Some Tips for Bearing Witness
I was feeling guided to write this out and give some tips on bearing witness and vigils. Also a long life sufferer of anxiety I am mixing in some of my own path and what has helped me. If It helped me I know it can help others too. Some of these tips are for spiritual based people, however I think whether you are on a spiritual path or not you can benefit from these tips
1.) WATER is essential as an activist and flow of our body and everything. I highly recommend you attend a vigil well hydrated. Understandably when at vigils its not always possible to drink water. But if you can drink water before a vigil it will keep you flowing. Also I feel its important after vigils to drink a lot of water. It will help clear our energy or at least neutralize it.
2.) I understand sometimes we do not want to eat before a vigil and thats okay however I do suggest having something in your stomach. Personally when I do not want to eat I like to at least have some apple sauce. Its light on the stomach and keeps it calm.
3.) Emotions, its a very emotional time when at slaughterhouses, so if you feel the need to cry please don’t feel you can’t do that. I am more then sure that most of activists have broke down at some point in time. If you need to cry, please do- Its okay!
4.) This step here is in mind for spiritual minded people but I am still going to share. There are various crystals and stones out there that protect from lower and negative energy. If you are energy sensitive (I think most of us are) this could be a good route for you. I personally myself have a stone I were daily everywhere which it does just that protect against lower and negative energies. Slaughter houses are the exact opposite of the essence of who we are. They are full of fear, lower and negative energies so its important to protect yourself from that.
5.) This is a dual option doing both or do one. One is spiritual based the other is generic. Its important to clear our energy. We pick up a lot of negative energy and this can be especially disruptive to our own well being if we do not take care of it. I highly suggested clearing your energy field after each vigil by doing a meditation or something similar. Various of online clearing meditations on youtube. The second bit is if you are not into this method or it does not ratiocinate with you its important especially if its your VERY FIRST VIGIL ever, to find someone who you can talk too. I think most activists would be perfectly fine with you sending them a message to say hey I need to talk about what I saw or experienced. You should not carry any weight with you. If something you witnessed was extremely distressing, please don’t keep it to yourself seek out someone. I will post also below two support groups that you can go to and are there to assist and have PROFESSIONALS who can help steer you or you can open up to, if anything open up to a friend who you can talk to.
Two places to reach out if you need some guidance or professional help from trained persons. http://www.idausa.org/campaign/sustainable-activism/
HelpActivists.org/
6.) I think too its important to go into the vigils from a place of peace even if what humans are doing and the whole situation is maddening. Its important to check in with how we are feeling and be aware that our thoughts, and emotions can impact the animals. Cows, Chickens, Pigs, they are all still young, if we go towards them aggressively they will feel that. I have witnessed several activists who just get caught up and run after them aggressively. Animals are very much more in tune with energy then a lot of people are because of our egos. Animals have egos too but because spiritually they are on a different plain then us they are not as much into that then us humans are. So when these animals are already feeling anxious, stressed, fearful if we go with that angry mentality, they pick it up and can retaliate from us, even if we ourselves our loving beings. I think its extremely important to be mindful of your energy prior to bearing witness.. Its fully understandable that we are angry and upset this is happening. This is why we choose to bear witness but if we go to bear witness with that same energy it can be counterproductive for the animals. Our goals is to show love, compassion, and not add to stress. I.e, there is a truck people are bearing witness a driver drives by and shouts something nasty and you respond with the same energy while being beside the truck full of those beings. That energy will be felt by the pigs. I have witnessed this time and time again. I would refrain from interacting with those individuals while you are bearing witness, just do not respond. Let them say their spiral and carry on with being there for the animals.
7.) For clearing yourself another way is to use Sage. There are various natural stores that have sage, you can also buy sage spray and it works the same way that burning sage does. Its a great way to clear yourself energetically. Also I recently got a tip from a spiritual teacher another way to clear yourself is to use ground sage in salad dress and it clears you from the inside out. I have not tried this one yet but its on my to try in 2017. If you would like more help with this or any questions feel free to message me at any time. I am here to help, not to judge.
By no means am I an expert but if there is something I don't know we can learn together.
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