A few days ago my yoga teacher spoke about the yogic concepts of sthira and sukha. The Sanskrit word sthira means grounded or relaxed alertness, while sukha is a certain ease. When I think of a professional violinist, a Japanese calligrapher, a martial arts practitioner, or anyone else accomplished in their discipline, I see those qualities in them. That combination of in-the-momentness and effortlessness arises out of years of dedicated practice and results in profound perfection. When I see a classical ballerina dancing on stage what she does looks easy, but oh boy is it impossible to do what she does without years and years of hard work. We can extend the goal of striving for sthira and sukha in yoga to striving for it in life. Moreover, the gradual development and achievement of these two qualities in any one area or discipline will inevitably spread into and begin to permeate all other areas of our life.
rain, lots, finally
Finally it rained, lots. We really needed it and you can tell from the pictures that the plants loved it. Culturally, we tend to emphasize the negative. We associate rain with a cold gray gloomy day. But what would we do without it? It is good to consider the positive aspects of things. The pearly raindrops on the leaves looked beautiful and nature's colors became vibrant again. The rain drops that had collected in the lupine leaves looked like crystals. The world becomes different when we appreciate the beauty in everything.
Ghost
I just returned from watching a preview of Ghost on Broadway. It's a musical for our times. Why? I believe that we are slowly moving towards a more heart-based culture (or at least towards a culture that balances head and heart better than in the past), as well as a culture that acknowledges the unseen part of our reality more readily. This musical opens us up to both, as the characters move between different realities, seen and unseen, life and death, emotional and rational, mix them up, turn them inside out, and toss them up in the air. But besides all this emotional and in-between-life-and-death planes stuff, the production is a totally amazing technical tour de force and aesthetical eye candy. I just loved it.
mindful chopping
I love cooking and all the prep work that goes with it. Sometimes I even like the prep work more than the rest of the cooking process. It is meditative to me, the peeling, cutting, dicing, and slicing. At the end of the day I spend quiet time with myself in the kitchen, pour myself a glass of wine, and begin preparing dinner. Because my life is sooo busy these days my dinner making process is usually somewhat unplanned and spontaneous. I plant myself in front of the fridge, contemplate all the vegetables, fruits, meat or fish (if I thawed something) and staples, and figure out what kind of a meal I can conjure up. Then comes the mindful part, the part where I could almost forget that I am supposed to make a meal for my family, when chopping becomes an activity in its own right. Peeling, chopping, dicing, sipping, whoosh into the pot, and all over again, peeling, chopping, dicing….very relaxing and grounding at the end of a busy day.
buzzing bees
Our new bees arrived this past week-end. The day they arrived one of them got caught in my hair when it explored the garden. I panicked and tried to whip it out of my hair – wrong thing to do. Bees don’t like sudden movements. So the poor thing stung me (and lost its life, which I felt really bad about). But that’s not what this post is about. What it is about is this: yesterday I was in and out of the garden many times, hanging up laundry. Each time I came outside two or three bees soon enough buzzed around me. Maybe they wanted to warn me not to come too close to their home, maybe they only wanted to check me out (my bee language skills are not that good yet). This time I moved very slowly in awareness of the bees. I talked to them (I told them that I wasn’t going to harm them) and let them “sniff me out” without any sudden movements. And I passed the test without getting stung.
Don’t think I am crazy when I am trying to convey that I attempted to communicate with the bees. I am currently reading Martha Beck’s new book “Finding Your Way in a Wild New World,” about consciousness and how to operate within that nonmaterial plane. Check it out. That is the plane from which we can communicate with animals, that is what I was trying to do with the bees – the second time around.
the geraniums are back out
Although it’s early in the season, I think the geraniums are out for good because it has been such a warm winter and early spring.
There was a time when I didn’t know that geraniums are perennials. I rebought them every year like pansies. Now come November I take them in and keep them on the kitchen counter by the window where they bloom all winter long in their popping red. The children don’t like their peculiar smell and my husband finds that they take up too much space on the countertop. But I can’t bring myself to let the geraniums freeze to death in the fall and then rebuy new ones every spring. Not only is it wasteful and feeds that industrial machine, but I like feeling the circularity of the seasons via the geraniums. There is comfort in knowing that some things don’t change, that, come fall, the geraniums will be back inside with us.
an egg is not just an egg
Why do we complain so much about the price difference between organics and conventional foods? Quality – in eggs in this case - is something inherent that arises out of how and where the chicken lives, what it eats, and how it is treated. When eggs are grown in conditions as Nicholas Kristof describes them in today’s New York Times, is it any wonder that eggs from farm hens that run around freely and feed on grubs cost more? Their shells are strong and healthy, their yolks a deep yellow or orange, and the whites don’t run. While science has not yet come up with quick ways to measure the energetic and qualitative difference between a healthy and a weak and sick egg, yesterday’s cat food story illustrates the difference clearly. So, an egg is not just an egg. Without balking many people pay more for the perceived value of some name brand purse, then complain about the high price of organic foods. I believe we need to reevaluate our priorities.
the best cat food
Yesterday was cat food day again, which happens once a month at our house.
“Garbage in – garbage out,” or the flipside “quality food in – health out,” is a motto that works for us as it does for animals. Our older 3 ½ year-old tomcat was raised on “high quality” dry food - out of ignorance. Well, the consequences began to show last year. He had gained weight and had become lethargic. So, besides getting him an adorable little black female companion from the shelter, I researched cat food. Since then
I have been making my own from scratch based on a recipe by vet Lisa Pierson. It is a mix of raw and semi-cooked chicken, gizzards, livers, and various supplements. The results speak louder than words. Within three months our cat had naturally slimmed down and regained his vitality. Both cats have shimmery shiny fur, chase each other through the house, and maintain an ideal weight. Our holistic vet confirmed that making your own cat food “is the best thing you can do for your cats.”
it's over so fast
My daughter remarked last night that it was over so fast.So much anticipation and preparation goes into the weeks before Easter. About three weeks ago we brought Magnolia branches in from the garden, from which we hung blown-out painted eggs. Two weeks before Easter I always buy a hyacinth. Its wonderful scent, which we all associate with Easter, spreads through the entire house. Then we plan the menu. Lamb is traditional, as are asparagus and herbs, and anything green, tender, small and new, since Easter is about spring and renewal. We hide large decorated cardboard eggs for the children, which my parents send from Germany. The eggs pop open and get filled with smaller items, such as foil covered dark chocolate eggs or small chocolate bunnies. This year the weather was so pleasant that we hid the eggs outside in the garden (we wrote a list of the hiding places so we wouldn’t leave unfound eggs to the raccoons).
And then a few hours later it was all over. So is the journey towards the day more important than the day itself?
not in the moment...
Just messed up my mayonnaise because I was not in the moment. While I was making macaroni & cheese I also attempted to make mayonnaise. So much for multi-tasking. Multi-tasking is way overrated and does not work (I have actually been preaching that for years now, just need to remember it myself sometimes). In order to finish with the mayonnaise at the same time as the macaroni were going to be finished cooking I rushed streaming the oil in - and it collapsed and became runny. Waste of eggs and oil, waste of time. I always wonder about multi-tasking when I watch women in the supermarket on their cellphones. They don't actually shop and phone at the same time, they usually stop in the middle of the aisle, or slow their movements to slow motion, then they resume shopping when they are done with the conversation.
Being in the moment and concentrating on one single thing at a time accomplishes so many things: we do whatever we do deeply, we do it well, and we do it wholeheartedly, something like meditation in motion. I'll remember that when I redo my mayonnaise this afternoon.