Peace Is Contagious!!

The spiritual advisor for my school board sent us the following quote and I thought I would share:

“We ‘inter-are,’ everyone is responsible for everything that happens in life.  When you produce peace and happiness in yourself, you begin to realize peace for the whole world.  With the smile that you produce in yourself, with the conscious breathing you establish within yourself, you begin to work for peace in the world.  To smile is not only to smile for yourself; the world will change because of your smile.  When you practice sitting meditation, if you enjoy even one moment of your sitting, if you establish serenity and happiness inside yourself, you provide the world with a solid basis for peace.  If you do not give yourself peace, how can you share it with others?  If you do not begin your peace work with yourself, where will you go to begin it?  To sit, to smile, to look at things and really see them, these are the basis of peace work.” (Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist monk, author, and philosopher)

I totally agree with this statement 100 percent and have seen the spirits of people around me lifted when I was happy and peaceful!!

Photo Credit: http://www.funrose.com

The quality of our thoughts determines the quality of our lives!!

This past February I started the seemingly impossible task of learning how to meditate. If you had the ability to read minds, and checked my thoughts back then you would know that I never thought I would be able to relax my mind!! Throughout any given day my thoughts were scattered and moving very quickly similar to a running cheetah on a hunt. I didn’t think I would ever be able to tame my “monkey” mind.

Then I met my meditation instructor Brian. He taught me how to erase words like can’t, won’t, and never from my vocabulary and I slowly learned how to meditate. At first I could only do it with my eyes closed and while listening to a guided meditation CD, but eventually I was able to meditate with my eyes open and in the loudest and most lively situations – like on a bus with 38 screaming Grade 5 children!!

These days I breathe slowly and visualize myself in paradise throughout the day and usually for at least 1 hour!! Sometimes when I am having trouble making my mind still I simply tell my mind “breathe in the peace, breathe out the fear” and just like that I am able to meditate!! For the deepest meditations I need complete silence though. Many times when I am in a deep meditation very creative images come to me!! One time I pictured a gorgeous Indonesian garden complete with sprawling courtyard. The colour scheme was sepia with vibrant flowers in shades of magenta, golden-yellow, and red. I felt complete peace and love!! It was paradise!! I knew in that moment that the quality of my thoughts really does determine the quality of my life!!

If you are interested in taking the free meditation course, let me know and I will give you Brian's contact info :)

Photo Credit: http://dalailina.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/carpool-meditation/

Your Beauty Is Inside of You: An Evening for the Sharks

Last night I had the honour of helping with “An Evening for the Sharks” – a fundraising event hosted by none other than Rob Stewart and Julie Anderson. The event was being held to support Rob's new NGO United Conservationists (http://unitedconservationists.org/).

As I entered Ultra (the club where it was held) the peace, love, and excitement in the air could not be contained as the other volunteers and I kept telling each other that it was going to be the BEST NIGHT EVER!! We also collectively hoped that the rain would hold off despite the lurking presence of storm clouds.

I honestly struggle to find words to describe the caring hearts of the beautiful people that attended the event. All I can say is that the obvious love and compassionate could be felt in the room and the energy was incredibly loving and peaceful!! The energy seemed to spill out into the street like maple keys being blown by a summer wind and the club reached its capacity of 650 within hours!! I have only felt this kind of energy in the house of my Yogi who has spent almost 30 years planting the seed of serenity!!

I did some petitioning and barely had to say anything about how sharks are on the brink of extinction and what that means for over half of the oxygen supply humans depend on for survival and before I knew it my clipboard was being passed around the crowd of eager shark savers!! Everyone signed the petition with the best intentions and without asking any questions!!

I am a little teary-eyed as I write this because I was so deeply affected by everyone's love and devotion so I will keep my gratitude brief. 

Thank you to everyone who showed their incredible love and support for sharks and humanity last night!! You will receive more good karma than you can count!!

Remember...

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”

-Ryunosuke Satoro

Also if you feel inclined to make a donation to United Conservations please follow the link below:

http://unitedconservationists.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=98&Itemid=228

Thanks for reading!! xoxo

Photo Credit: ElectriCITY Events, Shannon Boomer

My Love of Sharks

Have you ever felt the need to make the world a more beautiful place?

Yeah me too!!

This weekend I was given the opportunity to do just that!! I was lucky enough to petition for the shark fin ban that the City of Toronto’s councilors are currently working on putting into place. The councilors will vote on this issue in October.

If this ban gets passed it will mean that shark fin soup can no longer be served in Toronto. This dish is a delicacy in China and is generally served at weddings; however it is also served in several restaurants in Toronto’s Chinatown. The ban will also mean that the lives of many, many sharks will be saved!! They won’t have to endure a fate where their fins are cut off and their still alive bodies are thrown back into the ocean to suffer a cruel and painful death!!

One of the people I petitioned with was Joanna Hui. It was so awesome to work with her and I told her how much I admire her courage to stand up for what she believes in and go against her culture. She responded by shrugging and saying “it’s only a bowl of soup!!” lol.

Most people I met were very educated on the plight of sharks and the teacher inside me was happy to see that!! I did encounter a few people who said “I’m a vegetarian, so I already do my part to save sharks!!” But I then explained how sharks are being slaughtered in other parts of the globe and if a shark fin ban happened in Toronto an example would be set for the entire world!! After being educated, people were always more than happy to sign and even apologized for not being informed on the issue. I thought that their apologies were sweet, but not required!! I also met a couple of people who told me that I should be fighting for other issues – none of which were environmental or animal rights issues. I simply told them that I am here to petition for the ban on shark fins and acknowledged that their issues were valid also!! I ended up with their signatures too!!

Some people were hesitant about saving sharks because they erroneously thought that sharks were a direct threat to humans thanks to information acquired from mythology and movies.

I explained that sharks are NOT a direct threat to humans, but may do an exploratory bite in order to discover what we are or may even mistake us for sea lions since that’s how we look to a shark when we are swimming (and sharks eat sea lions). I also explained that most people who get bitten by sharks usually end up on shore and survive!! Statistically there are 50-70 shark bites per year worldwide and about 5-15 result in fatalities (Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0613_050613_sharkfacts.html).

The chances of getting attacked by a shark are very slim!! The likelihood of a person getting bitten by a shark are 1 in 11.5 million and the likelihood of getting killed by a shark are less than 1 in 264.1 million (Source: http://www.oceana.org/?id=2074). Also, in the United States each year about 3,306 people die from drowning, but only 1 person on average per year dies of a shark bite (Source: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/attacks/relarisklifetime.html).

Sadly, the real threat is humans because we kill more than 100 million sharks per year (Source: http://www.oceana.org/?id=2074).

Sharks control the eco-systems of the oceans and if we kill them off, the fish species that they control will grow out of control and eat all of the phytoplankton. Phytoplankton use energy from the sun and nutrients from the water in order to survive. During photosynthesis, phytoplankton release oxygen into the water. We get over half of our oxygen this way. So if we kill off sharks it will only be a matter of time before we kill off phytoplankton and half of our oxygen supply. We get the other half of our oxygen from trees, plants, and grasses (Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0607_040607_phytoplankton.html).

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who signed the shark fin ban petition either on Sunday or any other day!! xoxo

If you would like to help the cause please consider signing the online petition below:
http://unitedconservationists.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=124&Itemid=236

Love,

Danielle

Photo Credit: Walldesk

Being a Veggie Isn't Always Easy

This past May I was invited to a stunning, big-fat Croatian wedding!! The feast spared no expense as a string quartet and live band serenaded guests throughout the afternoon and well into the night!!

I love weddings and have to admit that I have been to probably at least 50 during my whole life. I've had a kicking time at every single one and feel so much excitement from the moment I open the invitation, pick out my dress, and finally see the bride for the very first time!!

This May wedding was a bit different for me because it was the first wedding I attended since becoming a vegetarian. By the time the wedding came I had been a veg head for just over a year and to be honest I found the switch from meat to beans and lentils surprisingly easy!! Seriously!! At first I thought I was doing it wrong since it was so darn easy, but I researched before the plunge and realized that I needed to make satisfying, hearty foods that contain protein, fibre, whole grains, and veggies at every meal (thanks Alicia Silverstone).

That being said there are times when I eat out with friends and only order sides (fries, salad, etc) or just pasta. Sometimes non-veggie restaurants don't have whole grains and lentils so I do what I can and make myself a Vega protein shake when I get home.

Anyway before the wedding I considered calling the happy couple to tell them that I am a veggie. I ran this past my mother and was told it's extremely rude to do that. So in order to be polite I said nothing! The day finally arrived and brought with it the most gorgeous spring day!! The wedding ceremony was tearful and beautiful in equal measure and the day went by quickly!! Before I knew it, dinner was being served. There was chicken soup, potatoes cooked with chicken, roast beef, salad, and rice. Since I sat there and barely ate anything, I ended up telling the other guests that I am a veggie. They were shocked and said "Croatian Vegetarian" doesn't even sound good lol. The only thing that wasn't cooked with meat (I think) was the salad and possibly the rice. I ate salad and rice for dinner and wasn't completely satisfied so I later ate about 4 desserts that night!! People always assume that vegetarians eat healthy, but in fact if done improperly a veggie diet can be really unhealthy. After all one could drink only pop and eat chips and still be a veggie!!

Although the wedding was fun and beautiful, my "vegetarian" meal left something to be desired. I learned an important lesson that day - my values are more important than being polite! Next time I will call the happy couple and ask for a simple veggie meal (it doesn't even have to contain protein, fibre, and whole grains - pasta will do just fine). I personally don't think it's rude to request this because most couples who are throwing a wedding want everyone to enjoy themselves!! Overall I still had a blast at one of the most lavish weddings I've ever had the pleasure of attending!!

Photo Credit: http://garmahis.com/tutorials/wedding-photography/