Zweistein

Bumping my thread - cause I got to know another inspiring individual along these lines: Maggie Whittum! https://www.thegreatnowwhat.com/home/

Rick Guidotti's work is very inspiring, isn't it?

Chapter 3: The pros and cons of becoming vegan I have decided to try out how it feels to eat a vegan diet but at the same time, I want to keep contemplating and researching and brainstorming. Your input is (of course) welcome. I became vegetarian 9 years ago because I was fed up with the meat industry and how animals are being treated. I read and I’m currently re-reading Michael Pollan’s “The omnivore’s dilemma” (it’s a great book!) and I used to agree with him on this point: “What’s wrong with eating animals is the practice, not the principle.” Pollan also wrote: “Sometimes I think that all it would take to clarify our feelings about eating meat, and in the process begin to redeem animal agriculture, would be to simply pass a law requiring all the sheet-metal walls of all the CAFOs [Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation], and even the concrete walls of slaughterhouses, to be replaced with glass. If there’s any new right we need to establish, maybe this is the one: the right, I mean, to look.” And seriously - for me, all it took to become vegetarian was watching this video by Paul McCartney: and since then I (still) feel like I need to throw up whenever I walk by the meat section in a grocery store. I start to feel sick just thinking about it now. Michael Pollan also writes about the Vegan utopia and I get his arguments, but when I contemplate questions like: What does a cow feel when her calve is taken away? Is it appropriate for humans to drink cow milk? What does a hen feel when her eggs are taken away? Could I actually kill a larger animal in order to eat it? I have killed a fish before – could I still do that? How would it feel now? … I feel more and more drawn to become vegan. For anyone, who wants to contemplate along – here are two good resources: and https://www.vegansociety.com/. On the other hand, when I take a closer look at typical vegan products, I get really upset about their long list of ingredients and then we are back to the issue of processed food. I also don’t want to buy too many soy products because of the high isoflavone/estrogen levels (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoflavone, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoestrogen). Another issue is vitamin B12. I don’t want to take supplements, so what could I do? I have been mixing Spirulina powder into my smoothies, but now I found out that probably only natural Chlorella has a positive effect: https://www.b12-vitamin.com/algae/ I guess, I will have to get my B12 values checked once I have transformed my diet completely to vegan (my goal is by the end of this year - until then, I'm slowly implementing the switches).

Hehe... lovely! I'm back safely from my adventurous trip (don't ask me where I went, lol). But yeah, I'm ready for more bubbly talk... :-)

My reminder as soon as I realize that my thoughts are going into a weird direction, is this question: Am I alive? If the answer is yes, everything is actually fine. (not sure if this helps anything... but I thought I would try )

Don't we all look like that if we dare to look closely? Can we be at peace with it though - that's the question, isn't it?

I saw this yesterday ;-)

Oh oh, and we all found Leo, lol...

Looks like you understood that part of it So, maybe you could figure out a strategy to have children with someone else then?

It was time for a bit more contemplation about what reality is and how societies works … coming to the conclusion that any ideology, any business, any religion or cult, any political movements and yes, even “green” movements, the self-help industry, even concepts like spiral dynamics – all of it is STILL (and probably always will be) about NUMBING THE FEAR OF DYING, trying to sell "you=me=us" a greater and better life. Sure, it's on different levels of consciousness of course, but the reason why this works is still the same, isn't it? What else makes "our" egos feel better than the emotion of feeling better than "everyone else"? Isn't the illusion of love and compassion boiling down to the exact same thing?

Btw, I totally agree with @tsuki on this one!

To me it felt like life is presenting you lemons right now I'm not sure if my thoughts are helping anything or if they are making things worse , but here they come... If the other person is living in a totally different (monkey-mind) reality, this is the toughest thing to do, isn’t it? But yeah, I guess that's what we are trying to do here If you take a second look at what you wrote about "him", can you compare his and your reality? Can you be sure that all these thoughts are really true? Could you "turn them around" and find some truth in them as well? Also, have you tried to identify how badly you want to be a mother, when you are in your most emotional state vs. when you are in your most clear state of mind? Is there a difference?

Just wanted to send some ? your way before I board a plane ... If it doesn't crash, I will write more ???

Hi @Action, How are you doing? I miss your posts - they were quite motivating ;-)

So, how far have we come? The garbage truck picks up our trash every two weeks. Now, we are down to one loosely-filled 35 liter bag of “left-over” trash. At the beginning of this year, our trash container (190 liters) was 3-4 times this full. How a family of 4 can fit their trash of 1 year into a 1 liter jar is still a puzzle to me. But I’m determined to find out if it’s feasible at all. I give us another year and I will post our progress here every 3 months (31. January, 30. April, 31. July, & 31. October 2019). I will also try to document if and by how much we can reduce our recycling. [Sweden seems very proud about their recycling strategies and that “we” are even importing trash (https://sweden.se/nature/the-swedish-recycling-revolution/), but I’m actually not so happy about the fact that so much gets burned.] Once the gardening season starts again in the spring, I want to see if I can speed up our outdoor compost with Bokashi (mix of microorganisms) or various species of worms. At the moment, we still have a trash container for food waste that is picked up every two weeks as well. Ok, I’m done talking about trash for now, lol. In the next chapters, I will discuss the pro’s and con’s of going vegan, the issues with plastic and CO2 footprints.

"I" just wanted to add a few more words about Bea Johnson... (and then I will be done praising her, I promise). Here is her "the 5 Rs" scheme: ... so, it's a mixture of minimalism (or, actually, I like the term "Swedish death cleaning" a bit more ) and zero-waste lifestyle, while failing to address stage green issues like the meat industry and CO2 footprints. But to balance it out, she is doing the honorable work of talking to important players:

@Joseph Maynor Your empathy with trees seems like even more of a stage green trap, doesn't it? But hey, it's lovely to see I think that many stage green vegetarians would actually consider eating wild animals that lived a happy life. Has anyone read Michael Pollan's "The omnivore's dilemma"? It's a very yellow book, looking from different perspectives & angles while connecting many dots. I'm just reading it again now while contemplating whether I should really become vegan or not.

Chapter 2: Where and how to buy greener products? Here are two webpages that might help “you” finding stores and farmers markets close to where “you” live. In Europe: https://zerowastemap.org/ and in the US: https://app.zerowastehome.com/. The latter is Bea Johnson’s webpage, who is considered the founder of the Zero waste lifestyle movement. She has 300K followers on social media and her book (https://www.amazon.com/Zero-Waste-Home-Ultimate-Simplifying/dp/1451697686/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1540377100&sr=8-1) has been translated into more than 20 languages. Here is one of her Ted-Talks: But this is not just a women’s green lifestyle movement: Here is another good book by Leo Hickman which inspired “me” deeply: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Stripped-Bare-Trying-Ethically/dp/1903919614/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1540375646&sr=8-7&keywords=Leo+Hickman Last but not least, consider joining a local zerowaste group on Facebook! “They” usually have the best insider information and “you” won’t feel so alone.

If anyone wants to learn more about Bamboo, here "you" go: The International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR), an independent intergovernmental organization with currently 44 member states (https://www.inbar.int/about-inbar/#1, https://www.youtube.com/user/INBARChannel) has six sustainable development goals: 1. End poverty in all its forms 2. Provide affordable, sustainable and reliable modern energy services for all 3. Access to adequate and affordable housing 4. Efficient use of natural resources 5. Address climate change 6. Protect and restore terrestrial ecosystems. (Yes, ok - Bamboo fabric is problematic: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/13/bamboo.fabric but other than that there are not so many bad things to say about Bamboo.) Of course, "you" are welcome to join the discussion :-) P.S. I just asked https://thehumble.co/ if they could start to sell their toothbrushes in bulk. Let's see what they say... ;-)

@now is forever brilliant, on so many levels! Totally adjust to 2/4 now ;-) So, here comes 3/4: and 4/4:

We can “collapse the wavefunction” by observing ourselves and surrender with humbleness, bravery and infinite potential! I keep observing myself and I realize in so many occasions how much my subconscious mind was brainwashed in my childhood and through society. I keep observing myself and I realize how brave I can be. I keep observing myself and I realize my infinite potential more and more. I keep observing and I realize that there are more people who are realizing this just like me. I keep observing and I realize that I don’t need to cling to my story or identity. I keep observing and I surrender with humbleness. I keep observing and realize that everything I just wrote above are just words = letters = language constructs = a thought story that is equal to nothingness.

At this point, it feels appropriate to summarize my experience of writing this journal... let me try to summarize it in 3 stages. This is 1/3:

Chapter #1: Going humble with "our" toothbrushes! One of "my” first changes was the toothbrushes of "our" family. "I" decided to support this company: https://thehumble.co/ instead of those who mass-produce plastic ones. Sure, the bristles are still nylon which is usually not recycled well enough yet (https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/may/18/recycling-nylon-bureo-patagonia-sustainable-clothing). But hey, the “zero waste” movement doesn’t imply that “we” shouldn’t produce any waste at all – instead it’s all about making conscious choices (because with the way “we” are spending “our” money “we” actually have a significant vote!) and this movement is actually all about letting big businesses (which don’t care about their environmental impact) know that “we” are not ok with what “they” do! So, below feel free to provide links to other responsible companies producing better toothbrushes – “I” can’t know all of them, but with “your” help, “we” can turn this journal into a wonderful resource for people who want to become greener! After being on this journey for a while, there is no way for "me" to turn back. "I" would rather go an extra mile to buy products from responsible sources! How about "you"? Do "you" still have a good conscience when "you" are brushing your teeth with a plastic toothbrush? Whatever "your" answer is - may “you” find peace and be happy! Sincerely “yours“, "Zwei ist ein" aka Zweistein ?

Appendix: Are "we" ready for some chaos magic? D - Discipline R- Relaxation A - Attention T - Transformation D.R.A.T. - love this formula