Please Stop Obsessing About Animal Cruelty

STOP Eating Animals

Chris is a very dear friend that I met through Facebook. We have a very similar thinking and I enjoy reading his posts. Once he wrote something that I would like to share with you here. 
Thank you Chris for the permission to re-post this in my tiny humble blog ♥
I hope you will soon start your own blog - it is a pity your works get lost on Facebook, besides Facebook's questionable copyright policy on things posted there. 


So Ladies and Gentleman: 


Please Stop Obsessing About Animal Cruelty

by Chris Aultman

If you're interested, I have a few tips on how to keep your sanity & be happier than you might be. I'm not naming names, but there are a lot of people who need it. First, stop obsessing about animal cruelty. It only serves to anger you. Do you think if you skip a day, you'll forget it exists? There are many pages (that I no longer visit) that are almost entirely composed of cruelty videos & pics. Like Wayne Dyer says, "Being informed is fine, but not being inundated." And I can't recall who he quotes (Einstein, maybe), but "No one ever discovered the Law of Floatation by studying why things sink."

What you focus on expands. Stop putting all your energy into things that anger you! There are 2 main reasons I only post a few cruelty videos or pics per month: 1) Every time I look at 1, I'm so angry, I want to break something & 2) Omnivores stay away from the pages of vegans who have a non-stop barrage of cruelty. My page is a wake-up call for them; other pages are avoided by them because no one wants to be constantly told what horrible people they are & if you'll notice, the angry vegans' pages contain comments primarily by other angry vegans. No happy person wants to read all that anger.

I've also noticed that the angry vegans (most of whom I've deleted because while I respect their pain, their overall energy is a downer) are angry about many other things: implants, raw vegans, 80/10/10, you name it. Of all the negative, hateful comments I've ever seen on FB, easily 99% are by vegans. You are representing the movement & as I've said before, the ONLY thing that matters is CONVERSION. If you aren't persuading people to change, you're wasting your time (& VERY few people are converted by being called corpsemunchers).

Venting is a complete waste of energy. It's what people do who don't know how to channel rage productively. Next, when you encounter 1 of these people, like 1 angry person on last night's status, the solution is to engage them briefly & if they persist, say goodbye. Period. Whenever I read negative, hateful comments on other people's pages, I just avoid the page & focus on something more positive. I still have veganazis & vegan police go off on me & others...so what? Let them stew in their negativity.

As for converting people, here's the biggest lesson of all: if someone is stubborn, MOVE ON! Do you realize there are literally tens of millions of people who are completely ignorant of their impact on health, animals & the environment? ALL your time should be spent getting the word out instead of arguing with people. I know many of you don't believe in the law of attraction or anything you can't explain, but it works. I've consciously meditated on love, abundance, positive change & compassion & look what's happened...I have a very clear path in life, have manifested my soulmate & have more amazing people flowing into my life than I know what to do with!

Take notice of how your body FEELS. Go to an angry vegan's page, read all the rage & bitterness & your stomach should be in knots. Then read comments by well, more people than I can list here. You should feel elated. Now seriously, who in her right mind chooses to feel like the former?! Last message I've mentioned many times: STOP with the infighting already! We are like freaking crabs in a bucket. Tearing down is what bitter, unenlightened people do instead of inspiring, educating & supporting.

I'm so grateful I've met so many truly amazing people, but most of us sane vegans are positively ashamed of the angry ones. We have to work extra hard to counter all their negativity & what they don't realize is by converting very few people, they're actually doing damage to the very animals they're trying to save. Look at it this way: you have several hundred or thousand friends. Why do you need negative, bitter, angry, devisive people in your life? Here's my suggestion: relish in the amazing people in your life & simply remove the negative ones. Life's too short not to be happy.

source: https://www.facebook.com/chris.aultman1/posts/10150909796250246
photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctolentino/699737665/in/photostream

Obituary of Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. 

No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

• Knowing when to come in out of the rain; 
• Why the early bird gets the worm, 
• Life isn't always fair, 
• And maybe it was my fault. 

Common sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults are in charge not children).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of an 8 year old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student, but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses, and criminals received better treatment than their victims,

Common sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common sense finally gave up the will to live, after a women failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common sense was preceded in death, by 

• His parents, truth and trust
• His wife, discretion
• His daughter, Responsibility
• His son, reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers

• I know my rights
• I want my rights
• I want it now
• I’m a victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on if not, join the majority and do nothing.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/articles/2009/02/03/obituary_common_sense_feature.shtml 

Watch: Change For A Dollar

Welcome 2012! 

Everybody expects you with great anticipation!
Nobody really knows what will happen, is it the end or the beginning. 

Or just another year... 

And what shall I say - do we actually care?

Do we really depend on what other predict us?
Time is no definite thing, it is three dimensional, moves forwards, backwards, sideways. If someone tells you your future, you only know what CAN happen, but now you got the chance to work on it and maybe change something.
This is why I keep saying "be the change", because we can change things. Try it and you will see. In your own life and around you.

Do something good everyday. Make someone smile, every day. Help others. Be the change.

This nice short-film teaches us that however bad our situation is, we can always find people that are in a worse situation. And there is always something we can do for them, share with them.

Have a good start into 2012 and make the best of it!
You are the master of your destiny! No one else!

Video credit: written and directed by Sharon Wright

www.shesalwayswright.com

I have subscribed to this InnerNet Weekly newsletter I don't know how many years ago, really rarely there is a post that does not touch me and I forward them all to friends, almost weekly :) 
The people at iJourney.org always share really deep and lovely messages. 
This one in particular is something that talks to me... 
Read and see for yourself. 
Happiness comes from within ♥

Make Your Life Into a Giving

--by Jaggi Vasudeva (Dec 27, 2011)

Listen To Reading!

Make your life into a giving. When I say a giving, it is not to be understood as an act. Giving as an act is a deception because, after all, what can you give? Everything that we have, including this body, we have taken from this planet. What we can give is only a paltry part of what we have taken. Giving as an act could be very deceptive and could turn ugly, but if your way of being is giving and your actions are only a manifestation of that, when you open your heart to give, grace invariably seeps in. That is inevitable.

It has been my fortune and privilege that at a very early age, I became witness to a certain state of giving -- my great grandmother who lived to be 113 years of age.  In the morning, if she was given breakfast, she would always go about giving away at least two-thirds of it to the ants, birds and squirrels, particularly to the ants.  People would say, ‘She is throwing all her food around, this old woman will die without eating,' but they all died while she lived.  There were many days where I saw her with a little bit of breakfast that was left on her plate. She would simply sit there, watching the ants eat. Tears would be streaking down her cheeks and when somebody asked, ‘Won't you eat?’ she would say, ‘I'm full. I'm already full.’ It was many years later that I realized her way of transacting with the world. If the ants ate, she was being nourished. A logical mind would never understand this, but it was this nourishment which gave her an extraordinary longevity.

Each of us can also make every act and every breath into a process of giving – seeing how we can contribute to everything around us, no matter what we are doing.  In just 24 hours, we will be so rich that the experience of life, the beauty of life, will set a glow on our face because that is the only way life functions.  The whole process of life is a giving. It is a transaction. In every giving there is a taking. We are taking more than we are giving, but in your mind, just ignore the taking. You just keep giving because you do not have to take; it will be pushed into you.

There was a man who cleared one hundred acres of forest and made it into farmland. His two sons helped him and they became prosperous. When the man was dying, he called his two sons and told them that the land should never be divided, but the produce should be taken equally, fifty percent, by each son.

Accordingly, they went by their father’s word. One of the brothers got married and had five children. The other one never got married. Life went on and they each took fifty percent. One day, a thought entered the mind of the brother who had a wife and five children: "I'm getting fifty percent; my brother is also getting fifty percent. But I have a wife and five children while my brother has nobody. When he gets old, who will take care of him? He should have a little more than me because I have the wealth of my children. But he is too proud; he will not take it from me." So in the dark of the night, he carried a bagful of grain quietly and walked into his brother’s store, dropped this bag and walked back. Whenever he could, he went on doing this.

The same thought also entered his brother's mind. He thought, "I am alone, my brother has five children to feed and I am getting fifty percent, but if I give him extra, he will not take it." So he started doing the same thing at night. This went on for many years and both of them never noticed. One night, both of the brothers carrying sacks of grains in secrecy walked towards each other's storehouse and came face to face. Suddenly, they realized what was happening. 

--Jaggi Vasudeva
(http://www.ijourney.org/?tid=782)

Watch: This is Because We Must

This is one awesome video that was posted to the FB page Peace Activism - thanks Jeff!
It is really inspiring and does belong here! See for yourselves:

Video: This is Because We Must (vimeo)

ANIMAL * EARTH * HUMAN 

Because We Must is founded on the idea that all forms of oppression and, in turn, the struggles against them, are intimately connected. The subjugation of the earth, it’s non-human animal inhabitants, and the people that are not members of the wealthy white male elite are not unrelated phenomena. Each of these, among the many other injustices that must be confronted, is a product of the white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist culture that dominates the planet. If we intend to mount a serious attempt at confronting, undermining, and overcoming the forces of oppression, we should understand that though there are many battles to fight and many more ways to fight them, we will always face the same essential enemy.

In order to promote this awareness and move forward, Because We Must strives to be a source for informational media that illuminates both the diversity and interconnectedness of struggles against oppression. Rather than pushing a monolithic set of beliefs and expecting others to tow the party line, we intend to present a wide range of radical viewpoints on the urgent issues that we face today and, in doing so, encourage every person to find the ways that their passionate opposition to injustice can be translated into effective action against it.

http://www.becausewemust.org 

Ugly the Tomcat

remember them, now in the "holiday mood" where we only think of pleasing our beloved one...
take a moment to remember those, who suffer. and think if you can help one of them maybe in some way or the other. and if you only go and volunteer at your local shelter for a day in a month... ♥

This is the story of Ugly the Tomcat

Everyone in the apartment complex I lived in knew who Ugly was. Ugly was the resident tomcat. Ugly loved three things in this world fighting, eating garbage, and shall we say, love.

The combination of these things combined with a life spent outside had their effect on Ugly. To start with, he had only one eye, and where the other should have been was a gaping hole. He was also missing his ear on the same side, his left foot has appeared to have been badly broken at one time, and had healed at an unnatural angle, making him look like he was always turning the corner.

His tail has long age been lost, leaving only the smallest stub, which he would constantly jerk and twitch. Ugly would have been a dark gray tabby striped-type, except for the sores covering his head, neck, and even his shoulders with thick, yellowing scabs. Every time someone saw Ugly there was the same reaction.

That's one UGLY cat!!

All the children were warned not to touch him, the adults threw rocks at him, hosed him down, squirted him when he tried to come in their homes, or shut his paws in the door when he would not leave. Ugly always had the same 
reaction. If you turned the hose on him, he would stand there, getting soaked until you gave up and quit. If you threw things at him, he would curl his lanky body around feet in forgiveness.

Whenever he spied children, he would come running meowing frantically and bump his head against their hands, begging for their love. If ever someone picked him up he would immediately begin suckling on your shirt, earrings, whatever he could find.

One day Ugly shared his love with the neighbor’s huskies. They did not respond kindly, and Ugly was badly mauled. From my apartment I could hear his screams, and I tried to rush to his aid. By the time I got to where he was laying, it was apparent Ugly's sad life was almost at an end.

Ugly lay in a wet circle, his back legs and lower back twisted grossly out of shape, a gaping tear in the white strip of fur that ran down his front. As I picked him up and tried to carry him home I could hear him wheezing and 
gasping, and could feel him struggling. I must be hurting him terribly I thought. Then I felt a familiar tugging, sucking sensation on my ear.

Ugly, in so much pain, suffering and obviously dying was trying to suckle my ear. I pulled him closer to me, and he bumped the palm of my hand with his head, then he turned his one golden eye towards me, and I could hear the distinct sound of purring. Even in the greatest pain, that ugly battled scarred cat was asking only for a little affection, perhaps some compassion.

At that moment I thought Ugly was the most beautiful, loving creature I had ever seen. Never once did he try to bite or scratch me, or even try to get away from me, or struggle in any way. Ugly just looked up at me completely trusting in me to relieve his pain.

Ugly died in my arms before I could get inside, but I sat and held him for a long time afterwards, thinking about how one scarred, deformed little stray could so alter my opinion about what it means to have true pureness of spirit, to love so totally and truly. Ugly taught me more about giving and compassion than a thousand books, lectures, or talk show specials ever could, and for that I will always be thankful. He had been scarred on the outside, but I was scarred on the inside, and it was time for me to move on and learn to love truly and deeply.

To give my total to those I cared for. Many people want to be richer, more successful, well liked, beautiful, but for me, I will always try to be Ugly.

I feel...

This is one very interesting video presenting two sensitive kids, born as empaths. They see and feel the world differently, with other eyes then we use to see it. They see colors, auras, talk to animals, read thoughts, foresee events.

We have often heard about such people, here you can meet two of them. This video shows, how naturally these two children live with their gift. And I personally wonder, how will they grow up and live their lives in this world.

The video is only available on Vimeo, 
so click here to watch I feel... :)

Jasmijn is a seven year old girl, who loves hugging trees and having conversations with animals. Anything she touches seems to breathe a sense of aliveness. Robert is ten years old, and the only place where he feels at ease is in nature. He climbs trees as high as he can escaping the everyday reality that is not always easy.

I feel… is about children who experience their environment differently compared to most of us. They travel their own way against the mainstream and dare to see the world with a pureness of vision over and over again.