vegan

COM|PASSionate Events

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Hey All! Happy Friday! Hey, guess what?! You made it! One more week down. Whether it was a week that tried the buoyancy of your spirit or a week that spoiled your heart, be victorious. Sometimes it's just about heading into the next week. Sometimes it's just about how you decide to write it into your life story.

{Image Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/457326537138456456/|}

And, then, once we've taken a breath and patted ourselves on the back, we can take the weekend space to solidify our stories in ways that feel right to us. It's all a hustle, but since we're going to expend the energy anyways...

{Image Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/236016836696218301/}

We can't always control the ways our stories are set up or the adversity we encounter, but we can utilize the agency we have to walk through them. We can view the hustle as power, the hustle as a privilege.

 EVENTS

Get out, take care of yourself and heal in community!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Don't forget there's lots of upcoming ways to get involved!

RECOMMENDATIONS

Practice writing, reading, and re-writing your story. Infuse it with compassion and gratitude and YOU. Celebrate your victories, honor your challenges, and be gentle with your first drafts. Craft your hustle into a heroes journey so that you're rooting for yourself to win as the final pages turn.

Some tips to get started!

 

Writing ourselves into the hustle,

The COM|PASSionate REVOLT Community<3

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*Events are put on by the CR Community/CR Community members. Other events are by friends of the CR Community or of interest to the CR Community. Feeling a little nervous about getting out and involved? Email us and if we can we'll make some introductions so you have a friendly face to say "Hi" to when you get there!

**Most of these events will be local to Southern CA (unless we notice an event that sets us off into road trip dreamland.) If you want to do a COM|PASSionate event round-up for your local area let us know!

***Are you an individual, meet-up or community group that has some COM|PASSionate events of your own? Email us for details on how to submit your event to our calendar!

****Have your own story about healing or thoughts on healing? Are you a queer vegan healer? Want to talk to your community about ways you're living consciously and connected? Do you want your blog, org, or event to be featured on one of our running series or want to do an interview introducing yourself to the COM|PASSionate REVOLT Community? Are you a unicorn in a pony world disguising your magickal star dust sprinkling mane to live amongst the commoners?

Pitch us a blog series or interview idea!! Contact us at compassionaterevolt@gmail.com!

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There are photographs in this post that were borrowed lovingly from the internet and do not belong to us. All are linked and credited to the best of our abilities in hopes of attracting more traffic to the photographers and websites who have blessed us with this imagery. The inclusion of a photograph here should not be interpreted as an assertion of the subject's or artist's identity or beliefs. If there is a photo included here that belongs to you and you want it removed, please email compassionaterevolt@gmail.com and it will be removed promptly, no questions asked.

Picnic Lunch: Treat Yo' Self!

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Happy Thursday Everyone! PLBanner

Yup! A double dose of Picnic Lunch this week! Why?

Why not?! Welcome to the first installation of Picnic Lunch: Treat Yo' Self!

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsABTmT1_M0[/embed]

BTW we're sure Donna meant, "Fine {Faux} Leather Goods." :) Here's one of my favorites... eco-friendly Matt & Nat Bags. On my "to treat myself" list... but I digress...

Something that comes up a lot when talking to folks about veganism is the question, "Isn't it hard to stick to such a strict diet?"  

A) Nope. It's awesome.

B) It's not really restrictive. It's awesome.

C) We're looking at this all wrong!!!  It's awesome!

My decision to not consume animal products isn't a punishment or a sacrifice. It's something I get to do! It's a privilege. It's a privilege that I honor and hold in high regard AND it's a way that I "treat myself!"

For folks that are thinking about taking the plunge into compassionate waters, for folks just trying to make more space for different nourishment options and even for you folks who feel that a bacon sealed tomb is a sign of a life well lived-- I hope you'll open yourself up to this point of view.

The food that we, choose or have access to, put in our bodies is literally what's fueling us. Our caloric consumption literally gets sent out and enmeshed with all the fibers of our being. So, if we are lucky enough to have some choice around our food, it seems like we should consume consciously.

We're giving our bodies the right materials to go forth into this sometimes challenging and chaotic world. And it's my belief, that this extends beyond the physical. {I'm not going to talk ya'll yet about energetic components of this, cortisol and biological evidence. I meant what I said when I invited you bacon lovers to the conversation.. I'm going to ease ya'll in... I'll be gentle.} This means that when I encourage you to "Treat Yo' Self!" with a diverse and nutritious plant based diet to fuel your body, I also think you should engage and try to satisfy your sight, smell, heart and spirit!

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Treat Yo' Self Mindfulness Practice

IMAGINE (meditate or practice) THIS:

Carving out some space in your busy week to treat yourself to a date night at home. Pause. Take a breath and ask your body what it needs. Something warm? Something light and green? Something quick because you want to take a walk after dinner and still get to bed early? Something you ate as a kid?

Plan accordingly and include prep time! Dinner prep reservation at 4pm? Sure! It's five o'clock somewhere!

Set out all your ingredients like they do in those cooking shows! Stay present with each step. Have you ever seen that shade of golden beet before... seriously... like ever in nature? Have you ever stopped to smell a meyer lemon versus a regular one? Do you notice how the smells of herbs intensify as you chop them?? Have you ever minced something and paid attention to the wonder of your body's ability to... mince something?

Everything done? Feeling like you're going to finally represent and bring plant based honor to Top Chef??? Everything look less than perfect but smells delicious? Awesome.

Take a seat. Don't turn on the television. Maybe turn on some music but not too loud. Get yourself a large glass of water with some citrus or cucumber (oh, you fancy huh?) Take a look at your masterpiece! Bring it up to your noise! Waft like you're a sommelier at a five star restaurant!

Take your time taking bites. Taste parts of your meal separately. Taste them together! Use your fancy water to toast your fabulous self dominating another day and taking time to honor yourself with a date night and a great meal!

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Feel any differently about the relationship to food, your body and your heart?

I know that our lives aren't setup to have these luxurious date nights all the time. I'm as guilty as the next person of eating in front of my computer while I get some work done now and then, but I try to keep it at a minimum. This practice can be done in so many different variations and at different levels. Maybe it's just five breaths before you start eating. Maybe it's a slow down after to see how you feel from what you consumed. Maybe it's just a quick internal toast to yourself!

Here's one of my favorite meals to treat my mind, body and spirit. Fancy finger food night: Bread, Almonds, Vegan Cheeseball, Olive Tapenade, Dried Fruit and Roasted Broccolini!

unnamed-1This meal is quick, easy and has so many different combinations! It also slows me down and cues me into the process as I assemble my plate and then assemble each bite before I eat it. Most importantly, it feels fancy like I'm treating myself!

It's all a practice in mindfulness and a celebration!

So is it hard to stick to such a "strict diet?" Click on some of the links above and you tell me! The food industry in our country is a complicated one and not without conflict (including vegan food industry) but we can minimize our harm to the world around us. There are so many beautiful and delicious ways we can treat ourselves and, though some would like to have us believe it, our pleasure doesn't have to be another's pain. This way you can enjoy, celebrate and consume with no conflict to your mind, body and spirit!

Go ahead revolutionaries- the hustle is real- take a night to "Treat Yo' Self!"

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."

 

 

 

Picnic Lunch

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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:

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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:

  1. I like LOVE 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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 

 

Engaged Theory Makes Change Possible

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Happy Friday REVOLUTIONARIES!!! We talk a lot about collaboration, community and, of course, living consciously + connected. We talk because it's important to be in conversation about these things. We also want there to be action, we want to be a part of the action, we want to inspire you all to take action and we want to engage in action together!

We also realize that to live consciously and connected in this world can be a daunting task. Especially for those of us that already feel and experience things with intensity and vibrance. It is with this in mind that we want to honor those doing this exhausting and powerful work. We want to honor those out there that are courageous enough and dedicated enough to fight and create space for all of us to have these important and scary conversations so that we can heal together on a holistic level. We want to make sure everyone knows about this amazing conference that's happening...

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The Vegan Praxis of Black Lives Matter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oos58_D5n4o

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Go visit Sistah Vegan , donate to the cause and get involved in the conversation because...

"Engaged theory makes change possible."

Carol J. Adams

In COM|PASSionate REVOLUTION,

The COM|PASSionate REVOLT Team