This was 96 or 97. Most of the reading for my women's studies classes had been about either the suffrage era or the 70's. I figured surely there was something happening more currently, but we hadn't talked about it. Indeed there was. It was just the beginning whisper of women starting to share that they wanted to do things in a more "feminine" way.

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 steemit.eco.train@gmail.com