What Do You Do When Your Vegetarianism Is In Conflict With Your Business?

By Deepak Chopra on August 27, 2009 in Healthy Living

Question:

I am a vegetarian for 30 odd years now , living in Zimbabwe. I am struggling within – materially there are goals that I want to achieve and I want a peaceful life. Since yesterday I have gone back to your 7 spiritual laws and I will be following them on daily basis. I am struggling with the fact that as a family our business is poultry farming – which is what came up this year for our family after many years of looking for a business. I accepted it as I constantly asked the universe for some business to achieve my goals. For years now I have sat back and then this came up. I love the challenge of business but I need to ask you for your guidance. How can I come to some peace with all this? I have 2 children whom I have to put through university next year. Please guide me or teach me to guide myself.

Answer:

I appreciate the difficulty of your situation. With the responsibility of supporting a family, such a decision is not as simple as it would be if you were only choosing for yourself. I suggest that you make the business work for now and try to make the conditions of the chickens as healthy and humane as possible. Meanwhile decide what kind of a business you would really like to have and then sell this business and buy or start up the business that is aligned with your personal beliefs. So this time, instead of just asking the universe for any old business, ask for the ones to come that represent your values and ideals.

Love,

Deepak

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About Deepak Chopra

Time Magazine heralded Deepak Chopra as one of the 100 heroes and icons of the century, and credited him as "the poet-prophet of alternative medicine." Entertainment Weekly described Deepak Chopra as "Hollywood's man of the moment, one of publishing's best-selling and most prolific self-help authors." He is the author of more than 50 books and more than 100 audio, video and CD-Rom titles. He has been published on every continent and in dozens of languages. Fifteen of his books have landed on the New York Times Best-seller list. Toastmaster International recognized him as one of the top five outstanding speakers in the world. Through his over two decades of work since leaving his medical practice, Deepak continues to revolutionize common wisdom about the crucial connection between body, mind, spirit, and healing. His mission of "bridging the technological miracles of the west with the wisdom of the east" remains his thrust and provides the basis for his recognition as one of India's historically greatest ambassadors to the west. Chopra has been a keynote speaker at several academic institutions including Harvard Medical School, Harvard Business School, Harvard Divinity School, Kellogg School of Management, Stanford Business School and Wharton.His latest book is "Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul."

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