Beau and I watched "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" last night-- just loved it! Amidst the laugh-out-loud moments and wanting to visit Hawaii someday, there was a great little self-help tip for me.... they are everywhere if you look for them like I seem to.....
The beautiful dark haired girl said to the tall worryish guy who is trying to get over Sarah Marshall, "Hellooooo! Come out of your head! There is a whole world of more fun things out here in the world!!!".
I'm a fan of being in my head (and putting my head contents out there by bringing pen to paper, or talking about my inner world with friends...)-- but wanted to say that today, out of my head shall I go!
Salad Girl's Tip of the post:
Usable-wisdom moments are everywhere-- even dumb places. Remember them and add them like a bead to your necklace of wisdom. They're so fun to pull out when you are blue.
My Top Five Ahas from bizarre sources:
5. From the movie, Elf:
Store manager: Why are you smiling like that?
Buddy: I just like to smile, smiling's my favorite
4. "What makes us unique from the other animals is our ability to accessorize", Olympia Dukakis' character in Steel Magnolias
3. "You've got brains in your head and shoes in your feet". From Dr Seuss' O, the Places You'll Go
2. "This too, shall pass", from the hotel worker, talking to Julia Roberts when she is devastated and embarassed, in My Best Friend's Wedding
1. "You've really got to love yourself to get anything done in this world", Lucille Ball-- not sure when she said it but I LOVE this quote!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
simple inspirations
It's a warm Saturday in Barrie and the world is looking a bit more green... Hope that spring has caught you too!
1. Make every effort to be gentle with yourself.
My to-do list mentality and Aries personality has me constantly in motion.... do do do. I bet the career-sharks and parents (and especially career-shark/parents) in this world must be unstoppable! My wise friend Loulou from Kingston said she's trying to do less and be more. Good words! Could my to-do list now also have the more fun counterpart, "Have-Done" list? May we all enjoy this spring's offerings of blooms, rather than trying to create them.
2. Aging well has less to do with what you avoid and more to do with what you embrace.
My 'aging-gracefully' regime holds a very popular spot on my to-do list-- and I am noticing they are all very mindful, but nonetheless, involve actions: eating lots of produce, avoiding boxed food items, getting out for big walks, wearing sunscreen, loyally buying Olay products (God Bless Olay Regenerist serum!), taking supplements, practicing Yoga, sleeping well, etc. I love all of these practices... but maybe the point is to fuel your emotional and spiritual passions amongst these physical choices. So, three little goals this spring are: add an idea to my novel's brainstorm board at least three times a week. Cuddle with the cats more. Tell people that I like when they cross my mind fleetingly. What micro-goals can you create this spring?
MY cat is purring at my feet and I am sipping Apple Cinnamon tea in bed. I am not sure which part is most yummy! I just finished a magazine that a darling friend put in my mailbox with a birthday card for me a few weeks ago. Such a "Yes!" girl, she is-- a favourite local LouLou!
The magazine's "Ten Thoughts on Whole Living" is calling to me this morning, as the onset of spring invites a chance to re-bloom. I am always amazed at the familiarity of spring each year, but also the somehow forgettable feelings of newness and starting again. So, today I will muse about two from the list of ten, findable at http://www.wholeliving.com/.1. Make every effort to be gentle with yourself.
My to-do list mentality and Aries personality has me constantly in motion.... do do do. I bet the career-sharks and parents (and especially career-shark/parents) in this world must be unstoppable! My wise friend Loulou from Kingston said she's trying to do less and be more. Good words! Could my to-do list now also have the more fun counterpart, "Have-Done" list? May we all enjoy this spring's offerings of blooms, rather than trying to create them.
2. Aging well has less to do with what you avoid and more to do with what you embrace.
My 'aging-gracefully' regime holds a very popular spot on my to-do list-- and I am noticing they are all very mindful, but nonetheless, involve actions: eating lots of produce, avoiding boxed food items, getting out for big walks, wearing sunscreen, loyally buying Olay products (God Bless Olay Regenerist serum!), taking supplements, practicing Yoga, sleeping well, etc. I love all of these practices... but maybe the point is to fuel your emotional and spiritual passions amongst these physical choices. So, three little goals this spring are: add an idea to my novel's brainstorm board at least three times a week. Cuddle with the cats more. Tell people that I like when they cross my mind fleetingly. What micro-goals can you create this spring?
Happy Spring!
Salad Girl's tip of the post:
Add pumpkin seeds to your salad or cereal. They are so cute. And, they match the verdant energy of the world in spring. Like all of us, they are packed full of vitality, creative potential and beauty!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Grandmas who rock!
After the long weekend, a family one in my case, I choose today to muse about a special family member.
I must begin by saying that I love my family, recognize their quirks and love them in spite of them and am lucky enough to have a functional family unit compared to some of the crazy situations that I am well aware exist out there! I read once in a Yoga text book that you pick your family before you are born in to a new life. And as I grow wiser, I have found this idea comforting when my family drives me bonkers. I often think, "What is the lesson I was planning on learning when I chose you?" As my title today indicates, I have been thinking a lot about the amazing role that grandmothers play.
I might be biased because I adored my grandmother. And I got to enjoy her for 29 years of my life-- my eldest cousin was in her fifties when our grandmother died! She was a strong, stubborn worrywart with so much love and generosity. Wiser than Yoda and sharper than Rick Mercer-- zinging people with comments, in her broken English, like "Please talk more quietly dear-- I'm 92, not deaf". All of this, bundled in 4 foot 10 Slovakian immigrant frame, clad in a housedress, bearing only a grade four education. She moved to Canada with two small boys and later added two girls, ten grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Her highest-ranking job was working in a sewing factory in Toronto, her wisest business move was owning a triplex in a beautiful High Park area (cha-ching!), and her greatest investment was in her family.
OK. I hope I am not waxing cheesy Hallmark card on your here. But she was my initial self-help guru. She always said "Be you happy and be you healthy". How simple, and how ingenious is that? All you need. Happy. Healthy. There are many lessons that our grandmothers can teach us, so get to know yours! And if she is no longer in the living, learn all you can about her. What will you be like when you are a grandparent yourself?
I have figured out that one massive reason I chose this family for this life is my grandmother. Since you are reading this, I assure you that if you were to read my first novel, there will be one heck of a great grandma figure in there! Stay tuned...
Salad Girl's Tip of the Post:
When faced with a problem, annoying situation, or dilemma, embody your inner grandmother. What would your best advice be if you were yourself at age 80? It's fun to journal this one as a letter to yourself from your 80 year old self, or grandmother, but if you are not a diarist type, think about it. It's amazing what solutions can bubble up for you!
Top Five Grandmas who rock in the Media:
5. Estelle Geddy's character, Sophia Petrillo, on The Golden Girls. Lessons: Surround yourself with friends. Remember your past and learn from it. Make others laugh when you can.
4. Mona, on Who's the Boss? Lesson: Have fun. Get the pickle out of your butt, daughter.
3. Shirley McLean's character in In Her Shoes. Lesson: Forgive family mistakes.
2. Marilla Cuthbert in Ann of Green Gables (I know she wasn't a grandma, but she was older and wiser and she rocked anyway in Ann's fate....) Lesson: Get all your jobs done responsibly, but learn to let some flair and fun in.
1. Chloris Leachman's character in the movie Spanglish. Lesson: Calm down and have a drink!
I must begin by saying that I love my family, recognize their quirks and love them in spite of them and am lucky enough to have a functional family unit compared to some of the crazy situations that I am well aware exist out there! I read once in a Yoga text book that you pick your family before you are born in to a new life. And as I grow wiser, I have found this idea comforting when my family drives me bonkers. I often think, "What is the lesson I was planning on learning when I chose you?" As my title today indicates, I have been thinking a lot about the amazing role that grandmothers play.
I might be biased because I adored my grandmother. And I got to enjoy her for 29 years of my life-- my eldest cousin was in her fifties when our grandmother died! She was a strong, stubborn worrywart with so much love and generosity. Wiser than Yoda and sharper than Rick Mercer-- zinging people with comments, in her broken English, like "Please talk more quietly dear-- I'm 92, not deaf". All of this, bundled in 4 foot 10 Slovakian immigrant frame, clad in a housedress, bearing only a grade four education. She moved to Canada with two small boys and later added two girls, ten grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Her highest-ranking job was working in a sewing factory in Toronto, her wisest business move was owning a triplex in a beautiful High Park area (cha-ching!), and her greatest investment was in her family.
OK. I hope I am not waxing cheesy Hallmark card on your here. But she was my initial self-help guru. She always said "Be you happy and be you healthy". How simple, and how ingenious is that? All you need. Happy. Healthy. There are many lessons that our grandmothers can teach us, so get to know yours! And if she is no longer in the living, learn all you can about her. What will you be like when you are a grandparent yourself?
I have figured out that one massive reason I chose this family for this life is my grandmother. Since you are reading this, I assure you that if you were to read my first novel, there will be one heck of a great grandma figure in there! Stay tuned...
Salad Girl's Tip of the Post:
When faced with a problem, annoying situation, or dilemma, embody your inner grandmother. What would your best advice be if you were yourself at age 80? It's fun to journal this one as a letter to yourself from your 80 year old self, or grandmother, but if you are not a diarist type, think about it. It's amazing what solutions can bubble up for you!
Top Five Grandmas who rock in the Media:
5. Estelle Geddy's character, Sophia Petrillo, on The Golden Girls. Lessons: Surround yourself with friends. Remember your past and learn from it. Make others laugh when you can.
4. Mona, on Who's the Boss? Lesson: Have fun. Get the pickle out of your butt, daughter.
3. Shirley McLean's character in In Her Shoes. Lesson: Forgive family mistakes.
2. Marilla Cuthbert in Ann of Green Gables (I know she wasn't a grandma, but she was older and wiser and she rocked anyway in Ann's fate....) Lesson: Get all your jobs done responsibly, but learn to let some flair and fun in.
1. Chloris Leachman's character in the movie Spanglish. Lesson: Calm down and have a drink!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Miserable Musings about Mondays that Motivate Mindfulness and Meditation
Ugh. Monday. I am guessing that all of us Monday to Friday’ers have some varying degree of disregard for Mondays—not exactly a rocket science statement by Salad Girl.
Today, rereading my posts, I am annoyed by my cheerful post entitled “I heart Saturdays”. The tone about Saturdays seems so hopeful, and foreign, as aggravation sits heavily on my head today. All because the weekend is over? What a sad statement on my moodiness...
Today’s post is about meditation. I am wondering a lot lately if people pay much attention to their thought patterns, because I sure do to mine. And I would like to bet that for many, it takes some sadness, a big flu, or a stressful event to spur some time to look inward. I am an expert on the workings of my mind. It could be my addiction to writing in my journal, but I trace it to Yoga and meditation. In Yoga practice, you choose to carve out some time to slow down ‘other life’ and quietly watch and observe the qualities of your thoughts while practicing asanas, or postures. I adore the flowing style of Yoga, called vinyasa, because linking the postures with inhalations and exhalations becomes like a dance and it amazes me what creativity, clarity, peace and joy comes to me while practicing, not to mention a good sweat and stretch. (note to self—practice more on Mondays!)
Yoga is just a physical form of meditation. I have to laugh when I say aloud “I meditate” because for ages I thought meditating was sitting cross legged with your eyes closed and emptying your brain. It can be, but I have learned that this is just one kind of meditation—the Mr Miyagi kind if you will. Meditating is thinking, and being mindful of your inner world. You can sit still if you like, you can go for a quiet walk or run without music, you can pick up your pet and cuddle with her, you can sneak a few minutes in your cubicle at work to breathe deeply, or you can soak in a bath tub and be with your thoughts. Focusing on your breath provides you with a means to streamline your thoughts. You can even try and just label the chatter in your mind “thinking”, and let it pass you by like a fluffy cloud. Mediation is allowing yourself to—well, be.
Interestingly, both Yoga and Meditation have the goal of bringing one in to the moment. Take a minute and think about it-- when are you truly in a moment? My random answers are: when you jump in a cold lake on a hot day, when tasting a delicious wine, when hugging someone you love for that first moment after you haven’t seen him or her in ages, the moment when a movie breaks your guards down and makes you cry, the first time you kiss a new love interest, when you know 100% the right answer on Jeopardy. Is there a way to harness the “in the moment”ness of these experiences?
Meditation makes you more focused and less stressed. It teaches you to watch your reactions when the going gets tough or someone pisses you off. It promotes energy, creativity and loving kindness. Try it and you will see what I am saying, as well as why the practice has been around for eons.
A word of warning, though: practice makes you know yourself. And it’s not always easy to be in close touch with your feelings—this is why denial and addiction are so attractive!
No last tips today.
But, today’s blog post is brought to you by:
1. Mediation—a great tool to deal with the fact that one must be in the moments that make up a Monday.
2. My middle finger, raised up high because I think you are number one, Monday!
3. And the letter M. (Oh, to relive the days when Mondays meant Sesame Street would be on again for five days.....)
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
To do lists
Bonjour!
When I decided to take the step towards my "author girl" dream (i.e., starting a blog, which I am calling my first self-publishing pursuit), I never really thought about the implications to my to-do list. I figured, start a blog, write for someone other than yourself (even if it's only my family and uber-supportive friends who read it).
Every time something pisses me off these days, I think, "Hah. I'll blog about this". Likewise for anything that is amusing me, or any big lessons I am learning in my self-help book-bingeing of late. PS-- This self-help stuff gets addictive when you hate your day job, let me tell you. I have a HUGE list of ideas to write about... but where are the posts?
I seem to be a very dedicated "To-do List" person. The back of an old envelope carries me through my week and I cannot stress enough how very efficient I have become. My mother always says she wishes she had my organization skills, and friends make fun of me for my dinosaur version of the Blackberry. But it works wonders and I think "What a good girl am I" as I get things crossed off.
My point today is simple: I fear my existence is turning in to my to-do lists. Are to-do lists running my life or am I running my life myself?
The yogis speak about samskaras, which are patterns of thinking that one adopts and develops, and in reading up on the concept, I am learning that they are generally a pretty crappy and restrictive pattern of thinking. My to-do list is stifling me and what gets squeezed out of it is the time to actively be in the moment, and enjoy a day's events, rather than rush through them. How many times do I think, "Call your parents. Call a friend. Take a nap. Sit with your pets who adore you" but refute the thoughts with "No time now". All this coming from a CHILDLESS person's brain, too!
So today, I ask the universe this.
In a world where efficiency and speediness and effectiveness are revered, and procrastination and relaxation are poo-pooed as laziness, are we missing the point? Would it be wiser to stop trying to take on the world, and instead let the world take on a piece of us?
Salad Girl's tip of the post:
Set your alarm a half-hour later than usual and let the world just deal. You'll get there when you get there! I'll put it on my list for tomorrow.....
When I decided to take the step towards my "author girl" dream (i.e., starting a blog, which I am calling my first self-publishing pursuit), I never really thought about the implications to my to-do list. I figured, start a blog, write for someone other than yourself (even if it's only my family and uber-supportive friends who read it).
Every time something pisses me off these days, I think, "Hah. I'll blog about this". Likewise for anything that is amusing me, or any big lessons I am learning in my self-help book-bingeing of late. PS-- This self-help stuff gets addictive when you hate your day job, let me tell you. I have a HUGE list of ideas to write about... but where are the posts?
I seem to be a very dedicated "To-do List" person. The back of an old envelope carries me through my week and I cannot stress enough how very efficient I have become. My mother always says she wishes she had my organization skills, and friends make fun of me for my dinosaur version of the Blackberry. But it works wonders and I think "What a good girl am I" as I get things crossed off.
My point today is simple: I fear my existence is turning in to my to-do lists. Are to-do lists running my life or am I running my life myself?
The yogis speak about samskaras, which are patterns of thinking that one adopts and develops, and in reading up on the concept, I am learning that they are generally a pretty crappy and restrictive pattern of thinking. My to-do list is stifling me and what gets squeezed out of it is the time to actively be in the moment, and enjoy a day's events, rather than rush through them. How many times do I think, "Call your parents. Call a friend. Take a nap. Sit with your pets who adore you" but refute the thoughts with "No time now". All this coming from a CHILDLESS person's brain, too!
So today, I ask the universe this.
In a world where efficiency and speediness and effectiveness are revered, and procrastination and relaxation are poo-pooed as laziness, are we missing the point? Would it be wiser to stop trying to take on the world, and instead let the world take on a piece of us?
Salad Girl's tip of the post:
Set your alarm a half-hour later than usual and let the world just deal. You'll get there when you get there! I'll put it on my list for tomorrow.....
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