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Find the poll here: https://www.happiness.com/en/topic/308-poll-how-often-do-you-eat-vegan-food/

November kicked off with World Vegan Day on the 1st, so what better time to do a poll on our vegan eating habits!

I am grateful for my home, my job, transportation, to believe in god, to know I'm not perfect and that I need him, I'm grateful for my flaws, to have food in my fridge, to be able to consider others better than myself, and for the ability to change and improve my thoughts and well-being.

Yes I have heard about it and I've used this way of eating for the passed 10 years, I have found that it really works,especially on my mental wellbeing. If I eat a food that doesn't agree with me I really do feel the difference. Try it, as long as you use the correct blood type you will surely see a difference in your health.

Potatoes are my absolute favourite food in the whole wide world ? That dish looks like something I would inhale within minutes haha

That is amazing and so inspiring, thank you for sharing this @JawsofLife you must feel very relieved after probably thinking for such a long time that something is wrong with you only to finally realize it was nothing personal! recently I read an article about children being addicted to sugar and how they were going from highs to hyperactive lows and unconsciously avoiding healthy food only to feed their addiction. I think this real and nutrition needs a prominent space in the whole wellbeing discussion!

Trees are precious they provide homes for our wildlife, insects, they provide shades in the hot weather and have beautiful blossoms for the bees. They absorb the CO2 in the air. Some trees grow fruits which we can eat or the wildlife. It’s a shame we have had some tree’s species become extinct due to the environmental changes. It then impacts on the wildlife habitats because the food chain has changed and their home is gone and they become extinct. There is too many imbalances which need to be balanced again. Trees are significant! Just like our wildlife, insects, oceans, land etc!

How to enjoy worry Never allow the worry to enter your heart in difficult times. When it knocks the door, shout at it to go away. Don’t open the doors of the mind. If you allow it, it is a thief which steals away your energy. It is like the dog that steals away your food. It is like the cat that steals away your milk. Food is your energy and milk is your courage. When you loose courage and energy tension is created, which is the source of all chronic diseases. Doctors say that the tension raises the level of lactic acid in the blood, which opens all the doors for all the chronic diseases. The physical health is spoiled because the mind and body are related to each other. The illness in the body affects the mind. The tension in the mind affects the body. Such tension results in the loss of memory and loss of intelligence. In such state you are completely inefficient to plan for the solution. Your body is incapable of executing any plan. The worry cannot solve the problem and moreover it weakens you so that you will become permanently incapable to solve the problem. Therefore neither should you run away from the life nor should allow the worry to enter your mind. If your realization about the unreality of the cinema, which is this life, continues, instead of worry, you can enjoy the problem in your life, which is as good as a tragic scene in the cinema. You may argue that you are involved in the life and not standing outside the life to be a spectator. This argument is not correct. The answer for your argument is that you can enjoy the tragic scene even if you are involved in it just like an actor acting in a drama. If you are aware that the drama is unreal and if you are aware that you are only acting the role which is also unreal, you can still enjoy the drama as a spectator of the cinema even though you are involved in it. Whenever you face difficulties and if you have not realized the unreality of the world (forms and feelings), there are two ways to solve your problem. One way is in natural level and the other way is in super natural level. The nature is the separated power from the Lord, which follows the rules of the logic and is called as Prakruti. The nature is separated because it becomes the separate object to be observed by God who is the spectator. God created this universe to see it for His entertainment. Even if He enters the world as human incarnation the spectatorship and entertainment continues because there is no difference between cinema and drama as far as its unreality is considered. Therefore if your problem is at the level of the nature, try to solve it using your courage and energy without allowing the worry into your mind which steals both these. If your problem is beyond the level of the nature, then also you cannot solve it by allowing the worry. In such case the super power (Maya) has to enter into this world sent by God. The Maya is never separated from God unlike the Prakruti. Now, only the super power of the God can solve your problem and for this you must concentrate on God. For such concentration also, you need the energy and therefore you should not allow the worry to enter your mind even in this case. For doing concentration on God, you require the congenial atmosphere of real devotees around you. Therefore whenever the problem that requires the super power to interfere enters your life, you have to immediately prevent the entry of the worry into your mind and you have to enter into the association of real devotees so that you can concentrate on God for help. If you remain in the association of the ordinary human beings, they will magnify the impossibility of the solution and force the worry to enter your mind. If you leave the association of these dirty people, who do not want to solve your problem and if you enter into the association of real devotees, you can easily concentrate on God for help. God will give an immediate stay because the problem cannot be cancelled forever due to the cycle of deeds presided by justice. However, the temporary stay has the possibility of permanent solution also. After the stay, there may be a chance for you to become a liberated soul by entering into the service of the God in which case your file may be condemned permanently. If you are ungrateful to the help which involves the super power of God, your file will be opened after some time and the punishment can be given to you in some other form so that your impression about the cancelling of that problem by God is not disturbed. Therefore, at every step of your life, become grateful to God and transform yourself as a liberated soul through service to Him which alone can give the permanent solution. You may be compensated regarding your loss in course of time. Thus you may recover the loss but the time you spent in worry can never be compensated. Since your lifetime is a fixed quantum, the loss of time cannot be compensated. If you entertain yourself with enjoyment even during the time of loss, the time is not lost. When the loss is compensated you have gained both the time and the lost thing. www.universal-spirituality[.]org Universal Spirituality for World Peace

OVERCOMING NERVOUSNESS BEFORE EXAMS Ms. Arsha (D/o Dr. Nikhil & Smt. Devi) asked: My examinations begin tomorrow. How can I overcome my nervousness? Three Steps of Closeness with God Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! You must think that God Datta is always with you like your bodyguard to fight with the nervousness that attacks you and to protect you from it. Nervousness will surely be defeated by God Datta and it will run away. This is your close relationship with God. If you find the nervousness still attacking you, you should come closer to God by thinking that God is in you. This will almost certainly push away your nervousness because no thief dares to rob the house of the police officer. But if you still find that the nervousness persists, you should become closest to God by thinking that you are God Himself! Now, the nervousness has to run away and it dare not come even close to you since there is no worldly force that can attack the omnipotent God. The three steps of (1) being a close devotee of God, (2) being inseparable from God and (3) being identical with God, reflect the three Vedantic philosophies. These three philosophies were given by the three divine preachers, Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja and Madhva respectively. The first step is Dvaita, the philosophy of dualism of Madhva, in which the soul is separate from God even though closely associated. The second step is Viśiṣṭa Advaita or the special monism of Rāmānuja, in which the soul is like an inseparable limb of God. Rāmānuja explains this through the Śeṣa-Śeṣi Sambandha or the Whole-Part relationship. As per this concept, God is the Whole and the soul is its part. The third step is Advaita or the monism of Śaṅkara, in which both God and the soul merge with each other leaving no room for even the slightest duality between the two. Devotees of God can make use these three steps for any good purpose. The Effect and Cause of Nervousness The student has limited energy in the brain to think and do useful work. Nervousness consumes that limited energy to such an extent that hardly any energy remains to do useful work. As per the first law of thermodynamics, the energy supplied to a system is partly used in raising the system’s internal energy and only the rest is available for doing useful work. Nervousness is like the internal energy of the system. If all the energy supplied through food is used only in raising nervousness, there is no energy left for doing work. The situation will be like a computer with no electricity supplied to it. It has all the information stored on its hard disk but in the absence of electrical energy, no information can be displayed on the screen. When the student’s entire energy is consumed in the nervousness, there is no energy left to display the stored right answers in the brain and to write them on the answer script. The devoted student has prepared well for the examinations and the answers are properly stored in the brain. Studying hard and storing the answers in the brain is the duty of the student. But even when there is no deficiency in the student’s effort, the right answers do not come to the student’s mind. The student is not lacking the answers, but is lacking the energy necessary to display the answer in the brain since all the energy is consumed by the nervousness. What is the cause of this nervousness? The punishment of some sin attacks the student in the form of nervousness, even though the student had performed his or her duty of studying sincerely. The fruits of intense good and bad deeds attack the soul here itself (Atyutkaṭaiḥ pāpapuṇyaiḥ ihaiva phalamaśnute). The fruits of normal deeds are received by the soul in heaven and hell after death. However, if the soul is highly devoted to God, God will provide some chance for the soul to get reformed. Getting settled in life is essential before reformation. Getting a good education is a prerequisite for settlement in life. Passing examinations is like crossing important landmarks in one’s education. Souls who are not concerned about God, will be attacked by the fruits of their intense deeds in the form of nervousness. One should not blame God in this context because God is impartial in implementing the established rules of the divine constitution regarding the karma chakra or the cycle of deeds. But devotion to God is also a deed and this deed must also have its fruit as per the rule of deeds. Thus, the student suffers from nervousness as a punishment for his or her intense bad deeds. But as a result of his or her devotion, the student also receives help from God. Such help rendered by God to the devotee is justified based on the student’s devotion and hence it does not violate justice in the divine administration. The same three steps described by Me above were also preached by Jesus also through the following three statements: (1) I am in the Light. (2) The Light is in Me and (3) I am the Light. The first statement says that the divine preacher is a messenger of God. The second statement says that the divine preacher is the son of God. The third statement says that the divine messenger is God or the divine Father Himself. Jesus also said “I am the truth” which also indicates His identity with God. The first statement describes a high devotee who is close to God. This is Madhva’s dualism. The second statement describes an even higher devotee, which is Rāmānuja’s special monism. The third statement describes the case of the Human Incarnation of God, which is Śaṅkara’s monism. There is a fourth special stage of the highest devotee, who is even higher than the Human Incarnation. Due to the devotee’s exceptional devotion, God becomes a servant of that highest devotee! Assuming Monism Without Committing Sins In order to overcome nervousness while doing a good deed, a devotee can use any of these three steps. But the devotee should not exploit them to overcome nervousness while committing sin. Advaita philosophers claim that they are already God. Such a claim is not necessarily a sin. When the little son of a police officer holds a stick in his hand says that he is a police officer, the father, who is the police officer, smiles. He feels happy and is not angry with his son. If the son beats a real thief with the stick, the father becomes very happy saying that his son will certainly become a police officer in the future. But if the son beats an innocent person with the stick, the father becomes angry with his son. He takes away the stick from the son and slaps the son saying that he will never become a police officer and instead will become a thief! Hence, a devotee assuming monism with God for doing good deeds is recommendable. Simply, assuming monism without doing any deed is also enjoyable fun for God. But assuming monism for doing bad deeds must be avoided. Śaṅkara, in His monistic theory stated that the soul is the absolute truth or God and that the world is relatively true with respect to the soul. Through this concept of monism, He was encouraging souls to do good God-like deeds. But the relative truth of the world was misunderstood by some as its non-existence. Yet, Śaṅkara kept silent allowing people to conclude that the world is non-existent. The idea behind His silence was that when the world is said to be non-existent, the follower of monism would at least not have a strong desire to do bad deeds, even if there would be no desire to do good deeds either. Any deed in a non-existent world is also non-existent like an action done in a dream. A soul doing neither good deeds nor bad deeds would remain more or less inactive, assuming the world to be non-existent. At least such a person would not harm others. Thus, Śaṅkara allowed devotees to assume monism to encourage them to do good deeds and He allowed them to assume the non-existence of the world to at least prevent the soul from doing bad deeds. But He also warned any potential misusers of His concept of monism by saying that the punishment received for one’s sins must be also treated as non-existent! To demonstrate this concept, He swiftly ran away to escape from an elephant rushing towards Him. When questioned by the followers as to why He was running away from a non-existent elephant, He replied that not only the elephant, but also, His running away was non-existent (Yathā gajo mithyā...)! On the whole, Śaṅkara preached that the world is non-existent to the real absolute God, while it is existent to every relatively-existent soul. The world is not existent to God and not non-existent to the soul. So, it can be said to be different from both existence (sat) and non-existence (asat). He called it mithyā, which He defined as different from both existence and non-existence (Sadasat vilakṣanā). Ascending to Monism and Descending from It God is pleased when you use these three steps to overcome your nervousness while doing good deeds. He will be furious only when you exploit these steps to do sins. It is also very important that after ascending from the first step of dualism to the third step of monism, you must also descend back to dualism. There is no harm in continuing to be in the first step of dualism. It is, in fact, better to always continue in the first step. The first step is thinking that one is close to God. Even though an ordinary soul is actually far from God, it is better to think that he or she is close to God. It helps the soul remember that God is watching every deed done by the soul. So, every devotee should think that he or she is close to God, which means that God is always closely watching every deed done by the devotee. Some devotees are eager to ascend to the step of monism but they never want to descend to dualism. That is very dangerous since the soul might easily commit sins as a result of continuing to be in monism. The soul begins to think that it is above justice since it is God and can even commit sins. The Gita says that ascending is done for the sake of doing some action (Ārurukṣoḥ...) and descending is done for the sake of maintaining peace (Yogārūdhasya...). Devotees should clearly understand that ascending to monism in this context does not mean that the devotee actually has become God. It is only an assumption to overcome nervousness. Even the Human Incarnation, who has actually ascended to the third step, has to sometimes come down to lower steps while preaching to devotees. Only if the percentage of ego and jealousy in the devotees around the Incarnation is nearly zero, does He declare His monism with God. If the devotees have a moderate level of ego and jealousy, He claims to be a Son of God, corresponding to the second step. If the ego and jealousy of the devotees is a hundred percent, then the Human Incarnation only claims to be a messenger of God, which is the first step. It is for this reason that Prophet Mohammad always claimed to be just a messenger of God. Another advantage of remaining in this first step of dualism with God is that there is place for the spiritual effort. Only when the soul realizes that it is different and far from God, can it take the effort to come closer to God. Of course, there are people who do not want the closeness of God because it makes it inconvenient for them to do sins in the presence of the God who is so close! To avoid this inconvenient situation, some such people have placed God beyond this world. Others have denied the very existence of God! As a reaction to these two attempts of pushing God away, some people have developed the concept that God is omnipresent. This omnipresence of God serves the purpose of ensuring a constant closeness of God with every soul. But it also has a disadvantage. There is a danger of thinking that since God is omnipresent, He must also be in the sinner. In that case, it would mean that God is doing the sin! This, of course, is not true! Thinking that God is only beyond creation and thinking that God is omnipresent in creation are two extreme ends. The middle golden path between these two extreme ends is that God is beyond this creation, but He enters creation whenever and wherever there is a justified necessity. The omnipresence of God is not to be taken in the sense of His physical presence everywhere. It is to be understood in the effective sense. It means that even though God is not physically present everywhere, He is effectively present since He knows and controls everything in this creation. www.universal-spirituality[.]org Universal Spirituality for World Peace

We harvest from the fruit trees in the garden and make jams, chutneys, cakes and such. We also make kimchi and sauerkraut ourselves. Where we can we avoid plastic, processed food and buy seasonal and regional. We also agreed not to buy anything new for the house if it can be bought 2nd hand or self-build, upcycled with things we already have. This takes longer but in the end it's much more fun. I am trying to do the same thing with clothes. This year so far I've spend 168€ on new clothes. I am using a mooncup instead of pads or tampons, which creates zero waste. In addition, we don't buy anything we already have in a nicer/ trendier version. This way we are stuck with the old "uncool" stuff but that's still better than throwing that out and buying something more eco. Once I started being more aware of reducing, recycling, reusing, I realised that I have everything already. The idea of "enough" seems to be so radical in an economy where consumption is key. The only thing I am short of regularly now is time. ?

What is healthy? I'd say any food that nourishes your body without increasing risk of ill-health. Junk food, high carbs / sugar etc. tends to cause sluggishness and can affect mood. Vegetables, salads, fish, chicken, some red meat, all good for the mood and the heart, and other organs.

Pretty sure I read a few years back that the blood type diet was pretty much made up and not based on human nutrition. Food can definitely help with mood though. Healthier the better!

A part of seperating garbage, which should be normal (but isn´t, at least in spain) we try to use as few plastic as possible. I use an app, plant-for-the-planet, with which i regularly plant trees and with my kids we just adopted a bee family on a crowdfarming site (naranjasdelcarmen.com) As well we try to buy seasonal food and mostly organic. but that´s not always possible unluckily. I´m sure there are lots of little things else that we could do and i´m happy to hear more suggestions

I am just booking my next holiday. We will go by train this time. It takes 10 hours longer, but I am already looking forward to the slow journey :) In my company we also made it a company policy to double check if we really need to fly somewhere or can also achieve comparable results in other ways. If we do really need to fly, we offset the carbon footprint through companies like atmosfair or planting trees ourselves. When it comes to food, I stopped eating meat about 8 years ago for that reason and try to only buy local, seasonal and organic produce since. I also recently started to compost and grow my own vegetables. It feels really good :)

Esperança does great work in Barcelona handing out food, clothing and other necessities to Barcelona's homeless community, every weekend of the year. If anyone would like to help out or contribute, please send me a message and I'll be happy to give you more info ?

We live in a world where we always talk about work life balance . I never understood what 'Balance' people are talking about. If we work in an office from Monday to Friday- 8 hours a days, It has to be something really good , something you really enjoy, somewhere you feel safe, somewhere you feel respected, somewhere your colleagues smile at you, somewhere we share food and culture. We should treat everyday as important . We have created Nasty Mondays, Oh Fu** its Monday, Thank God its Friday and I dont know whatelse. I believe every day , every moment of your life is important and the sad part is people mostly live for weekends. If do every task with pleasure and joy , see every client we talk to as just a Human being, feel the computer you type with love . When you can experience everything at work with Joy and pleasure , you will see that you will never talk about work life Balance. There is only Life :)

@Lizzie I've found that donating them is best. If they're in good condition, you can take them to any of the Humana stores who accept and resell them. OR find non-profits such as Esperança who do weekly walks in the city handing out clothing, food, shoes, and other necessities to the homeless people in various neighbourhoods. I find that this works really well and in some cases, people can choose a shirt or shoes they like, which makes them very happy. ❤️

The Amish. True. Actually I don't know where to start with this. I'm just so bad. Retail therapy and consumerism. I endeavor to get environmentally friendly materials for my sewing business but it's significantly dearer. As are organic vegetables etc. I have got biodegradable garbage bags but with all the rubbish I put out, I kind of feel I need help with this issue. Supermarkets and manufacturers are going to have to start doing more on that level. And you are right, things should be made to last. Meanwhile does anyone have maybe one idea that I can try. I have recently changed to a shorter washing cycle for instance. I have made some reusable cotton totes for sale too. If anyone would like one pm me and I will give you my shop addy. I know this is sort of the opposite of what you asked, but it's all food for thought, and hopefully practice.

Those are my favorite helpers so far. Like @Calvin77 mentioned I also try to use a tote bag to go shopping. Also, I use a bag to buy vegetables without plastic, a bottle that I fill with filtered water, a cup of bamboo when we do a picnic and straws made out of metal. I also stopped using liquid soaps. Most difficult for me is to reduce packaging from food like cheese, tofu or yogurt. My kids love yogurts but not that much the one with glass to make my own one I didn't find the time yet. For the other items, I still need a solution.

I always try to carry a tote bag around with me in case I pop to the supermarket while out, as I hate having to get plastic bags. If I do, then I end up using that to put all my plastic waste in! Luckily it seems more and more stores are introducing paper bags - I hope this becomes mandatory in the future. Good idea about the toothbrushes from @Bjoern I am guilty of buying new ones every few months, so need to find a way to stop that.. any tips on a good brand? So much fruit and vegetable is packaged, so I try to avoid buying that and only get the non-packaged stuff. I think the onus really is on supermarkets to cut their plastic use first. In the UK there's a whole 'zero-waste' revolution starting in some shops which is so inspiring: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/news/britains-best-zero-waste-shops-find/

Yes, it was sooooo hot! I was very happy to see they put some shade over the food tents. It made a huge difference!

What do I bring back from this year BYC, I would say the smiles and the connection with people! My dog Miso would probably remember the heat! How wonderful to see people sharing and discovering a part of the world of yoga together. Without judgement. Just with an open mind. I am so grateful to have been invited to support the happiness.com project, to join this happy family who their goal is to make room for happiness in people’s (and animals!) life. I loved to see people taking the time to sit with us, learn more about what we do, but most importantly, people taking the time to get to know each other. So much, that I actually met a wonderful yoga teacher from Turkey who is actually a friend of someone I did my Jivamukti teacher training in India with a few years ago! The world is small and full of surprises! How wonderful it was to see how we could all work together, people from different trades, with different skill sets, from the vegan food truck, the kombucha bar to the essential oils parlour, pouring their heart into their passion. In all, people using their strength and together, collaborate on ultimately making our world a better place. There is more to yoga than just the physical practice. Yoga means union. The people at BYC proved that we can all unite! How could make this on a bigger scale? And/or more often? We need more of this events, more of these platforms, connecting, celebrating life, celebrating being who we are, be happy!

But I totally can start with "I am not much into yoga" Let´s say still not. I know it´s a good thing but just never have started to do this seriously. I do really like the surroundings of an event like this. The relaxed people, the good atmosphere, healthy food and healthy people everywhere. I joined just on Sunday, but I had a good time, talking to interesting and interested people when there has been some more movement. It was nice to attend an event of this kind to me

I wanted to start my answer with "I am not much into yoga" then I remembered that I attend a weekly yoga class ? So I might have to reassess that. The two days I spend at the Barcelona Yoga conference were in the free area. So I can't comment on the quality of the paid part. Having a free area that not only has food trucks and shops but also a small stage that offered music was a nice touch, which I thought reflected the values of a conscious community well. There were also free Yoga classes offered for those who can't afford a ticket. My favourite time was when the music played at the free stage - some Bhajans to sing along and be joyful. I had some inspiring, deep conversations which also highlighted to me that conscious gatherings and shangas create an atmosphere of openness, safety and support that is hard to find elsewhere but which the world needs. So it was a much-appreciated opportunity to recharge my batteries there.

My first time at the barcelona yoga conference and it was an amazing experience. So many amazing attendees from all over the world, famous teachers, good food and great music. I was touched by some of the teachers Patrick Broome, had good laughter in David Lurey’s class, got challenged by Dario Calvaruso, experienced new sensations with Juan Dong and flew away with Shiva Rea. Luckily I didn’t plan to attend many classes and I was asking myself how others could keep up with the amount of classes and different styles? Also sometimes it was hard for me to choose to which to go. Sometimes I just choose it by a preferred location. What was your favourite?