The more I understand about highly sensitive people, my curiosity grows. Is this me? Perhaps…

Is it you?

Take the test and learn more about Elaine Aron’s research on the highly sensitive person at hsperson.com.

Once upon a time, I was a health zealot. Whether or not you asked, I’d gladly and immediately inform you of the contents of your food and any health risks they posed. My intention wasn’t to be a zealot; it was to be helpful. I was open and ready for that information and assumed everyone else was, too.

I was wrong.

Over time, I’ve ebbed and flowed with health. It’s prominence rises and falls. Over the course of the last year or so, it’s fallen. I’ve had beef (I thought it was veal), I’ve had pork (I knew it was pork), and I’ve consumed lots and lots of sugar. As of late, however, my attention to health has been on the rise.

It’s not even necessarily what’s present in my diet, so much as what’s been missing: easily digestible, nutrient rich plant-based foods.

Preventative health, mostly based around diet, used to be such a large focus in my life, and over time has dwindled away. But I miss it. I believe in it. I want it back.

That said, last week, I decided to detox by eating raw foods for two weeks. At first, I was super nervous, even tentative about lasting the entire time. By the time the first day arrived, I was mentally prepared and fully committed. On the second day, I realized it was my one year anniversary of moving to New York (sentimental, I know) and decided to, on day three, treat myself to a dinner at the raw restaurant near my house.

Best decision ever. I’m so about to eat lots of raw foods. Not just for the next two weeks, but period. I’m interested in optimal health.

I saw the Forks Over Knives trailer posted above and thought you’d be interested in knowing that optimal health is at the end of your fork.

If health and food politics are of interest to you, you may also like:

• Sucker MDs
• Food, Inc.

In light of Wednesday’s question, the concept of the shadow has reigned heavy on my mind. So far, it’s had a mildly profound effect on me. As I learn more about it and truly begin the process of self-integration, I’m anticipating benefits of even greater profundity.

For the benefit of helping others in this process of self-development, I’m including some links on the shadow so we can learn together, if you’re so inclined.

• From his book, No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth, Ken Wilber includes an enlightening summary of the shadow.
• Self-integration through meditation

I’m looking for something on the shadow and/or self-integration (or personality integration) within an African or indigenous framework, so if anyone should happen upon something, please share. In the meantime, I found this article detailing a simple journaling exercise with some pretty good questions.

I’d really like to hear about people’s thoughts and experiences with shadow work. It’s interesting stuff.

• Even if you don’t eat at a fast food restaurant, you’re still eating food made for/within that system. [If you haven't already, read Fast Food Nation.]
• “Chickens never see sunlight. They’re pretty much in the dark all the time.”
• “This isn’t farming, this is just mass production.”
• “It doesn’t matter if the chickens get sick, all of the chickens will be sent for processing.”
• Learn about the industrial food system.
• 30% of the land in the US is used to produce corn.
• Farm-raised fish is eating corn.
• Average American eats over 200 lbs. of meat a year. Ugh. Do you know how long it takes for meat to leave your body??
• Reminder: there’s manure in your meat! Bon appetit!

• “We put faith in our government to protect us and we’re not being protected on a basic level.” <— this government protects highest bidders: the massively rich, corporations, and industries
• Consumer safety tip: FDA doesn’t protect consumers and was never designed to do so. Former FDA Commissioner Herbert Lay was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle of January 2, 1970 as saying, “The thing that bugs me is that people think the FDA is protecting them. It isn’t. What the FDA is doing and what the public thinks it’s doing are as different as night and day.”
• If cattle is taken off corn diet and put on [natural] grass diet, they shed 80% of e. coli in their stomachs.
• Hamburger meat filler treated with AMMONIA to kill the e. coli in the beef…in 20% of the market. Bon Appetit! [They project 100% in 5 years.]
• #foodinc is reminding me of why I became a macrobiotic practitioner and eventually a vegan.
• “Faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper!” is the motto of food industry.
• Being an adult who regularly eats fast food is like becoming a new cigarette smoker: way too much information out there to not know you’re asking for trouble. [But I'm assuming you care about your quality of life.]
• If you eat fast food because you don’t have time to cook: try slow cooking. Crock pots are AMAZING!
• I sincerely believe food/diet is responsible for [or a major contributor to] 95% of all health problems.
• Our current economic system KILLS souls. People doing menial, spirit-killing jobs for a wage. Shame.
• I was urged by @andrea_zak to read Kessler’s The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite to find out what happens to factory farmed meat and industrial veggies.
• Someone noted that it costs more to eat well than to eat poorly. Upfront, yes.
• Environmental, health, and social costs for “cheap” food are NOT cheap.
• No to US soy…90% of it’s Roundup Ready: can’t be killed by pesticide. [Roundup Ready products are "herbicide tolerant". To learn more about the effects of Roundup Ready products, check out Roundup Ready Nation: Dying for Profits.]
• Live by your principles. The law is not values-based, thus often lawfully unlawful. The prohibition of marijuana is proof of this. [Note: I am not promoting the use of marijuana, but I am in support of its legalization, especially alongside the legalization of alcohol and cigarettes, which kill an insanely large number of people annually.]
• Become a vegetarian, build an earthship and grow your own food. [Earthships are completely self-sustainable housing. Friggin awesome.]
• Genetically modified foods aren’t labeled. Meat from cloned animals isn’t either. Cheers!
• 70% of supermarket products contains some genetically modified ingredient.
• You can go to prison for criticizing beef in Colorado?!? What the…? [Yes, thanks to the veggie libel law, you can be sued by food producers for libel in thirteen states: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas.]
• Some solutions are to support local food. Farmer’s markets. Communnity supported agriculture (CSAs). Plant a garden.
• (y)our diet can change the planet. and your life. see?

It turns out that 90% of the sea animals caught in the fishing industry are “bycatch: dumped dead or dying into the sea, or turned into fertilizer, pet food and fish food.”

As a semi-vegan/pescetarian, I think I might need to add a little diversity in my fish choices, skip it altogether, or eat Whole Foods quality farm raised. The sacrifices we all have to make so as many people as possible can enjoy this planet for as long as possible…they’re really not that big.

Source: Ode Magazine

“I want to live in a community that localizes most of the facets of my life,” I thought.

Then, I saw this video and that desire intensified. Only 90 seconds with no words, it illustrates the importance of a number most of us don’t know the significance of.

That is supposed to be my focus, yeah?

Yes…so I need to get focused.

I lose faith in people right around this time.  I’d say from January to December every four years especially, this being one of those years.  It’s then that the worst qualities of humans are most evident, that’s not to say that they aren’t any other time.  I think it can be such a deeply personal time for everyone that those qualities just become apparent.

“I want this so…”

“I believe people should…” so you’ll vote for an war-monger despite all the other jacked up policies that come with the four consensual, nonpartisan plans the candidate has.

Geez…it’s not a good time to put your trust in people.  Or in a process that has long ago been decidedly ineffective for achieving its supposed goal.

That said…I need an upper and I’m sure you do too.  Let’s see here…

Favorite line so far: “You cannot be anything you want to be – but you can be a lot more of what you already are.” I dig it.

And finally…ninjitsu! Or something related to it. I never think about stretching my hands. Hmm…happy finger weaving.

The fact that politicians lie shouldn’t be new to anyone. With both presidential candidates geared up and ready to go, you might want to do some research on who’s telling the truth before you cast that vote.

To assist you with deciphering the truth, enter FactCheck.org.

We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit, “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.

Who are we? What are we doing? What are we agreeing to? With our silence? Our obedience? Our complacency? Our willful ignorance?

We can connect the dots if we so choose to, but we choose not to. Why? Ignoring reality does not change reality. Does not make it go away. Does not push it further away from us.

So scared of losing everything, of dying, that we cannot see that we lose everything in our decision to not act with humanity, with love.

We lose everything while we sit and watch others suffer, sitting idly in our security ignoring all the signs that tell us “this isn’t real.”

This isn’t real! So much of our lives, of what we do, eat, think is fake and choosing to be okay with that means we’ve already lost it all. We lost. Because we’re not living anyway.

“We will defeat this war by making it unworkable on the ground
through thousands of collected acts of rebellion and disobedience.”

“We do not walk today to ask concessions from the powers;
they will never legislate peace or freedom.
We come to you. We turn to the living.
Their armies cannot occupy our dreams and their jails cannot hold our number.
This is our world and these streets belong to us.”

Those experiencing it the worst are the same people who, at some point, were actually saving money.  I’m talking about suburbanites.  Suburban existence is completely dependent upon car transport and the availability of cheap fuels.  Well say it ain’t so, but yeah…peak issue is a very real concern no longer relegated exclusively to energy industry.  Peak oil doesn’t mean that there isn’t anymore oil, but that we’ve reached the maximum level of production, so from this point onward, every barrel of oil will be harder to get out of the ground, of lesser quality, and more expensive.  The days of cheap energy are over.

A while ago, there was an explosion of SUVs on the market.  Little men wanted them to feel more manly.  Big men wanted them for more space…and to feel more manly.  And little women wanted them to feel more manly.  (Strange, yes?)  Then hits rising energy costs and SUVs are no longer regarded as cool, but stupid if the space was unused and unnecessary.  If you didn’t sell/trade-in your SUV when they were still “in”, the likelihood of selling/trading-in now is low.  If you live in the suburbs and drive a SUV, effectively your little toe bleeds as the gun falls out of your hand. 

We’re going to see a continuing rise in urban populations and the development of more urban spheres.  Local living is key.  Moving forward, living, buying, working, and eating locally are all going to be of increased importance, something most suburbanites just can’t do without automobile reliance.  According to James Howard Kunstler, “The Wal-Marts of North America have very efficiently and effectively destroyed almost every local and regional network of economic, commercial interdepence.  And those networks are going to have to be rebulit.”

I found a great 52-minute documentary about this called The End of Suburbia.  Watch it below.

I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

The concept of Ebeneezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol is an extraordinarily interesting one to me.  Here you have a character, a grouch, who loathes Christmas.  Each year, his intense hatred for the “holiday” strengthens as he draws further and further into himself.  Dickens informs readers that the reason Scrooge hates Christmas so much is because of his unhappy childhood and poor relationship with his father, who forced him to spend the holiday alone doing homework.  The insinuation is that if Scrooge had received the virtues of kindness, compassion, love and tenderness, he wouldn’t have been the Christmas basher that he was.

Abstract this characterization and apply it to our culture.  Often times, when people have an unpleasant demeanor around this time because of Christmas, they’re made out to be a Scrooge or a Grinch.  Reality is Christmas has nothing to do with what it’s said to be about–NOTHING–and it’s unfair to make those that know this wear the Scrooge cap because the rest of the world believes contrary due to the successful indoctrination of the so-called holiday.

When I have kids, no, I will not celebrate Christmas.  They will not receive Christmas gifts or any other kind of gift on or around December 25^th.  No.

If you’d like to do the knowledge, watch the following video called The Unwrapping of Christmas: Its History, Myths, and Traditions.