Online Gratitude Journal January 2010 Edition #37

Are you having a great start of the year? Keeping up with your new year’s resolution? Time is speeding up and I can hardly believe one twelfth of the year is already gone. (Photo credit)

January in review

My big goal of this year is to write a book on Akashic Records. This will be published in the old fashioned way in print. The starseed series will be incorporated in the book, with some additions and updates. So I’m putting extra effort in completing this series.

My another goal is to eat healthy and well. The Slow Down Diet that I reviewed was very influential to me. I want to pay attention not just to WHAT I eat but also to HOW I eat.

Fun & Challenges

This is the dilemma I face: When I was working in the corporate world, I wrote in the evenings and weekends. I love writing. I forget foods when I write. I can almost forget sleep when I write. I love to express my thoughts and feelings, and the possibility that my writing might help you is exciting.

Now that I work for myself, writing for this blog and the book is part of my life and work. I do what I love all day long — reading interesting books and blogs, writing my own, and doing Akashic Record Reading. Life is full of joy and fun, right?

Right. Yes. And a bit of no somehow. When I have so many things to do (again, all fun things I like to do), I’m a bit overwhelmed, and for a reason I don’t really know, the fun becomes a challenge, too.

Does anyone know how to keep the fun as fun? Do I need to introduce some dread so that fun can stand out as fun? Do I need to meditate more?

Link Love

Be sure to check the book review of the controversial The God Delusion, by my friend Hunter Nuttall. I think the discussion in the comment section is very interesting, too.

My old post on meat eating vs vegetarianism still gets hot comments. While some people insist vegetarianism, or even stricter veganism, is good for health and environment, I found a few information that question this statement.

One is from someone who has been raw vegan for 15 years who found some deficiencies when he had blood test.

Another is a book called The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability. I haven’t read the book yet, but I read the review here and on Amazon. I find it interesting that we need some form of animal products to grow plants. I checked my bag of organic soil and it has earthworm castings. Other organic soil mix has chicken manure or bone meal. So what happens to the chicken afterwards? I bet they were either hens for eggs or meat chickens. And if vegans are committed not to eat even honey because they don’t want to force the bees to work, how do they feel about the earthworms that worked for the soil? The dogma of veganism to never harm any animals is very hard to sustain, I think. Even if someone is not eating any animal products, some animals are dying to grow their vegetables.

I don’t think this is a bad thing, however. All lives are in the big ecosystem, supporting one another. The problems happens when we reject this system. When I die, please throw the cremated ash in the ocean so the fish can benefit. The fish may end up on your dinner table or become fertilizer for the farm that grows your vegetable. This very Buddhism view sits fine in my mind and spirituality.

Word of month

“Laughter is a great way of letting go. . . Laughing releases endorphins and lowers stress hormones in our system. The other two activities that do the same are sex and meditation.”
– Lisa, aka Mommy Mystic

Well said. Let’s pick at least one of the three for our well-being.

This is all for today. Enjoy your weekend — the day is getting so much longer (in the northern hemisphere, that is )

Related reading: After I posted this article, I was informed about another great post about the problem vegans face, especially raw vegans. (HT: Gena) I think the whole discussion on vegan nutritional health is very interesting.  Additionally, this part by Shazzie caught my eye:

“…many raw food enthusiasts who identify themselves as vegans are in fact not totally vegan. Whether it’s a free range organic egg or a little raw goat’s cheese once a week or some fish once a month, these people think of themselves as vegan and will tell you they’re vegan…This makes us wonder how many more who identify themselves as vegans are doing the same but not admitting to it.”

Ah. So there is honesty and awareness issue, too.