Sponsorship manager turned Clarity Coach, Kayla Greenville and Marketing/Communications manager turned mindfulness practitioner, Brian Berneman have teamed up to create Conscious Action - a conscious community raising awareness and inspiring meaningful action through events and workshops.
Sponsorship manager turned Clarity Coach, Kayla Greenville and Marketing/Communications manager turned mindfulness practitioner, Brian Berneman have teamed up to create Conscious Action - a conscious community raising awareness and inspiring meaningful action through events and workshops.
With a vision built around connection, collaboration and celebration, the pair launched the new project in Auckland last week with its first event ‘Some Inspiring Whys’, ft. entrepreneur Sarah Tanner of Greenleaf Organics, Zac Franich, the latest star from the popular television franchise The Bachelor and Hannah Jensen, one of New Zealand’s most unique and committed artists.
The three diverse speakers spoke about ‘why’ they do what they do, and the importance of connecting to that ‘why’ moment-to-moment. The event theme was inspired by Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk, How great leaders inspire action (the third most popular Ted Talk of all time).
Each Conscious Action event, based on a unique theme, includes an interactive segment where attendees are prompted to think about ways they can create change in their own lives, big or small. To go a step further, their community is also encouraged to keep each other accountable within a Facebook group with a future goal of allocating accountability leaders.
“We were attending events around Auckland that were doing a great job at raising awareness or educating around issues but seemed to lack any real call-to-action said co-founder Kayla Greenville,
We want people to leave our events feeling inspired and empowered to make changes in their lives which hopefully in turn, impact their communities.”
The call-to-action at the event last week was conscious consideration of ‘why’ people do what they do, important says Brian Bernaman because “as we navigate this increasingly fast-paced life, it is becoming clear that we are struggling to find purpose and joy in what we do and that’s evident unfortunately in New Zealand’s alarmingly high depression and suicide rates.
By connecting to our ‘why’ we can enrich the experiences we are already having, or make the necessary changes, to lead a more meaningful life”.
Conscious Action has partnered up with a number of local businesses but is currently seeking sponsorship from corporate New Zealand in order to grow their community nationwide.
LET’S TALK RUBBISH [Next Conscious Action event]
The next Conscious Action event ‘Let’s Talk Rubbish’ will facilitate a conversation about composting, recycling and how our habits have an impact on our environment with perspectives from Alex Magaraggia, Founder and Director of Ecoware New Zealand, a compostable packaging company, Peter Ralph, Sustainability Manager at Reclaim NZ, market leader in recycling and Josephine Rawstorne, sustainability contact at Method Recycling, supplier of beautifully designed corporate recycling stations.
The call-to-action at the event will be specific to what we can do as individuals, in all our roles (parents, employees, consumers), to be more conscious of our actions and to make changes, big or small, to reduce our footprint.
Co-founder, Kayla Greenville says “it’s about being realistic. We’re not all going to leave the event, start a worm farm and never purchase plastic again but we might all leave being more aware of the impact we have as individuals and from that awareness comes behavioural change”.
“It’s about being compassionate and understanding of others, and doing what we can whenever possible” adds co-founder Brian Berneman.
The event will take place at The Workshop in Grey Lynn on 23 August
Forward Action is Conscious Action’s take on the pay-it-forward concept which is to respond to a person's kindness to oneself by being kind to someone else. It is about connecting through giving and aims to create a positive movement that grows exponentially throughout New Zealand communities.
The Forward Action Challenge is a permanent segment within each event where a volunteer is selected to take a donation from a Conscious Action partner (a pay-it-forward action in itself) and then pay-it-forward in their community. The volunteer is asked to document the process via the group’s social channels and report back at the following event.
At the ‘Some Inspiring Whys’ event it was Javier Ugas, wellness advocate and father of five year of Luna, who threw his hand up for The Forward Action Challenge. Javier is committed to his daughter’s holistic education and is proposing an exciting idea to her school as his ‘Forward Action’.
“Life is like a rugby game. When the ball in bouncing in the field, if I don’t dive head first, with all my heart, to get to it…certainly someone else will”, Javier said.
“The art of giving is known to create positive benefits to both the giver and the receiver and promotes an overall of sense of wellbeing and connection” says co-founder, Brian Berneman.
Conscious Action is talking to potential partners for The Forward Action Challenge, and intends to have coins made as a tangible representation of these random acts of kindness out in the world.
E: team@consciousaction.co.nz
M: 021 675 004
For more details about Conscious Action, the events or the Forward Action Challenge contact:
Conscious Action website: www.consciousaction.co.nz
Next event: https://www.consciousaction.co.nz/lets-talk-rubbish
Facebook and Instagram: @consciousactionnz