We have never lived better in our humankind history. We enjoy rapid technological progress along with decreased poverty, longer life spans and increased comfort virtually in every aspect of our lives.
Yet it seems that we are overlooking the quality of life whilst striving to make it longer, i.e. going for quantity.
Stress and Lifestyle Diseases
It means that we live longer, but we live sicker, humans develop more and more lifestyle diseases. Think of obesity, high blood pressure, heart diseases and type 2 diabetes that are now the major causes of human deaths.
On top of that, our pace of life, increased stress levels and overstimulation trigger a variety of mental health conditions. These we still do not really know how to address.
Both physical and mental health issues trigger an increase in violence to yourselves and others, which usually results in drugs use, crime or anti-social behaviour.
If we go even further from our individual concerns, we see a much bigger picture of our polluted environment, inefficient use of land and resources, growing inequality where rich are getting richer whilst poor people are getting poorer and we still cannot feed over 800 million people on our planet.
Overconsumption is not only mindless and damaging to everyone one of and the planet, but it also feeds those rich pharmaceutical and big food businesses that employ manipulative marketing techniques to pollute our minds and nature.
All of these factors contribute to overall mental and physical dis-ease and trigger an increase in violence, crime, armed conflicts and cruelty to one another and nature.
Wanting is lacking. The more we want, the more we drip ourselves away. That’s why this concept of nonviolence evolution is so important. The less we want, the more we can enjoy and be kind to ourselves and others.
Meditation practice helps us to cultivate nonviolence and therefore is a foundation of the well-being of humans, all living beings and our environment
There is a multitude of studies showcasing benefits to your physical and mental health that come from training your mind by means of meditation.
Meditation practice has the ability to help all of us to:
- Lessen the anxiety;
- Overcome past emotional traumas and pain;
- Deal with attention deficit;
- Cope with anger and manage the response to everyday stress factors.
Meditation transforms four neural pathways:
- Reaction to disturbing events, stress and recovery;
- Compassion and empathy;
- Attention (retrains our habits of focus);
- Our very sense of self.
Would you enjoy a more strong immune system, lessen inflammation and blood pressure? Or maybe lower cortisol levels, slower breath rate, and ability to cope with chronic diseases like cancer? Some would be happy to get help to overcome drug or alcohol addictions.
Evolution Should Work For Us not Against!
Our human progress and development up to date ensure that we have all the possibilities to strive on plant-based whole foods nutrition, live simpler and kinder lives and eradicate hunger and cruelty. It hasn’t been possible before and we appreciate the work and the challenges of our ancestors, but we have a needed capacity and tools for this change now.
We live in an era with its critically important issues of pollution and environmental damage, mental health decline and poor nutrition. Yet at the same time, we enjoy technological progress that allows us to grow and transport food all over the world. It means that we can stop slaughtering animals and enjoy healthier nutrition based on plant foods all year round. Compassion to all living beings extends to communities, cooperation between nations and a humane co-habitation with animals.
Surely, our progress and evolution should work for us and for others too. No one needs to be intentionally killed for food. Have a look at our Nutrition of Nonviolence article to explore how you can switch to plant-based whole foods today.
Antonia Macaro said: “Our values and ethics are taking us (evolution-wise) beyond animal self-preservation”.
What is there for you and me? Why do we all need to adopt this compassionate approach to our evolution?
We can all reap enormous benefits in our physical, emotional, mental and social lives:
- More peaceful living for all, harmonious communities and understanding between all of us;
- Lower stress levels of everyone, increase kindness and compassion;
- Lower crime, pollution, world hunger;
- Less suffering and eliminate killing of innocent living beings and especially farmed animals;
- Get healthier, both mentally and physically, regulate your emotional state and enjoy better relationships;
- Promote and enjoy ethical living and moderate consumption by means of living in an economy of ‘enough’.
We simply increase well-being for all living beings.
Meditation is a practice that helps to train or cultivate our minds
Evidently, it helps you to get back to mindful states more often and you benefit from it by being calmer, more composed and joyful.
Yet you, of course, fail sometimes, your mind will jump somewhere during meditation and that’s ok too. Be more imperfect. Evolution happens through mistakes. Being kind to ourselves and being kind to the planet is, ultimately, the same thing. Being kind is being selfishly nonviolent.
You can think of meditation as something similar to attending a gym for your mind. It is a gradual process and the benefits are almost immediate and long-lasting. Meditation is by definition increasingly important on a personal, interpersonal and even global scale.
See more about meditation benefits and start meditating today with our basic instructions on concentration meditation on breathing.
