Report 17

Intoxication:

I thought that I was fearful of addiction to cigarettes. Well, it turned out I just don’t like them anymore. I took another the other day (it has been almost 4 years since my last cigarette). After a few puffs, I just stopped. Standing outside in the dark a little bit longer, I remembered the first time I smoked. It seems that I “got used to” feeling ill (ie pain around the throat and the lungs) and the buzz became more prominent over the first couple of weeks, finally taking a hold of me. Strange thing is I must have made myself ill all the while but at some point, I stopped noticing these. Anyway, I’m sure I have enough tendencies to practice on without adding another habit. It was good to see through my false belief/fear though.

Killing:

I watched two documentaries that made me think about environment and ethical shopping. One about aboriginals in Australia explained how some of rock arts indicate sacred grounds that are also places where food/water sources are present because those don’t come by easily in the bush. Industrial fishing practices shown in the other film made me feel sad. And the scale of death was overwhelming.

So I reviewed my shopping habits and also wrote an email to a food company about labelling (their answer wasn’t satisfactory … usual excuses). The other stumbling block is it isn’t easy to be an ethical consumer. For example, which packets of scallops should I buy (1 American 2 Canadian 3 Patagonian, all from sustainable fisheries)? Anyway I’ve decided to review various companies I use at least once a year from now on.