I have a bad cold so today I’m changing things up a bit. In lieu of Mindfulness Monday I’d like to share with you an article I read in Mindful magazine. I found it very interesting and plan to put this practice to use. So you may find me doing a lot more blog posts in the future, as I meditate while writing.
I don’t want to copy the whole article here, it’s a short article, but it’s not proper to copy someone else’s work, so I’m going to give you the highlights. However, you really need to jump over and read the article to understand what this entails. It’s fun! go do it!
Shamash starts by saying: “I’m writing this article in a state of meditation. And there’s no editing required (for the first round, anyway). How am I accomplishing this? And how could you join in the fun?”
He gives us instructions on how to find out just how we can do it. I’m listing just the highlight of each point, you will have to read the article to find out more.
Set a timer for 30 minutes.
Keep your eyes closed. if you can touch type, if not, then write long hand with your eyes open 😉
At the end of every sentence, stop for a full in-breath and out-breath.
Begin with no clear aim.
Try to find time to write regularly
He answers the question “What’s the point of journaling…..?” Here are the benefits he says he enjoys as he writes:
“My body feels happy and relaxed.”
“My mind feels calm and peaceful.”
“I’ve gently entered into a meditative state without having to fully stop “doing stuff.””
“I’m doing something different, so it feels fun and exciting. And having fun is a really important value and experience for me.”
Go ahead, what are you waiting for, jump over to Mindful and find out more about mindful writing. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
* As I was walking into the doctor’s office, I saw this flower; it was all alone in the middle of a parking lot, sharing it’s beauty. I had to share it with you.
photo by Wendy Holcombe. Please do not use without permission.
For a very long time Stuart has been the shopper in our family. Not that he likes it, but it was necessary. We also had someone cook for us for over a year, when we had this service she did the shopping for what she made and we just had to pick up other necessities, that really helped, but over the past few months I’ve started cooking again. Even with my increased symptoms I’ve been able to keep this up; I say “I”, but actually, we cook together most nights, it’s just more fun that way. Grocery shopping was once again totally Stuart’s responsibility.
I have been able to go to the grocery store with Stuart, most of the time, but it just takes so much time and he has a lot of responsibilities outside of that. I was feeling pretty guilty that I couldn’t go on my own. I really wanted to take some of that responsibility off of him. So I looked into ordering our groceries.
This started when we I took him on our weekend getaway. I found out I could order groceries locally and have them delivered to our house. It was great! For the first delivery the fee was waived, however, I was expected to pay a tip. After that first delivery it was just too expensive to pay the fee and a tip every time I ordered groceries, so I started searching for other options. Different stores offer different options so I did my research. The grocery store we use most often offers both delivery and pick up. You can order your groceries online and either have them delivered or pick them up at the store. Picking them up is cheaper, and it is really not a big deal for us. Stuart just drops by and picks them up on his way home. He doesn’t even have to get out of the car. It cost about $5 each time, or $99 a year. After we tried it for a little while and saw that it was a good fit for us, we went ahead and paid for the year. We get groceries every week so that is a pretty good deal. And we are not expected to tip.
Each week we plan out our menu and I order it all on line. You can give your shopper notes to make sure you get just what you want. For example, I can ask for green bananas if I want, and if I want part of my bunch of bananas to be green and part to be ripe, I can have that too. Most of the time I have been very pleased with the produce I’ve received. There have been a couple of times that I wasn’t thrilled, but I’m not sure if it was the shoppers fault or if that was all there was to choose from that day. I make sure and give more detailed notes now, I let them know if the produce isn’t at it’s peak, I’d rather pass that day, or they are authorized to get a different variety. (like if I order a regular cucumber, they can substitute a hot house one…something like that)
This has worked out so well. We save money because we aren’t picking up things we don’t need. I have the sales right there in front of me, so it’s easy to see when things we normally use go on sale and I can stock up on them.
It does have a few hurdles. Not everything on their site has the ingredients listed and that’s really important to me. So sometimes I have to Google it. It can be harder to compare items to make sure I’m getting the best bang for the buck. Sometimes there are things I know they carry, but they don’t come up when I search. If I really have a hard time with that though, I message my shopper and just have them pick it up for me.
Now if it were just easier to meal plan.
Have you tried ordering your groceries? What was your experience?
Do you have any tips for meal planning when there are sooo many food restrictions we have to consider?
“Maybe the reason nothing seems to be ‘fixing you’
is because you’re not broken.
Let today be the day you
stop living within the confines
of how others define or judge you.
You have a unique beauty and purpose;
live accordingly.”
~ Steve Maraboli
“Be nice to yourself.
It’s hard to be happy when someone
is mean to you all the time.”
~ Christine Arylo
“View your life with kindsight.
Stop beating yourself up
about things from your past.
Instead of slapping your forehead and asking,
‘What was I thinking,’
breathe and ask yourself the kinder question,
‘What was I learning?'”
~ Karen Salmnsohn
Always remember, you are doing the best you can; be gentle with yourself.
**self portrait by W. Holcombe. Please do not use without permission.
“Step outside for a while –
calm your mind.
It is better to hug a tree than
to bang your head against a wall continually.”
~ Rasheed Ogunlaru
“Take my hand.
We will walk.
We will only walk.
We will enjoy our walk without
thinking of arriving anywhere.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
We’ve been having some nice days here, which means I’ve been able to get out of the house and walk a bit more. The photo above shows something I saw on my walk. It made me happy.
Come, walk with me. Oh the wonders we shall see. From the mountains to the sea.
*photo by W. Holcombe. All rights reserved. Do not use without permission.
Tuesday was my husband’s 50th birthday, and as I write this he is sitting on the floor putting together a Lego helicopter, he is so cool.
Kiki thought she would help.
Early last week I realized that this was his 50th birthday! Oh my goodness! I hadn’t planned anything really. Yes, I got him the Legos, and I planned to make him dinner, but that wasn’t enough for this milestone. I was determined to do something special. I was on a mission.
This mission was impeded by the fact that I can’t talk on the phone or drive. Hmm, so what could I do? What did I do?
First I decided I wanted to take him away, not far, just away from our house. I wanted to spoil him, so I started looking for a hotel that also provided massages. First I did a lot of looking on line and I even did a live chat with one representative, but the chat suddenly stopped, the hotel had to be called. What to do? At this point I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to follow through on my desire to spoil my husband. Ah, but I have a friend who I chat with via Messenger almost every day, I asked if by chance she had the time to call the hotel for me, and she did! She called and stayed on Messenger with me so she could ask me questions. It worked out great! It was obvious from the start that the staff at this hotel were incredible, not only was the girl at the front desk helpful, she actually went out of her way and went to the restaurant kitchen to see if they could accommodate my food requirements. She was not asked to do this, my friend only asked if there was a gluten free menu available, she took it upon herself to try to make sure we would enjoy our stay. She helped us book a Spa Indulgence weekend. The girl at the spa was also amazing. She helped us set up massages for both me and Stuart at the same time. I wanted a special type of massage, Lomi Lomi, and she made sure I could get it. (there is only one massage therapist who does this type of massage) Again, my friend was amazed by how helpful these women were. It was a very good experience.
from inside our hotel
I also wanted to take us a little picnic, that way if we had the munchies during the night, we didn’t have to go forage for food (or spend outrageous amounts on room-service). Really, I just thought it would be romantic. Again, an obstacle was in the way, I can’t drive. How would I get the food for the picnic without Stuart’s help? I didn’t feel comfortable asking my neighbor to take me to the grocery store, so I decided to look into having some groceries delivered. I had a little difficulty because the first place I tried to order from had to call to get payment information. I couldn’t give them my credit card information over the phone, since I can’t talk on the phone. Bummer. Of course, I didn’t find this out until AFTER I had done all my shopping. pfft. So I found another store that offered delivery and was able to place my order and have it delivered while Stuart was at work. I did have to tell him we were going away for the weekend, but the picnic was a surprise.
I also got our pet sitter set up. That was another issue I had to sort out. Our normal pet sitter was going out of town, but she offered to take Kiki with her. I know that my dog hates to ride in the car, she gets car sick…poor puppy. So I called Kiki’s trainer (he helped her feel better about people coming in our house, it still bothers her, but she is much better about it) He said he could take her for the weekend and I thought that would be the answer, until I found out how far it is to his place. Kiki’s normal sitter’s trip would mean an hour or so in the car, if she stayed at her trainer’s it would have been a 45 min ride. Hmmm. Kiki went on a little trip with her normal sitter. It all worked out, but it was an ordeal. And I handled it all through texts, without help from Stuart.
Getting ready for this getaway took a lot out of me, but I’m proud that I was able to do all of these things without Stuart’s help. He does so much for me, doing this for him meant the world to me. He was pretty happy with it too. I’m not even sure if he was happier about the trip, or the fact that I spread my wings and found ways to be a little more independent.
While planning this trip I was so worried that we’d get there and I’d start to feel bad and would ruin everything. Of course, Stuart wouldn’t have thought it was ruined, but I would have. It would have broken my heart. As it turned out, I didn’t sleep well on Friday night and Saturday was a bit of a challenge for me. I was very dizzy all day and simply felt, bad. Truthfully, I wanted to stay in bed and sleep all day, instead I got up, had a good breakfast with my husband, and went to the fitness center and did all of my PT exercises. I was hoping exercising would make me feel better, it didn’t. We had talked about doing something on Saturday, either before or after our massages, which were scheduled for 2pm, that didn’t happen. We just vegged and spent time together. Then we had our Spa Experience. oh my goodness….
all ready for my massage
When we arrived at the spa we were taken to the dressing rooms and were given plush robes and slippers to wear. We were given fruit scented water to drink as we waited. It was so relaxing, I’m relaxing right now just thinking about it. We were then taken to a darkened room and were given most delectable massages. It was a dream. Afterward, we were again given water in wine glasses and settled in to rest a bit before leaving. There were also snacks and tea available if we desired. There were these fabulous lotions there and I actually found one that I like. Most things have way too much of a scent for me, almost everything I have is either unscented or has a lemon scent, this lotion smells like Fresh Melon. Stuart loves it, and it doesn’t make me wheeze or give me a migraine…score!
On both nights we had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. The first night we had steaks, they were delicious. I felt that the vegetables had too much oil on them, but they were still tasty. The second night we both had fish, it wasn’t as good as the steaks, and again I felt like the vegetables had too much oil. They were both good meals, they just didn’t seem to be on the same caliber as the rest of the hotel. Except for desert, I had chocolate crème brûlée, it was divine. I saved some and had it on both nights. Stuart had a salted caramel cheese cake, it was go good. A bit too sweet for me, but very good. Really the crème brûlée was a bit too sweet for me too, but it was oh so good.
There’s more to tell about this trip….but I might keep that to myself. 😉
This week I’ve paid the price for my excursion, but it was worth the pain and the dizzies. Stuart is worth it. It was nice to take care of my caregiver.
Sometimes, it’s just worth it.
Have you accomplished something that you didn’t think you could?
Do you sometimes think “it’s worth it”, when you know you are doing something that may deplete all your reserves and have you flaring for days?
Picnic with Ants 