How going vegan has expanded my consciousness

I went vegan as an experiment in 2016 after attending what is now called Divinicus.  I found the Openhand work very powerful but the people involved at the time (that I came in contact with) were not just vegan but, in my opinion, extremists.  I was told by several people that not only did I need to go vegan but I should require my family to go vegan with me because that’s what their soul wanted.  Hmmm, that did not feel in alignment and I was questioning whether the Openhand path was the right one for me.

So I decided to experiment with going vegan.  I don’t remember exactly how long it took to become fully vegan.  Meat, except for seafood, I gave up fairly easily.  The hardest things to give up were cheese and ice cream.  Even after I considered myself fully vegan, It did take extra time and plenty of self forgiveness to eliminate the occasional slip up with those items. Once I became solidly vegan, I still did not require or expect my family or friends to go vegan with me.  So I was still cooking non-vegan for others.

As with most of my spiritual growth, changes took place slowly over time.  I’d say for about the first year I didn’t notice much of anything.  Yet, being vegan felt right enough that I stayed with it.  Then I started noticing when I went to the grocery store I didn’t see packages of meat, I “saw” the animal.  This was completely unexpected.  It became harder to buy and cook meat for others.  I still used meat in the food I made for others but would buy it pre-cooked.  More time went by.  Then I started feeling the pain of the animal that had been killed.  Woah, I didn’t see that one coming and could no longer use even pre-cooked meat.  I still didn’t require anyone else to give up meat but they were on their own as far as buying and cooking it. 

After a while, I noticed that instead of being farmed or fished, it started feeling like living creatures had been murdered just so we could eat them.  And the smell of their flesh cooking made me feel sick to my stomach.  It became harder to look at photographs or watch someone preparing food involving (what to me now was) the thoughtless and unnecessary killing of a living creature.  Sitting at a table while others consumed animals, I started noticing how Reptilian they were all behaving.  It seemed appalling that they were treating them as crops rather than sovereign beings.  Yet I didn’t say anything because I too (not that long ago) had been that.  And maybe because I'm an empath, but it just doesn't feel right to project my truth on others.

Looking back, I realize how for me, going vegan was a very necessary step in expanding my consciousness.  Some say that there are certain nutrients we can only get from animals.  That may be true. But for me, expanding my consciousness is so much more important.  And my experiment has shown me how much being vegan helps me in that process.

Yet I still do not consider myself an extremist.  Although it long ago stopped being an experiment, I still don’t expect or require those around me to be vegan.  And there have been times when I’ve eaten non-vegan baked goods.  For example, I went to a gathering where there was cake.  The host knew I was gluten free and specifically got a gluten free (non-vegan) cake so I could have some.  Those of a more catalytic nature may be appalled that I ate a very small piece.  But as an empath, I could feel the genuine love and consideration behind the offering.  So there may come a time as my path continues to unfold when I’ll decline, but for now, it was very much in flow to accept it and to do so with appreciation in my heart.