Live Kind - A 'How To' Post

What does it mean to Live Kind?

To me it means that I try to embrace the principles of non violence, compassion and respect for all living beings. 

It sounds beautiful, doesn't it? Let me tell you, it has not been easy.

So how do I do that?

I try to be kind to myself because you cannot pour from an empty cup, I try to look after my body, mind and soul and to revel in a little self love from time to time. Yoga is wonderful for this! I try to raise my children with kindness and ensure that they respond to life with kindness and happiness as well. I try to ensure that all my encounters with other humans are kind and warm and friendly (as much as possible, insert eye roll).

I am not perfect, but I try and I am getting better every day.
But even all of that is not enough for my quest to living my kindest life, I have tried to extend my compassion outward even more.

My journey began in childhood, when my cousin pondered (over a roast chicken dinner) what came first, the meat or the veins? Before then it hadn't really occurred to me that the chicken on my plate was in fact the same chicken that had been wandering around a farm somewhere, in a happier time of his life of course.

But I was a child and the thought left me, and I carried on eating the meat that was provided to me. It was years later when I met one of my absolute favorite humans at university, she was a vegetarian, and she is now a vegan, and she is the most compassionate person I know. She inspired me to try vegetarianism (not sure if she even knows that she did it) but my motivations were not my own and so I gave it up after a few weeks.

Motivation, I have found, is the most important thing in trying to affect change. If you are doing a thing because you want to impress others, or to be like someone else or for any other reason that is not pure, deep and soul wrenching self motivation then you will fail. Or at least I did!

I am now a vegetarian, and I have been for a few years, and the motivations this time around were all my own. I had an epiphany and it changed my life. But that is the subject of an entirely new blog post - there are levels of reasons, and that is not the purpose of today's post. (note to self - do a "why I don't eat meat" post)

I found it relatively easy to stop eating meat, I carried on with fish for a while and then gave that up as well. It felt good! 

Have you noticed how when you become interested in a thing, all of a sudden you see that thing every-damn- where! For instance when we were trying to have a baby - BAM - baby stuff everywhere. Every person on the planet was suddenly pregnant, everywhere we went there were babies. Babies, babies, babies! These babies had been there all the time but we were only noticing them now, because previously we had no interest in babies!

It was the same after becoming vegetarian, suddenly there was a massive social media community of vegetarians and vegans, there were celebrities promoting plant based eating, there were alternative food products in every shop. There were facts blasted left and right and center about the benefits of going meat-free. That felt good too!

In fact, even if you are not keen on giving up on meat entirely, even just one day a week will have a major impact of the lives of animals, and the environment. The facts are out there guys! 
Meat Free Monday is one way that you can Live Kind!

Here is the catch!

When I gave up meat, I didn't realize that I was also giving up marshmallow! GELATIN is made from cow bones, and it is the ingredient in a lot of yummy things! I couldn't in good conscience continue to eat these products. So that was my natural next step - eradicating gelatin from my diet.

Now I had really started paying attention, and I realized that my beauty products, furniture, clothing and accessories, my vitamins, medication, even household cleaning products were sometimes made with animal products, and also tested on animals! 

So began my next (and ongoing) mission - to go cruelty-free! 
I truly believe that with modern technology as it is, there can be no excuse for the testing of products on animals, it is barbaric and archaic and it needs to end!

This blog will probably be inundated with posts promoting cruelty free products that I have found and tried and loved - it is a cause very important to me! I feel that if I can inspire even just one person to try a veggie alternative or a cruelty free product, I would have achieved something. A little bit of 'paying it forward' if that makes sense?

I am on a journey and I still have a long way to go, I do try to eat vegan as much as I can right now, but this is something that it taking me a while to adjust to. I understand the ideals but I guess its a question of that self-motivation. 
Bear with me, I'll get there!

I have plans to purge my cleaning products soon as well as my wardrobe (tiny 'sob' for all the beautiful shoes and handbags that are no longer an option for me). 

So to me living kind means to be kind to myself and to everyone that I come into contact with, it also means to be kind to the planet and to all living beings on the planet. It means to try to make a difference. This is my journey and I guess I'm sharing it with you!

Thanks for making it this far through my ramblings!

With love,
Chelsea.