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I'm a writer and creative director. I make things, collect books, write fiction and don't understand Zen. I'm Vegan.

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thrive

New Book: Thrive, The Vegan Nutrition Guide

I picked up THRIVE by Vegan Triathlete Brendan Brazier. I’ll review it after I’ve read it.

But, I’ll say this now — I am excited to use the principals outlined within the book as part of my yoga practice, fitness routine and diet. I’ve been mostly vegan for almost 2 years now with a few hiccups ( See my Elephant Journal article on pizza ).

However, I find myself at the final stage of the eating evolution (I’ll post another time on becoming Vegan vs. Veganism becoming you. There is a difference) and this book is filled with great insight and information on plant-based nutrition. It also dispels some really bad myths about the incompleteness of a Vegan diet. I’d say Brazier has shown conclusively that Vegan eating can be powerful, energized and based on the recipes I’ve read so far, pretty damn delicious.

Whitman, Dogen & the Essential Path

I find this passage from Song of Myself by Walt Whitman to be so very connected to the beautiful non-dualty of the great Zen mystics. Dōgen wrote at length about the intimacy that arises when the separation between the self and other fall away.

Whitman wrote this:

Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of
all poems,
You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions
of suns left,)
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through
the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.

Likewise, Dōgen wrote that: ”To hear sound with the whole body and mind, to see form with the whole body and mind, one understands them intimately.” This is the essence of Zen. It’s also as ordinary as taking a breath, walking, eating. It is this very life, this very moment.

Simple. Beautiful.

nanowrimo1

NaNoWriMo 2010

National Novel Writing Month is upon us yet again.

Which means we all have another chance to write our big novel. Starting November 1st, participants have the collective Karma of thousands of novelists and aspiring novelists who all trudge away at the keyboard in pursuit of the 50,000 word mark.

Yes, that’s 50,000 words in 30 days.

Who is in?