August 31, 2009

Aligning my life with my values...

I am working at aligning my life more and more with my values.

My current goal is to figure out how to live more simply. Aidan, one of my roommates, and I have been having some conversations about this and I hope they can continue. I really want to live as simple life as possible. The other day I went through my closets and got rid of a ton of clothes that I didn't wear anymore. I had been holding on to some "just in case" or some I had been wearing, but only so I could justify keeping them, even though I didn't really like them. It felt good to get rid of it all and my drawers finally shut in my dresser. I hope I can continue this. If I do buy clothes, my new rule is that I need to get rid of some. I have also been trying to eat more simply. This means that I have been trying really hard to eat out less. I haven't been great at this, but I think I am improving. I am also trying to eat more simple food. This means rather than buying fancy fake meats or more processed food, I am striving to eat more beans and vegetables. At the moment, I have been looking at The Simple Living Network and I am finding it quite interesting.

Another place I am trying to align my life with my values involves my computer usage, specifically Facebook. I am addicted to Facebook and spend countless hours on it each day and even more just on my computer. I rail about how I hate television for so many reasons and I feel like the computer has many of the same things that I hate about television. I am not very good at this goal, but am attempting to make baby steps.

Another exciting change is that I have decided to switch my banking to Shorebank. So many large, corporate banks don't invest their (read "my") money in the local community, but instead use it to fund environment destroying projects or wars or many other terrible things. Shorebank, who's motto is "Let's change the world", focuses on local investment and the environment. In The Better World Handbook, Shorebank gets a rating of A+ in social responsibility. My current bank gets an F. I think it's time for a change. As a part of this, I also want to strive to keep better track of my financial records and keep a budget. We'll see how that goes.

All of this is part of my strive to "become responsible engaged in the world". It is true. I have become a 'happy Cobber' and Concordia haunts me still. I know a lot of people made fun of BREWing when I was there, but I really do love it. I want to think about how I can B.R.E.W. and make the world a better place.

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