Do they have a magic pill for Stupid yet?

There’s an ad on TV at the moment that, every time it comes on, just makes me want to scream, it makes me so sad, so mad, so frustrated. This ad promotes a new alternative to liposuction for weight reduction. A pill, to get rid of body fat. The ad tells of how you can use the pill to lose fat, just like their trial users did, oh yea, without the need for any changes to their lifestyle.

The fact that a product like this is able to be marketed, let alone blatantly implying that there is no need to change lifestyle in order to lose weight, is so preposterous it makes me feel ill. Oh, but it’s okay, they do mention it’s absolutely only for people who are seriously overweight and really need to lose it, so only to order over the phone, direct from the manufacturer (!!!?), if you really, really need it. Of course, it would be great if everyone watching the ad were able to differentiate between real need (if there is such a thing for something like this) and indolence or lack of education to try a more wholistic method for weightloss, but somehow I think that’s unlikely to be true.

It boggles my mind that not only has someone who’s clearly got some level of intelligence created a product like this, but that the whole swathe of people required to take a new drug from research, to development, to approvals, to production, right through to marketing in this way, have all managed to put aside their ethics and education enough to feel okay about being a part of getting this product advertised today.

The main reason for using TV as your advertising medium is to reach as wide an audience as possible. Therefore what they say about it being only for people who really need it is completely ridiculous. They want everyone to know about it. They want to Sell More.

Not to mention that there is a deliberate statement in contradiction of any encouragement for users to stop eating cheeseburgers and ice-cream while they’re at it, for long term health. If you regain the fat, well, I guess you just take some more magic fix-it-all pills.

Whatever has happened to the idea that prevention is better than cure? Or to treating the illness not the symptom?

It’s really no wonder that we have the skyrocketing levels of food disorders, chronic illnesses and obesity that we do, when we operate under a system where products like this, and their mainstream promotion, are deemed to be okay. Where our physical health and our physical appearance is not linked directly with how well we nourish and care for our bodies, but seen simply as something to be fixed with a pill, injection or operation. Where pills are seen to cure any ailment, physical or mental.

This article, explains the idea of  ‘total load’ and discusses how the majority of illnesses people present to medical professionals with are due to a combination of various lifestyle and health factors, not just one thing – not so much surprise there. So really, real health is about a wholistic approach and a broader understanding of how to keep ourselves healthy –  yes, by the health professionals who care for us, but also by each of us as individual proprietors of our own precious vessels.

I find it incredibly sad that the way our health, marketing and economic systems operate make it easier to betray our bodies, consume yet more drugs and chemicals, and continue to pump money into pharmaceutical, junk food, insurance, and other industries than to really learn how to take responsibility for our own health and maintain it.

For shame, the thing that everyone is afraid to say because it does not equate to revenue, is that if you want to be healthy, happy, vital, lose weight, lower your risk of heart disease and cancer etc, then the latest pill, or supplement, or packaged ‘health’ food, or ‘nutrient’ water or the as-seen-on-tv all-in-one home gym system is not going to fix you. You are going to fix yourself, to start, by finding exercise you enjoy and doing it regularly, finding time to laugh, to be still, to de-stress, and swapping packaged processed foods for eating unprocessed, natural, whole, home-cooked foods. Sound expensive? Well, fat loss pill prescriptions and medical treatment for chronic, avoidable illnesses sounds expensive to me too.

Of course I’m not saying that doctors and medical treatment don’t have their place. Of course they do. But really for the most part, it’s this simple; Love your body and it will love you back.

Don’t let corporations with stocks and profits invested in the answer tell you otherwise.

End rant.

x

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by bekah on March 29, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Living Well, Wellbeing
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Posted by bekah on March 29, 2012

http://illuminoted.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/do-they-have-a-magic-pill-for-stupid-yet/

Apt #29me, Earth

I recently read an article on The Guardian  in which the illustrious monk Thich Nhat Hanh speaks of how we look at the Earth and ourselves as two separate considerations, at the Environment as some concept that’s entirely independant of our own existence. He talks of our perception of the Earth and Environment as a resource, not as an inseparable part of ourselves – something he says needs to change if we are going to ‘protect nature and limit climate change’.

I think this is a great perspective to remember, because of course, on a micro level, we cannot survive without a healthy body, and on a macro level, we cannot survive without a healthy environment – therefore the environment is an extricable part of us. We are symbiotic, and exist only as two parts of one whole.

Perhaps it’s just hard to look at it this way, because the Earth and the Environment just seem too big, too complex for us to see how we can really have any effect, how our individual little actions can make any impact.

It’s funny, there are now whole industries based around trying to keep our homes tidy, clean and free from pollutants and toxins. For gods sake, make sure there’s antibacterial handwash at your sink, for your kids after they’ve been playing. And ‘non-toxic’ cleaners. And indoor air purifiers and perfumes. We love to try to make our homes clean, beautiful, toxin-free, uncluttered. (Though half that stuff I’ve mentioned above I suspect does more harm than good anyway!).

And yet, what about our wider home, the big round home upon which our little brick and mortar homes are built? And out of which, everything in our smaller homes  (including the air we breathe) is sourced and to which will return.

If we were to widen our perception of home a little more to take this into view, perhaps we wouldn’t be so willing to let a gigantic island of rubbish that’s significantly larger than Hawaii (!!) float along and continue to grow in our oceans like it didn’t even exist. We wouldn’t let it sit there in our spare bedroom now, would we?

When I next walk out my door and leave my house, I will remind myself that I have actually just come home, and try to tread lightly, with the care of a homeowner, not a renter. Next time I eat a piece of fruit, I’ll remind myself that I am ingesting the environment itself (the good and the bad of it unfortunately) and am just that little bit more connected with everything around me. Kinda cool. Kinda scary.

Kinda reinforces why it’s often said that in order to love others, you have to first love yourself. If we’re all part of the wider everything, then you deserve to be healthy and cared for just as much as your home and environment.

Awesome. That’s definitely a do-able place to start. Yoga, hot luxurious shower and delicious fresh veges, here I come!

x

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by bekah on March 20, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Living Well, Noticements
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Posted by bekah on March 20, 2012

http://illuminoted.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/apt-29me-earth/

Zombie Apocalypse, Now

I’m going to admit one of my guilty pleasures is watching zombie flicks, and I’ve figured out why I love them. Before I explain, in my defense I’d like to point out that I’m not alone in this love. Just check out the constant influx of new zombie-related movies being released. TVs The Walking Dead is a regular of mine at the moment, despite the fact that as a group the humans (minus one) are so totally incompetent as survivors that it’s embarrassing to watch. I mean, they are really, totally useless. Seriously, the amount of times they stand in a group with everyone facing inwards, nobody on watch, or just stroll about without machete at the ready, my brain is just screaming ‘Plot Flaw! Plot Flaw!’ Especially since zombies move pretty damn slowly. In a way it’s good, because I prevent getting scared by telling myself that the incompetent dunces all deserve to die anyway, in fact I’ll be glad if they get what’s coming for being so retarded. (That’s not true, I still get jumpy. I’m a wuss).

Anyway, back to my point; I think I’ve realised why zombie tales resonate so much with so many of us, despite their flaws.

No, it’s not because of an empathy for looting, though I’ll be honest, that’s a factor. How awesome would it be if suddenly the world was completely empty and you could just walk around doing whatever the hell you wanted, walk into any shop and just take anything you please, thank you very much (skull crushing in Christian Lacroix, oh yea). Or, destroy a whole room and all its contents, just for the sake of it, a la ‘Zombieland’. Because really, who wouldn’t like to do that, just to see what it felt like to go nuts and break all the rules without consequences?

But I digress again. No, the real reason zombie fiction is so popular is that we are actually already living in the zombie apocalypse and we don’t even realise it.

Only, instead of getting bit by undead rotting corpses, we get bit by the social paradigms of ‘success’, consumerism and pursuit of wealth. And end up mindlessly trudging to and from work each day, to spend it sitting chained to desks in artificially lit offices, staring, like zombies, at flickering screens for 40 (if you’re lucky) hours every week. Unstoppable, swelling in numbers every day, we continue our inexorable march across the Earth, strengthening our hold, ravenously sucking the lifeblood from the environment around us like it’s going out of fashion.

And it’s so so hard to avoid getting bit too. The momentum is a great ceaseless wave. There is so much nice stuff out there to have. So many career ladders to successfully climb. So many people to compare yourself to, to try to be better than. More, more. Higher, higher. It’s deadly infectious.

But there are survivors out there, fighting to keep a miserable soulless existence at bay. Seeking a new way of living free. It just takes some courage and survival skills to join them and fight back!

Tips for avoiding infection:

-       Be spontaneous; Routine is a carrier, inject some randomness into your life.

-       Take risks; Courage is a powerful vaccine, and sometimes the best defense to your fears is to charge straight at them.

-       Keep moving; Think differently, seek change and new perspectives, be mobile; stagnation will only see them catch up to you.

-       Use up your holidays; And take extra if you can, remove yourself from the infectious zones every chance you get.

-       Turn off the TV; Those buggers’ll sneak up on you and you won’t even hear ‘em coming. A book is silent and much less likely to get you zombie-fied.

-       Take lunch breaks! You can’t keep watch all day by yourself; take shifts, share the workload; break the hypnotic hold of stress and obligation, because you need to be well rested to keep up your defense against the onslaught.

-       Travel light; Greed is a carrier too. Want less, enjoy what you have more; ensure you are not weighed down in your escape from the danger zone.

-       Strengthen your posse; Start conversations, make bonds. There’s no point being alive if you’re the only one there – how will you know you’re still human without someone to talk to? Plus everything’s easier when someone’s got your back. Trust your friends, support them, share your strengths and ideas, and everyone’s better off.

-      Be unique; Everyone knows the boring ones are the first zombie-fodder. So be yourself, be interesting, be beyond ordinary and you’ll survive to make it out of the zombie apocalypse and into the closing credits.

-       Be unreasonable in your dreams; Hope for the impossible, and fight for it. If doubts <I mean zombies> grab hold, shake them off, kick their heads in and keep going. There’d be no damn movie to watch if everyone just gave up straight away.

Let’s get out of zombie-land today! What are YOUR tips for making it through the apocalypse?

X

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by bekah on March 15, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Living Well, Noticements, Uncategorized
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Posted by bekah on March 15, 2012

http://illuminoted.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/zombie-apocalypse-now/

How yoga makes everything better

As yoga’s popularity grows, so does awareness of the potential benefits of a practice, but since everyone’s experience is different, I think the only way to really know what it offers is to try it yourself and see how it resonates with you. And in my experience, it’s so worth it.

It might be a misperception, but I get the feeling people who have not tried yoga often hesitate to because either a) they are intimidated at the thought of having to ‘touch their toes’ or form some pretzel shape, and then become stuck there if the wind changes; or b) dismiss it as some lame excuse for exercise, with cheesy spiritual undertones, involving a bunch of girls rolling around doing stretches and chanting ‘ohm’ in an incense filled room, and then sleeping for 10 minutes at the end.

I won’t go into trying to correct these (though perhaps there’s a teency seed of truth in there somewhere, on some level), or rant on about how sad I think it is that people are missing out on something that could enrich their life so much, either for fear or misunderstanding. I don’t want to be a missionary.

But just in case it sparks interest in someone who’s seeking the same benefits I’ve experienced, or piques your curiosity enough to give it a try, I’ll just share a couple of the things that I have found in yoga.

  1. Stealth effort: working hard without the hard work

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not great at staying committed to things, especially exercise regimes. But with yoga, I can. I just love it. It feels therapeutic at the same time as being a damn good workout. It’s hard, and I sweat profusely (though that depends on what kind of yoga you do), but the effort aspect kind of sneaks up on you in the midst of the enjoyment. I also leave feeling tranquil and languid – yes, stretched, but wrung out, worked, and rejuvenated too, all at once. Every teacher and every class is different and brings something new, so the mind is occupied too, and I don’t get bored during a class like I do tromping away on a treadmill. It’s also strength building, using your own body weight, so I like to think of it as a good alternative for doing weights, which I hate and refuse to do regularly – so repetitive and mindless! (But they are supposed to be good for women to keep your bones strong and all that, so some kind of alternative is important I guess).

  1. Freakout fixer: anxiety anxshmiety

Working in advertising for the past 8 years, I let the pressures of client service get to me and found it extremely stressful at times. Deadlines, issues, dealing with competing priorities, budgets, clients, politics, presentations. I had times where I’d be almost in tears at my desk with stress, or would lie awake at night feeling like a heavy weight was resting on my chest. And other times when I was so exhausted after too-long hours, and would find myself shuffling my mouse about the screen, having forgotten what on earth I was doing. Days that I start with a yoga session before work always were the most manageable, and the ones where I am most cheery and positive, more efficient, productive, and able to step away from the pressures and get perspective on it all. There is no doubt in my mind that yoga helped me to handle the stress better, both through the physical de-stressing effects, and teaching me to focus my mind more intelligently.

  1. Aha! moments: supple body equals supple mind

It’s amazing the number of moments of epiphany I’ve had during yoga sessions, or in savasana afterwards. This might apply to any sport or activity where you take your mind off everything and get some head space, but for me, it’s actually getting beyond coincidence how often these moments are triggered by yoga. Just the other day, I was struggling with a decision that’s been bugging me for several weeks. I just didn’t know how to approach and resolve it, and Bing!, I lay down for savasana after a 90 minute Power class, and there was my solution! Effortlessly appearing in my head. I guess that’s the power of giving yourself a moment of timeout from the rush of life to breath.

  1. Empowerment: strength of body and strength of mind

Now don’t worry, I’m not going to get all motivational speaker on your ass about this. There is the spiritual side as well beyond just the asana practice in itself – meditation, learning to push beyond your limitations and change your perspective, love yourself a bit more, live compassionately and much more, and this has affected me too, deeply. But aside from that, yoga is physical, and fun, and teaches you to approach things in a thoughtful way. Through progressing in postures, it’s made me realise my boundaries are often only in my head, which is an incredible feeling. I’ve come to see that if I put focus, determination and intelligent dedication into something, doors start to open (and hips, and shoulders, and hamstrings!), and I’m ultimately capable of so much more than I thought. Learning to listen to my own body also puts me in tune with myself, and I’ve started to see and nurture my own internal strength – both physical and mental.

To realise you are strong and in control of your own life, your own wellbeing, is an amazing thing, and, I believe, is where health of mind and body starts. Yoga is giving this to me.

What’s your experience with yoga? Do you share any of these experiences, either with yoga, or through some other path? If you’re new to, or curious about yoga – what’s stopped you diving in?

X

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by bekah on March 14, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Change / Personal Journey, Wellbeing
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Posted by bekah on March 14, 2012

http://illuminoted.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/how-yoga-makes-everything-better/

Our Amazing Vessels

I just wanted to point out… how completely awesome are our bodies?

I live in a ski town right now, Whistler, in Canada, and being a town where probably 80% or more of those who live here are die-hard snow sports fanatics, or at least passionate about the outdoors and some vigorous sport or other, it’s filled with fit, strong, healthy, physically vibrant people.

I’m constantly in awe watching the amazing things people can do with their bodies, seeing them leaping off cliffs, flying high into the air in the park, toiling for hours into deep powder in the back country. And off the mountain too, the many enthusiastic yogis, sweating it out in strange postures, in every filled-to-the-brim class.

It all reminds me how amazingly hardy our bodies are, what they can do when we train and push them, and what pressure we can put them through and have them still perform. At the same time, lately it’s also reminding me of how delicate we are and how precious our health is.

As the winter season has lengthened, braces, bandages and casts are starting to make an appearance everywhere you look, as the bravery and playfulness enjoyed on the mountain takes its toll.

My man was struck down two weeks ago with tears in his chest wall from a fall, and has been confined to his prison-couch ever since, waiting for it to heal. Another friend ruptured his spleen yesterday and was rushed off to hospital amidst agony and sirens.

With my other half now forbidden to visit our mountain playground, I’ve seen the envy in his eyes each morning as I put on my gear, just dying to come out to play. I’ve felt lucky that I could still enjoy the snow, and realised how much we take able-bodied-ness for granted when we have it. Until something takes it away from us, the miracles our bodies accomplish each day by doing what comes naturally, without thought, are simply normal. We don’t think twice about, let alone take a pause to appreciate the ability to run or skip or jump. Or even to just walk or bend down to pick something up, or even to move freely at all without feeling pain.

Even more amazing is the fact our bodies carry on despite seemingly our seeming best efforts to destroy them! Our sedentary lifestyles counteract everything our physical self should be doing. Our culture’s diet is centred on “foods” that weaken our bodies. And yet the vessel of our minds and souls just keeps on keeping on. And it’s our thoughts as well as our actions that seem to condemn the poor old body.

Most of the thoughts we give for our bodies are negative. Not muscular enough, not slender enough, too tall, too short, not tanned enough, on and on and on. Well, I say, it deserves better than that! Despite the endless criticism, comparisons, neglect and attempts at poisoning, it’s carried you through your whole life, doing its best not to complain, fighting off illnesses, dealing with whatever you throw at it. It’s taken care of breathing, pumping blood, digesting, sensing, sleeping and waking, and all the other myriad of functions it does every day, day in day out, without you even having to spare it a thought.

Maybe it deserves a bit back for all that it’s given.

So today, I’m giving it that thought. I’m giving a Big Ups to my dear vessel. I’m loving it back like it loves me. Unconditionally. It may not be perfect but it sure is pretty damn amazing. Thanks bod.

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by bekah on March 8, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by bekah on March 8, 2012

http://illuminoted.wordpress.com/2012/03/08/our-amazing-vessels/

Sacrificing Cheese

If you had asked me a year ago if I would ever give up cheese for more than, well, let’s be honest, one day, I’d have scoffed in your face and pronounced ‘Impossible!’ with no small dose of scorn. I would never have thought I’d have the willpower.

But then again, when we step outside our comfort zones, and challenge ourselves to be something more, or something different than we are at this moment, I’d say it’s pretty likely we’ll find we’re capable of many things that we never first thought possible. We just have to be open to a new way of looking at it.

My ‘100 Days of Action’ that I started one week ago is all about tapping into this part of myself; my dreams, and my fullest potential, that I just need to take a little persistent action to start gunning for. With my 100 day schedule I’ve set little activities each day towards my greater goals, so I’m taking immediate steps to shock myself out of old ingrained habits with a new planned focus on priorities instead of procrastinations. Making little milestones right now that will get me closer to living a lifestyle I’m in love with, and proud of.

As part of my 100 Days, I’m spending 6 weeks living Vegan and Gluten Free.

I’ve been vegetarian for 12 years, but this is honestly a huge step for me, given my Lifetime Loves go in an order something like this:

  1. Cheese (fromage d’affinois)
  2. Cheese (port salut)
  3. Cheese (Kapiti baby kikorangi blue)
  4. Cheese (gruyere)
  5. Cheese (goats cheese)
  6. Cheese (cumin gouda)
  7. My fiancé and family
  8. Yoga
  9. Snow
  10. Sleep

But, my 100 Days of Action is all about doing things that break the mould, scare me a bit, excite me, and expand my horizons, as well as proving to myself that I’m capable of self-control, and ultimately taking me towards the things I long for in life – like good health, wellbeing, growth, living in accordance with Ahimsa and being true to my ethics and interests.

A while back I began to notice a correlation between sore throats (which I get probably most mornings), coughy/phlegmy blocked throat and nose, and eating cheese in the afternoons and evenings. Not to mention I have high cholesterol (so unfair and scary as I’m young, healthy and fit, but let’s not go there right now!).

Also anyone who’s ever read about or visited commercial dairy farms knows they’re not the idyllic, cows-grazing-in-wide-open-pastures type scenario they imagine, but I won’t go into a rant about that here either right now.

In my extensive reading about vegan and whole food lifestyles online, I actually got really inspired, and felt excited about the prospect of giving it a go, and seeing how it made my body feel.

So, whilst I’m going gung-ho… what the hell, why not go gluten free as well!? Also I’ve noticed tummy aches, bloating and grogginess a few times that I thought might be connected to floury, bready, doughy deliciousness I’d eaten earlier, so it just felt right to try, and again, see how my body responds. In the same vein, I’m also removing refined sugars and caffeine from my diet for the most part during these 6 weeks as well. (Except for unsweetened cocoa, which I must have. I have a massive sweet tooth and my evening almond milk cocoa is notgetting sacrificed).

Switching to GF and vegan is definitely not as easy as becoming vegetarian was for me. Somehow, that just suddenly felt right to do, ethically, physically, intuitively, consciously and unconsciously, and I essentially went cold [tofu] overnight. This is nothing like that, this is a conscious decision, one I’ve been thinking about trying for a while and never had the willpower to follow-through on (until now).

Despite that, I’ve actually found that so far it’s not been as difficult as I thought it would! (Though it’s only one week so far, so I should try not to get too carried away on my successes here!).

During this one week, I think my feeling of success so far is down to a number of factors…

  • I’ve been filling myself with incredibly satisfying yumminess instead, so cravings haven’t been too much of an issue. I’ve distracted myself with thinking about the delicious healthy goodness I CAN put into my body, rather than focusing on what I can’t. (Though the pizza my man ate the other night smelled a.ma.zing. I’ll admit it’s not all sunshine and roses)
  • I mapped out this 100 Day schedule kind of formally and it’s very specific in the plan, so my conviction on the decision I’ve made to try it out is fortunately holding fast. I’ve written it down and put it on the wall, so it must be so. ;)
  • The satisfaction of making the decision and sticking with it is proving to be so motivating and fulfilling that I’m just overflowing with enthusiasm to continue on with it.
  • I came in to it with an extremely positive perspective, focusing on enjoying a new challenge, expanding my comfort zone and improving my health, so I’m not looking at it as a struggle, but as an adventure.

So in this short time, what have I learned so far from my Vegan and GF experiment?

  • Simplicity is divine; I haven’t delved into cooking fancy recipes just yet, especially with the whole gluten free thing to account for, but this isn’t an issue. I’ve been enjoying the untainted flavours of delicious veges prepared simply, which means they’re also super quick and easy to cook so less time in the kitchen! *I’ve put a note about what I’m loving to eat at the bottom of the post.
  • When I eat healthy, I feel less hungry; For the first few days, when I first finished my dinner, I felt kind of ‘is that it?’ especially without the filling breads and pastas I’m used to. But this passed, and now I’m left with just a lovely light unbloated feeling. Satisfied, and not craving a second helping. There’s nothing I hate more than going to bed with a really full tummy so this is ideal! Somehow, it’s so much harder to overeat with this kind of food than with carb-loaded processed foods, and they don’t leave you with that heavy over-full yet still unsatisfied feeling you get from heavy doughy carbs.
  • You can still have a bad diet even when you are vegan and gluten free! Part of the reason I’ve stuck with simple foods so far is that while researching recipes online, it seems that so so many of them still have huge amounts of oil and sugar in them, and are still full of chemicals and refined products! I don’t really trust vegan/vegetarian processed substitutes for meat and cheese, and would much rather stick to natural whole foods where I can. I did discover I was technically allowed to eat corn chips too which at first excited me, but then I realised I was disappointed, because I was hoping things like that which aren’t great for me would be automatically ruled out so that I wouldn’t be tempted ;)
  • My brain does some crazy shit while I’m sleeping! I don’t know if it’s connected to the new diet, but this week I have been having some of the most bizarre and vivid dreams! Actually, I always have a lot of dreams but generally just wake up with a feeling of ‘I know I had some weird dreams last night’ but no specific recollection… this week, I’ve been remembering them too. Maybe it’s a coincidence. Maybe not. Let’s see if it continues. Hope so, it’s good fun.

So here I go, into week 2! Wish me luck and willpower! I think my body will thank me as I stick to it!

x

* PS yumminess I’ve been loving this week:

  • I’ve been sucking down delish and surprisingly satisfying and filling smoothies for breakfasts, with green leafies and fruit in them (I have used Kimberly Snyder’s GGS recipe).
  • Lunches are salads with home-made hummus, or porridge with blueberries and almond milk plus cinnamon of course, which I put on everything!
  • My favourite dinner at the moment is simple lightly pan fried tempeh, quinoa and steamed veges (broccoli, asparagus, carrot, sweet potato), topped with a scrummy miso-sesame sauce*
    I’m loving having the same dinner every night mostly too, because then I don’t have to think about what to prepare, and am less likely to get tempted with things I can’t have!
  • Cocoa mentioned above is a staple evening treat. I put vanilla essence and shitloads of cinnamon in it, with plain cocoa and unsweetened almond milk.

* I mixed shiro miso with tahini, sesame oil, salt, soy sauce (gf free one!), a wee bit of rice vinegar, lemon juice and a bit of water to make it saucy and pourable. Mmmh! So GOOD! Awesome on plain quinoa too!

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by bekah on March 6, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Vegetarianism, Wellbeing
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Posted by bekah on March 6, 2012

http://illuminoted.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/sacrifing-cheese/

The Time is Now! – Musical Affinity Writing Challenge

I came across this great challenge the other day on the blog ‘From the Bungalow’ to write about a piece of music that resonates with you. As I mentioned in a previous post or two of mine, I just lurrrve music (well, don’t we all?!), and beyond that, am just fascinated by how it captures us, how our brain reacts, how each person reacts to and is affected differently by music, and intrigued by the possibility of music to change our moods and heal our souls and bodies. So really give me any choice to rave about music again and I’ll grab it!

I’m gonna chat about other music and be more general a little bit before I get into the ‘one resonating song’ challenge thing (subhead below) though. (sorry From the Bungalow, I’m probably breaking the rules a bit here?! It seems I feel the same as all your other participants, down to a one, who say it’s so hard to pick just one! I’ve just done a worse editing job than they have maybe, since they’ve managed it! ;) ). But for me, part of the joy of music is variety, finding new songs that make you go WOW!

My music choices for listening are usually affected by when I’m in a particular mood, or when I want to be in a particular mood.

There is one though, that breaks this rule and which I’d listen to anytime at all. It’s not the song I’ve chosen as the main topic today, but the one song I would choose to listen to for eternity, if I had to pick just one, is ‘Hope’ by Fat Freddy’s Drop. The first time I ever heard it, was actually when it was filmed for this video,

…and it will forever represent to me that big outdoor ‘festival sound’, and bring back the whole feeling of being there, soaking up the atmosphere, absorbing the vibe and sounds and celebration. It will also always be the soundtrack to summer holidays. Sunny, warm, relaxed, watching sun reflecting off the water. That is this song to me. The lyrics are simple, but positive, uplifting and carry such a beautiful message in them. Music with brass instruments like this makes my nerves and soul tingle too. The track just infuses me right through to my core with a feeling of peace, contentedness and, well, hope!

I have one particular song I used to listen to in the mornings on the way to work, to fend off the depression that sunk in at the prospect of doing that same damn thing all over again for yet another day. (‘Pure’, by Salmonella Dub for those who are curious, it just makes me feel all dreamy and peaceful and exhuberant at the same time).

Anything by Joni Mitchell, The Doors, Paul Simon or The Eagles will always hold a special place in my heart as the soundtrack of my childhood.

There are songs I use to put me in a particular frame of mind, and achieve something, whether it’s for their physical effect, or mental motivation; Listening to Drum and Bass for exercise was probably the best thing that ever happened to my running times and my gym motivation (really I hate the gym, but a good soundtrack makes all the difference to how fun it can be to sit on a spin bike!). I can shave minutes off a half hour run by listening to that instead of some slower more tranquil genre. Funnily enough, I’ve also found gangster rap to be a perfect running pace as well – it’s just fast enough to keep you really pushing yourself, and also has a nice repetitive flavour to the beat so you get a good rhythm going. I love rap beats, though I’m normally not a rap listener because I hate the ‘mother-f-er/put a cap in yo’ ass/my bitches and ho’s’ lyrics. But I’ll admit, 50 Cent, Tupac’s ‘Death Around the Corner’ and Notorious BIG’s ‘Nobody ‘til somebody kills you’ are staples on my running playlist, just for their awesome rhythm and flow.

So as you can see from all of this, for me connection with music is usually not so much about the lyrics (I’m actually terrible at hearing the words properly!), but more about the tone, the rhythm, and the feeling it leaves me with. Along with smell, it’s my most powerful memory trigger.

The one song I’m choosing for this challenge is about all of that, the rhythm, the feeling, the mental effect, and the lyrics too. It’s also a great example of how lyrics are just so open to interpretation by the listener…

Right, back to that one song that resonates:

You know those songs with an uplifting rhythm that makes you feel positive, active, motivated, ready to just stand up, to dance, and to move?

At a time in my life that is all about personal growth, creating change, and moving in the direction of my dreams and desires in life, the one I’ve chosen does this, and resonates perfectly, right down to the song title!

The theme song I recently selected for this period of my life is ‘The Time is Now’ by Moloko.

It’s not just that uplifting rhythm which grabs me, but her voice is gorgeous, the song is lovely and jazzy, and I just love the little strummy guitar-ey start! Though it’s a love song, to me the lyrics speak to something entirely different.

While yes, it could be about love for a person and moving towards making that love real, everything it talks about also speaks to reaching for the goals you desire (person or otherwise) and taking action to step out of your comfort zone and move towards your dreams and hopes. It speaks of foregoing fear and hesitation, seeking a new way, focusing on the things that drive you crazy, make you obsessed, make you feel like everything is wonderful (“in your arms I feel, sunshine”! Hell yes, I want that!).

If any song makes me feel like making the most of the moment, right here now, and that there’s a destiny out there for me to go and grab, it’s this one!

I hope you enjoy it too!

x

6 Comments
by bekah on March 4, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Change / Personal Journey, Noticements
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Posted by bekah on March 4, 2012

http://illuminoted.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/the-time-is-now-musical-affinity-writing-challenge/

Dreams, and goal setting for scatterbrains and time-wasters

Yesterday I wrote about how sometimes even things I love to do can end out overwhelming me, and I lose my direction with them until I give myself some space and distance to reconfigure my approach.

Getting back into action after a timeout is always the hardest part for me. Once I’ve broken a routine, whether it’s writing on the blog, going to the gym, eating a healthy meal plan, or whatever, I find it extremely hard to get on track again! Sometimes (read: often) I even find it hard to get started on something in the first place, let alone get back on track with it! Ironically, especially the big things, the dreams, the ones that it matters most if I start, then fail at…

Now, there’s no point getting down on myself because I’m much more shit than heaps of other awesome people who just seem to get on with things, no problems. Instead of focusing on that, the best thing I could possibly do is figure out how to work around my tendency for procrastination, and develop a strategy that will work for me to conquer it.

A kick in the butt can come in many forms, but usually it’s necessary to create it yourself, rather than expecting external circumstances to get you on track. (Also, I have an amazing life coach I call on time to time and can definitely say, asking someone for help is definitely an action worth doing! Plus I’ve sought out heaps of inspiration from other smart people online, as you’ll see in links below).

“Get in the game. Just start. Starting plays a larger role in your success than any other factor.” – J.D. Roth

100 Days of Action. GO!

I’ve written about fear in some other posts, and how fear has been a huge cause of paralysis in my life. This year, fearlessness is one of my key themes for living.

I’m trying to spend less time procrastinating and thinking about consequences, and more time just rushing in and DOING, especially if it’s something new, or scares me. ‘Ready, Fire, Aim’ I think is the saying. I’ve never been reckless, and while it may seem silly I’ve always had a secret crush on those irresponsible, carefree (careless?) people who rush into things headlong and just don’t give a shit about consequences. Even when they seem stupid, I still hold a little admiration (envy?), because I know that it’s such a difficult thing for me to do myself. There’s something awfully brave and romantic about impulsivity. It is so fearless.

As part of my attempts to think less and do more, at the start of this week I sorted myself out a plan (wow, how very impulsive of me. Ha).

I commenced a 100 Day Action Calendar (inspired partly by the amazing Amber Rae with this story, partly by the 100 Day Challenge, which planted the seed of a fantastic idea, and partly by this dedicated, motivated blogger, who continually amazes me with how much she gets done towards her goals, while still maintaining her blog every single day).

The idea behind my 100 Days of Action is to start moving today towards goals and dreams I have in multiple areas of my life, by breaking them into some bite-size chunks, single tasks that I can accomplish one at a time, to move forward right now, instead of putting it all off because it’s big and daunting and I don’t know where to start.

There is the saying that the tasks you have to do will expand or contract to fit the time you have. The idea behind my 100 Days Calendar is that I’ve got a finite amount of time within which to reach some milestones on things I want to achieve for 2012 and beyond, so I’d better get started! The milestones are broken down and planned out over my 100 day timeframe, so that each day holds several significant, focused, yet small and achievable actions towards the goals. And every day feels like an accomplishment that way.

Some of the things that were key for me in setting up my 100 Days of Action were:

  1. COLOUR coding/VISUAL layout! I’m really visual, and seek order, so I have created a 1-page large-scale wall calendar with a square for each day, like a normal calendar but 100 days instead of a month. I’ve separated goals for different areas (eg. wellbeing/yoga/fitness/career/writing/volunteering) into different coloured writing so I can see at a glance where my day fits. I’m a kinaesthetic learner as well, so by doing my calendar by hand with coloured pencils instead of in a spreadsheet, I both gave myself something visual to stare at while I eat breakfast, and helped myself to absorb it by the physical act of putting it together and maintaining it.
  2. Keep it SIMPLE. I’ve kept my actions to a minimum, just two or three at a max in each day, so that I can focus on quality in each thing I do, and also on really ensuring I complete what I have set out to accomplish, so I don’t end out feeling demoralised because I didn’t achieve my tasks.
  3. SMART. As (2) above alludes to, a common acronym for setting good goals is SMART (simple, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-critical). Without doing it consciously, my 100 Day calendar fulfils all of these. Yay! Well done me!
  4. JOY DAYS! I have allowed myself days where no tasks are included. Partly because I’m on a sabbatical (holiday) right now and want to allow time to be in the moment and enjoy it rather than spending all my time thinking about goals and where I want to be, rather than where I am. But this would apply whether you’re on holiday or not… after all, life is happening right now in front of us. And I for one don’t want to miss it by being too future-focused.
  5. Setting it up to suit my PERSONALITY. Each day is really varied and there’s not a set pattern to when I do things week by week. I love variety and too much routine makes me depressed. Plus there are lots of blank spots left for me to fill out closer to the time. BUT it has enough routine and set rules in it to keep me on track which is vital because otherwise I’m a scatterbrain, get distracted way too easily, and have no commitment. I’ve also put things like tick boxes for yoga, and a box for me to enter how many hours of physical activity I get every day, so there’s a sense of satisfaction when I tick them off each day.

A week gone, and I’m really finding this approach has helped me to stay on track to ensure at least part of each day is put towards the things I know I want to build and grow in my life, rather than wasting time on the fillers. I also wake up each morning excited to go and review my calendar and start my day. I’ve still got improvements to make… but at least I’ve made the START!

Creating your own cheerleaders

In addition to my 100 Day calendar, I’ve also created two Vision boards, stuck up alongside it to keep me on track with inspiring, visual reminders of where I am headed, and how I want to live my life, moment by moment and action by action.

One of these is full of lists. This includes a list of many of my goals for both 2012 and long term, as well as a list of my Priorities in life, so they are always top of mind. This board also has lists reminding me of the things that make me happy and that serve me in life and the things that don’t, foods I love and that are healthy, and foods that are not so good and leave me tired or bloated etc.

The second vision board is full of colour, and while it’s a work in progress, it will have words, phrases, quotes and images that speak to things which resonate with my core values, beliefs and things I need to remind myself.

With these boards, everything that is positive in my life, and that reminds me how I want to live this life of mine, is there on display – cheering me on to conduct myself with more mindfulness. Every thought and action taking me in the direction of my priorities.

For more stuff on goal setting and vision boards, check out these two amazing ladies who have provided some awesome tips and examples for goals and vision boards on their super sweet blogs. Or just check them out anyway because they’re pretty amazing gals.

Nicole is Better

Sophie at Feel Good Tribe

I hope someone else finds something here helpful! How do you put your dreams into action? Comment and let me know :)

Here’s to pursuing your dreams and doing something differently today!

x

3 Comments
by bekah on March 4, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Change / Personal Journey, Living Well
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Posted by bekah on March 4, 2012

http://illuminoted.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/dreams-and-goal-setting-for-scatterbrains-and-time-wasters/

When it’s all too much – and yet you want more

Hello there. Here I am again! It’s been a while. Not for any lack of love for the deep well of inspiration that is the world of blogs. Or for any lack of things I want to talk about. In fact, quite the opposite!

I went through a wee phase of discouragement and overwhelm-ment (what, sure, that’s a word!) with the blog and some other things in life – you know that feeling, when there’s so much you want to be and do, but you just don’t know how to grasp it all, and end up dropping everything?

Too much of a good thing?

When I started blogging, I discovered so many other blogs by wonderful interesting people, with interesting things to say. So much valuable thought, insight, information and entertainment to discover at every turn. So even before I could plan what I myself wanted to write about, I could spend hours just reading other people’s gems.

I’ve absorbed such a vast amount of positive, inspiring food for my mind and soul since discovering this lush garden of flourishing bloggers. Yet, even on the fresh nutritious fruit of inspiration, apparently you can gorge too much! And sorting through the quantity out there for what really resonates takes a lot of time! My head was so full of inspirations and ideas I could no longer distinguish between them, or tell others’ passions from my own. I wanted a little piece of everything, and I lost myself in the chatter.

In the end, I collapsed under Exposure Exhaustion, and put myself into blog quarantine to recover. To re-evaluate what relationship I want with blogging. I know for certain that I don’t want it to be a full time activity! But I know I do want to grow, by sharing in the wealth of interaction here between amazing people, and exploring things I think about through writing them down.

While I’ve been in quarantine, I’ve still been taking daily doses of online inspiration, but also culled back a bit to try to not feel so overwhelmed by it all. And I now finally feel rejuvenated enough to rejoin the garden party. Yey!

But I’ll admit, this state of being overwhelmed is nothing new to me. I’ve a tendency to dive into things wholeheartedly, obsessively, and then find myself in too deep for good balance, or for sustained adherence.

Sometimes I let life get on top of me a bit. I put so many ‘shoulds’ and ‘musts’ on my to do list, that I start to feel a bit hopeless in my ability to tackle it. But, then I always come around to reminding myself, life really isn’t overwhelming me at all, it’s just my perspective on it that is making me feel overwhelmed.

Taking back control when life overwhelms you

So, I figured I’d need to go back to previous learnings, and once again, look to change my perspective, and change my approach and my behaviour to match…

Sometimes, the best action is NONE

For myself, I’ve found often that the strategy I need in order to cope with being overwhelmed, is to pull back completely, to take a moment to breathe and give myself space to recuperate. Space to think, and to absorb the situation. Space to figure out what I took from the event/issue, what’s worth continuing on with and what I can change or let go.

I’ve been in this space lately not just in relation to the blog, but quite a few other areas in my life. As I talk about in some of my other posts, since November last year, I’ve moved, left my job, and taken time out to escape normal life for a bit to get some clarity. This deliberate change in circumstances, a new environment, and a desire to change my life more drastically has seen me starting off in a shiny new direction, but still a little bit unsure about how exactly to move forward in some areas. Unsure what the B, C and D are to get me from A to E.

But, we can’t just sit around doing nothing and expect B, C, D and E to manifest from nothing. A rest is good, and necessary sometimes, but ultimately, once we’ve regrouped the time will come when we need to take action again – even if we’re not exactly sure how to do it perfectly. Like me, getting back on the blog horse.

In this space I’ve given myself, a plan has started to come together piece by piece. I’ve started to put it into action too. But, part of my new approach is also that ‘Less is More’ and this includes blog post length. So I’ll write about that tomorrow ;)

In the meantime, please, share your own insights…

  1. How do you filter all the information available to you to a manageable level, to keep you in the loop but not overwhelm you?
  2. How do you damn well find the time to maintain your own blog regularly, let alone reading others, plus having an actual offline life?
  3. What do you do when something, anything, in life overwhelms you?

Bye for now

x

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by bekah on March 3, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Change / Personal Journey, Living Well
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Posted by bekah on March 3, 2012

http://illuminoted.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/when-its-all-too-much-and-yet-you-want-more/

My Mentors #2 – The Mother

This ‘My Mentors’ series is a homage to the awesome people in my life, why they are amazing, what I’ve learned from them and why I love them. The people closest to us have a huge impact on how we live and how we see the world, and I think by observing and opening your heart to others you can learn a lot both about yourself and about how to live well. I’ve been blessed with some truly amazing people surrounding me, and wanted to recognise that here in a way that might share some of what they have given just by being themselves.
#2 in my series is my mother.

At some point along the way you’ve most likely heard someone saying ‘oh my god I’m turning into my mother! And for sure, I’ve noticed myself doing very mum-like things on ever more frequent occasions – like the surprised whooping ‘oh!’ sound she makes when she gets a fright, or her melodramatic sneezing style. But the difference is, this is usually exclaimed as if it’s a bad thing. I can quite happily say that I don’t feel concerned at all about this ‘turning into mother’ effect. In fact I’ll be quite chuffed if some of her qualities do manifest.

Mum is one of those rare beautiful people whose inner health and goodness does actually seem to shine out from inside her. She was super hot in her heyday, and still looks pretty fine, especially for a lady of 68, with shining eyes and skin and a mane of glorious white hair. A beauty achieved with no unnatural assistance whatsoever I might add.

I love that she has the self-confidence and assurance to be how she is without the need for dyes and hormones and strange chemically skin creams and supplements, but it’s more than her naturally radiant appearance I respect and treasure in her. From seeing how she lives I’ve learned a few things about how I’d like to live my own life:

LIVE HONESTLY AND HONOURABLY

Mum has a little post-it note stuck to her desk space which reads with a quote from Annie Dillard: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” And I think she really does live by this statement.

Mum lives a pretty simple life with my dad in the countryside, and much of her time is invested in her stunning garden, from which they feast on lush fare for most of the year – fresh asparagus, juicy tomatoes and strawberries, vibrant greens and sweet raspberries! So so fine.

It’s her greatest love, and she pours hours of care and energy into that garden.

While I’m not quite ready to give up city life, and costly, polluting behaviours like world travel just yet, I have such respect for her priorities. The fact that she is focusing her energies in line with her beliefs, putting them into practice in how she lives; To live simply and sustainably, in touch with nature, instead of making like the majority of us, and offering some token gesture at recycling plastics whilst driving an SUV and buying dinners packed in single-serve throw-away packaging.

None of us can change what everyone else in the world chooses to do, but we can all, and do all, have an impact on the world by the personal choices we make in how we live as individuals, every minute, every day, at home, at work, and in leisure.

I still have so many conflicts in this, it’s not always easy to be 100% true to your beliefs in this world – but that post-it note guides me too now, as I struggle to make decisions in both lifestyle and career choices that don’t create dissonance inside me.

FOOD FOR FUEL AND FUN

Mum’s cooking is just downright amazing. Always delicious, usually healthy (we’re all allowed a few sins sometimes after all). She never seems to actually use recipes any more and just knows exactly what’s needed to make things turn out perfectly, from scratch. Respect.

While my own kitchen skill leaves much to be desired from hers, I do credit her with my own appreciation that food out of packages is not really food at all, and that there’s a whole wealth of fun and experimentation to be had with spices and herbs in the kitchen.

On the healthful but less experimental side, the delights from her garden also make it clear that every meal doesn’t have to be some elaborate work of art… freshly picked vegetables all by themselves are divine enough.

My latest attempt to use this as inspiration is through leftover challenges – seeing how creative I can get with the scraps left in the fridge to create something amazing with nothing.

LIVE ACTIVELY

Lean and muscular and fitter than I am, mum’s proof you don’t have to punish your body in all sorts of gruelling gym workouts to have enduring good health, if that’s not your thing.

Mum got me into yoga many years ago which I’ll always be grateful for. And her daily gardening has left her with a level of strength and stamina to envy. When we garden together (or should I say when I obediently pick weeds in carefully selected patches so as not to accidentally uproot actual plants) she leaves me in a sweaty aching little heap well before she finishes her day. If she was ever to be measured in one of those ‘cellular’ or ‘biological’ age tests they do on Biggest Loser, she’d probably be like 12.

I actually think that once she stands up from breakfast, she doesn’t sit down again until dinner. She’s hardcore, but proof our bodies are made to move and they thrive on it.

LISTS

Simple but vital. I’m extremely forgetful and absent minded, and if not for inheriting a list-keeping obsession from my mother, I’d be running around like a headless chicken constantly (or, more than I do already).

STAY CALM

Nothing much really gets mum very worked up. In fact I think maybe the only time I’ve ever seen her really annoyed was when I overfilled the washing machine to almost breaking point. I guess it was a bad day. We all have those.

The point being, of course mum probably gets angry or upset at things just like any of us do, but her general approach seems as much as possible to be to stay calm, breathe, and try to let it go. Maybe this is another reason why she hardly ever gets sick at all and seems so energetic and vibrant.

PROPER GRAMMAR

Even her txt language is great, but I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say there’s not a single word in English that she wouldn’t be able to spell correctly. A good vocabulary is so underrated these days. Mum might also be one of only about 4 people in the world who is never confused by where to put an apostrophe. She even has perfect swear-word enunciation – not bandying her cusses about willy-nilly, but instilling each with the appropriate force and inflection for maximum impact. I mean, if swearing is going to be used, isn’t it much better that it’s used to full effect, not wasted on filler-space like some ordinary everyday ‘um’?

I may not have properly learned the whole apostrophe lesson just yet, and my swearing technique could probably do with some refinement. But all else aside, she did give me a love for words, and life sure wouldn’t be the same without our evening Scrabble sessions, enjoyed in complicity with Gin and Tonic sampling. Cheers Mum.

2 Comments
by bekah on January 26, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Change / Personal Journey, Living Well, My Mentors
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Posted by bekah on January 26, 2012

http://illuminoted.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/my-mentors-2-the-mother/

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