Mar 022017
 

The other morning M stepped on the scale realizing that his weight has fluctuated towards the heavier side again. It is easy to do when we stop thinking about our food intake and he does not like to go to the gym….

Although we have gone through different phases of exercising together, I came to the realization that it is no fun for either of us for me to nag him as it is really up to him to exercise or not. Therefore, I am always looking for ways to adjust our diet to balance this out.

A while back I started to see some posts with a common friend about his weight loss. It seems he started on The Plan. 

After seeing his results, I decided to get the book on my Kindle and see what it was all about. Plus, I do love a new nutrition challenge. 

Basically, it seems that this is about finding out what foods the body reacts to that will cause it to inflame, resulting in weight gain. With three days of a cleanse to ‘reset’ the body, we slowly introduce back in our ‘normal’ foods and see if there is a reaction to it.

For the first three days, M lost weight, which two-thirds was probably water weight. However, today he woke up to the scale having put on weight, which may have been a result of the chicken that we added to our meal last night. It will require testing again by going back for a day to the neutral meals and then trying it again to see what happens. 

The challenge is the weekend and the fact that we both have plans to go out, drink a bit and see friends. So, I will do my best to ensure that we stay somewhat on task.

Also, I have found so far that I am quite hungry on this way of eating as I do workout regularly and require a great deal more protein/food to get me through the day. Surprisingly, or maybe not, I have not lost any weight nor gained. I really am not looking to lose much, but am hoping that at minimum I will see what my body reacts to and at most maybe just drop a few small pounds! πŸ˜›

So, this is just an intro to the book and our working through it as I have not completed reading it yet or have we made it through our 20 days. When we do get there, then I will write up a full review. πŸ˜€

~T πŸ˜€

Mar 012017
 

I have noticed lately or acknowledged lately the truth – there is a lot of anger in the world…especially these days. However, I ask for what?

Facebook is covered with loads of posts about being anti-current-US President, which is fair enough. I very much disagree with his decisions, tactics, words, and public persona. I do not know him as a person nor have I seen any aspect of him on a personal level to make a judgment one way or the other of him as a human being. Still, I cannot say that I like what I do know of him.

At the same time, he is still a human being and he is still the US President, so there is no need to harbor anger. Maybe we can be worried, maybe we can protest in hopes of positive actions, maybe we can be activitists in truly making the world a better place, but none of these methods require anger.

On the other side, there is so much anger towards those who are angry. 

I sent my mother a text message during the Oscars to see if she was watching. After all, I had just posted about how it makes me feel a piece of home and it was always something she and I enjoyed doing together – whether or not it meant anything to her or if she realized it meant anything to me. I got no response until later in the day before I was heading to bed. The vitriol and anger that came through in just a message was shocking to me. In fact, I still have not replied because I hardly know what to say. While a part wants to be flippant or make a joke, the other feels sadness at the negativity that surrounds people like her.

Then, last night I saw a post on Facebook responding to the muck up at the Oscars for Best Picture. Likely, a very honest mistake was made. Did it symbolize a great deal of human emotion surrounding racism, and our current political state? Yes, of course. However, there is just no need in my mind to post such angry words or to promote a continued battled between the races, between human beings. 

We all have to live in this world. We all, in some way or another, want to make the world a better place according to our perspective, stance and experiences in this lifetime. In order to achieve this, we need to let go of the anger and negativity that festers inside our hearts and minds. Cancer grows from these darkest spots of our souls. Worse yet, it is not necessary.

I believe in action. I believe in positive action resulting in positive results. We can be outspoken and opinionated without releasing negative energies or pointing fingers at individuals, groups, races or countries. Our world can change, but the only way it will succeed is through the virtues of love and compassion.

We humans need to simmer down, let the pots stop boiling so that there is enough time and ability to see all the goodness that lies inside each of us. Then, together we can walk into the light of joy in this world. β˜€οΈπŸ™πŸ½

~T πŸ˜€

 Posted by at 09:07
Feb 282017
 

It is the last day of February and have managed to post every day this month! Woohoo! Furthermore, life is getting better and easier.

We have had a couple of weekends at last that felt normal without going over the top or being boring. This is a great sign and hopefully a more positive trend of how life is heading.

M is feeling like everything is falling into place at last and so there is a chance that our plans will change a bit…. I am not quite sure how I feel about this, but will see how things play out. In the meantime, I am enjoying a bit less stress and more relaxing. πŸ˜€

~T πŸ˜€

 Posted by at 09:57
Feb 272017
 


I remember when I used to stay up until late into the night or get up at the crack of dawn to experience a piece of my childhood and unofficial family tradition – watching the Oscars, of course!πŸ‘πŸ½

Now, I am less keen or disciplined about it, but I still love it. Luckily, the times seem to fit better this year, so I did not have to get up at a strange time. 

In previous years I was at work with The NY Times live feed up on my computer so that I could follow who was winning in real time and scrolling through the red carpet photos to judge who people are wearing and how they look. 😜 This year, I am feeling more like I would at home and am sitting comfortably on the sofa with my teddy bear blanket (childhood relic) and feeling a bit of home with my kitty cats nearby. 😁

Sadly, though, I have not yet seen many of the movies that are up for the awards due to lack of time or availability here. Therefore, I think upcoming weekends now are going to be trying to catch up with streaming or perhaps our TV provider will start to play them now that the awards have been shown….

So, I cannot comment on the films themselves, but am still enjoying the show!

~T πŸ˜€

 Posted by at 08:26
Feb 262017
 

Time is passing so quickly and slowly life is beginning to feel ‘normal’ again. I get this sense on our weekends.

This weekend passed by so quickly and yet I had a sense of fun and relaxation for which I am grateful. Also, I seem to have gotten out of my exhaustion phase with renewed energy. Perhaps it is the Juice Plus+ or perhaps it is just life turning into a normal way of going or a combination?

Despite my having a few classes for yoga, we were still able to enjoy the afternoons/evenings. Even though we were pretty active, I did not feel that tired this morning when I woke up. As Sundays are generally for recovering, I set aside tomorrow morning instead since today got full. However, I still feel energetic, so I am taking advantage of that.

We were in Dubai yesterday for a bit and got to catch up with D, so that was nice. 

So overall, the days are going by rather well and I am ever grateful!

~T πŸ˜€

 Posted by at 15:26
Feb 252017
 

Well…I had high hopes for this week kicking me back into gym gear, but I really was not motivated and my body kept putting me right back to sleep when the alarm would go off. πŸ˜›

The beginning of the week was really just physical recovery after such a full weekend of training. By mid-week, I thought that I was getting my energy back, but it was just enough to do my yoga classes. There was some thought that perhaps the early weekend would get me back on the horse again, but my body keeps saying to sleep and rest. So, for this week the yoga will have to be sufficient. Really really going to try to get myself back to normal starting on Sunday! πŸ˜€

Feb 19 Sunday

  • Sunday Wellness Yoga class

Feb 21 Tuesday

  • Tuesday Wellness Yoga class

Feb 23 Thursday

  • 30′ home yoga practice
  • Private Yoga session

Feb 24 Friday

  • Friday Wellness Yoga class

Feb 25 Saturday

  • Private Yoga session

That’s a lot of yoga….!

~T πŸ˜€

Feb 242017
 


A friend of mine sent me a link to an episode from this podcast and I found it very interesting. Therefore, I started to listen to it more and subscribed. I find the topics of Yogabody and Lucas Rockwood to be fascinating from the perspectives of yoga, health – mental, physical and emotional and humanity. Lucas has a very different view of the world, which intrigues me because he seems to really be doing well while staying true to his beliefs.

It is cool when people can live life according to how they feel is best and then also have the courage to share it. 

Technology has greatly enhanced our ability to open the world up to individuals. Whenever I feel as if no one else thinks like me or could possibly understand what I am talking about in all my randomness, I come across podcasts like this and feel relief. 

This podcast is probably not for those who do not care about yoga or health. It may also scare the uninitiated in this way of life, but I think if you’re open or considering taking up yoga and finding a healthier lifestyle, this podcast offers great varied perspectives.

~T πŸ˜€

Feb 232017
 

Now that I have been able to write fairly consistently for the past three months on the blog (just a few blips in the calendar), I have decided that I need to work on bringing my focus to writing for publications that might generate some income.

This week has taught me that I do actually have time or can carve out the time more regularly to ensure that I write. However, one of the ways that I can do this is to also combine my blog writing time with some of my ‘creative’ writing.

Therefore, I have decided to now incorporate writing on The Universal Asian blog again. It has been just nearly two years since I last posted there – taking a bit of a break and refocusing on what I want to use that space for. Now, with my NYRs in place still regarding my idea of using this ‘brand name’ for the Kindle books I would like to publish, I think that it will be prudent to start writing some of the chapters/stories on the blog. Then, when I feel as if I have enough or perhaps get the feedback I need, I can consolidate them into a small e-book for selling. It sounds like a reasonable plan, now just need to put it into action.

In any case, the plan is to start with a posting once or twice a week on the TUA site whilst maintaining my consistency here. It may turn out that I use this space for a bit of a mental dump/fodder before being able to publish something on the other. However, I know the few readers I have here will (hopefully?) not mind. You’ll get a view into my writer’s brain perhaps – scared yet?! πŸ˜‰

So, that is an exciting decision – or at least to me! Stay tuned for the first coming installments on TUA. πŸ˜€

~T πŸ˜€

Feb 222017
 

When you finally get time on your own it is fascinating to explore the wanderings of the mind. Now that my physical exhaustion is dissipating (still did not quite make it to the gym this morning, but did do yoga last night), my mind is starting to snap, crackle and pop again letting the electrodes create synapses in my brain.

My contemplation this morning was on making decisions that greatly alter the course of our lives. 

Despite the first eight years of my life, I have had a fairly smooth path. While it may not have been the road more travelled on the way there (to 8yrs old me), once I got there, the road was pretty smooth and felt like any other life of a ‘simple farm’ girl. I continued to follow the more travelled road or more desired to be travelled road until it came time for me to truly make my own decisions.

Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken has been used to celebrate or even encourage that we take the roads less travelled by the ‘norm’. We have touted it as being daring or taking a risk to forge ahead in less comfortable ways. It is true, this indeed does make “all the difference” in how to look at life, how we live life, how we reflect on life. 

Yet, what if we were to look at his poem as a warning emphasizing “I shall be telling this with a sigh…”. His looking back “somewhere ages and ages hence:…” might be considered a bit of regret that he did not take the easier more travelled path. Perhaps there truly is nothing wrong with following where others have already led and allowing ourselves to take it easy. 

While we can argue both sides to this on many levels; thus making it such a fantastic poem, I go back to my own current wanderings.

While for some, it may seem “living the dream” by taking the “road less travelled by”, to others it may seem silly – for what is wrong with an easier way – in the end that is what we all want, isn’t it?

In any case, I have a writer’s dream which to most would be considered the less travelled by road. However, I also like stability and security especially when it comes to finances, lifestyle, etc. So, there is this constant dilemma and argument inside my head. Therefore, I ponder and in many ways envy those who are content with the regular day-to-day of getting up, going to work, coming home, sleeping and repeating each day. Those who are truly satisfied with this way of life are a little bit of a role model to me lately.

But then, the dreamer in me returns….

~T πŸ˜€

 Posted by at 09:48
Feb 212017
 

Today I realized it has now been about 10 days since I went to the gym or felt as if life was ‘normal’. 😳 It is quite amazing how easily life can become unbalanced in just the smallest of ways yet enough to tip the scales. βš–οΈ

I imagine my exhaustion both physically and mentally is also a long-term result from various sources.

Usually, I do notice that I cannot do any physical practice until mid-week after a yoga training weekend, so this is about on par for the norm. However, not getting to the gym and wanting to hibernate is probably also related to our grey skies lately….🌬

In any case, I do feel as if I am finding my feet again back on the ground. Having a few days of just a couple of outside activities has helped. I have cancelled most extra curricular activities that are not related to tutoring or yoga. So, am hoping that by the end of the week I can get myself back to normal. I may even try to get myself to the gym tomorrow – key being ‘try’!

Anyway, deep breaths and an open mind are definitely helping to clear the clouds from my head if not with the weather! πŸ’¨πŸŒ«

~T πŸ˜€

 Posted by at 13:51