Our Choices and It's Impact

Why do I choose to use this shampoo or that? Why do I like this cuisine over that? Why do we buy this brand of products over that brand?


Most people would answer (as I have answered for many years until my research):

"...Because this shampoo gives great volume and conditions my hair and makes it shiny!"
"...Because I love meat...Or because I love animals and will only eat vegetables..."
"...I use this brand (or make up) because I love the way it simmers on my eyes..."

We make countless choices everyday. These choices are based our likes and dislikes, preferences and, of course, what commercials and advertisers manage to ingrain in our heads.


ORGANIC AND FREE-RANGE
The word 'organic' used to be associated with a small group of people who choose to live"off the grid", farmers, hippies, and non-conformists. Recently, the concept of organic foods have become mainstream. Heck, even large retailers like Wal-Mart, Costco and Safeway is now "getting in" on the action!

Are corporations now on the band wagon of health? If it's for the good of society, then I sure hope so!

After 32 years, I finally got the inclination to look into why I make the choices that I made (I wanted to clarify for myself what the fuss about: organic, free-range, sustainable, yadda-yadda-yadda...) I was looking for meaning, movement and alignment (if it would work in my life).

...Boy, has a new world opened up to me or what?!

Let me just say before I go any further, that the truth just is...and what is, may hurt. Actually, I first felt kind of traumatized by what I found.

To think that we live in a civilized society in our day and age is abolutely absurd.
To say that we are an "advanced civilization" is nothing less than vain arrogance.
To resort to violence to "keep peace" makes us hypocrites.

While we go about unconsciously depleting natural resources in the name of convenience and complain that our government is on their duffs, we make everyday choices in our personal life - (as little as buying an everyday product, like toilet paper) that contribute to this truth.

We may as well walk around poking ourselves in the eyes!!

EVERYONE of us is guilty, and I decided that change starts with me. It's not that I CAN'T or WON'T do this that or the other...it's about AWARENESS and taking responsibility for the choices I make. You decide for yourself

Here are some resources that may help...If you feel to, please add more as you find them and share your thoughts with us.

About Animals (Free Range/Cruelty, etc):
The Meatrix
Meet Your Meat
Be a Healthy Carnivore
Is Your Dairy as "Organic" as You Think?
Why NOT KFC Chicken?

About Consumable Plants and Veggies:
Organic
Why Buy Organic?
National Organics Program
Urban Organics
The Organic Report

Consumer Consciousness:
Why Buy Local?
Stone Barns Center
Conscious Consuming
How "Bad" is this Corporation?
Corporate Execs and the Companies They Run
Why Buy Ethically?

Conscious Living

If we do what we've always done, we'll get what we've always gotten. ~ Napoleon Hill

Do the words "conscious living" mean anything to you? Does this connote a sort of "new agey" metaphysical association? Or do you understand this term to mean living with more awareness?

According to The American Heritage Dictionary, "conscious" is defined as such: (adj.)

• Having an awareness of one's environment and one's own existence, sensations, and thoughts
• Mentally perceptive or alert; awake
• Capable of thought, will, or perception (the development of conscious life on the planet)
• Subjectively known or felt
• Intentionally conceived or done; deliberate (a conscious insult or made a conscious effort to speak more clearly)
• Inwardly attentive or sensible; mindful

Our world is changing. Over the years, as we become more of who we are and (hopefully) grow wise, ideas and concepts come to our attention. We come to see that things may not always be what they seem and appreciate that there just may be a "different side of the story." We learn that there may be many ways to approach a situation and our way may not be the best.

We become more of who we choose to be. Our thoughts or view points may have changed over the years. With experience comes adjustment in the way we live life, our belief system and how we regard that which surrounds us (be it friends, family, time, work, or the world at large).

Some of us are lucky to have been born with "enlightened" parents - full of ageless wisdom. Parents who honor us as human beings (as opposed to treating us like children for the rest of their lives), and stay objective enough to offer us a perspective that we were unable to see in times of challenge.

Most of us, however, grow up in families who make choices based on whatever was convenient at the time: choices of economics, convenience, and blind "just because-ness." As adults that come from "normal" American households, we end up mimicking the choices of our upbringing without consideration as to why.

YOUR COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS?

Please share with us your experience of conscious living (Be it a journey of awakening, or lack there of). Based on the definition of conscious as described above, please share with us some examples of choices that have been conscious choices...i.e.Taking Your children to a different school district so they can be in a more competitive environment, choosing to walk as opposed to drive, choosing to not eat certain food because it's 'bad for you'), or choosing to live in warm climate states versus a four season state, etc.

To really know that you have become conscious of (or mastered) a concept, one needs to be able to articulate the language that lingers in our head. We hope this exercise will help you realize your journey and help us gain a new perspective... Thanks for your contribution. C&E

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