The Summer Day

Who made the world? 
Who made the swan, and the black bear? 
Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean- 
the one who has flung herself out of the grass, 
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, 
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down- 
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. 
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. 
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. 
I don't know exactly what a prayer is. 
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down 
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, 
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, 
which is what I have been doing all day. 
Tell me, what else should I have done? 
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? 
Tell me, what is it you plan to do 
with your one wild and precious life?

- Mary Oliver

A Time for Change

from tumblr

I am embracing this season of change.

Like many, change at first seems scary - even if it is 

something you hoped and prayed to come about for a long time!

Fiancé and I bought a condo and are moving soon.
We have only ever lived in the same place together since the beginning. 

A tiny 500 sq ft apartment. Dark, like a cave. Oddly placed skylights, always dripping. 

Neighbors who party at all hours. We are ready to move. 

(Are we too old for apartments now?)

Then why am I scared? Nervous?

Will our new neighbors be worse? Will our new windows be worse? 

Will our floor be creaky? Will the space be drafty? 

No, no, no....

This is no way to think. We are T-minus a few weeks and I make the decision now to think positive.
While some of that stuff might be true - what good is it to dwell and lament? It helps nothing. 

So I will think - what if the windows are better? What if the floors are better? 

What if I am...so, so happy there? 

Goodbye, tiny place! We spent 7 interesting years here. We fostered our love here. 

Now it is time for change. A new chapter. 

Probiotic + High Fiber Diet

Since both my fiancé and myself experience abdominal issues, it has been important to maintain a high fiber diet. Honestly I feel we have been cheating a bit. A local grocery store has a special high fiber bread loaf we usually buy. Now that we will be moving away, we won't have access to this high fiber bread and the local store will have a limited bread selection. Now we must slightly change our diet yet again to make sure we get our nutrients. We may implement some probiotics as well since it's good for the gut. Here are some ideas I've been thinking of. 

Dark Chocolate - The funnest item on the list! Thank god, dark chocolate is a great source of probiotic. This is something we both really like. It's easy to include this at the end of the day before bedtime. It also isn't too heavy.

Fiber Granola Bars - These could be awesome for a quick breakfast! Bonus points if we can find granola bars with dark chocolate. We need to make sure the granola bars preferably have 3 grams of fiber.

Kombucha - It is simply fermented tea but we love it. It's a great source of probiotics. Admittedly it can be a bit expensive. We used to buy them about once per week and split a bottle between us. We stopped for some reason but it might be time to start up again. It comes in lots of different flavors. We especially love pineapple kombucha!

Broccoli - This is a really tough one for my fiancé. He hates broccoli. I resort to sprinkling cheese on top of it or adding it to pastas. It's the only way he'll eat it! I, on the other hand, love broccoli - it's my favorite vegetable! I gladly eat it any way. Much to his chagrin, this will be added to more meals.

Beans - These should be the easiest item to add to anyone's regular diet. You can do so many different things with beans. We can add them to our tacos and get soups with beans in it. I'd like to start getting some black bean burgers again (we are not vegetarian/vegan but we try to somewhat limit meat and dairy if possible).

Quinoa - This is another item my fiancé is wary of. He might be more receptive if it's less of simply a quinoa bowl where the grain is the star, and instead I can work it into other meals as a supportive character.

Whole Wheat Pasta - We are big pasta fans (although I always think after eating it, "Wow, that wasn't worth the calories!"). We get pasta every time we go shopping. However, we will try getting whole wheat pasta instead, at least sometimes. It would be an easy way to get more fiber.

Avocado - We adore avocados! We'll need to be careful as they are high calorie. Avocados are also notoriously persnickety - one day they're not ripe, the next they are perfect, and then the next they are already bad! You also can't really save avocados as leftovers unless you change the texture or the flavor. We will make these slightly-less-rarer treats.

Fiber Cereal -  The only cereals worth getting on a high fiber diet are ones with at least 5 grams of fiber! I am not the biggest fan of cereal but this will be good for my fiancé. We always use cashew milk.

Probiotic Tea + Juice - We've found our store carries teas and juices that have probiotics added in them. I'm not sure if our new local store will have these but it's worth keeping an eye out. This would probably be a last resort as it could add a lot of calories. It could still be good if we didn't have anything else on hand for the day.

For Only 5 Minutes

When thinking of a new habit or lifestyle change (or something I don't want to do!), my motto is: "for only 5 minutes."

For only 5 minutes will I.....meditate.

For only 5 minutes will I.....exercise.

For only 5 minutes will I.....eat my salad.

For only 5 minutes will I.....write in my journal.

For only 5 minutes will I.....study for my test.

For only 5 minutes will I.....balance my finances.

In the existential night, it's invigorating to tell myself, "I'll be a new person tomorrow. I'll walk for a mile, eat a bowl of quinoa, type up half my paper, and dress to the nines - all by 9am!" But in the fogginess of the morning? It's snoozing til 9, throwing on a robe, and pouring myself some sugary cereal. Suddenly everything seems too daunting when it's early enough not to remember my own name, let alone immediately enact 15 different lifestyle changes!

Now, I remember for only 5 minutes.

It's easy enough to remember to do something for only 5 minutes and go back to my normal routine. Then after a month, 10 minutes. Then 15. And then 20. My current goals are mediation and stretches in the morning. I'll update next month to see if I've been consistent and if I can move up to 10 minutes. Good changes, slowly but surely.