Good Morning Everyone! We know it's Tuesday~ "Where is our Tarot Tuesday scream the people?!" Well our resident COM|PASSionate Tarot-ist (Read it out loud… it's my new favorite way to describe the magic that Kaeti brings to the REVOLUTION) is off doing some healing inspiration finding and field research for a couple of weeks so we thought it would be a great time to introduce a couple of new blog series! Up for today:
Good Morning COM|PASSionate REVOLUTIONARIES!
Traci here. For those that may be visiting from past vegan blogging lands, you might know me as Guava or one half of Vegangelical. I'm a queer vegan femme-inist of color who practices in the healing modalities of talk therapy and yoga. I grew up on the Japanese American (family from Hawaii) version of meat and potatoes… aka meat and rice. I've been vegan for around six and half years. Here are some things you should know about me:
- I
likeLOVE food. Food is a way that we nurture and fuel ourselves. Food is a literal interaction with our environment and engages all of our senses. Food can link us into our past, situate us in our present and help us invest in our future. Food can often transcend generational divides and create a center point for celebration and community building. - I'm not a nutritionist. Nor am I a vegan just for health reasons. However, I appreciate folks that enter veganism from this entry point and believe that I am MUCH healthier in mind, BODY and spirit since honoring my person with this compassionate lifestyle. I've also picked up a lot of physical health information since instituting consciousness into my food consumption. Most notably, I'm just more tapped into my body's wants/needs. I've started to listen- so my body's started to have dialogue with me- knowing it doesn't have to be screaming before I check in.
- I'm not an immaculate environmentalist. I believe in the power of a plant based diet to help with a lot of our current environmental challenges but it hasn't been the center point of my practice- a place where I'm still learning. I believe in food not lawns but am also guilty of having vegan take out boxes in my trashcan.
- I don't believe that veganism is universally or equally accessible to all humans. I wish it was because I believe so deeply in it's healing power- especially in relationship to my own marginalized identity pieces. However, I am also passionately invested in us finding systems that can look directly at flaws, even if those flaws are within our own communities/movements, break cycles of violence against all animals, human or otherwise, and institute sustainable patterns where folks have agency to prioritize self-nurturing and healing.
- Hey, crazy vegan, each of those statements sound like a contradiction wrapped in an enigma. What does this "smorgasbord" that you speak of include anyway? You're right! It is! This world, who we are as we navigate it, the way we choose to traverse it and what we need to heal ourselves, our local/cultural communities and our global community is full of complications and intersections. I want to hold those complications and intersections so that we can be in an honest conversation about integrated healing.
That's the complicated way of saying-- I'm really excited to share tips, tricks and recipes with you all. You'll see some recipes that are good for the mind, some that are good for body, some that are good for your spirit and, when serendipity allows, recipes that are good for all three! We'll also talk about how to find safety and growth in living consciously and connected, the ways we come to understand what we each individually need to nurture ourselves and parse out what our responsibility is to create nurturing space for everyone.
Okay, let's end there as to not spoil our appetites.
Forks up! Napkins tucked into shirts? Roll up your sleeves. All in?
Good me too! I'll start prepping for our next gathering and we'll re-convene over some delicious COM|PASSionate fare!
In COM|PASSionate and RAVENOUS appetite,
Traci
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Traci is a COM|PASSionate vegan foodie and diligent student of interconnections. COM|PASSion (Intention towards passionate compassion) drives their own healing journey as well as informs their healing practices. They offer themselves here to this space to feed, nourish and create dialogue over shared conversational meals and celebrations.
"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."
Hippocrates