'When someone approaches you with a negative or aggressive attitude, it is reflecting the negative and aggressive nature of their inner attitude towards themselves.'
I remember a few months ago I was not the most friendliest person I could of been and I was very negative about everything around me externally. I can't imagine I was a very nice person to be around when I was in this frame of mind and I know now that it was probably to make myself feel better due to my insecurities, jealousy, bitterness and selfishness. I was so unhappy with my own life that I just became negative about everything and anything. People will not want to be around you if you are negative all the time because you won't be any fun and why would anyone want to be around someone who is constantly moaning.
As you know I recently decided I wanted to change my life around, become the best version of myself and to pursue a journey to inner happiness. My journey started by facing up to my issues, giving myself time to gather my thoughts, erasing out certain aspects of my life which I knew were affecting my moods and I also started reading The Art of Happiness which lead me onto my spiritual journey. I have also made a sustained effort to change my external behaviour which has been helpful in overcoming bad habits and has also changed my underlying attitudes and feelings.
The Art of Happiness has taught me the value and benefits of compassion and how it can make you into a much warmer person, in Buddhism compassion is an essential to a person's spiritual development and in the book Dalai Lama defines the word.
'Compassion can be roughly defined in terms of a state of mind that is nonviolent, nonharming and nonaggressive. It is a mental attitude based on the wish for others to be free of their suffering and is associated with a sense of commitment, responsibility and respect towards others.'
In the book it also states that 'in developing compassion, perhaps one could begin with the wish that oneself be free of suffering and then take that natural feeling towards oneself and cultivate it, enhance it and extend it out to include and embrace others.'
And that is exactly why I wanted to share my journey with anyone who may interested. I want to inspire others and help others to free themselves from any suffering in their lives because if I can free myself then so can lots of other people. I was in a really dark place and this book has honestly changed my life, life doesn't have to be rubbish and never feel like it won't get better because it will. You have a right for happiness just like anyone else.
I now make a conscious effort to make people smile, be kind to everyone, to give people advice if they are feeling down and to just cheer people up. You want the people around you to be on the same frequency as you so by letting off positive energy you are spreading those vibes. Always remember that whoever you meet on your journey could be a potential new friend or even lover so be kind and do not judge the person before you get to know them.
I won't go into to much detail about all the different areas of compassion which is discussed in the book because hopefully you will read the book but I just wanted to briefly touch on the topic as I feel it has made me into a such a better person in every way. My best friend at university told me that I am so much more enjoyable to be around now and I think we have become a lot closer over the last month or so because I'm no longer just moaning 24/7.
When you are positive you will attract so much more good in your life and attract more people because you have what I like to call it, the 'happy glow'.
With this compassion came my transition to veganism.
I have always been an animal lover and I absolutely adore dogs, but recently I have started to take notice of some of the posts which PETA are sharing daily on Facebook. (Ps this was before I gave myself a Facebook ban ha ha! Refer to Social Media & Technology post)
I started off by taking an interest in the real fur industry and the cruelty behind it, I have always been aware of it but I have never really looked into it properly. I can't believe that animals are being skinned alive for us human beings to wear and to flaunt, you would think that in this day an age this wouldn't be happening. So anyway, I started my research on the industry and have started to make people more aware of this cruelty by sharing on social media platforms. I have also looked into the cosmetic industry and how they are using animals to test their products, again an issue I was always aware of but was quite ignorant about and began raising awareness of this also.
I recently visited Selfridges and Harvey Nichols (both Manchester stores) and made myself aware of all the fur being sold in these stores with Harvey Nichols selling the most, I then sent an email to Harvey Nic's asking them to stop selling fur. This is a pre written email by PETA themselves.
If you want to ask Harvey Nichols to stop selling fur then here is the link -
If you do not want to support these industries which cause harm to animals then please do not buy any items which have real fur on them, this can be fur keyrings, fur pompom's, fur hood trims, leather shoes, leather bags etc. And do not buy products tested on animals.
I recently bought some new toiletries which are suitable for vegan's and are not tested on animals. The superdrug (vitamin e) products are an affordable price of £2.99 and the coconut body cream was 99p from Savers. I was really pleased to see that Superdrug are AGAINST animal testing, I will definitely be buying from there again. My next goal is to make my make-up all cruelty free.
Superdrug have a huge range of vegan products and have a full vegan make-up brand which I will be doing a review of very soon.
Here is the link to have a browse through what is on offer -
Basically I realised if I am trying to raise awareness of this animal cruelty (fur & cosmetics) but at the same time I am eating meat, it actually makes me a hypocrite. So I have decided to give Veganism a go, I have been vegan for about a week so far, its going well and I have rekindled my love for cooking. I had already made my mind up about becoming a vegan but after I watched a YouTube video which was recommended by one of my favourite YouTubers, Mika Francis, it definitely opened my eyes way more to the industry.
101 Reasons to Go VEGAN -
This video does contain graphic content but to be honest, its real life so there is no avoiding it.
I wouldn't recommend watching this before going to bed if you have an overactive imagination like me, I sobbed so hard I gave myself a headache and then couldn't sleep because I was having continuous nightmares. Since watching the video I haven't been able to look at meat the same way and can't help but want to scream your EATING DECAYING FLESH, STOP!
"If you don't like seeing pictures of violence towards animals being posted, you need to help stop the violence, not the pictures." - Johnny Depp
Its made me feel more in touch with the planet and nature, I feel that I'm bringing good to the planet and also helping to save animals lives. I've learnt that we are all living beings, we all deserve to live a happy life and to be free from suffering!
Plus there is lots of great health benefits too!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and Mother's Day, if your in the UK.
Lauren x
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