I don’t make lists when I go shopping so I often forget things! Recently, I’ve started doing that and I find it is so much easier to get everything without doing several trips!
Fruits are at the top of the list. Right now, I’m into blueberries, raspberries, plums, mangoes, papayas and whatever else is in season. I love fruits so it is a must have on my grocery list.
Vegetables are next. Just about any vegetable is fine with me. Spinach, eggplants, zucchini, cabbage, cauliflower and beans often top the list as well. Salads are another item that is a must have.
Fish is something I can’t do without. I’ve found this new seafood place which offers fresh seafood and it is fantastic. I am a regular there because the local supermarket does not offer the freshness that this store does. They have all kinds of fresh seafood and the prices are reasonable as well. I eat fish at least three times a week so it is a must on my grocery list.
Meat is not that important, although, I do have it once or twice a week. If I do get it, I go for the not so fatty cuts of meat and if it’s pork, I go for the Iberico variety. Expensive but it’s a treat. The pigs are fed on acorns which gives the meat a certain flavor and it is delicious.
The essentials are next on the list. Water, grains, bread, and whatever else that is needed to get the household going. I’m learning not to like grocery shopping but I find that it is a necessity. Can we come up with something where you’ll have to press a button, put in the items needed and it gets delivered? I’m not talking about the home delivery service, this one will be simpler. Press a button and the items show up with no hassles whatsoever!
It seems like I’ve done this DP before, just feels familiar. Anyway, walking is one of my top favorites. It takes very little effort and the benefits are plenty. Fresh air is one of them, clearing my mind of unwanted thoughts is another, and ideas galore is yet another! It’s where my creative juices start flowing. Not all the time but more often than not.
I love working out and that is no secret. People who know me tell me to take it easy. They say I overdo it. However, I move to my own drumbeat when it comes to working out. I am careful BUT sometimes I do overdo it. A little twinge here and there tells me that I’ve done more than I should and then I back off for a couple of days and come back with a vengeance.
Cardio, weight training, Pilates, fusion workouts, yoga and anything that is new out there, I am willing to give it a try. I was into kick boxing but these days I watch it from a distance and nothing more! I injured myself doing the “kicks” and it took months to heal so I admire the people who can do it but for me, it is a thing of the past. Sometimes you have to learn to let go even if you don’t want to.
Those are some of my favorite forms of activities that I do to keep myself fit and in form. I find that physical activity is not something I do to please someone else, it is something I do for myself. It helps to keep my body toned and fit but my mind benefits as well.
“Exercise not only changes your body, it changes your mind, your attitude and your mood.” Unknown
Daily writing prompt
What are your favorite physical activities or exercises?
I have a regimented routine and I stick to it come hell or high water! Changes are not my thing so keeping to the routine is easy to do. Waking up with a good stretch in bed is a must, I do it the “Japanese” way. Just some lazy stretches in bed to get the circulation going before I slide out of bed. Then it’s a visit to the bathroom while Chachi waits patiently.
We head downstairs and since I get up when the birds do, it is still dark outside. Chachi takes his place by the window and I start breakfast. Nothing fancy or heavy. Sometimes it is an egg on toast accompanied by slices of avocado, other times, when I’m lazy, just two pieces of toast and a cup of coffee. Recently, I’ve started making Miso soup, it is healthy and a great start to the day. Then I head back upstairs to watch the news and Chachi stays downstairs watching the day as it wakes up as well.
Now, if there is one thing that I would like to skip if I could are the worries I wake up with. I’m a worrywart so worries are part and parcel of my daily existence. They are of my own making. I worry about everything and anything! Meditation helps with that and walks in nature help as well. However, it takes effort and focus to keep them out and to zero in on the good things. Things I am grateful for and there are plenty of reasons in that direction.
I haven’t got it down to a science yet but I’m working on it. One day, I hope I’ll wake up feeling fantastic and ready to face the day without WORRY on my mind! Fingers and toes crossed!
Daily writing prompt
What part of your routine do you always try to skip if you can?
I love walking. It is my go to form of physical exercise. Just 20 minutes out in the fresh air is all it takes to rev up the engine and to get my mindset in the right place. Add the serenity of nature to it and my mind gets a much-deserved break. There is a new kind of walking, called barefoot walking, not really new because I used to do it all the time in Singapore. However, I wouldn’t do it these days with whatever is down there waiting to grasp and make its way up! Nope, no thank you. I’ll stick to good old-fashioned walking with my shoes on.
The other thing I do is weight training and exercises to stretch the muscles and to keep them limber and well-toned. I use 1 pound weights, nothing too heavy but it does the job. Pilates, Barre, and Yoga workouts help to stretch the muscles out and to keep them lean and strong.
These are my favorite forms of physical exercise but I keep adding to the regiment and before I know it, I’ll be into 60 or more minutes of working out each day. A friend once told me, “Cut back on the workouts!” I whispered, “I hear you but I can’t help it!”
I’ve always worked out ever since I was way younger than I am now and I don’t see me stopping any time soon. Nirvana is just a workout away and it is, as far as I’m concerned. If you want to feel good, go for a walk, breathe for all you’re worth and keep those muscles limber, toned and strong!
“Find company within yourself and you’ll never spend a day alone. Find love within yourself and you’ll never have a lonely day.” Connor Chalfant
Loneliness is defined as sadness because one has no friends or company. However, it is actually a state of mind. People who are lonely have trouble connecting with others because even though they want and crave human contact, their state of mind makes it hard for them to see beyond what they are feeling. At this stage, they often see themselves as unworthy of friendship, they often feel rejected and more often than not, they voluntarily remove themselves from what is causing them hurt and that is the outside world and so the vicious cycle begins and takes hold.
Low self-esteem, lack of confidence and being an introvert can all lead to isolation and loneliness. The effects are far-reaching and at times scary. It can lead to antisocial behavior, feelings of not fitting in and worst case scenario, it can also lead to depression and suicide.
Almost everyone experiences loneliness at some time or rather and it gets worse during holidays, birthdays and other significant days. Someone close to me is dealing with symptoms of loneliness and any suggestions of help is falling on deaf ears. He is hell-bent on holding onto his new best friend “loneliness.” I think we are our own worst enemy and when we fall, we fall deep and hard. We go into the trenches and it is hard to crawl back out. We tell ourselves we are not good enough as we are, opinions matter and we see ourselves as not worthy of interacting with what is out there. At times the outside world can be cruel and for someone who is struggling it can be more than daunting. What to do short of meeting with a therapist? Perhaps these few tips might help.
Be there and show that you care.
Be patient. Irritation is the common response. Show that you’re there to listen.
Join a group, exercise class or book club. There are many other options.
Do things you enjoy.
Go for a walk.
Share your feelings.
Practice self-care. Start exercising, eat nutritious foods and get enough sleep.
Love yourself warts and all.
Most of all stay busy.
If none of the above help, here are some quotes to see life from the brighter side.
“A season of loneliness and isolation is when the caterpillar gets its wings. Remember that next time you feel alone.” Mandy Hale
“It’s impossible to be lonely when you’re zesting an orange. Scrape the soft rind once and the whole room fills with fruit. Look around: you have more than enough. Always have. You just didn’t notice until now.” Mary Oliver
I love this one.
If you are feeling lonely know that you’ll always have:
“Books to nurture your mind. Hands to create and explore. Wind to calm your soul. Breathes to soothe your nerves. Nature to soak your worries away. Stars to decorate your dreams.” Emma Xie
A British doctor brags to colleagues: “In Britain, medicine is so advanced that we removed a man’s backbone, put it in another man, and in 6 weeks, he was looking for work.”
The German surgeon replies: “In Germany we removed a section of a brain, put it in another man, and in 4 weeks he too is looking for work.”
The Russian doctor says: “Gentlemen, we took a beating heart from a man, put it in another’s chest, and in 2 weeks he started a new job.”
The American doctor sighs, saying: “You are all still behind us. A few months ago, we took a man with no brain, no heart, and no backbone and he got a job overnight as our President!”
There are many different things that give me energy throughout my day. The first one is Chachi, the cat, although he wouldn’t consider himself as a thing because he thinks he is a little Pharoah living his best life and using up one of his 9 lives!
The little guy gives me positive energy and that is important. He makes my day a whole lot brighter and listening to him moving around on padded feet gives me energy as well. The other thing that gives me energy are my daily walks in nature. It has been said that nature mirrors the human existence and I find that to be true. However, it also teaches if you are willing to listen. I get comfort from nature and I need a daily dose to keep me moving forward.
A healthy lifestyle definitely gives me energy. Food which is nourishing and full of nutrients is my go to for health and vitality. I do spend time planning my meals and ordering out is a once in a blue moon thing. I’d rather prepare it myself and know what is going in those meals to keep me healthy and full of energy rather than leave it to chance. Exercise is another thing that fills me with energy. It is a daily affair and I love working out so it makes it easier for me.
Breathing, different forms of breathing, is a daily must not the kind that we do as a routine pattern, the in and out variety but the kind that takes effort to clear your mind, gives you clarity and fills you with oxygen! It also helps to balance the brain hemispheres. I feel much better breathing like the yogis did and this practice definitely fills me up with energy.
So there you have it. Those are the things that give me energy and keep me operating at my optimal best. I’m adding as I go along but for now the ones I mentioned above work just fine.
Relaxation is a big word in my life as everything is focused on or around it. No matter how stressful life gets or how chaotic things are, relaxation is one of the things that I try to do everyday without fail.
It could be as simple as a walk in nature for about 20 minutes, a workout at home for 30 minutes, a meditative practice for however long I like and just simply breathing for all its worth. All of these methods help me to relax and to give the “stress” monster a kick out the door. It wasn’t always this way. Life had me in its grip and I found myself on the go all the time and there was no time to stop and smell the roses even if I wanted to. Then I made a conscious decision to step back, go into the recluse mode, throw what didn’t serve me out the door and to give relaxation the all-important spot as being number 1 in my day-to-day routine.
These days, I am learning to relax at the drop of a coin. If something bugs me, I grab one of my go to methods for relaxation and retreat into a world of peace and nirvana. Just 15 minutes a day does the trick and “no time” is not an excuse. You do have the time to do what is good for you. Forget about the world and all those to do lists, you come first so do something good for yourself.
I must admit I’m not where I should be. There are days when everything falls apart and relaxation is nowhere to be seen no matter how hard I try. Taking a break is alright too but come back to that state of mind where life is simple and all you need to do is breathe and let the world do its thing without you in it for a while.
“You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens.” Mandy Hale
Yesterday was a blur! The test went fine but spending almost 5 hours at the hospital and having this radioactive stuff shot into me and then doing three rounds with the machine to find out if there was anything wrong took the wind out of my sails!
I think it wasn’t just yesterday that brought about the exhaustion, it was the week leading up to it. Emotions were running wild and not knowing made it all the more nerve-racking. I had all kinds of “what if” scenarios running through my head and none of them good.
I crashed last night at around 8 and didn’t get up till 5 this morning. Still feeling tired but more than that, it is the radioactive stuff coursing through my veins that is causing problems, just psychological ones. I googled on how to get rid of it and was told, drink plenty of water to flush it out of your system. It takes about 24 to 48 hours before it is out and gone for good. I hope! The other thing is to keep away from pregnant women and small children. No problems there but Chachi was not too happy last night. I tried not to hug him, kiss him or to cuddle with him and the little bugger didn’t understand it at all.
This morning, I stripped the bedcovers and threw them in the wash. Then I took a shower and used scrub to get whatever is oozing out of my pores a run for the money! After that, I took a walk in nature. There was nothing going on there. The trees were a bright green with no show of changing anytime soon. Fall is taking its time getting here but it will be here sooner than later. However, I realized that nothing much had changed since I set foot on the fields which was about three days ago.
Here’s the thing. Life moves on, nature does the same and what you’ve got going on is your business alone. I recall when I was grieving for the friend I lost, nature and life went on and didn’t stand still not even for a moment. The burden was mine to carry alone and how I dealt with things even more so. I think the message is, YOU have to deal with whatever comes your way. It is all up to you and with that in mind, I feel like I’ve been given a new lease on life and I better put it to good use. I plan to.
The sun is just coming up and it is casting shadows and light as it weaves its way through the fields. A beautiful sight to see and I know that today is going to be a beautiful day.
It caused some sleepless nights and the “it” was a test that could have changed my life as I knew it. I was up and down and all over the place with my feelings as well as with my emotions. The unknown was scary and I was looking in an abyss and the answers coming back depended on a machine, a cold and inanimate thing that had the power to throw a curveball, worse than life could.
I prepared like I was being led to the slaughter. The night had been short and I got up at 5 a.m. wanting to crawl back into bed! There was no getting out of it. It was time to meet my nemesis and to tell it to go to hell! I knew it wouldn’t make difference to it one way or another. The machine was there to do a job and as my friend put it, “It’s there to save lives.”
The test was scheduled for 8 a.m. and I appeared punctually with friend in tow. He was calm and quiet as we walked in. It took off like a storm after that. I was prepped, my tiny vein shot up with some radioactive stuff with the technician telling me, “It’s the same stuff as last time but with an additional isotope this time.” Gawd! I asked, “Any side effects?” She said it shouldn’t cause any problems.
Then I had to wait for that stuff to invade my body, it took all of 15 minutes. The friend kept whispering, “You’ll be fine.” He’s a good guy. However, my mind was on a horror trip! Scenarios kept playing like on speed dial and none of the good variety. The doctor, a really nice lady, showed up and I tried my sweet talk tactic. No go, the test needed to be done for “OUR” peace of mind she said. Within minutes, I was led into this room and I saw my nemesis! Cold, white and looming like some monster! I took my place on the bed, was made comfortable and closed my eyes. She said, “Five minutes. You’ll be fine.” I thought, “I can do five minutes, no problem.” The machine droned and came to life. I went into my nirvana zone and before I knew it, it was DONE!
“Not so quick!” she said, “You get a 15 minute break and back on the bed again.”
ME: “WHY?”
SHE: “We do another round, this time 30 minutes.”
I gulped but she had a no-nonsense way about her. And the machine was grinning and doing a victory dance! After 15 minutes, I was back in. This time, she said, “Five minutes first and then the machine will automatically do rounds all over!” Unbelievable! I gritted my teeth and said, “I’m not sure if I can stay put that long.”
SHE: “Well, we will be taking thousands of pictures so try to stay still and DON’T MOVE!”
Hmm…..I got through that round. Then she says, “You get 15 minutes break and back in here again.”
I was ready for anything by now. I just wanted out of that place and if I had to play dead for another 30 minutes, I was going to do it. And I did.
Then the doctor comes back in, closes the door and I think, “This is bad news.”
She is soft-spoken and says, “Looks like an all clear. I didn’t see anything that is of concern BUT we still have the blood test results that should come in a week. I don’t think there is anything to worry about.”
Instead of letting out a sigh of relief, my mind jumps to my Google research and how one doctor said that this particular test is never right. I thank her and left that hospital in a hurry before they changed their mind.
I muttered, “I don’t care! I’m done for now. I’m going home but before that I’m getting my cheesecake and then time for a shower and a cheesecake fest!”
I’m not supposed to touch Chachi, the cat, for 24 hours so when I walked in the door, he goes, “Well, you left me alone for five hours and not even a kiss?!! You are getting weirder by the minute!”
I didn’t answer. Jumped in the shower and then in my PJs, the coffee is brewing and the cheesecake is standing ready. What a day but things worked out for the best.
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