Living and learning

Shannon and I have decided to rededicate ourselves to vegetarianism. We're giving it another try. So we're in our second month now and doing well. We've also set goals to meet for the year for health, fitness, diet, learning, volunteering, climbing, travel plans & researching and so on.

While we were back in TX for the Holidays, a friend of ours, Lu Lu (a.k.a. Olivia) was a lifesaver. At the very last minute our dogsitter plans went down the tubes. Olivia rescued us and stayed with Shadow and Wylie.

Olivia left us a resource book for us to peruse about nutrients and their origins. I must say, with just the little I have gotten to read already... I will be re-thinking not just what I eat but what I use. I'm choosing to not eat animals... so it stands to reason that if I'm choosing to do that based off of moral reasons (which this time I feel more morally driven than before) then I must also decide to not slather animals on my skin, put in my hair etc. And it is amazing to me that I have gone my whole life reading ingredients on things and NOT known that some very common ingredients come from from animals. It's a bit of a personal revelation.

I do not plan to become a person that is obsessed, but there was one statement in this book that I really liked. You choose the level of veganism that you are comfortable with and can maintain. I'm comfortable with not promoting the use of animal products in my own life. I don't plan on throwing things away... that would be wasteful... and philosophically I would see that as being unappreciative to the animals that have died for what I already have. So I will use up what I have and learn to find different choices for things I "consume" in the future. I am not opposed to buying second hand b/c I am promoting Earth friedly practices and not promoting the production of new animal-based products. Lu lu and I talked about this a couple of times b/c I was interested in what her take on it was as a vegan. I already prefer to shop thrift stores over new retail for many reasons. Now I have another reason to add.

So that's my take on it right now. I consider this another new journey... and opportunity to learn and grow.

Now onto a non-diet and philisophical part of my life... I'm also going to start taking a Spanish class. I've wanted to try learning Spanish again for a long time. Time to put that in action. I am also taking a class on Paganism,Wiccan, Druidism. I've always been facinated with cultures and religions and other belief systems. I saw these courses in a community class program and thought "why not?" There's a personal tie there as well.... being of an Irish, Scotish, and Welsh heritage.

I keep going back to wanting to study cultural anthropology. Specifically comparitive religions and cultures are particularly fascinating to me. I feel it's impossible to separate out religion... or rather religious/ belief systems from culture. The two develop together. Even if a person is an atheist, they are still part of a culture influenced by belief systems.

So here I go... starting a new year year with plans already in action and hoping to make this a year of discovery and growth.