I went back to the UK two weeks ago to surprise a friend for his 40th birthday. Felt good to know that I'd brought a bit of extra happiness to the proceedings just by making the trip back, he was stoked and that felt good to me. I'm all about feeling good and grateful and positive at the moment.
I'm on a bit of a life/health/happiness kick and I'm trying to find a more sustainable way to maintain all three of those things. Firstly I'm changing my eating habits. I was vegetarian for 10 years from 15-25 and then I fell hard from the pedestal of vegetarianism, it was a medium-rare fillet steak that knocked me off, it was my 25th birthday dinner and I said to myself "I'll be veggie again tomorrow". Well I'm now quite a few years down the line and I'm finally back to it. I always tried to be a mindful carnivore, buying free-range, organic, local, farm-shop etc. etc. etc. But the fact of the matter is that eating meat just doesn't sit well with me from various perspectives. For starters there's the ethical point of view, because let's face it, there is no such thing as humane meat, regardless of the lovely life the free-range animal lived, prancing about in fields eating fresh grass and hanging with its buddies, the rather shocking, fearful, terrifying end it meets basically negates all of the happiness. I'm not going to preach about it, people who are interested know full well that any sentient being that has a concept of itself, its herd, forms complex social structures and so on, can in no way be happy about being transported to a factory of fear and death to meet its maker. If you don't know about it, then be a doll and educate yourself. So ethically I can't do it and there is the environmental impact to consider. Again I'm not going to write an in depth commentary on the myriad of environmental wrongs that go hand in hand with our modern farming and livestock practices, if you want to find out then go forth and do some research for yourself, but from my point of view going veggie or vegan is the way forward to a sustainable and green future for the planet and all its inhabitants. To that end I'm adopting a vegan lifestyle with the luxury of being vegetarian one day a week. That small luxury will allow me to indulge one of my greatest loves, cheese. I know, dairy is wrong on so many levels and I will where possible, be a mindful cheese eater. Still I figure that my 6-1 split of vegan-vegetarian has got to be better for me and the world and is certainly a much bigger commitment than the average person's meat-free-Monday effort. I'm discovering an amazing new way of eating, vegetables figured heavily in my life beforehand, but now they are the main attraction and I'm excited to go on this culinary voyage of discovery!
I've been reading a book by Kriss Carr and I've enjoyed it immensely. I'm using her book to start my own wellness revolution. I really recommend reading it folks, it's great! I know that some people will balk at some of her suggestions, but when you read the same thing over and over again from a huge variety of sources, you just have to get on board. Everyday I do something that I find unpleasant, I have a shot of superfood greens - wheatgrass, spirulina, barley grass and that kind of stuff. It's not fun but I know it's good for me and I figure sometimes in life you have to do those things, the not fun but good for you things, because it balances out the fun and bad for you!
There's a few things in my life that are not very positive at the moment but I figure that all will work out in the end and what will be, will be. So I'm getting back into meditation as a means of bringing some focus, peace and positivity into the proceedings. I know, I sound totally hippie-dippy don't I, but so what! I found this great piece the other day on the ten things you can do to make yourself happier, it makes sense and if you didn't already know about it, there's a great blog 3BT, check it out, three beautiful things. It is actually one of the things proposed in the article that you can do to make yourself happier, be grateful for three things every day. So I plan on doing that, though it might not be in blog form, just a wee note to self at bedtime, maybe while brushing teeth instead of thinking of the stuff I have to deal with the next day.
So here's to positivity and gratitude, cheers, skol, salud, slainte! *Grimaces after downing a shot of wheat grass* (Infinitely better for me than all the shots of Jagermeister or toffee vodka I've had over the last two winter seasons, but a lot less fun.)
