Monday 26th. Run. Meeting an old friend. Football, football culture, ego and now Vegan

Today I met with an old friend at 2pm for a drink in the pub.  I stuck with soft drinks (see my other blog).  I chatted with him and his girlfriend which was really cool.  The only vegan thing that came up was him saying so I hear youre Vegan now.  I just said yeah it's been a lifestyle change in the last year and it's worked out really well.  There wasn't any judgement and it was just nice.

I got out for a run after. See my run blog. That went well.

Later I went to the football with my Dad. The first match for 4.5 years.  It was funny how a lot went through my mind.  I enjoyed the match.  An interesting 0-0 draw and nice to be at my childhood teams ground 'Old Trafford' again. 

I thought back to a few days ago when a friend posted something on the Vegan page of football fans celebrating with a slogan along the lines of 'how great would it be if these people could be so passionate about something that truly meant something'.

It made me think about what a big part of my life football has been.  Getting so excited, in tears over matches and now I truly feel I have accessed a deeper part of me.  The excitement is still there for football but I kind of realise there's something so ego about it.  I feel there must be some soul in the art form but I feel 99% of what all fans feel is all about ego.  I'm sorry if that sounds arrogant but it's my observation.  It's all about attachment to.  The excitement of the goal and winning.

It's strange to feel back on all that part of my life and wonder if it was all just a waste.  What did it really mean in the great scheme of things.  It was cool but maybe a lot was just surface that I misunderstood as having real depth.  I thought of everyone in Old Trafford.  Likely people who ate meat regularly.  The small proportion of Vegans and that brainwashed mentality of giving it no thought at all but looking away.

In my spiritual development group we speak of working with the heart (subduing it) and that makes sense.  Being vegan helps that so is such a great grounding in life.  It stops that attachment to things like football for me I guess.  I thought about the SAFE campaign of people holding the dead birds which I couldn't go to and made me think that that's what truly means something and a key to truly make a difference, by altering the foundations of how we eat.

Life is changing so much now.  It's so weird to think of all the football arguments and the stupid dramas around it when it should never be like that.  Great to really be looking at spiritual teachings and people like Gandhi and Einstein for what's important. I love how they talk about vegetarianism.  It does seem like my Veganism is something so true in m life that really makes sense.

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.