Part of the story from my first memoir, The Wellness Diaries was featured in an article of Vegetarians in Paradise:Words from other Birds-Owen Staples Thank you again to Zel and Reuben Allen of Vegetarians in Paradise for the feature! The article includes excerpts from the book, and includes before and after photos; it is fun to resurface it every now and again to share. The photos are significant when you recall that the only difference at the time was the elimination of dairy, having gone from vegetarian that ate a lot of cheese, butter and cream to a eating a whole foods plant-based diet with no dairy. I began to ride my bike a lot more at the time also.
The photos say much about the weight loss, but there was also the decrease in cholesterol, the improved outlook on life, and perhaps most profound, the change led to the whole picture, a more solid meaning of life, a sense of purpose if you will-my purpose. Becoming acquainted with the earthly enchantments that teased out and about the buried-at-the-core-happiness, I now communicate it, live it and became it. I have found “my thang” so to speak. By searching the mysterious exchanges of within, I learned the important lesson of not trying to fill myself up with too many things from the outside. The improvement in health helped me to cut through the bogus, the clutter and to see with better clarity. Five books later I have written a thing or two about what I discovered.
This philosophy is also about you and where your journey will take you…
Your wellness tip for today: Don’t aim merely for weight loss, but learn to dance, play and wrestle with what makes you happy and be receptive as you watch for your purpose…
This takes time and layers. It is possible for every person on the planet to enjoy a long life of learning, discovery and expression. The happiness is the high-quality bread that accompanies you during your hike, not the destination. The learning, the bike ride and the dance continues.
Wishing you well in the exploration and interplay-those layers of sky, earth and ocean that is you.
“Know thyself; but consider other beings and things too”.
-Owen