Nov 18, 2022
A SLM conversation with Renee King-Sonnen
(Her vegan transformation from cattle rancher to cattle sanctuary)
Renee King-Sonnen is on a mission to restore harmony and balance between us, animals, and our planet. This mission started with Rowdy Girl, an abandoned calf on her husband’s Texan cattle ranch. Her husband asked her to help nurture and mother Rowdy Girl. And, this changed everything; it was the start of a new way of seeing animals, a new diet, and a new life mission.
Renee went on to become a vegan, to co-found Rowdy Girl Sanctuary, and work with the Rancher Advocacy Program.
Rowdy Girl Sanctuary (RGS) provides sanctuary to farm animals at risk of being slaughtered and promotes an ethical vegan lifestyle. RGS seeks to educate the public on plant based food options, FFA/4H, factory farming practices, and the devastating impact of animal agriculture on the environment. Learn more about RGS at @45:00 mark of this epsiode and at its website: https://rowdygirlsanctuary.org/
The Ranchere Advocacy Program (RAP) "...advocaes for the farmer, families, their land, and the planet." They help farmers and ranchers transition out of animal agriculture to othr ways of using their land in ways that sustains themselves, their families, their land, and the environment. Learn more about RAP at @50:00 mark of this episode and at its website: https://rancheradvocacy.org/
In this episode, Renee shares her vegan journey and advocacy with us. We discuss:
- how Rowdy Girl opened her heart and transformed her world,
- how a story about beef stew stopped her from eating meat ever again,
- seeing animals as sentient beings with awareness, feelings and understanding & seeing the world through their eyes,
- anger & judgment and how these two often go hand and hand,
- how when we become committed to a cause or an ideal, we may first experience anger at others who do not share the same cause or ideal,
- how she went through the anger and judgment she felt when she first became an ethical vegan and getting to place of compassion for all - animals AND humans - meat eaters and vegans alike,
- choosing love over fear,
- creating organic and lasting change through love and compassion,
- how what we are doing to animals, we are doing to ourselves,
- her mission and work with Rowdy Girl Sanctuary and the Rancher Advocacy Program, and
- her Silver Lining Moment: a piece of advice that stopped her from seeing her husband as a murderer for eating meat to the amazing and loving husband that he is. Listen to this SLM story @1:09 mark and the lesson about perspective that followed.
When I recorded the introduction for this episode, I named it "a moment of NURTURE is lined by TRANSFORMATION". As I started to type that title here, a sanctuary popped in instead of transformation. From her nurturing of Rowdy Girl, Renee went on to create a sanctuary for other animals. In the process, she is also creating a sanctuary for herself, for others, and for our shared planet.
Listen to our conversation and discover how
a moment of NURTURE is lined by SANCTUARY.
Thank you for listening to Silver Lining Moments.
By Renee sharing, and by you listening, together we are:
expanding love and light,
one person at a time,
one story at a time,
one Silver Lining Moment at a time.
Music for the SLM podcast: Scandinavianz - Wonderland (instrumental) by Scandinavianz — Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Music promoted by Audio Library