Breathing in Spirit

Who has inspired you to great changes in your life? HOW do you get inspired? What inspires you? These are all interesting questions I'm pondering as I move toward more permanent shifts in my life. My sweet friend Paul H. is one such inspiration to me. We met on Facebook. He lives in London and is a FERVENT (is that the correct word, Paul?) vegetarian who has no problems voicing his opinions. He lives his vegetarianism with every breath, and takes it very seriously. This is about saving the planet, saving the starving people, saving our health, saving the sentient beings, and walking more gently upon the earth. Wow. Before I thought it was just about not eating cows or pigs. I think there may be more to it.

I don't know what started it all for me. I posted a question on his wall and it went something like this: do you believe that vegetarians are more enlightened than me because I eat meat? I really wanted to hear his opinion, because many years ago I went through a mental checklist of what I thought constituted spiritual people. They didn't swear, get angry or impatient, had a garden in their backyard, wore Birkenstocks (non-leather?), were vegetarians, didn't smoke, do drugs, drink too much, their kids wore cloth diapers and were most likely home-schooled. And the list went on and on. But through all of that, I realized in the end that everybody is spiritual no matter what they do or don't do. We're all just at different stages in the game, I think. So I was interested to hear what Paul had to say. Again, let me tell you that he has very strong opinions on vegetarianism, and he KNEW I was a meat eater.

He was very gentle, kind, supportive, and encouraging of me to look more closely at a more vegetarian lifestyle. He posted a video of why being a vegetarian is important, and wasn't condescending or critical or judgmental at all. I somehow knew that if I were to attempt this no cow no pig thing, that HE would perhaps be my biggest cheerleader of all, and I wanted him in my camp, because he's a mighty vegetarian warrior!

The word inspiration actually means "to breathe in spirit" and I think we are inspired by countless things daily, even if we don't recognize them. I want to have those eyes to see that in my life. So I realize I am inspired by my crazy wild child dog who just TOTALLY lives in the moment, lives to have fun, and lives to BE. I'm inspired by my son who is always open and loving. I'm inspired by my husband who keeps choosing me, day after day, forgiving, focusing on the positive. I'm inspired by nature and her awesome propensity toward the unpredictable. On and on and on.

I don't feel like eating cows or pigs anymore, and it's almost been two weeks. I don't feel like buying any clothes or jackets or shoes or purses anymore. I feel like paying down my credit cards. I feel like appreciating what I own, and wearing all of my clothes. I feel like just sitting in the sun with my eyes closed, breathing deeply, listening to the crickets in the grass. I feel like breathing in Spirit with my every breath, grateful to be alive, grateful for everything. Full.