Self Worth, Respect & Love

A series of connections were made in my head earlier on this evening bringing me to a slight revelation of the great importance of self-worth, respect & love. And I got thinking about how surely in order to love anybody else you must possess a certain amount of love for yourself before you are truly able to expose yourself to another being, and I think that having that belief that you are worthy of another person's love can be quite an unnerving thought for some too. 

Last Wednesday Russell Brand made some comments in his show about his past drug addiction, surely this must have stemmed originally from a lack of self-worth in order for him to stoop to such a low, that forced him to form a coping mechanism that fundamentally influenced and altered his behaviour and personality? The annoyance for others of his unfamiliar and perhaps over-bearing behaviour whilst under the influence of these drugs must have been infuriating, something only a person who knew his true inner-self would have the tolerance for. 

I find it quite remarkable thinking of the almighty hurdle it must have been to to wean himself off them whilst still under the influence of the fog like mentality that heroin tends to bring (said not out of experience but an educated guess!). For despite the support that others offered that initial decision and willpower had to come from him personally. He'd have had to address the true issues that were causing him to use the drugs in the first place, changing his view of himself and beginning to see himself worth more that the damage the drugs were doing to him. Russell said that everyday he is faced with that temptation to reform to his old ways, whether the temptation is small or great it's still remains, but for the past decade or so he has never succumbed to the lows of his old self and instead embraces and actively loves the person that he is, something I strongly admire. 

The drugs in this example could be an endless number of other things for it is just the 'symptom' of an under-lying problem, they could be general habits for some or fatal and harmful actions such as the drugs for others. Whether it be drinking, over-eating or perhaps just blocking people out of your life, these are all coping mechanisms which need that exact same sense of compassion and self-worth to refrain from such abuse instead the ability to visualise yourself as worthy of respect. I think when you can love yourself you can then go forth and begin to go on an endless 'journey' of forming healthy and fulfilling relationships. But that leap of faith, exposing yourself to be vulnerable and learning to accept and cherish all the ins and outs of who you are is quite a daunting process, well certainly for me but we can but try! Anyway just some food for thought! 

love, bean xx 

Latest Video...

Just a quickie to let you know about my latest YouTube video about going to starbucks as a vegan. Starbucks is one of my favourite places to go to when I'm out and about, take a look at the video where I go into more detail about some of my favourite things to order. Just to let you know when buying the caramel drink the sauce that you can have on the top contains egg whites so be sure to just ask for it without that!

love, bean xx

Time to explain a few things...

At this stage in my life I am not as strict a vegan as I would like to be, as I've said before I don't believe it's something that can happen overnight but I see it more as a gradual process.  For example, I recently went and did an intense course down south for 2 weeks where we put on a show at the end. We were working 12 hour days and our food was catered for us therefore it was quite difficult to eat a proper vegan diet. I made the decision that I would try my hardest but not to be too dramatic (I left that for the stage!) and ate a predominately vegetarian diet. This wasn't ideal and my face was instantly covered in spots due to the sudden dairy intake that my body wasn't accustomed to digesting. But, for the friends that I met and the experiences I gained I felt the sacrifice was definitely worth it. Some people and stricter vegans then myself will not agree with my decision but I believe everything in moderation and trying to find a balance in life.

This blog and my YouTube account both reflect that relatively relaxed outlook, I use them as an outlet to share with other people the lessons that I'm learning. But I just thought I should write this disclaimer type post to give you a bit more understanding on how these posts and videos won't offer you a strict formula on how you should be a vegan, they're the gradual accumulation of things that I personally come across on my journey, which you may find useful for your journey too. If you're already the perfect vegan then I'm really not going to be much help but if you're thinking about maybe testing the waters and seeing if this may be something you're interested in then this may be the place for you. I suppose I'm an aspiring vegan, but I hope to always keep this relaxed frame of mind. I believe in this lifestyle and all the benefits that come along with it, and I want to share this passion for veganism and various other things I believe in with you, talking about an array of things as and when they inspire me whether it be a life lesson or a new ice-cream I've come across. I hope you've found this useful and that it's given you a slight more understanding on what this is all about!

Love, bean xxx

Are we really the intelligent ones?

When I look around nowadays, irrelevant of where I may be, I see people who are trying to give themselves a purpose. When young we are taught it's a vital thing to do, from being a toddler we're asked ‘what do you want to do when you're older?'. I walked around a city this afternoon for 3 hours just observing; mobiles, suits, rushing around, everything and everyone looked so serious. But if everything were to be stripped back, hypothetically you weren't able to recall anything prior to this moment, what would you be left with? Primarily you are simply left with your body anything else like the makeup, clothes, relationships and jobs are just what you've decided to add to your life. These other additional factors we can survive without, but what about an integral organ such as your lungs? You can survive without your career but lungs are a vital part to your survival. Yet people smoke in hope of maintaining and balancing their stress levels to excel in their career. Effectively, people are willing to literally die for their jobs. Of course, this is only one scenario I could go on forever listing the different harmful things that people do to their bodies in order to keep these impermeable parts of their lives thriving. Fascinating; this is human behaviour.

Our one true responsibility I believe in life is to look after our bodies simply in order to keep on living, I wonder how many people out there sacrifice things to do this job justice? It’s probably a good thing that our heart doesn’t rely on us to consciously keep the blood pumping around our body. Evidence from observing other human decisions would suggest that we’d probably all be dead in days due to our bizarre priority lists. Soon to be mothers tend to be very cautious to not smoke or drink and to take in extra nutrients all in order to care for their growing foetus. Then the baby is born and everything normally goes back to how it was before for the new mother. And as we grow up and have to look after ourselves this care for our ever-growing bodies gets thrown out the window too.

If you were in a house on fire your instinct would probably be to run as far away as fast as possible from the life threatening circumstance. It’s our animal instinct. Actions such as smoking is actively and consciously walking into that burning building. It’s slower but it will inevitably harm your body and ultimately it’s a death sentence. I often think animals are the more intelligent creatures because they listen to their bodies, they're happy to feel what they’re feeling and they do things in their best interest to thrive and stay alive. Animals only eat the food that they were designed to eat. Although humans can digest meat if you look at our teeth, as an example, they aren’t similar to those of a true carnivore, they are blunt and good for nibbling on foods such as vegetables. We can survive on a 100% plant based diet but we cannot survive on a diet composed purely of just meat. Interesting… I hope that you aren’t one of these people I have spoken about in this post, I hope you're somebody who takes care to nourish your body everyday and respect it for all that it does for you.

love, bean xx

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