A season for mindfulness.
We indulged yesterday. Paczki, homemade cheese steak hoagies (amazing!), friends, potato chips… uuuuuh. So nice! It did get me thinking about the season of Lent (starting today). I don't affiliate myself with any religious doctrine, but Lent? Lent I can get down with for a number of reasons. I am all about cultivating a life of mindfulness and gratitude. Fasting, meditating on what we lack or the ways in which we could improve- well, we should use any excuse we can to do that. Plus, I can see all sorts of reasons to do this during this particular time of year, which helps me make sense of it because I'm not personally counting down to Easter or anything. Anyway, it's late in winter and resources are scarce. Spring is just around the corner, but we all have a few more weeks to go before we can rest easy in warmth and abundance. It's a window of time where we can really soak up the opportunity for reflection, to be connected to each other, to reserve our resources, and to think about the coming year in gratitude. Yes. It just feels good to me. Gone are the days that I would whine about having to give something up… Funny how things change, yes? Here is what I'm going to be meditating on for the next few weeks until the spring:
- earlier to bed, earlier to rise.
- exercising at least 4 times a week/yoga every day (simple as sun salutations in the morning)
- less screen time- 1 hour of online time per day and 2 nights a week (post kid bedtimes) for movies or shows with Jeff
- simple nourishing food. focus on frugality and using the rest of our food stores.
- weekly date night with J- even if it's just snuggling under a blanket together with some popcorn
- no tv for kids, unless special occasion or I'm really going crazy.
- more playing with the kids. more exploring with them outside.
- continue weaning off of caffeine (I'm slowly cutting down so as not to go insane…)
- more reading
- more baths
- more writing (2 nights a week at least)
- focus on implementing routines and finding a rhythm in our days. especially important because of how busy we will be with the land and all the work we'll be doing very soon.
I have to say, I'm really looking forward to this. Today I did pretty well. Woke up around 7:45, cleaned and organized and interacted with the kids all day. Had dinner with my sister and her friend. The kids did have a movie, but I just hadn't thought of that part yet. Had a bath with the kids, and I'm updating my journal now! I think I'll do some yoga before bed, and call that a good day.
Food. I like it. This was poached chicken with a black bean/sweet potato/chard hash topped with an over-easy egg all drenched in a cilantro garlic sauce. Yeah. That's how my cooking is these days. It's all sort of thrown together, but it's good and seasonal and filling. Tonight I used the gelatinous stock from poaching to make a creamy salmon (from the Great Lakes!)/corn/butternut squash soup. We eat way too well around here.
Pippin is unspeakably cute. He has been a bit of work this week, but he is training really well. 
Asa was all over him today, tugging and messing with him, and he was so good and tolerant. Day one he was a mouthy little bugger, and today I barely felt any teeth on my skin. Good dog, this one.
Maya is doing well, albeit a little irritated with the new addition. She has a torn ligament in her knee, and after researching all our options, we've decided to try to fix it with surgery. Her activity level has been so affected by this, we just have to give it a try. I'm hoping once she has the surgery it will bring her back to her old self. I've been giving her extra snuggles and reassurance since we got Pippin. Apparently that helps to secure her status in the "pack", and it just makes me feel closer to her. I love my pup, I hate that her leg hurts. I also think her teeth are bugging her, which I attribute now to the kibble that we gave her. Dogs aren't supposed to eat grain! I think Maya is pretty allergic to it, now that I'm researching. So we're feeding both the dogs raw chicken and some grain free food. 
Anyway, there is more to share, but I'll have to get back to it another day. Are any of you observing any kind of tradition this season?
Latest posts by Gracie (see all)
- Let the world be fed - October 21, 2024
- The Encounter - April 19, 2024
- On Practice - February 23, 2024
I’m taking advantage of Lent and have stopped my intake of processed, refined sugars. I’m allowing myself honey, molasses, and fruits (or fruit juices), but that’s it! I found that I’m having lots of dependence on sweet things during the day, and that’s not something I’d like to continue.
I’m also thinking that this Lenten season is a good time to remove something toxic (sugar) and focus on bringing in something good (mindful awareness of the universe/God, being present and interacting with the kids, instead of just surfing the net mindlessly). It’s going to be a challenge, but something I’m working toward and meditating/praying on!
I feel so badly for Maya– I hope she gets in for surgery soon and that she does better very quickly 🙁
I’m not specifically observing any traditions this season, what with the stress of moving and everything that’s going on. I’m trying really hard to just take care of myself as much as possible. I am, however, looking forward to creating a new routine when we move and settle in.
* Date night once a week (including, we hope, a restaurant meal and either an in-house movie or another activity out of the house, trying to keep those two fairly balanced);
* Yoga once a week (which is once a week more than I’m doing now, so, baby steps);
* Therapy twice a week, whether that’s two individual sessions or one individual and a cancer support group;
* One 1-hour block per week reserved for hanging out with Don’s Mum, whether that’s crafting or going out for cocoa and coffee, or whatever we decide to do, as long as it’s scheduled ahead of time.
The last goal for the new routine is one day a week of batch cooking as much as possible, and making freezer meals. That’s going to be the most difficult adjustment, I think.
I had to share a funny with you. Trust me, the explanation behind it just makes it sad, so let’s all enjoy the funny of my Future Father-In-Law telling everyone how he’s “adjusting just fine to this new vegetarian diet, without having to give up meat!” Oh, goodness, sometimes people just make me laugh.
Haha, I could be vegetarian too so long as I got to keep meat in the diet. 😉
Your new routines will be so great! I agree, they are hard to implement. I already broke the “no tv for kids” thing, and it’s only two days later! Woops… I think I may have to write out reasons for each of these changes on cards, so that I can reference them when I’m tempted and not talk myself out of it. Or maybe some daily meditations about why I’m doing this… Keep me posted on how you’re doing with your stuff and if you have any tips on how to keep going. 🙂
aww, poor maya. i hope she’s better soon. love the new addition! cuteness.
do you think you can share the recipe for the cilantro/garlic sauce? i have a huge batch of cilantro sitting around, waiting to be used.
also, if you have 5 minutes to spare, i was wondering if i could ask you a gardening question. not to many gardeners in my “real” life!
Of course! It’s not really a recipe- I just made our basic mayo recipe (1 whole egg and one yolk, a dash of salt, a small squeeze of good mustard, a sploosh of lemon juice- whir it all together in the food processor and then slowly add oil (we like safflower) until it reaches the consistency you like. I guess I use about a cup of oil, in the end. Then I took as much of that as I wanted and added a few cloves of crushed garlic and a handful of cilantro and gave it another whirl in the food processor. I really think that’s all I did. It was really really good though. Don’t substitute the mayo with anything from the store. It’s such a different thing.
Also, I’m happy to answer any gardening questions, if I can! Feel free to ask here or shoot me a message. 🙂