Doing Good Consciously

Today I am thrilled to welcome a guest post from someone I really wish I had met before I left DC.  Beth Oppenheim-Chan is a blogger over at 25 and Trying, where she writes about her career in the nonprofit world, life, and a bit of international development sprinkled in.  Feel free to connect with her on Twitter too!

Every day is an opportunity.  We’ve all heard this phrase, but most of us can’t really hold ourselves to grasping the present moment in every second of our hectic lives.  Our careers, our goals, our existence can sometimes leave little time for laying back and enjoying the moment.

For me, this consciousness is about more than thanking the world for the things it provides us, but for giving back to it in the conscious decisions we make.  I’ve worked at an environmental nonprofit for almost a year – and in nonprofits since my career started.  And I’ve noticed a crazy trend. Some people that work in nonprofits actually could care less about the issues.  They dump their trash in the garbage instead of the recycling bin, print tons of materials, and buy unsustainable junk food for the entire office.

I know what you’re thinking: for some people, jobs ARE just jobs.  And that’s okay.  And you are absolutely right.  No one in my office signed a pact that they would care about the issues as much as the overall organization does.  They weren’t hired to recycle.

Jess’ blog has become a place I go to learn about what it means to live consciously – with effort, and a thought process that goes into choices.  This may be choice about food, about gardening; about anything we do that impacts the world around us.  It always makes me think about my office, and the way people distance themselves from the actual work they are doing.

I’ve made little changes in my life over the past year since I really became invested in the environmental movement, and more specifically in the food movement.  For me, the best way to live consciously was to learn about the things that are causing problems around the world, and figure out my tiny contribution to fixing them.  I think that the concept of this is the most important part: eating locally because you feel pressured to – or because it’s popular, even – is a first step, but not the right one to long lasting change.

It’s like the gym.  If you go because you feel guilty, the guilt will only carry you so many workouts before you start to slip.  It has to be a conscious drive.  I started with baby steps – little changes here and there.  But making those changes made me feel confident.  It made me believe.  I think we can all do a little bit of good – whatever that good may be for them.  Do it, and do it consciously.