I'm actually leaving now for the UK so with the long flight and time different won't be active for a few days. will post as in the title here on my experiences being back as a vegan and other thoughts and feelings around vegaism.
Thanks for your viewing and please comment
Cheers
:)
Monday 29 July 2013
What do you find most difficult about being Vegan?
Please see my comment on this after first comment below. I only realised afterwards it was silly for me not to share first. :)
How has your becoming Vegan changed your life?
I was just interested in getting some different experiences. We could all share a little.
I must apologise for not sharing mine initially. My veganism has changed me in a lot of ways. It seems to have brought a deepening to my whole life experience. I feel more sensitive to everything while at the same time feeling stronger and more compassionate. Somehow I feel like I have a more solid foundation. I feel I have become more spiritual through the process, less egotistical and a greater willingness to just let go and let be so to speak. It has been a difficult process to let go and realise so much while at the same time being a very enlightening one. I rank becoming vegan as one of the most landmark important things I've done in my life so far.
How about you? :)
I must apologise for not sharing mine initially. My veganism has changed me in a lot of ways. It seems to have brought a deepening to my whole life experience. I feel more sensitive to everything while at the same time feeling stronger and more compassionate. Somehow I feel like I have a more solid foundation. I feel I have become more spiritual through the process, less egotistical and a greater willingness to just let go and let be so to speak. It has been a difficult process to let go and realise so much while at the same time being a very enlightening one. I rank becoming vegan as one of the most landmark important things I've done in my life so far.
How about you? :)
feeling of death, kundalini awakening, opening chakras and tattoos
just realised my stuff is packed so putting some more thoughts on from my memory stick
i dont want to sound dramatic or pretentios but as i said this blog is just me keeping sanity and i want to log my story. im my first vegan year it was one of the most difficult times ive had. its difficult to say if it was all about being vegan but it was a very very difficult time. okay i admit it, it was maybe the most difficult time of my life. im still not so sure why exactly.
i moved house a few moths after i became vegan. a great house share i had ended due to a housemate not taking on the lease then i had a fxxxxxx horrible nightmare 6 weeks living with a girl who seemed an anti vegan and i cant help but feel was somewhat threatened by my lifetsyle. i did my best to be reasonable although she remained adamant that i didnt eat properly. living their was my worst time in NZ. I then moved out of desparation to another really expensive house where i stayed for 4 months. kind of boarding house style with 8 people. no one was vege, everyone was sound enough but it was never home for me. it was finally in april i moved to my new vegan house and suddenly
felt so much more settled like things were getting better.
looking back over the last year i dont think ive had a time where so much change has occurred and ive felt so different from one year to the next. ive changed on a deep fundamental level through becoming vegan. my attitudes have evolved. i relate to a whole new group of people and have found a whole new kinship and belonging ive never had before and i still feel im just at the start which all excites. plus i can somehow cook a few cool things. i used to have the standard boring meat meals, now its so much better. anyway back to story.
in this time spoke to my counselling mentor a lot more. there were a few months went by when i was driving myself somehow trying to keep moving forward but it was like
something deeper was changing in me. my mentor said i was going through a deep transformational process. she said how when she was my age she had a really dramatic one
whereas she almost committed suicide. i certainly didnt feel that bad but i felt this disclosure comforting.
looking back maybe it was just all about feeling something on such a deep level that other people didnt see. i think of the big house i was in and people always making steak and
bacon and once almost wretching at the smell of it. i guess my new home now made the difference because i knew i was with people who felt the same as i did.
it was interesting when i came through i suddenly started to get an idea id get a tattoo. so not the old me but feels more me now. its actually planned for when i get back from my uk trip. its going to be on my back and ill have a labyrinth mandala fused with a native american sun and another sun. the labyrinth is a symbol of birth, death, rebirth abd progress. the native american sun is a symbol of the healing arts and of peace (to embrace my counselling and veganism), the other sun will be to show the self conquering the shadow. i started to find the whole idea quite romantic. I found this site about
mandalas which I found inspiring. I read this cool book on tattoos too
something strange happened in the last few weeks too as i meditated ive started to feel jolts like electricity passing through my body. its actually a good feeling and i know
its constructive. ive read into it and research around kundalini awakening say it can be chakras opening or if theyre already opening the left over crap of the past coming
out. ah and the native american sun also has 7 rays representing the 7 chakras so again fits.
i guess the idea of a tattoo as a kind of symbol of a new me, my individual self and my rite of passage to my new life. ive never been a bastard i dont think but theres
stupid ways ive behaved in the past that i feel arent really who i want to be and now im more me than ive ever been and i want some symbol of how i came through a tough
time to a more evolved sense of me. it is a time ill always remember. im glad the darkness has ended now.
I've actually booked in to have my tattoo done on 1 September 2 days after returning to NZ. Feels cool :)
i dont want to sound dramatic or pretentios but as i said this blog is just me keeping sanity and i want to log my story. im my first vegan year it was one of the most difficult times ive had. its difficult to say if it was all about being vegan but it was a very very difficult time. okay i admit it, it was maybe the most difficult time of my life. im still not so sure why exactly.
i moved house a few moths after i became vegan. a great house share i had ended due to a housemate not taking on the lease then i had a fxxxxxx horrible nightmare 6 weeks living with a girl who seemed an anti vegan and i cant help but feel was somewhat threatened by my lifetsyle. i did my best to be reasonable although she remained adamant that i didnt eat properly. living their was my worst time in NZ. I then moved out of desparation to another really expensive house where i stayed for 4 months. kind of boarding house style with 8 people. no one was vege, everyone was sound enough but it was never home for me. it was finally in april i moved to my new vegan house and suddenly
felt so much more settled like things were getting better.
looking back over the last year i dont think ive had a time where so much change has occurred and ive felt so different from one year to the next. ive changed on a deep fundamental level through becoming vegan. my attitudes have evolved. i relate to a whole new group of people and have found a whole new kinship and belonging ive never had before and i still feel im just at the start which all excites. plus i can somehow cook a few cool things. i used to have the standard boring meat meals, now its so much better. anyway back to story.
in this time spoke to my counselling mentor a lot more. there were a few months went by when i was driving myself somehow trying to keep moving forward but it was like
something deeper was changing in me. my mentor said i was going through a deep transformational process. she said how when she was my age she had a really dramatic one
whereas she almost committed suicide. i certainly didnt feel that bad but i felt this disclosure comforting.
looking back maybe it was just all about feeling something on such a deep level that other people didnt see. i think of the big house i was in and people always making steak and
bacon and once almost wretching at the smell of it. i guess my new home now made the difference because i knew i was with people who felt the same as i did.
it was interesting when i came through i suddenly started to get an idea id get a tattoo. so not the old me but feels more me now. its actually planned for when i get back from my uk trip. its going to be on my back and ill have a labyrinth mandala fused with a native american sun and another sun. the labyrinth is a symbol of birth, death, rebirth abd progress. the native american sun is a symbol of the healing arts and of peace (to embrace my counselling and veganism), the other sun will be to show the self conquering the shadow. i started to find the whole idea quite romantic. I found this site about
mandalas which I found inspiring. I read this cool book on tattoos too
something strange happened in the last few weeks too as i meditated ive started to feel jolts like electricity passing through my body. its actually a good feeling and i know
its constructive. ive read into it and research around kundalini awakening say it can be chakras opening or if theyre already opening the left over crap of the past coming
out. ah and the native american sun also has 7 rays representing the 7 chakras so again fits.
i guess the idea of a tattoo as a kind of symbol of a new me, my individual self and my rite of passage to my new life. ive never been a bastard i dont think but theres
stupid ways ive behaved in the past that i feel arent really who i want to be and now im more me than ive ever been and i want some symbol of how i came through a tough
time to a more evolved sense of me. it is a time ill always remember. im glad the darkness has ended now.
I've actually booked in to have my tattoo done on 1 September 2 days after returning to NZ. Feels cool :)
leaving in a few hours so last for now
Okay spent quite a bit of time putting all my thinking from the last week which was saved on a memory stick. I'm leaving in a few hours so will log more about thoughts and my UK journey when I get there
:)
:)
a friend response to my veganism
a friend response
I feel bad in a way writing this but this is an example of a reason why the blog is semi anonymous. becoming vegan is a lifestyle change and it does impact on other people and how they relate to you. the only advice id give is dont give up. if youre making your secision for compassionate reasons and you feel inside it's right then just stay strong, keep getting the support you need and dont break down. it will come together.
ill call my friend Simon here. Someone I actually still regard as one of my best friends and in fact when i came to nz was the one person i knew here which is why i found the response so difficult at the time. im happy that a year on this person and family now have a vege day of the week and 'accepts' my veganism while being blocked from heading in that direction himself. i feel it's important to talk about this here again for me to keep my sanity, to connect with others who may have experienced the same and also just to show how big being vegan is and again how blind people sadly are right now a lot of the time to the beauty of it. i hope we can find ways to help them learn.
On becoming vegetarian Simon's response was 'why?' like it wasn't a decision that seemed to make any rational sense. i said how it was about compassionate living plus the diet was potentially healthier. if he said the word 'funny' once in the conversation he must of said it about 4 or 5 times. i regrettably didnt pull him up on it but none the less got through. it was just a phone conversation. i remember though as much as it was 'partly' a joke finding it odd as he said something along the lines of ' you cant be vegan though, if you become vegan we cant be friends anymore.' it was really strange and unsettling to hear that. he can be dry and has silly humour but
it gave me a strange unsettling kind of feeling particularly since i was actually thinking of becoming vegan. i thought well why would that impact on him anyway? as i enjoyed my new found health and lifestyle there were a few phone conversations some of which asked if i was
still vegetarian to which i obviously responded in the positive. it was the last one i remembered when i was asked this and responded 'ive actually been vegan for 3 weeks'.
i cant remember the rest of the conversation at all but i dont feel im exaggerating to say there was a strange unsettledness about the call then as if id somehow gone down
another path. it was a strange feeling and one i hope we dont have again.
it was a few weeks later when he actually came to visit and we had a conversation which im sadly not sure i will ever forget and really displayed the whole issue of becoming
vegan and its whole place in society and how it impacts on others etc. my being vegan has produced some sort of divide in our friendship on a level and i dont think
until that time after actually being good friends for years and years id actually ever felt on such a level that was so completely and utterly removed from when my friend
was coming from. still thinking back now the conversation just absolutely astounds me. maybe it was just an opening up of how different we really are im not sure but
we usually always have some familiarity but this time there wasn't any.
it was along the lines of. Simon: 'so this is just talking like, but do you disapprove of eating meat?'
Me: 'Well it seems its less healthy and less moral than not eating it. I'm seeing theres not much point.'
Simon: 'We got to where we are on the food chain by eating meat. We ate other animals so it makes sense we eat them.'
Me: 'Well actually humans are actually quite a lot more herbiverous in their body, there really doesnt seem much point.'
Simon: 'No, we're definitey omnivores, you see we have these teeth (points to corner teeth). We're meant to eat meat. Me and Emma (wife)
eat meat every day. There's 2 sides to every argument Phil.'
It was really interestung the last sentence keeping in mind this was at my home too just how incredibly defensive my friend was. He cut off me saying about herbivore
characteristics of a human and about any health or moral impacts of veganism. He also leaped to the strange claim that our corner teeth are omniverous and really
strikingly to me referred to an 'argument' and referred to me by name rather than the usual 'mate' etc. It felt very strange.
The conversation went on and became more bizarre in my view
Me: 'Well I'm just doing what I'm doing and enjoying it right now. It's been a good lifestyle.'
Simon: 'You see I was talking to Julie (housemate) and she really knows lots about food (I don't know why this person would know anything about food). She says
that there aren't complete proteins if you dont eat animals.
Me: 'No its actually okay. I have lots of friends who are vegetarian and you just eat different things.'
Simon: 'I mean if Emma asked me to go vegetarian for a month I'd say okay but if she wanted me to go vegan i'd want to know a really good reason. I mean
the stereotope of someone who's vegan.'
Simon went on to talk about an image of a man talking about not harming animals. Again I found the angle taken here absolutely bizarre.
Simon: 'If you think about eggs I mean you can get those eggs whereas chickens are treated really well and just roam around and their eggs are just picked up and they dont miss
them or anything.'
Me: 'I guess for me though it's still reinforcing eating eggs and I'm actually just not bothered about eating them.'
It's strange again the above the reinforcement on just not being vegan
Simon: 'So do you think you'd go back to eating eggs then?'
Me: 'Maybe I guess'.
I actually said the above just to appease him a little bit as it was seeming a bit weird.
After this time I seriously felt this rift and just kept more to myself and my personal development group and kept up. My friends said 'do't break down, just stay strong.'
there were strangely more responses i think via text. Simon said 'Me and Emma reckon your vegan power will just last so long then youll be digging into a steak soon.'
another said 'are you feeling all sad and depressed yet because of your unnatural diet?' i didnt buy into these
the last conversation i had i remember where my veganism was being judged was a phonecall when Simon said at the end: 'youre not still vegan are you?' I took a breath and
calmly replied 'Okay, I'm very happily vegan and i dont have any plans to change that.'
i write this story in detail because it feels important in terms of how people respond to being vegan. it highlights how reopening ally good well meaning people like Simon are
just not aware and are just in denial regarding what we eat. I hypothesise that the responses here which I wrote in detail are part of our knowing deep down somewhere that
what we are doing is wrong but its just too big a thing to acknowledge. my veganism was threatening to him and is threatening to him. im sure of it. it threatens a reality.
i read a post on facebook and i cant remember the author but it was along the lines of that it is easier to trick someone that convince someone that they have indeed been tricked.
i feel people in society who eat animals ad their secretions fit into this. they have simply been tricked and brainwashed. they don't want to know otherwise a lot of the time.
the response here makes me interested in what will happen back in the uk with othert friends and my needing to write here to stay good and strong in me. i know
im on the right path and i wont give up whatever anyone says. being in reality is what is important to me. i will write here about how i get on similarly.
I feel bad in a way writing this but this is an example of a reason why the blog is semi anonymous. becoming vegan is a lifestyle change and it does impact on other people and how they relate to you. the only advice id give is dont give up. if youre making your secision for compassionate reasons and you feel inside it's right then just stay strong, keep getting the support you need and dont break down. it will come together.
ill call my friend Simon here. Someone I actually still regard as one of my best friends and in fact when i came to nz was the one person i knew here which is why i found the response so difficult at the time. im happy that a year on this person and family now have a vege day of the week and 'accepts' my veganism while being blocked from heading in that direction himself. i feel it's important to talk about this here again for me to keep my sanity, to connect with others who may have experienced the same and also just to show how big being vegan is and again how blind people sadly are right now a lot of the time to the beauty of it. i hope we can find ways to help them learn.
On becoming vegetarian Simon's response was 'why?' like it wasn't a decision that seemed to make any rational sense. i said how it was about compassionate living plus the diet was potentially healthier. if he said the word 'funny' once in the conversation he must of said it about 4 or 5 times. i regrettably didnt pull him up on it but none the less got through. it was just a phone conversation. i remember though as much as it was 'partly' a joke finding it odd as he said something along the lines of ' you cant be vegan though, if you become vegan we cant be friends anymore.' it was really strange and unsettling to hear that. he can be dry and has silly humour but
it gave me a strange unsettling kind of feeling particularly since i was actually thinking of becoming vegan. i thought well why would that impact on him anyway? as i enjoyed my new found health and lifestyle there were a few phone conversations some of which asked if i was
still vegetarian to which i obviously responded in the positive. it was the last one i remembered when i was asked this and responded 'ive actually been vegan for 3 weeks'.
i cant remember the rest of the conversation at all but i dont feel im exaggerating to say there was a strange unsettledness about the call then as if id somehow gone down
another path. it was a strange feeling and one i hope we dont have again.
it was a few weeks later when he actually came to visit and we had a conversation which im sadly not sure i will ever forget and really displayed the whole issue of becoming
vegan and its whole place in society and how it impacts on others etc. my being vegan has produced some sort of divide in our friendship on a level and i dont think
until that time after actually being good friends for years and years id actually ever felt on such a level that was so completely and utterly removed from when my friend
was coming from. still thinking back now the conversation just absolutely astounds me. maybe it was just an opening up of how different we really are im not sure but
we usually always have some familiarity but this time there wasn't any.
it was along the lines of. Simon: 'so this is just talking like, but do you disapprove of eating meat?'
Me: 'Well it seems its less healthy and less moral than not eating it. I'm seeing theres not much point.'
Simon: 'We got to where we are on the food chain by eating meat. We ate other animals so it makes sense we eat them.'
Me: 'Well actually humans are actually quite a lot more herbiverous in their body, there really doesnt seem much point.'
Simon: 'No, we're definitey omnivores, you see we have these teeth (points to corner teeth). We're meant to eat meat. Me and Emma (wife)
eat meat every day. There's 2 sides to every argument Phil.'
It was really interestung the last sentence keeping in mind this was at my home too just how incredibly defensive my friend was. He cut off me saying about herbivore
characteristics of a human and about any health or moral impacts of veganism. He also leaped to the strange claim that our corner teeth are omniverous and really
strikingly to me referred to an 'argument' and referred to me by name rather than the usual 'mate' etc. It felt very strange.
The conversation went on and became more bizarre in my view
Me: 'Well I'm just doing what I'm doing and enjoying it right now. It's been a good lifestyle.'
Simon: 'You see I was talking to Julie (housemate) and she really knows lots about food (I don't know why this person would know anything about food). She says
that there aren't complete proteins if you dont eat animals.
Me: 'No its actually okay. I have lots of friends who are vegetarian and you just eat different things.'
Simon: 'I mean if Emma asked me to go vegetarian for a month I'd say okay but if she wanted me to go vegan i'd want to know a really good reason. I mean
the stereotope of someone who's vegan.'
Simon went on to talk about an image of a man talking about not harming animals. Again I found the angle taken here absolutely bizarre.
Simon: 'If you think about eggs I mean you can get those eggs whereas chickens are treated really well and just roam around and their eggs are just picked up and they dont miss
them or anything.'
Me: 'I guess for me though it's still reinforcing eating eggs and I'm actually just not bothered about eating them.'
It's strange again the above the reinforcement on just not being vegan
Simon: 'So do you think you'd go back to eating eggs then?'
Me: 'Maybe I guess'.
I actually said the above just to appease him a little bit as it was seeming a bit weird.
After this time I seriously felt this rift and just kept more to myself and my personal development group and kept up. My friends said 'do't break down, just stay strong.'
there were strangely more responses i think via text. Simon said 'Me and Emma reckon your vegan power will just last so long then youll be digging into a steak soon.'
another said 'are you feeling all sad and depressed yet because of your unnatural diet?' i didnt buy into these
the last conversation i had i remember where my veganism was being judged was a phonecall when Simon said at the end: 'youre not still vegan are you?' I took a breath and
calmly replied 'Okay, I'm very happily vegan and i dont have any plans to change that.'
i write this story in detail because it feels important in terms of how people respond to being vegan. it highlights how reopening ally good well meaning people like Simon are
just not aware and are just in denial regarding what we eat. I hypothesise that the responses here which I wrote in detail are part of our knowing deep down somewhere that
what we are doing is wrong but its just too big a thing to acknowledge. my veganism was threatening to him and is threatening to him. im sure of it. it threatens a reality.
i read a post on facebook and i cant remember the author but it was along the lines of that it is easier to trick someone that convince someone that they have indeed been tricked.
i feel people in society who eat animals ad their secretions fit into this. they have simply been tricked and brainwashed. they don't want to know otherwise a lot of the time.
the response here makes me interested in what will happen back in the uk with othert friends and my needing to write here to stay good and strong in me. i know
im on the right path and i wont give up whatever anyone says. being in reality is what is important to me. i will write here about how i get on similarly.
27.7. meat normalising
Have a cold now I've been trying to get through all week. So annoying but great I've finished work. Working on the Go Veg stall tomorrow will be great. I love passing on info about being vegan.
I've thought a lot today about Russel Howard who was on tv a few nights ago. Funny comedian. I saw him live in the UK once.
It reminded me though of a blog I read about 'the most difficult thing about being vegan' how well meaning people who are so sound in other ways routinely eat animals. He made a joke about going to the sandwich store and seeing the 'cruelty free' option. I guess we can assume this didn't contain animals. He then made a crack along the lines of the one he got being cruelty free still as it was a sausage roll meaning that the pig which would otherwise be cold was being wrapped nicely in
a blanket. Met with lots of laughter from the audience. He didn't seem in the least bit narcissistic in the way he expressed it but it couldn't help but stand out to me as obviously so cruel in relation to the rest of his jokes. It showed that whole complete normalising of such behaviour.
29.7. Highly sensitive person and vegan . 1 day to go
I think on my personal development journey and in my counselling when I read The highly sensitive person by Elaine Aron. It was about how 30% of the popuation have a more highly sensitive nervous system and how our society being more extrovert often makes it hard to find our own expression. I realised i was an infj too based on Myers Briggs personality test. I'd recommend anyone to do a free test. this is introverted, intuitive, feeling, judging. apparently the same as one of my heros Carl Jung which I liked.
Anyway I guess the book gave more grounding and support for people who are highly sensitive as those who are more behind the scenes, conscientious and thinking things through. My Veganism has helped me to ground that further in me for sure and feel happier with who I am. I wonder if the sensitivity to what i was doing beforehand was always inside as it must be for a lot
of people who eat meat but maybe causing my psyche even more damage. I have certainly become more peaceful in myself and in my outlook as a hope.
I've noticed how the sensitivity has become mixed with a strong compassion and ive become far more sensitive towards issues of racism and sexism too which I think is a good thing.
28.7. 2 days to go. skype conversation
friend: i know you dont eat it but we've started to eat a lot more fish these days. it's good for you.
me: little response
friend: would you ever consider eating fish?
me: erm no dont think so
I have tried to engage as much as i can but i just dont feel he'd ready to take things on board at all and forcing it will only make me the victim i feel. its so sad and frustrating.
28.7. 2 days to go. cool post on fb
28.7
just saw a great post on the badass vegan times on facebook: 'People are fed by the food industry which pays no attention to health, who are treated by the health industry which pays no attention to food.'
just saw a great post on the badass vegan times on facebook: 'People are fed by the food industry which pays no attention to health, who are treated by the health industry which pays no attention to food.'
natural argument and harming plants
The natural argument is always a stupid one. People saying that we are naturally something. This annoys me in a few ways. Firstly it annoys me since the human body does not have any omnivorous features. The only think ive found omnivorous about a human is some production of stomach acid for digestion which is similar to an omnivore. However in teeth, hands, digestive tract, the way the mouth opens we have all the traits of a herbivore. Meat eaters often point to our corner teeth
but these are still herbivore teeth. They are not for plunging into a cows neck and eating raw flesh.
Evolution seems to show that eating meat has perhaps been helpful at a certain point. In just my view and in reference to literature such as 'spiritual partnership by Gary Zukav' I would say that eating meat is a stage we are passing through spiritually whereas we change from a power over to a more authentic type of power based on communion.
The China study is interesting in its' conclusion that the optimum human diet is a vegan diet with a source of b12 and an added source of vitamin d should one reside in a colder climate. Some of the evidence can be interpreted a bit differently in that study i feel. I prefer books like diet for a new America which show all the illnesses linked with eating animal flesh and secretions.
I'm liking the way it is becoming studied by Psychologists. Dr Zab. Psychiatry for a mad world' seems really interesting. I want to get a full copy but haven't been able to yet. The conclusion that eating meat is a psychopathic act. Similarly Steven Harnad comes to similar conclusions. The idea is that since there is no reason to eat an animal then to do so or to be involved in the murder of an animal is a psychopathic act. Seems a reasonable conclusion.
Saying something is natural is not only frustrating in the sense that our body has practically zero omnivorous qualities but also in the sense it is like giving away power. It seems to me like someone saying to their partner it's natural for me to cheat. it seems time to take charge and really take responsibility. To show respect for ourselves as individuals connected to the world we are in and make good conscious choices.
The other one about what about ripping plants out of the ground? Well there is some point there. Maybe that does also hurt a plant. We know though that we can live without consuming sentient beings with a central nervous system. Perhaps in the future we wont have to harm plants either. maybe we'll find a way to fully live on fruit but right now that does seem totally unrealistic. We know we can thrive as vegans.
The problem seems to be to support people to have a shift in mindset and realise all the great food out there and that we do not cut out but we crowd out and we eat better. I always feel that we do not miss out on anything that's worth putting in a humans mouth.
A great grounding thing that doesn't take more time
Like a real grounding in what a human stands for. I remember a conversation with a friend and he was saying it was great in the sense that it's not an activity that ultimately takes more time. You learn some recipes etc then you're actually living the same time wise than you would be eating animals.
It's not like you're suddenly devoting 10 more hours to work as a volunteer for an animal shelter or something. At the same time though it feels so so sad that being Vegan should just
be a basic grounding for everyone. It's not actually special at all. It's just extremely basic courtesy.
Or even more than that it's just not being a complete c***. It's sad that it can't be seen like that.
It's not like you're suddenly devoting 10 more hours to work as a volunteer for an animal shelter or something. At the same time though it feels so so sad that being Vegan should just
be a basic grounding for everyone. It's not actually special at all. It's just extremely basic courtesy.
Or even more than that it's just not being a complete c***. It's sad that it can't be seen like that.
Denial
Denial is clearly so powerful. As the young man from American beauty said 'never underestimate the power of denial'. We can see this so clearly in action, operating below people's conscious level of awareness. The denial itself must be so unhealthy for us.
We say in Psychology that a level of denial can be functional. I agree with that. If we get rejected romantically it's okay to think if could've been different at a different time even though we really know it's not true. Those things help us to get by. But the actual fuel we put into our body, each day, the mass of the population having a complete detachment with what they put in their mouths, how it doesn't suit their body's and the lives this costs and the environmental damage.
It's like an underlying non stop mass holocaust and we don't even know. We can't see it.
We say in Psychology that a level of denial can be functional. I agree with that. If we get rejected romantically it's okay to think if could've been different at a different time even though we really know it's not true. Those things help us to get by. But the actual fuel we put into our body, each day, the mass of the population having a complete detachment with what they put in their mouths, how it doesn't suit their body's and the lives this costs and the environmental damage.
It's like an underlying non stop mass holocaust and we don't even know. We can't see it.
family response to my Veganism
Its funny, the title makes me think about someone coming out as being homosexual but becoming Vegan isnt that dramatic im sure but nonetheless is an opening up about a new lifestyle that you are now undertaking and feel strongly about. Ill discuss my family response here and other responses later. I've found in my last year that such responses can be very damaging to the whole cause and very supportive. People do often having stroing reactions to the negative about this and my thoughts around it are that it somewhat threatens their reality.
In being Vegan you are operating on the principle of 'Ahimsa'. A principle of no/minimal harm. The more dominant western model is more this dominating individualistic power over type of mentality. I feel it threatens because on a level you are now showing that you stand for something which is
fairly against what others stand for. It's a counter culture movement the same as feminism or someone who in the face of other obstances stands for some kind of fairer world.
I've struggled with this throughout my year. I've always been a bit quiet and being a therapist we practice notions of non judgement. In the last year i guess i've become stronger and realised that eating animals is wrong. it is inferior to not eating them on a health and ethical level and there isn't a counter argument. We believe (or know in fact) that being vegan is the way forward to make a better world and it is as a see it the least anyone can do. It's not each to their own. I am not militant and
difficult as it is will wholly support somewhat making small steps in this direction but at a core i do not support the consumption or use of animals or their secretions for diet or for other use. Sometimes its unavoidable, or we have old stuff. but I support the idea of doing the best we can to move away from this.
Anyway to my family. My background with them has been mixed at points. I had lots of issues with them when i was younger which lead me to counselling 12 years ago which was a life changing thing. I thought they'd be judgemental but incredibly they've been a great support through this. It almost lead me to think somehow that the time was all just right in the stars or whatever as stupid as it sounds. When i said about my vegetarianism my family said it was interesting I'd said that as they were looking into the same. This was on 2 angles.. partly my sister has been an animal lover all her life but had that paradox we vegans now maybe cruelly find a bit ironic of people eating animals while claiming to love them. She had however decided to be more vegetarian and cut down on eating animals. My folks were getting into it a bit too.
Interestingly my Dad had an issue with prostate cancer and his doctor recommended a complete elimination of dairy produce. I'm not sure if something about reducing meat too. My family after that point had stopped eating dairy and my Dad had been reading the work of Jane Plant who speaks a lot about this issue. Not got to her yet but heard her books are good. They asked me if I still ate
it. At the time I did have my few yogurts etc but said i was thinking about a change to Veganism. it was clear they were very supportive and have been throughout this time ever since. It is great knowing they're on my side for my trip back.. Can't help but keep thinking of the leather sofas at home though.... eeeek
How being Vegan can sometimes feel for me
--- to quote Barack Obama
'the security of America is the first thing on my mind when i wake up and the last thing when i go to bed at night'
It worries me sometimes that vegan lifestyle often feels like it encompasses that for me. I've never felt something that seems to be of such incredible and urgent importance and I want to make everyone see, or help everyone see. It's really hard sometimes because finally convincing a friend to have a meat free or getting some people to try vegetarianism does feel cool but i dont think theyll be enough.
I want the meat and dairy industry gone. I want them to be recognised as an absolute poison in our societies destroying our health on a physical and mental level. I feel they're brainwashing us and destroying a feeling of us embracing what it means to be fully human.
Great people like Gandhi, Mark Twain understand the importance of this when they say about 'as long as their are slaughterhouses there will be battlefields.' 'A society can be judged by the way it treats its animals'. Why can't this just be absolute common knowledge? Why isn't such philosophy ingrained in us from us being little children. That'd make sense right? I can't believe I never felt on that level until I was 32.
My friend sent me a link about the use of a vegan diet in a prison. check it out. Interesting how the division between the different ethnic groups faded and people more grew in their rehabilitation and were less likely to reoffend. The project ultimately ceased for the pathetic reason you find here.
I've become increasingly aware since being vegan just how much power and control organisations clearly have over us. It shows how we are just controlled. I've felt so annoyed since my decision to become Vegan how its so simple and makes so much sense but yeah we're brainwashed to think otherwise. It makes me so sad too. I want to live in a world when adults and kids are taught about physical health and a vegan diet and how this is the way forward for our physical and mental health.
I want a time when we look back and what we used to do now and what an incredible error it was. A time when everything went down a path it should never have gone down. Or at the very least a time we went through which we had to go through to learn from. I want us to be taught how it is our job to protect and empower animals as being weaker than us to reach their potential and it's only through that can we grow into our fullest most compassionate selves.
'the security of America is the first thing on my mind when i wake up and the last thing when i go to bed at night'
It worries me sometimes that vegan lifestyle often feels like it encompasses that for me. I've never felt something that seems to be of such incredible and urgent importance and I want to make everyone see, or help everyone see. It's really hard sometimes because finally convincing a friend to have a meat free or getting some people to try vegetarianism does feel cool but i dont think theyll be enough.
I want the meat and dairy industry gone. I want them to be recognised as an absolute poison in our societies destroying our health on a physical and mental level. I feel they're brainwashing us and destroying a feeling of us embracing what it means to be fully human.
Great people like Gandhi, Mark Twain understand the importance of this when they say about 'as long as their are slaughterhouses there will be battlefields.' 'A society can be judged by the way it treats its animals'. Why can't this just be absolute common knowledge? Why isn't such philosophy ingrained in us from us being little children. That'd make sense right? I can't believe I never felt on that level until I was 32.
My friend sent me a link about the use of a vegan diet in a prison. check it out. Interesting how the division between the different ethnic groups faded and people more grew in their rehabilitation and were less likely to reoffend. The project ultimately ceased for the pathetic reason you find here.
I've become increasingly aware since being vegan just how much power and control organisations clearly have over us. It shows how we are just controlled. I've felt so annoyed since my decision to become Vegan how its so simple and makes so much sense but yeah we're brainwashed to think otherwise. It makes me so sad too. I want to live in a world when adults and kids are taught about physical health and a vegan diet and how this is the way forward for our physical and mental health.
I want a time when we look back and what we used to do now and what an incredible error it was. A time when everything went down a path it should never have gone down. Or at the very least a time we went through which we had to go through to learn from. I want us to be taught how it is our job to protect and empower animals as being weaker than us to reach their potential and it's only through that can we grow into our fullest most compassionate selves.
My path to becoming vegan.. again a re-write
So i joined a personal/spiritual development group in about march 2012. At the time i had a lot of anxiety. My job was extremely stressful and i was actually taking anxiety medication at the time (I had been for 5 months). It was in April i went through the mini initiation process of recieving Tao when I was blessed by a Tao master. the idea being that the 3rd eye is opened enabling changes to take place. its interesting as thesedays im not sure how much that ritual had anything to do with anything. I wouldn't want to sound like I hold that was key to my change but it did happen just a few days before.
For me maybe the time was just right for an idea to take hold in me. I made my first vegetarian friends here in NZ and was enjoying the food and the philosophy around it made enough sense to just give it a go and see how it felt for me. On april 21, less than a week after recieving Tao and a few days after my 32nd birthday when my friends laughed at me for practically eating a whole pig on a barbeque to myself i had chicken soup for my lunch then felt I had enough in place to try. I had a couple of internet recipes and bought some vege sausages and was meeting my friends for dinner a couple of times.
It was wonderful to be supported by the Tao group and I immediately felt better and loved the feeling of being full after eating but not in a way that felt so heavy. It felt better for me. I started running with a running group which helped my anxiety issues. Concerningly i did lose a few kgs very quickly. Not what i wanted being a skinny guy weighing about 67kgs as it was. Having said that though i knew i felt healthier. it disgusts me now to think of all that animal fat in my body. It was
not right. It felt like i was eating better for sure.
I became interested in making a change to veganism. i made my first vegan friends and it was something that just seemed to feel right for me. it's hard to say why, it seemed like just going a full way with an idea. Vegetarianism just seemed part of that. 6 weeks later i became Vegan. my milk became a non dairy milk, my yogurts i took to work each day became a piece of fruit, my blocks of dairy chocolate became a few pieces of whittakers dark and the honey bars i ate each day became a grain i made using oats, dried fruit and maple syrup. Ah, and my saturday egg and beans on toast became scrambled tofu with beans on toast. its funny to think back on changing those things
now as everything has evolved a lot since then but it was cool just to change those things over and make them more principled.
I felt really happy and proud in my new Vegan identity. I started to read more about animal ethics and read some books which were really useful to me.
This is a free e-book for people becoming Vegan: The Ultimate vegan guide.
Diet for a new America. Is superb and shows all the health benefits of a shift in this direction.
Becoming Vegan. Also very very helpful.
This combined with hanging out with great people who were Vegetarian and Vegan. it was also good to join a few groups on Facebook around Veganism. id recommend getting as much support as possible from various sources. It is certainly out there and is invaluable. It's a change that I have never for a second regretted.
Since the time of changing to Vegetarian then to Vegan I have not once felt even remotely tempted to take a step backwards and the only time i have consumed things that i wasn't standing for has been through an accident.
I know its maybe not that easy for some people and i dont say that to boast. It's just my journey and it is a mini thing i feel proud of but also to promote that it is such a great thing to do and even if it is hard at points in choosing to evolve to a Vegetarian or Vegan diet you are not making anything other than a positive step forward for your physical and mental health as well helping animals and the environment.
In my view its the best absolute no brainer thing anyone can do. I hope i get to have kids one day and can give them the gift of bringing them up as vegan.
My new blog and why...
So i started this blog just to keep my sanity while on my trip back to the uk. ive been in nz 4.5 years and its just in the last year (11 June 2012) I became vegan, after 6 weeks of vegetarianism. i thought writing would help to ground my experience and i thought blogging might just help a connection
with someone else out there who understands and feels what its like to vegan in a world that is so non-vegan.
Ive kept the blog semi anonymous and just shared amongst some vegan friends or those interested. I didnt want to share on my main facebook page out of concern it could seem somewhat objectifying to other friends in the UK as I may say about things that happen in my new interactions with them
now as a vegan trying to stay sane although obviously I'll change their names.
Its important to say too that my primary purpose is for fun and my sanity. im not trying to write or present to an audience or be anything im not. Im aware there may be some 'audience effect' due to knowing some people who may read this but i want to be me as much as possible. I will
not write in a way particularly to entertain but just to keep me grounded. I just want it to be me being me as much as possible. So if you don't like me or you think my blog's crap or whatever, thats okay. I want to look back and know thats how i felt at that time and what i was experiencing
as my reality for me.
I just know from my experience over the last year i have really enjoyed sometimes reading the experiences of others who are vegan in such a non vegan world. Sometimes ive learned something new or thought about something in a new way. Sometimes its just been nice to know someone is going through something similar. That was why i thought it would be cool to
put into a blog.
My blog will have a lot about day to day events in the uk and how i get on generally and particularly as a vegan interacting again. It will also have a lot of my vegan thoughts just before my trip and generally. i feel so strongly about being vegan and its such a part of me that i want to write about it. Again you dont have to like it but its just me.
My original blog messed up somehow so I'm now back logging stuff from there I've been keeping on a memory stick. I leave for the UK tonight :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)