winter...

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.

Andrew Wyeth 

ease...

As I was saying in my last post...




... except she said it better. :)

Much love,
mxo

life = fun (or at least it should)...

My brother-in-law is one of the coolest people I know... by far. Here's why.

Something Jamie wrote in an email last week really, REALLY stuck with me. We were chatting about the concept of following your passion. He said this:
  

"People always ask me how long I will do coco loco and I always say until I don't enjoy it anymore. 
Life is too short to waste time."

Brilliant, and far more prophetic than I think he realized. Here's the thing, it's amazing to follow your passion, assuming you know what it is, but I think it can be much simpler than that.

It's okay to just have fun. In fact, when you stop having fun, you should really consider shaking things up. 

Many of us seem to have forgotten that it's okay to be joyous, that life is supposed to be enjoyed.

Now, the caveats:

Caveat one: define fun

• Fun doesn't have to mean quitting your job and partying away all of your money and sanity. That's not very sustainable.  

Case in point: I don't love my job - as far as jobs go, it's pretty great, but it's not my "passion". Some days it's not even all that fun BUT it affords me a life that's fun. Because of my job, I can travel to see my bro-in-law several times a year. It means I can go to yoga and out for dinner dates with great friends. Etc. My job is actually one of the reasons I can enjoy life as much as I do.


Caveat two: timelines matter

• Every day is not going to be fun. We're human, we wake up on the wrong side of the bed (even in paradise). We have bad days and heck, even bad weeks and bad months. You can't judge the fun quotient of your life on too short of a time period BUT you also can't put it off forever (i.e. "when I retire..."). Watch this awesome TED Talk. You'll know in your gut what timeline is most appropriate.

There's still part of me that thinks this is a selfish approach... but a wiser part knows that that fear is hogwash. Truth is, if more of us spent more time having fun and enjoying life, this planet (or at least the morning subway commute!) would be a far happier place.

Jamie's morning commute...

I end this really, really, really long post (sorry!) with this:  you don't always have to be going somewhere or pursuing some goal. It's okay (and great!) to just be and have fun doing it!

mxo

P.S. Thanks bro!  :)

mindfulness...

This blew my mind today:




mxo

simple...

Happy Tuesday! My body is humming from another sweaty hot yoga class - what a perfect treat in the winter!

A few days ago, in the midst of an email discussion about health and happiness, my brilliant husband wrote this:

"the constant ability for humans to ignore the obvious solution staring them in the face never ceases to amaze!"

 
It's true! We do tend to ignore the obvious and we certainly don't want to hear it. Case in point:

Who wants to hear AGAIN that you should eat more vegetables, exercise and unplug?! It's just so booooring. But, alas, it's also true.

I get it. Trust me, I have looked in every nook and cranny for a magic solution but there isn't one. Health takes commitment; it takes hard work. But eventually, when you start feeling truly awesome, this hard work becomes fun! And the beautiful upside of all of this is that it's also simple - we can feel so much better just by taking small, itty bitty steps.

So, based on the Doc's prescription, what kind act can you do for yourself? What work can you put in towards your health? As for me, I need to ditch my computer!

Be kind to yourself.
mxo

dream...

Happy Saturday.
mxo

eat food...

Today I read this BBC article on the World's weirdest fad diets.  I have a feeling that in 100 years, they will write something similar about us...

We have made eating so bloody complicated. We've convoluted our biological instinct into an obscure game of science. We have turned food into the enemy, reduced it to bare nutrients (omega 3 this, gluten that, carbs this, protein that) and somewhere along the way, we forgot how to eat and how to enjoy it!


Trust me folks, after all of my research and experimenting, I can say with absolute certainty that this is the soundest "diet" advice to follow:

Michael Pollan is brilliant.  In Defense of Food is a MUST read.

food = real, whole, unprocessed food. Nothing "low fat" or "sugar free" (translation: chemical sh*t storm). Nothing with unpronounceable ingredients!

not too much = hara hachi bu, until you are 80% full OR until you're no longer hungry (rather than until you're full).

mostly plants = lots of mama nature's beautiful fruits and veggies, and a sprinkling of other things on the side.


Eat with people you love. Savour each bite. Drink wine. Allow yourself to enjoy food, real food, and I promise it will heal you.

In the words of my brilliant husband, "carrot good, chips bad".


Be kind to yourself.
Much love,
mxo