Enjoying the process of change

With a bit more humility we would admit to following fashions and doing what others do … and to being a bit mindless about taking responsibility for our actions. Wouldn’t it be great if more people took the lead and addressed the uglier aspects of our lifestyle and admitted the need to repair them. But however noble our repairs are, unless we find ways to enjoy the repair process itself, it’s likely we won’t keep up the momentum. It will look too much like hard work, and we won’t have enough motivation to make it happen.
By connecting personal fulfilment with practical repair work, we can make changes less painful and actually enjoy the work of it all. By deciding to become vegetarian, no longer using meat and products taken from animals’ bodies, we can improve our health and energy, but the big bonus is that we help animals get off death row. To achieve that, to be even the tiniest part of the eventual liberation of animals, this should be enough to make whatever we are doing satisfying. When we do get serious about repair there are two things happening at the same time - we are doing something big for ourselves and we’re doing something even bigger for the greater good (which of course includes saving animals). It happens mainly by way of self-discipline and then, later, by the enjoyment of personal achievement. It starts out as a selfless establishing of habit changes, then, feeling the reward of our efforts, selfless becomes self benefitting. With this comes a realisation that what we want for others is what we want for ourselves. The altruism of it is neither me-centred nor you-centred, just a matter of striking a balance between common interests. Altruism serving today’s big problems.