This is one of my best healthy eating tip. I do not eat pastries, cakes, chocolates, and or the other stuff that helps you to pack on the pounds. I used to but always to a certain degree and I never indulged. I have my willpower to thank for that.
I do love cheesecake but that is an indulgence that I keep to a minimum. One slice or maybe two and that is it. When I do indulge, I up my workouts to keep everything in check.
Eating fruits and vegetables is a daily must. I keep meat consumption to a minimum, perhaps once or twice a week and the rest of the time I consume fish with lots of vegetables.
So what do I do when the urge hits? The sweet tooth urge I mean. Recently, I’ve started with an avocado sliced up, one piece of fruit, hummus, and a cookie just for good measure and to feel like I’ve indulged. This method works.
Soups are my next best thing. The weather is turning so it is a great time for soups. Today, I am making chicken soup with lots of veggies and a can of coconut milk. I love spicy foods but since my operation, I’ve been warned to keep off the spicy stuff. They irritate and so does coffee but I do drink one cup of coffee in the mornings, just black. Onions, garlic, and all the other spices are out too until my wound heals but since I will be going in for another OP early October, it looks like it will be a long time before “spicy foods” make a showing again.
No fun? I agree but eating healthy is a way of life for me so I don’t miss all the other stuff so much. My indulgence factor is at an all time low but it is a toss up between being healthy and going the other direction.
Health comes first with me and thankfully my body seems to agree!
They are supposed to make life easier by giving you clever, simple shortcuts to save you time, money, and effort.
My favorites are:
The Cutting Board Trick.
Place a damp cloth under your cutting board to keep it from slip sliding around. This one works!
Fixing Wrinkled Clothes.
Just throw an ice cube with your wrinkled piece of clothing in a dryer for a few minutes and your shirt or whatever item you threw in is wrinkle free? Why? The melting ice creates steam which releases wrinkles. Go figure but it works.
Towel Trick for Refrigerator.
Line your vegetable tray or drawer with paper towels or a dry towel and your veggies and fruits stay fresher longer. Why? The towel acts as a moisture absorber and they don’t rot that easily. This is my favorite hack by the way.
The Ice Cube Trick.
Run an ice cube wrapped in a washcloth all over your face before applying makeup. Why? It reduces puffiness and tightens your pores. A great beauty tip.
Taming Flyaways.
Spray an old toothbrush with hairspray and brush over stubborn flyaways or baby hair. It works with too little effort!
I have many more but enough for today. Time for a nice cup of coffee to get the day going.
Karma doesn’t come with fire, it comes with silence.
It doesn’t lash out in rage or seek revenge,
It waits. Patient, steady, unseen. It lets you build your life, fall in love with ease, believe you’ve escaped the weight of your choices. And then, just when you begin to feel safe, it takes back what was never truly earned.
Not to punish, but to remind you;
Every action echoes. Nothing stays buried forever.
MindJournal
My answer to this question is an unequivocal YES! There are those who do wrong and not only knowingly but with malice and they walk away into the sunset so to speak with no consequences whatsoever or so they think but I believe that karma is a potent force, it watches, it abides, and when you least expect it, it strikes.
I’ve seen it happen many times over. One person had everything going for him, a happy home, a wife he loved, and a life he loved living. This went on for many years until “karma” decided it was time and with one fell swoop, it was gone. He wondered what happened but in his pain, he forgot about the wrong he had done to someone close to him.
Every action has a consequence and it is what we forget when we choose to do wrong.
Law Of Karma
“You cannot cheat destiny,
By hurting honest souls.
Every action finds its owner,
No matter how time rolls.”
Unknown
Yes, I do believe in Karma is my answer to this question.
There is no method to the madness. I basically write about my experiences, things I am interested in, posts that might help someone else who is in the same boat as I am, and just about anything that catches my fancy at the moment and hope that people would be interested in what I have to say and in my life as well.
Most of my writing is about trying to help someone else. I’ve lived through some tough stuff and I am still standing. It took work to get to where I’m at so when I write I hope that the person reading it will walk away with something they can use from my writings to get them on the way and to a better way of doing things. There is always light at the end of the dark tunnel so to speak.
Some days I write about what has been bugging me and there are plenty of those things! On other days, it is about looking for love and sometimes in the wrong places and what I’m doing to get to a better place there too. Sometimes I am in a lighter mood and then it is about laughter. It happens more often than you think. I have this funny bone that never quits. I do dabble in politics but not as much as I used to. It is a mishmash of things and it seems people like reading about what I put out there. So I must be doing something right.
There is no rhyme or reason, I write about whatever I like and that’s about it. If you read it, that is completely up to you BUT I hope you do.
Daily writing prompt
How do you write what people actually want to read?
It happened when I threw caution to the winds and decided to let loose just a little. It was spontaneity of the reckless kind. I was at a point in my life when I wanted to be someone different. Perhaps, I wanted to see how the other side lived. Having towed the line all my life, I decided that it was time to take a little risk. I didn’t know at the time that it was a big one!
I can’t recall exactly when it happened but it was a long time ago. I met this Brit and he seemed nice. He invited me to come to the UK and to spend some days there. I decided to do just that. After all, it was the new me and “spontaneous” was my middle name at the time. I hopped on a plane, got off at Gatwick Airport I think but I’m not sure. He was there waiting all 6′ 3″ of him. Yes, he was tall! We hugged and then it was a long drive to his place. Yes, I was taking it all the way! He offered that I stay at his place during my visit and I accepted, however in separate bedrooms.
Things started out just fine, we talked, went for a walk, and enjoyed the time together. Evening rolled around and we went out to dinner. It was nice but I can’t remember where we went. We came back to his place and he put on some music and invited me to dance. Well, I wouldn’t call it dancing, we just moved to the music and then the mood changed. The kissing started and the next thing I knew I was pinned on the couch and with him on top of me! I tried pushing but he was a big guy. I mumbled, “no.” Still he kept on. I knew I was in trouble, big trouble. I mustered my courage from within and PUSHED and shouted, “NO! I said NO!” Luckily for me, he was not looking for a one-night stand. He wanted more so he stopped.
I rushed into the bedroom and shut the door behind me and barricaded myself in there. Staying there the rest of the night, I called the airline to book a return flight. I wanted out of there as quickly as I could. They had a flight the day after and I took it. The next morning, I came out of the room and he was there making breakfast. A full-on English breakfast with the works including homemade bread. We ate in silence and then he said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” I nodded thankful that I had escaped unscathed and it could have gone the other way.
We spent the day going to places of interest but the mood was subdued and I just wanted to leave. I recall we were at a park along a shopping street and we were passing a jewelry store and he said, “Let’s go in.” There were some pretty pieces and he picked a beautiful blue Topaz pendant with a necklace and asked if they had matching earrings. Of course, they had! They wanted to make a sale and I was really hesitant and said, “I don’t need them.” But he insisted and bought me the pieces. We left the store and I was on high alert. I wondered what he had in store for me next. Turned out he was trying to make up for what happened the night before. The rest of the day and night were uneventful and I left the next morning and he drove me to the airport, we hugged and he said, “We’ll be in touch.”
I still have the necklace and earrings but I have never worn them. Every time I look at them, it reminds me of a time when I was not only spontaneous but DUMB as well! I have never done something that stupid again but that’s not to say that I haven’t been in similar situations but nothing that dangerous.
“The best times in life are usually random, unplanned and completely spontaneous.” Unknown
True, but before you decide to throw caution to the winds, know that you may not be as lucky as I was! Assess the risks and go from there.
What happened to the guy? We kept in touch but I clammed up and it went nowhere. That was the end of that. It was a lesson in spontaneity that will remain with me for the rest of my life.
Daily writing prompt
What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done?
“Every time you make a commitment to your own self-care, self-love and self-respect and then follow through, you build trust in yourself.” Miranda J. Barrett
Self-care is a priority with me. I used to take care of everyone and forgot about me in the long run but these days I realize that self-care is one of the most important thing you can do for yourself and your well-being.
No matter what happens during the day, there is time set aside to take care of the inner me as well as my outer self. Selfish? Absolutely not. It is needed to show up for yourself. No one else is going to do it for you. It can be as simple as a walk in nature which costs nothing but gives so much in return. My mind clears up and I get an energy boost just by being out there taking in what nature has to offer and it is plenty.
Meditation is a go to for stress relief. I spend about 30 minutes a day meditating. Shutting down the mind is a must and in my case, it is an absolute must since mine jumps around like a monkey!
Beauty rituals are another must. The outside needs as much care as the inside so I set aside the weekend for the essentials, or rather what I call the essentials. Facials, skincare, peels, hair masks, and other things that make Chachi, the cat, cringe in disbelief. He thinks I look like the creature from the black lagoon and since he has lived nine lives and one of them being in Cleopatra’s close circle, he understands perfectly well where I’m coming from but still he shakes his head and looks away until I am back to being me sans the mud and stuff plastered on my face and body!
I have many rituals, I won’t go into all of them but self-care has always been a part of my life. I wouldn’t call it being vain but a necessity. You don’t have to spend a fortune, but there are many ways of taking care of yourself. Sometimes I do spend money but I feel that it is money well-spent.
Take care of yourself, put energy and effort into it, because nothing ever happens by itself and in the long run it will be well worth it.
This is a hard one for me. I’ve lived on three continents, not just for a short while but each of those places were “home” for a certain timespan. It was never that hard to adjust until I came to Germany.
I don’t know why but I had a really hard time with calling it home for some reason. Perhaps it was the closed society, the conservativeness, and most of all the fact that I didn’t speak the language well. I wanted my “FREEDOM” and I wanted to go back home. There it is again. I was feeling like I didn’t belong and “home” was far away from here. It felt like I was visiting but “home” was something else entirely.
Then I left for a short while and went back home. I realized that I was a stranger in my own land having been away for a long time. The trip was coming to an end and I wanted to go HOME! Guess where that was? Back to Germany and when I stepped off that plane and saw my ex waiting for me, I knew I was home! Strange?
I think home is where you feel comfortable, where your soul feels respite, and it is a place where your heart resides. This once strange land with its idiosyncrasies is home now. I don’t question it, I just accept the fact that this is why I lay my head at night, and when I get up in the mornings and stare out the window, I AM HOME!
Fear has been my constant companion for as long as I can remember. I never make a decision without fear by my side. When I do make that decision whatever it is, you can be sure that fear had a hand in it.
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” Les Brown
This quote speaks to the heart of the matter where I’m concerned. Fear has stopped me from achieving so much more and even though it has kept me from danger, I should have given it a boot out the front door at a much earlier time in my life.
It is still here but it doesn’t have the power it used to have. I still listen when it speaks and I still tow the line before I step forward but these days I’m my own person and I make my own decisions.
“Living with fear stops us taking risks, and if you don’t go out on the branch, you’re never going to get the best fruit.” Sarah Parish
AND
“Don’t fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.” Louis E. Boone
Give fear the attention it deserves but DO NOT let it run your life!
Daily writing prompt
What’s one thing you wish you had started doing earlier in life?
I really can’t think of any fictional animal to be my lifelong companion. The problem is I have a real companion and that little guy is more than I can handle!
He knows he is loved, cared for, and he also knows that I wouldn’t change him for all the money in the world. Chachi, my little love, is here to stay. So the way I see it, no other fantasy creature or fictional animal can take his place and that’s my answer to this question.
Hopefully tomorrow brings something out of the fictional range.
Daily writing prompt
If you could pick any fictional animal to be your lifelong companion (like a Pokémon or fantasy pet), what would it be?
I have enough trouble being me so why would I want to switch lives with a fictional character for a week?
My answer to this question is, I choose no one! I’ll stay where I’m at working through what I need to work through without resorting to daydreaming again! The other thing is, it is too early in the morning and I am grumpy in the mornings before my first cup of coffee.
Sounds like a great escape if you need it but I’ll stay where I’m at and that is my answer. GRUMPUS? Blame it on a sleepless night, coffee should help to calm things down. Hoping anyway!
Next question please…..
Daily writing prompt
If you had to switch lives with a fictional character for a week, who would you choose?
