Recent Conversations

So even though this blog is my attempt at being authentic, there are still times in my personal or professional life where I may not share 100% of my personal beliefs with those that I interact with frequently.  This is due to my being afraid of offending others, being concerned about freaking them out too much, or some fear about their reaction toward me.  However in the last week I've had a couple of different conversations in which I've felt comfortable sharing much more about my own knowledge or lifestyle choices.

Last Friday evening I spent a bit of time chatting online with a friend of mine from my public health program.  We don't talk overly frequently but she is someone that I've always enjoyed.  Fundamentally I would say that in many ways we view the world the same, however it wasn't until last weekend that I shared anything with her about my belief in voluntary simplicity.  The conversation came up due to our discussion of Moore's (absolutely wonderful!!) documentary Capitalism, and I shared that one of my favorite parts of the film was Moore's point that capitalism and Christianity do not go together.  It was at that point that I shared about voluntary simplicity and how it is much more in line with Christianity.  She had never heard of voluntary simplicity and so I directed her to The Simple Living Network, specifically to the description offered by Elgin & Mitchell entitled Voluntary Simplicity-Part 1, section II.  In that description Elgin & Mitchell offer a discussion on five of the values of simple living: material simplicity, human scale, self-determination, ecological awareness, and personal growth.  And in a weird sort of way, directing her to that resource and sharing my belief in that philosophy left me feeling much more free....

The second conversation that I've had recently was with one of my coworkers about toxic health exposures via diet, industry's lack of regulation, etc.  She's new to a lot of information on these topics but is consistently asking me questions to increase her awareness.  Sometimes expanding one's view on these topics is a tough one for me however, cause at times it can become pretty depressing to learn just how much we are all impacted by toxic exposures without much of a choice.  She's hoping to get a Klean Kanteen.  We've had the whole microwaving in plastics discussion, and I've shared with her about BPA.  We talked about the increased rates of diabetes due to an overabundance of sugar in our diets (probably attributable to both the high rates of high fructose corn syrup in our products and the conversion of an overabundance of carbs breaking down into excess glucose). We'd previously touched on the personal care product industry and the lack of testing/reported findings of the majority of all chemicals on the market.  We've talked about chemicals in every day products.  And I've discussed with her the principles of bioaccumulation.  Myself and another coworker have shared movie titles and links with her.  We've encouraged her to watch Food Inc and King Corn.  I sent her links to EWG, CHEJ, and websites for Sara Snow, Michael Pollan, and Stacy Malkan. I also loaned her The Body Toxic and offered to loan her my favorite: Having Faith by Sandra Steingraber.  Sometimes it's amazing how much a conversation can lend.

It's in moments like these that I recognize how much information I have packed into my brain, and yet how much is still left to be discovered!  And while I really try not to push my beliefs onto other people, its exciting when people ask questions or want to be connected to resources.  I know that it seems almost impossible to change the entire big picture, but its nice to watch other people select a healthier alternative, especially when that one choice might decrease the total exposure amount faced by his or her child.  I know that our daily exposures are incredible, but I always feel that if we can reduce that exposure even by 1, 2, or 15 things---every little bit helps.  And if I can attempt to open another's eyes to the principles of voluntary simplicity, then all the better.

In another conversation with a different coworker today....I just might have a local, free range, organic egg resource---YES! ;-)  Maybe it's a good thing to keep talking...... :)