Happy Healthy Holidays!

I am not going to start this entry by stating the obvious; exercise daily, eat right, be one with your body, listen to what your mind is telling you, do yoga, floss. Instead, I am going to remind you that there is a reason the old saying goes "HAPPY HOLIDAYS". During this holiday season; celebrate, dance, give, take deep and meaningful breaths, savour the moments, hydrate, pray to and for whomever, and please enjoy eating. I am giving you permission to have that second glass of eggnog, try the tasty appetizer that your friend baked or eat your mom's yummy homemade stuffing and BE HAPPY doing so. Practice my personal favourite mantra "everything in moderation". Take pleasure in the holiday spirit and show your happiness. Don't eat for the sake of eating, instead, use all of your senses to heighten the eating experience. Smell the wonderful flavours, look at the presentation, feel the textures on your tongue and follow the 40-chew rule in order to savour every mouthful. Think about the tender love and care that went into making the holiday treat. If you a person that needs hard statistics, rather than just indulging in the pure joy of eating, The Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, found that a less acute sense of taste leads to over consumption of foods rich in sugar salt and fat. There will be more about taste enhancers in next weeks entry. Until then, HAPPY HOLIDAYS and ENJOY yourself because after all, happiness is a choice.

You Light up My Life!

Just recently our land-lady asked me if we wanted to put up the Christmas lights that are stored in the basement. I told her that I thought that it was not necessary, since our very large house consumes so much energy already. I left it at that. This weekend, Jim and I went out and found a Christmas tree. We dug out boxes of ornaments that have traveled with us twice around the globe. After we decorated the tree and plugged in the lights I had an instant feeling of joy and merriment. What was it about those twinkling white lights that brought a smile to my face? I am sure it was also the sentimental value of so many items we placed on the tree, like the handmade ornaments from pre-school, the beautiful angel that I inherited from my mother, who received it from Great Aunt Deb and the interesting ornaments that we carefully labeled with the year and country of purchase. There are so many traditions and customs that are associated with the holiday season. Take Christmas cards as an example. Yesterday I sat in the car "watching" Jamieson at futbol practice. During this time, I sometimes take a run, listen to Bulgarian, read or make my to-do list. On Monday, I decided to use the one and half hours to start writing my Christmas cards. As I was scribbling away, two things came to mind. First, that writing cards would be so much easier and less labour intenstive if I did it digitally. Second, that I was going to have to learn to use the local mailing system here in Bulgaria, which was a bit daunting for me. I also wondered; does the joyful and loving feeling of receiving a personal holiday note from someone out way the massive impact that Christmas cards have on our environment? I guess the various generations would answer this question differently. I decided to be selective in my Christmas card writing this year and only use snail mail to my aunties and uncles that, for them, is a part of Christmas. So, anyone who has a gmail, hotmail, yahoo account will be receiving the digital version of my holiday greeting. This is not to say that I love anyone less, I am just deciding to have one foot in the boat, and one out with regards to Christmas "change". Some of these holiday traditions can and should be passed along from generation to generation, while others can be adapted to suit the 21st Century. So, since I made the conscious effort by selectively sending the cards, I immediately wrote our our landlady and reneged on my choice not to have lights. I figured, it really is only one month of the year... I can handle an elevated electricity bill, if it puts a smile on someones face as they pass by our place.

Appreciation

Today marks the first day of December. The sun is shining, it is 12C, the sky is aqua blue and the Vitosha mountain is giving off wonderful energy! I just perused the weather network and the long range forecast for Sofia says it will be in the double digits all week. As I was returning from an afternoon run, I stopped to shoot the breeze with my neighbour. I was singing praise to the wonderful weather and how beautiful Sofia is at this time of year. She immediately went on about how the snow is coming, it will be bitter cold, we will find it horrible, etc, etc. I tried to bring her back to the beautiful moment we were in as the sun was beating down on me, yet she could only focus on what was coming. She went on about shoveling snow, getting stuck, freezing in her house, cutting wood to burn, the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables at the market, the bare trees. Again, I tried to bring positive light back into our conversation by saying how much I appreciate living in a climate that had four seasons and how it reminded me of the circle of life. Once again, she went on about the evils of winter. I smiled and decided that I would probably not change the outlook of my 66 year old neighbour but I would not let her ruin my feeling of appreciation. So, I took my ray of sunlight and went home. Instead of feeling sad for her, I thought how lucky I was to be able to appreciate what I had. I decided that it was alright for me to offer my joyful commentary regardless of what her response would be. Perhaps she went inside and told herself, "wow, yes, I had not thought of it, but yes, it is a beautiful day"....or maybe she said "what a crazy, loopy girl who lives beside me?" When other people are focusing on the negative, it is not your problem. Since we choose our own thoughts, we can reshape our thinking so that we never have to think in the negative again. So, as we move in to the time of holiday cheer, remember to appreciate...appreciate the people in your life, your family and friends, and even your grouchy neighbours, appreciate your health and the way you can move your body, appreciate your shelter and the food that you nourish your body with. If you find yourself drifting into the glass half empty mentality, TURN THAT FROWN UPSIDE-DOWN!

A Flower a Day...

My thoughtful Auntie Joyce sent me a virtual bouquet of flowers in a birthday card online. It is truly amazing what technology can do! I clicked on the single tulip and a plethora of colourful flowers bloomed right there in front of me. I immediately felt uplifted and special. Once the bouquet was complete, I was able to slide my mouse over each type of flower to get the meaning of each flower. Since I am new to the world of botany, I was surprised at what I found out. I thought to myself "do you mean to say that each of the 270,000 types of flowers has its own unique meaning? This is not something that I thought of until now. The only flower that I was certain of was the red rose; that represents passionate love. The only reason I know this is from my high school days when we would have rose-o-gram for Valentine's day. There were different colours to represent your feelings toward the recipient. It was a BIG deal if you received a red rose from someone. Upon further reading, I found that the language of flowers is sometimes called florigraphy, which was used in the Victorian-era as a means of communication in which flowers and floral arrangements were used to send coded messages to allow people to express feelings which otherwise could not be spoken. How sad that there was a time in history where a person couldn't verbally express how they felt. Gesh, I would certainly be in trouble. I found out that these meanings mean different things to different people. Nonetheless, flowers are infused with symbolism and meaning, whatever the meaning may be.

Here in Bulgaria, it is custom to bring flowers when it is your first visit to a person's home. It is also customary to bring these flowers in odd numbers. In Bulgaria, the only time one would send even number of flowers is for a funeral or in a time of sorrow.

Upon further research, I found out that in most cases each flower is surrounded by an illusive mysterious aura and magic mood which is passed to the recipient of the arrangement. This makes sense, since flowers are living. When I was reading through some of the meanings of the flowers I was manifesting my desire "to be" so many of these characteristics; patience, purity, courageous, respectful, loving, happiness, joyful, grace... and the list goes on. I would like to make a parallel to this when we talk about people. Like a beautiful bouquet sitting in your living room, when you surround yourself with people who have positive intentions, love, joy and happiness, you can't help but feel the contagion of positivity.

If interested, here is the link to my birthday card
http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=3033584445601&source=jl999

I am off to buy me a big bouquet of Angelica for inspiration! Until next time....

Yours,

Andie

Older=Wiser

This morning I woke up one year older. There were no fireworks going off, I didn't feel overwhelmingly excited about the day, I guess in one word I could describe my feeling as "peacefulness". In the greater scheme of life, being at peace is a wonderful place to be. Don't get me wrong, I still have made a big long list of "to do's" this week, but for the moment, I was satisfied to just "be". I needed to ask myself, "At what point did I switch from being the complete planner with ten things on the go, to just being?" Where did this woman come from? How did I get here? I am still attempting to answer these questions, but for the time being, I am satisfied with the fact that perhaps I am just getting wiser with age. I am able to sit back and really appreciate what I have, rather than dash out to do more, be more, give more. Over the years, I have learned a few key factors for healthy living. On the weight and exercise front; it is simple, energy in combined with energy out equals a balanced body. On a deeper more intellectual scale, I discovered that a sense of purpose is not something that you find; it's merely something that you are. As author, Dr. Wayne Dyer puts it; You create your thoughts, your thoughts create your intentions, and your intentions create your reality. If I read that quote when I was in my twenties, I would have thought, what a bunch of bananas. Now, that I have had life experiences, I know that we are in the driver's seat of the car of life. Each experience that I have had has made me who I am today, in the present. I am now able to step out of the time dimension and enter into the now. Which brings me to my next point. Time. This is where the wisdom comes in... There is never a time when your life is not "this moment" and I didn't get this until now. As a toddler, I wanted to be in pre-school where my big brother was, as a young child I couldn't wait to be a teen. Once in high school, I was anticipating being in University, and so forth. At 41, I finally get it; be where you are. Look around. Be aware of the space that allows everything to be. Listen to the sounds; don't judge them. Observe the rhythm of your breathing; feel the air flowing in and out, feel the energy inside your body. Allow everything to "be". Within and without. So, yes, I am another year older. Today marks the first day of my 41st year, but rather than making big goals for the year, I am only going to focus on today, this moment, right now... and I am confident that the rest of the year will fall into place.