WELCOME BACK TO THE ONE AND ONLY @ecoTrain MAGAZINE!

This week we are happy to welcome aboard two wonderful Steemians @stillwatersart and @ldacey-laforge. We wish them a happy ecoTrain voyage, it is a total pleasure to have you sharing your art and wise words with us all. These are two people definitely worth checking out!

It's always sad to to say goodbye to passengers, but we have to bid a warm farewell to @vangelov and @bubke. @vangelov has been with us almost since the start, and he will be taking a break from Steemit to make some location changes and life changes. @Vangelov, we will miss you, and your never ending wisdoms! @Bubke, I know you will be happy to have some more time to spend with your family, children, and of course your actual job! You have been a great asset to us, and will be sorely missed.

Wishing you a peaceful Sunday, and hope that this provides some interesting reading to further that cause!

It's always a pleasure to have you with us fellow Steemians, Please do say hello in the comments as it makes me happy to know we are reaching you.

@stillwatersart

Mermaid Painting Inspired By Snorkeling Coral Reefs

Snorkeling is one of my favorite things to do! I recently had the opportunity to snorkel near Barkers Cay in Grand Cayman. It was some of the most diverse ocean life I have ever experienced. Most of the coral near the beaches was pretty dead, but still interesting with a nice variety of fish to look at. We decided to take a boat tour out into the bay to access better reefs. What a difference there was between the dead reefs and these vibrant ones! My painting doesn't get anywhere close to showing its beauty, but nevertheless I was inspired to try...

Beautiful Frosty Morning - Country Life

"And still, after all this time, the Sun has never said to the Earth,
"You owe me."
Look what happens with love like that.
It lights up the sky."
― Rumi

@trucklife-family

WELCOMING MORE NEW STEEMIANS TO THIS GREAT PLATFORM

Steemit is such an amazing platform that has created a huge global community.

It continues to bring together so many different people from all over the world, from all different walks of life.

It is a true representative of the great diversity we have on this great planet.

I continue to learn so much from everyone's blogs and to be truly inspired.

It has had such a huge positive impact on my life.

I have connected with so many amazing people and made many friends.

Woman Power: One Amazing Woman making a Difference

There are times in your life when you meet someone and they really shine before your eyes.

The more that they open up about themselves the brighter that light becomes.

This post is in response to the amazing contest created by @sfp-cebu. It always feels really good to be celebrating women, something I think we don't do enough of. So I was very excited to take part in this woman power contest. I feel very lucky to have some amazing woman in my life, who are supportive, active and warriors in their own right. I could write about many of them on here and maybe I will another time.

Learning the Gift of Acceptance from Our Children

I want to live in a word where we can all just accept one another, where we can agree that we are all different and just let it be.
To be able to see each person for who they are and be OK with that.
To be happy to live with all this wonderful diversity in our lives and to start to celebrate it.

Why is it so hard for us to accept how some people are?

Acceptance is not the same as agreement, we don't need to agree with others, but we do need to accept them for who they are.

I am all for bringing about change, but that must be on a personal level. We can not expect to change other people and it is not our place. Yet so many people, put so much energy into trying to change others. Forcing their opinion's on them, pushing their ideas. Expecting them to think and act like them.

@ldacey-laforge

For several weeks now I have harboured ill formed and fuffy thoughts about the similarities between the Spiritual and Steemit journey.

I inherently know that there is something of value in this comparison but my thoughts remain nebulous - like dust upon a gentle breeze, snowflakes melting upon touch. They refuse to take solid form and slip through frustrated fingers.

A Lone Voice Gets Lost in the Breeze ~ Hello @ecotrain

I have been going it alone here on Steemit since arriving in November 2017 and it has been a worthwhile yet challenging endeavour trying to get heard above the constant residual buzz.

I feel that I have done fairly well, organically, on my own but realise that real opportunity, for little folks such as I, rests in numbers - community.

Throughout I have actively engaged via comments and crackin' content :) - albeit my work is niche and not for all, but I have lacked the concentrated support of likeminded souls to help to raise me above the general bruhaha.

A Snowman's Demise Gives Pause To Reflect.

Snow is relatively rare and, when it falls, roguishly crippling in the UK. The other day, as Rick and I slipped and precariously slid our way on foot to the shop, we were invited by a small boy to help him and his father finish their snowman. Several days on and said snowman is but a shadow of himself as the thaw takes hold and his carrot nose lays squewiff and forlorn upon his melting chest.

As a child I always felt melancholic as the snow subsided and icy imagined snow friends bled back into earth. The film The Snowman still manages to bring a tear to my eye and seeing, this morning, the local snowman's demise melted my heart.

@sashagenji

A Dreamer perspective: The world in Flowers & collaboration in action

A dream

I stand under the shadow of a huge beautiful tree. A girl is standing next to me. We are talking. She asks me a lot of questions. At the same time, I observe what surrounds us. I almost feel this majestic tree behind me as if I am somehow a part of it, I listen the sound of leaves moved by a gentle wind. I watch birds in the distance circling down, making a sharp move, snorkeling to water and flying back up. I smell the salty air of a seashore. I wonder how it might happen that this tree stands right here, on the shore? Why am I staying here? Who is the girl asking me questions? There is something magical about this place. The girl turns her head towards me and asks: "Mom, have the Earth been always so wonderful?". I stop for a second trying to find the answer… The next minute I hear the roaring noise. I start to hear it even better. I rub my eyes to realize that this is the sound of the airplane engine, that I am sitting on a plane and the beautiful scenery was just a dream. I feel sad not only because I was pulled out of this beautiful scene but also because I was not able to answer the question. Being awake I continue to think what would be my answer if I had a chance to give one? Lost in my thoughts I hear the voice that seems to sound from a distance. The voice says that we are about to land. My body sits there with the rest of the passengers preparing to land, but my mind flies away. It gets back to the girl's question over and over again.

Lets celebrate Spring: Dance though The Colours of Life

I woke up today with a single thought in my head: "It is officially Spring!" Although I celebrated its arrival participating in Russian Maslenitsa a week ago, I still wanted to make this day a special one. Recently #eco-train we have been exploring different rituals and discussing the importance of them in modern life as well as the fact that people lose connection to themselves.I have been re-exploring chanting thanks to @eco-alex and "Get Your Chant On Challenge", I tried Sensual Yoga suggested by a wonderful @clara-anderssen. I meditate and do different practices regularly but this morning I wanted to do more.

I always felt Spring as The Beginning. Being born in Russia and spending almost all of my life there meant that when Spring comes the white Snow Kingdom will be changed with the World of Colours. I loved watching the snow melting, transforming the hard substance in the liquid water, nutrising soil. Within a short time, this very soil will become carpets of flowers as if Nature will be celebrating the New Beginning.

@kiaraantonoviche

I may still be having a hard time cutting beef and pork from my diet, but I've been trying my best to make more creative choices… one of which included trying this chickpea burger for lunch! I was especially excited to cook this meal because it will be my entry into the #livesustainably "Cook it Fresh" competition being run by @livesustainably!

@solarsupermama

Just a Little More on the Patriarchy

So, I think I was pretty clear about how I feel on the topic in my last post. Honestly I really thought I toned it down, but well, I'm passionate. It's a blessing and a curse. I don't ever post videos on here. Honestly my jungle Internet prevents me from even watching pretty much all videos. However. Every once in a while a doozy comes along, and this is a good one! And you know it's good because the misogynists lined up to comment under the video.

Now, I don't honestly know a lot about Russell Brand or his politics....

@sharoonyasir

Listen More, Feel More and Experience More to Become More Aware and Wise...

I am not a very wise person still, but if I look back on my journey, I have definitely improved a lot and a major portion of that improvement came in the past 6 months, yes precisely the time I joined Steemit because it was then that I came across some truly amazing people whose work, words and wisdom has shaped up my mindset and personality for the better.

One of the things that helped me become a better person in terms of living my life and becoming open to new experiences and ideologies is the ability to listen more. For a long time, I thought speaking more was important but I was so wrong in believing that. It is actually listening more that improves your wisdom and the following quote perfectly illustrates this point.

Stop Listening to People and Focus on Yourself

'My father used to say, "You would worry less about what people think if you knew how little they did".- Dr. Phil McGraw

I have been a firm believer in not worrying about what people think of you or what you do and this lovely quote right up there just affirmed my belief in it. I am a sensitive person and as a child I was extremely sensitive too and as I discussed in an earlier post, I had turned into a people pleaser. It took me quite some time to improve on that unhealthy behavior. Today, I won't be talking about that, but about another behavior closely associated with it- worrying so much about what others think of you and what you do. Yes, often this worry comes from a need to please others, but it is also rooted in the need to conform to the rules set by the society and the fear that you may go through a slip-up if you don't listen to the people or that you may be banished by the society if you go against them or that people may not help you in difficult times if you don't listen to them.

@mountainjewel

How To Grow Shitake Mushrooms At Home: Turning Wood Into Protein | Plugging Logs For Mushroom Production

 

Spring is nearly here and as the sap rises, there is a renewed energy in the landscape. If you live somewhere maples, birch or even walnut grow, you might be taking advantage of this by tapping your trees for sugar. In this post we will be going through how to turn the sugars of wood into high quality mushroom protein.

Inoculating trees with edible and/or medicinal fungi is a mushroom production method that has been utilized for hundreds of years in Japan.

The technique is fairly low tech and accessible to the average person wanting to grow their own mushrooms. There is no need for a dedicated mushroom producing facility to get started on growing your own mushroom, as this method is only slightly controlled and the process is done outside. Plugging logs is perhaps one of the oldest methods of cultivating mushrooms.

 

@eco-alex

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What is Patriarchy: a society led by men or a society led by fear and a feeling of scarcity which happens to be an environment in which the masculine takes charge?

This week the @ecoTrain have answered a question proposed by @clara-andriessen. This is the first of a three part question, and the question this week is:

An Open Letter To All Steemians and especially Whales...

This is an important post, and brings up some issues and themes that I haven't seen being discussed on Steemit. I feel that the time has come for us to have an honest and open discussion about certain issues that most of us will have noticed on Steemit, and indeed in life. As we all know Steemit is a unique and functioning model of Anarcho Capitalism, combined with a social network that is open to all people from all walks of life. Many of us who have joined Steemit have done so because we have seen the value of this decentralised model, and how it can be used to bring our world into a new paradigm. This paradigm shift is happening very quickly now, and Steemit is starting to draw a lot of attention and traction. This is incredible to witness, and gives me a feeling of hope and faith that in the future this world will indeed become a much better place for us all to live in and prosper.

@clara-andriessen

Water lily Oracle

Hey everyone,

We went to a botanical garden today. Seeing all those colourful and pretty flower faces basking in the sun, largely improved our moods. When we arrived at the rose garden, I stuck my nose in the roses and almost couldn't stop going from one to the next as each held a particular smell that was just a little different from the previous. I felt like a bee, getting drunk on their noble, sweet smell. When we came to the ponds with the water lilies I couldn't resist taking pictures, each seemed to be holding their own secret at it's heart. Below I've done my best translating them for you.

"Be soft like peaches and cream, open your heart to the ecstasy of life and enjoy your own ability to receive and be vulnerable."

@misslasvegas

Monthly Author Challenge Day 28! Last day and not so crypto 😆 A surprising month for me.

It's the last day of the month and I made it! Well, not quite, because the other day all I had to do was press the button to post, got into a conversation I couldn't just cut off and when I finally pressed it was just 12 a.m.

So I guess I missed one day. But I don't really mind, I enjoyed posting every day so a few minutes later or earlier don't really matter to me. The worst thing that happens now is that I won't get the Monthly Author badge.

So no harm done.

@ecoTrain

Supporting People Who Help
Make The World A Better Place

Discover previous ecoTrain magazines at @ecoTrain

DRIVER
@eco-alex

CONDUCTOR
@likedeeler

VIP'S WHO HAVE DELEGATED STEEM POWER
@omdemian
@kalima

PASSENGERS
@bristena94
@clara-andriessen
@ecoinstant
@kiaraantonoviche
@misslasvegas
@mountainjewel
@schoonercreek
@sharoon-yasir
@solarsupermama
@stillgideon
@stillwatersart
@trucklife-family

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

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