Sunday, December 14, 2008

Needs in Life

Maria Rose wrote in her interesting blog, "Little Things are Big"
(http://maria-rose.blogspot.com/)
what she really needs in life. Her needs listed in the December 12 post are:

1. Food, water shelter
2. Healthy relationships
3. Creative output

Nothing else! How about that! Now I would totally agree with that - but I think meaningful work would have to be added to my list. However, you might say that meaningful work and creative output are the same thing. In that case, creative output would absolutely suffice!

All of this simplifying and organizing I am doing lately would also fall into the creative output category. It's not exactly fun work, (and not exactly creative) but will be so satisfying and such a joy when it it done.

Of course, under the food, water and shelter category, "healthy" could also be included as a good descriptor.

Then again, I would want to add art, books, poetry and beautiful visual aesthetics. Oh dear, my needs are not that simple.

Enjoy the day dear friends, and some simple, delicious vegan food!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The Animals

I haven't written for quite a while. For that I apologize. However, I was just reading Brandi's blog (http://allthingsbrandi.blogspot.com/) and her latest blog post is a comment about her emotional reaction about killing animals. This posting prompts me to mention something I do not comment on much (if at all so far) in my blog.

At first I became a vegetarian for health reasons. After a while something changed within me. As time progressed, I began to feel a tenderness toward the animals that I never had before. I realized that all animals have emotions (just like we realize our pets do). In my reading I learned that many are also very smart (such as pigs, especially) and we can connect with all animals just as we do with people. (I heard that this inner transformation often happens to others who become vegetarian too.) Now I am a vegan and I feel at peace with the idea that I have made that choice.

Being a vegan is like being on a journey. Sometimes it is not easy, depending upon the situation, and I am not "perfect." However, my heart tells me to keep on the road to being a vegan, and to become more committed every day.

Talk to you soon, dear friends.