The Gist: Good afternoon VegNews Book Clubbers, and welcome to the second week of our discussion of Vegan's Daily Companion by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau! I hope you guys are enjoying this inspirational read so far. The VN Store copies are now sold out, but the book is available at many other places, so be sure to get your copy soon to join in the conversation.I asked you to read Day 116 to Day 203 for our discussion this week. Due to the book being laid out like a day minder, there's really not much to summarize, but I will talk about how the book has affected me so far. CPG stresses the idea of eating a diet based on whole foods throughout the book, and features a different food at the beginning of each week. I have definitely found myself wanting to cook with more unprocessed foods throughout the month so far, which I think is a really good thing. I'm excited to broaden my culinary horizons!
Second, Day 199 really caught my attention—probably because of the photo of the very adorable pig. The topic of that day is looking at images of animals, or spending time in the presence of animals, to increase overall health. I personally do not have a companion animal, but I do dog sit occasionally, and I've realized that I'm much calmer at those times, and happier overall. Unfortunately, I will not be able to adopt a companion animal any time soon, but I'll definitely be taking CPG's advice, and will try to look at an animal each day. I also hope that you have taken some of her advice as well!
The Discussion: Here are two discussion points to help get the conversation started. I look forward to hearing from you!
1. Have you practiced any of the advice or tips from any of the days so far? If so, which day, and how did it affect your day or week?
2. What websites do you use to get your daily dose of cute animals?
The Assignment: Please read Day 204 to Day 280 of Vegan's Daily Companion, and try to do at least one thing, such as make a recipe or try one of the foods CPG features, for our discussion on Monday, April 18.
~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig
I tend to follow much of Miss C's advice... lately, I've been using times of silence. She mentions on one of those Tuesdays, I think, that she occasionally will take a day just to be quiet. Though I'm not Christian, I like the exercise of removing excess during the season of Lent. I decided to take a revised vow of silence in which I am silent a minimum of 4 hours per day in at least two hour stints. I appreciate the clarity this has brought to my thoughts and how it has revised some of my knee-jerk reactions to typical anger triggers. I appreciate what it teaches me about myself, why certain things get to me, etc. Miss C has such a way with truth that one needn't feel so silly for thinking or doing certain things to improve one's self...
ReplyDeleteI do have a companion animal, so, I have my precious torti to comfort me daily. I don't tend to spend much time online... I do love the Peaceful Prairie blog posts... such beautifully written stories and wonderful photographs of animals I don't get a chance to see. Every day, though, I see and hear plenty of birds singing and squirrels scurrying on my walk from the car to the studio... those animals are equally remarkable to me. They live where I live... I just have to notice them to realize they're amazing.
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, GK. I also love squirrels! Unfortunately, I don't see them too often anymore in the SF Bay Area, but I went to college in Charlottesville, VA, and there were a ton of them. I had so much fun in my four years of college just watching them. It really is the small things that bring you joy.
I look forward to reading more discussion, and I'll wrap up on Friday. Happy Wednesday!
~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig
There are a lot of recipes that I want to try, but haven't really had time yet. I'm with GK on the silent thing. The past couple of days, I've taken some time in the quiet at home after work. It's been really nice! I've also found myself trying to use some of the kinder sayings- cut two carrots with one knife, and things like that.
ReplyDeleteI have a cat, my furry son as I like to call him. His picture is the wallpaper on my phone. Other than photos of my little boy, I can't say that I have one main go to site for animal photos. Although, I did just see the cutest photos of baby raptors on the Humane Society's Facebook, here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=10150151061557842&id=6041057841&aid=291693.
I have been trying to use the tips in "Rhetoric Resolution" (Day 205) by saying nondairy butter and wheat meat, (instead of imitation butter or faux meat). I've also been working on taking supplements (Day 143) every day, instead of just taking them sporadically. Practicing these things has made me feel a lot better about myself.
ReplyDeleteI have not had the chance to try any of the recipes yet, but I'm excited to try most of them! I have 3 companion animals living with me (2 cats and a turtle) so I am able to spend lots of time with animals. My favorite website would have to be icanhascheezburger.com because the pictures and captions are just too funny!
Sorry I'm late posting, this week has been a very busy and hectic one for me!
ReplyDeleteAll of the communication days have been very helpful to me, because that's an area that I struggle with. Day 170 talks about eating at someone's home; I was able to relate to that. Recently I ate dinner that my new boyfriend's dad made, and the sauce had a little bit of cheese in it. I really didn't want to eat it, but I did and said it was no big deal because I didn't want to offend him or hurt his feelings. But all that did was say that I'm willing to give in and compromise my values and that sticking to a true vegan diet is not that important.
Care 2 has had lots of cute animal pics posted lately. I love them and repost them to FB, twitter etc so it's not just the injustices that I'm bring light to, but also the cuteness and love that exists in our world.