Beauty In The Simple

Today has been the kind of day that I would describe as delicious. Deliciously cosy and calm, yet rejuvenating in it's simplicity. I spent the afternoon helping my aunt roll out balls of cheese and shaking a bag filled with paprika and chili power to coat them. We put them in little plastic gift bags festooned with snowmen and fastened them with colorful twisty ties. I helped unload the dishwasher, load it again, and measure out ingredients for cookies.

She gives these cheese balls out as gifts every Christmas, and it used to be my uncle's job to help; but since he died two years ago I make sure to help. Nothing seems lonelier to me than doing something festive alone after being used to having the company of someone you love, so I like to help her. Plus, I enjoy it. This is my special aunt, the one I feel closest to. 

We laughed, talked, and just were. Sitting in the comfort of a warm kitchen, one that hasn't changed much since my childhood, enjoying the easy company and shared history of another woman, helped to maintain the holiday spirit I've had going since Thanksgiving- just what I needed before the coming week's festivities. 

After the cheese balls (which are completely wonderful by the way), I came home, full of holiday spirit and warm fuzzies, opened a can of soup and sat and watched You've Got Mail, which is one of my favorites. I worked on pillows I'm making for family, and enjoyed time on the couch with my husband and our dogs.

It was a wonderful and blessed day.

I hope that your holidays, which ever one (or ones) you may celebrate, contain at least one day like this. Simple- yet oh so wonderful.

Lessons from Yoga: Be Present

Today I had a life/yoga moment. Well two of them. One when I gave myself some advice and then again when I realized that what I was trying to do in my yoga practice is exactly what I was telling myself to do in life. Did that make sense? No you say?

Ok then, let me 'splain.

First, background: I am not fond of the 'going home' process. I never have been. I love the fact that my day is over and I get to go home, but I don't like all the things I have to do to get there. Like drive home, and walk up the sidewalk, and put my coat away. Stupid- I know- but for some reason I have always been this way. These things don't bother me on non-work days...so its work day specific.

Now that I have the Sweet Baboo, I add all the things that precede picking him up from daycare to that list. Again, I love the fact that I get to see him and take him home, I just don't like the things leading up to getting him there. Walking up the steps to his provider's house. Putting on his coat. Putting him in the car seat. I realize this is weird. I accept it.

Well, where yoga comes in, is that I don't dislike any of these actions as I'm doing them. I dislike them when I think of them before they occur- at 4:30 when I'm getting ready to get up from my desk and leave for the day. So today, I said to myself:

"Self, you don't have to do all these things right now. You only have to put on your coat and walk to your car. That's it. That's all you have to do right now. The way you can not get overwhelmed by "all the things you have to do" in order to get home and relax, is to only think about the step you're engaging in right NOW. Notice, dear Self, that I put "all the things you have to do" in quotes because "all the things" is a bit of an exaggeration on your part. I mean 'walking up the sidewalk'? That's being a bit dramatic is it not?"

I have done this kind of thinking before, but I sometimes forget, and it was good to remind myself. I mean, walking up the sidewalk? That is not a problem, and its not like when I'm facing the sidewalk I'm all "oh my goodness, I can not believe I have to walk this right now." Obviously it's not the steps themselves, but when I think about them at 4:30 when I'm still at work and they are standing between me and the inside of my house, that's the problem.

So when I was doing my yoga today, I found myself doing the same kind of thing: "ugg, I still have 15 minutes left" or "aw man, I still have those two hard poses to go". I realize that part of the problem is that I've done the videos I have so many times that I anticipate what's left, but that shouldn't matter, because each pose should stand alone. Yes, yoga poses flow from one to another, but each one should be valued and concentrated on while its being done. My problem comes when I am not present in the pose I'm doing at that moment. Once I started concentrating on the moment, I stopped anticipating future discomfort, and enjoyed where I was.

That's exactly how it works in my life. I enjoy the drive to daycare. I listen to the radio, I may or may not embarrass myself by singing along so people next to me at the stop light can see me, I look at the pretty colors in the sunset. It's only when I take it as one of many steps, instead of on its own, that it causes anxiety and 'blahness'.

Don't let the anticipation of future blah (which most likely will not even occur) cause the present moment to be blah. At the risk of being cliche, each moment is precious, I should savor them individually as much as I can!

Month of Yoga- Complete!

I completed a month of yoga! Six days a week for the entire month. I did whatever routine I felt like I needed at the time- sometimes it was my hard core (well, hard core for me...hardish coreish let's say) Rodney Yee Yoga for Strength video. Sometimes it was my half hardish-coreish/half relaxy-stretchy Baron Baptiste Yoga for Athletes video. Sometimes it was my mellow-out AM Yoga video. Sometimes it was realizing that I need more than three videos if I'm going to practice yoga six days a week. :) 

I feel good. I haven't weighed myself, I haven't been worried about what I'm eating (as long as I continue working to eat as vegan as I can), and my clothes fit good enough and that's good enough for me!



So...I think I want this to continue, and since my Month of Yoga has been a success:

I'm going to do another one!

December!  Another Month of Yoga!









 My yoga road continues...








 


Namaste my friends. NAMASTE.

Happy Thankgiving!

Farm Sanctuary sent the profile of my sponsored turkey! Meet Harley!  He lives at Farm Sanctuary's California shelter, he was rescued from a factory farm, he's spirited and playful, and his favorite foods are pumpkins and yams!

Happy Thanksgiving Harley!





And Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! :)


Love,

Hope and Harley

10 In the Rest of 2010 Update: I Adopted a Turkey!

I can cross the first thing off my Ten (in the Rest of) 2010 List! I adopted a Turkey through Farm Sanctuary's Adopt-A-Turkey Project. The below turkey is Daphne, but I don't know which turkey my sponsorship will go towards. You can choose your turkey, but I wanted my sponsorship to go toward the turkey who needs it most (maybe one of them didn't get as much love, and I can't have a turkey feeling sad and not as loved!) so chose the "pick for me option". I'll let you know which turkey I got when I get the e-certificate from Farm Sanctuary.

I do think Daphne's the cutest though. Shhhhh, don't tell the other turkeys...

Ten Things to Do In (The Rest Of) 2010

There are some things I want to do before the close of 2010, so instead of letting the end of the year just zoom by like it usually does, I thought I'd put them into a list and blog on them as they occur.  This gives me something to blog about as well as helps me complete my list. WIN WIN!

So here's the list (brought to you by my friend here, Mr. Guinness Guy In A Kilt):

• Send (and actually mail) ALL the Christmas Cards I intended to in the first place
• Adopt a Turkey from Farm Sanctuary
• Read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• Make a Victorian Christmas...something
• Write one post a week to finish up the year at The Queen's Scullery
• Make a pillow for my mom
• Help Cameron make a Christmas present for his godmother and my aunt
• Bring my plants inside before they freeze to death
• Finish reading Black Beauty 
 

And last but certainly not least...

• STAY AWAKE TO WELCOME 2011!!!

I know, I know! I'm a party a minute! Try to contain your excitement while waiting for the posts on my list completion!

Update: Month O' Yoga

The Month of Yoga is going well. I've practiced six days a week for the last two weeks, and it's definitely helping me both mentally and physically. Physically, it's making me feel more balanced in my body. I can already see a tremendous difference in my strength and flexibility from when I started November 1st. It's also made me feel more comfortable in my skin. I feel happy that I'm doing something good for me, and the feeling of strength and relaxation stays with me through the day.

To help nurture the positive body-friendly feelings and to not give negative thoughts room to grow, I have made a conscious decision not to weigh myself during this time. (Sorry, boring weight discussion is about to follow, I apologize in advance.)

Usually I weigh myself every few days (I know, I know...), but it's not so much to see if I'm losing weight (I'm for the most part good where I am), but to make sure I'm not gaining anything significant.  Catch problems before they occur and make changes when only small ones are necessary, that kind of thing.

I feel that's a relatively healthy mindset and one that usually works for me. Until this the other day.  After making solid progress into my Month of Yoga,  I weighed myself as usual, but this time I found myself getting discouraged by what I saw (which was essentially, nothing). 

Hmmmm...now why would this be I wonder...?

So to find out, I had a brief conversation with Myself. It went as follows:

Me: "Self, why the discouragement?"

Self: "Well, since I'm doing yoga (which is exercise dontcha know) six days a week, I figured I could at the same time, lose those last ten pounds of baby weight still sticking around. You know, kill two birds with one stone, if you will."

Me: "Well, Self, first of all, we don't want to kill birds- we want to improve the health of our Body Mind. Losing weight isn't the point and if stepping on the scale minimizes the good feelings gained by our yoga practice, then we need to step off the scale and let it collect dust until the end of the month. Capiche?"

Self: "Eh, ok. I don't really like that scale anyhow. It's sort of a bummer."

So yes, no scale for me and Self this month. I'm doing the Month of Yoga for its holistic benefits. Losing weight, although it would be welcome (those last ten pounds are pesky), is not why I'm doing this- and if numbers on the scale lessen the joy of accomplishing my goal for the month, then they ain't worth knowing about.

So there.