I am struggling a bit with my intermittent fasting.
Today is Friday, 1/3/2020. My eating window goal is to end by 4:00 p.m. Most days I will not eat before 10 a.m., except for breakfast with Mom days. We usually eat about 6:30 a.m.
Today was a breakfast with Mom day. We had a lovely time. We went to put favorite breakfast joint in Vancouver - Paul's Restaurant. I am still attempting to be more plant focussed, less meat. So I had one egg, basted, sour dough toast, home fries and Earl Grey tea.
Later, at home, I made steel cut oats with raisins, brown sugar and walnuts for the rest of my brood, who for health reasons are also going mire plant based.
I made a batch of gluten free spinach balls and cilantro mint chutney for lunch.
Good news: I hooped AND went to the gym today!
I am combining Day 235 and 236 today. Today is now Saturday, January 4th. I had such a wonderful morning so far. My mother and I spent some time cleaning and organizing her kitchen. My father was sitting enthralled in the living room, watching the DVD I ordered for him.
Just some background info on my dad. His father, my grandfather was a band leader in the US Army during World War II. He lived in many different countries, including Austria. My father, although not a professional musician, adored music, especially classical music. He played the trumpet and the piano. He was the one who taught me to play the piano when I was just 3 years old. (I was so tiny, I had to sit on a Sears & Roebucks catalog to reach the keys!)
I had given my mother a radio for him to listen to the classical station when he became more ill. But she finally confided in me that the reception was poor in their home. She could only get the jazz station.
"Your father hates jazz", she said wrinkling her nose. So I ordered him a DVD of the Wiener Philharmoniker New Year's Eve concert in Vienna in 2018. Riccardo Muti was the conductor. Not only is it a brilliant concert, but their is footage of Vienna - The countryside, the cathedrals, etc. My father was in heaven!
My mother tells me he is speaking more, and even in German!
Music is an amazing healer!
We had a lovely lunch together. My mother was just glowing. This time I am spending with her, helping her is healing for us both. I am so happy she finally is accepting my help. She even helped me with my church gig dilemma. I told her the church I am it has a lovely congregation. Very kind and socially active. But I do not feel particularly creative. They like the piano very soft, like background music. I really do not need to practice at all. Which is a blessing, since my life is so full. But still. I feel somewhat confined and restrained.
As we talked, a thought just popped into my head: "What if I composed music to play for service every week. Perhaps for the offertory?"
I'm excited! I love to create. Perhaps that is why I am enjoying my mandala prayer journaling. Here is a little bit of information about the mandala:
"The word mandala is Sanskrit for circle, and mandalas appear across cultures. We find them in rose windows, labyrinths, the Celtic cross, ancient stone circles, rosaries, spirals...Hildegard of Bingen had many visions in the shape of a mandala.
Today is Friday, 1/3/2020. My eating window goal is to end by 4:00 p.m. Most days I will not eat before 10 a.m., except for breakfast with Mom days. We usually eat about 6:30 a.m.
Today was a breakfast with Mom day. We had a lovely time. We went to put favorite breakfast joint in Vancouver - Paul's Restaurant. I am still attempting to be more plant focussed, less meat. So I had one egg, basted, sour dough toast, home fries and Earl Grey tea.
Later, at home, I made steel cut oats with raisins, brown sugar and walnuts for the rest of my brood, who for health reasons are also going mire plant based.
I made a batch of gluten free spinach balls and cilantro mint chutney for lunch.
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| Spinach balls using this recipe: https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/spinach-balls-circa-1975/ (without tapioca starch and subbing GF panko crumbs) |
I am combining Day 235 and 236 today. Today is now Saturday, January 4th. I had such a wonderful morning so far. My mother and I spent some time cleaning and organizing her kitchen. My father was sitting enthralled in the living room, watching the DVD I ordered for him.
Just some background info on my dad. His father, my grandfather was a band leader in the US Army during World War II. He lived in many different countries, including Austria. My father, although not a professional musician, adored music, especially classical music. He played the trumpet and the piano. He was the one who taught me to play the piano when I was just 3 years old. (I was so tiny, I had to sit on a Sears & Roebucks catalog to reach the keys!)
I had given my mother a radio for him to listen to the classical station when he became more ill. But she finally confided in me that the reception was poor in their home. She could only get the jazz station.
"Your father hates jazz", she said wrinkling her nose. So I ordered him a DVD of the Wiener Philharmoniker New Year's Eve concert in Vienna in 2018. Riccardo Muti was the conductor. Not only is it a brilliant concert, but their is footage of Vienna - The countryside, the cathedrals, etc. My father was in heaven!
My mother tells me he is speaking more, and even in German!
Music is an amazing healer!
We had a lovely lunch together. My mother was just glowing. This time I am spending with her, helping her is healing for us both. I am so happy she finally is accepting my help. She even helped me with my church gig dilemma. I told her the church I am it has a lovely congregation. Very kind and socially active. But I do not feel particularly creative. They like the piano very soft, like background music. I really do not need to practice at all. Which is a blessing, since my life is so full. But still. I feel somewhat confined and restrained.
As we talked, a thought just popped into my head: "What if I composed music to play for service every week. Perhaps for the offertory?"
I'm excited! I love to create. Perhaps that is why I am enjoying my mandala prayer journaling. Here is a little bit of information about the mandala:
 |
| Today's Mandala |
"The word mandala is Sanskrit for circle, and mandalas appear across cultures. We find them in rose windows, labyrinths, the Celtic cross, ancient stone circles, rosaries, spirals...Hildegard of Bingen had many visions in the shape of a mandala.
Carl Jung, in his work with his patients, began to notice that when they had dreams with circles in them, the circles were always symbols of wholeness. He began his own practice of daily mandala drawing as a way to give space for his experience on the page before him. He saw them as representations of the unconscious and therefore a field of inner exploration. He wrote:
'When I began drawing the mandalas, however, I saw that everything, all the paths I had been following, all the steps I had taken were leading back to a single point - namely to the mid-point. It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the center. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the center, to individuation...I began to understand thte goal of psychic development is the self.'"
Illuminating the Way: Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics by Christine Valters Paintner
I am needing to end this post soon. I have so much more to say, especially concerning the "self". Most of my life I have been questioning who I am. Lately, I feel like I am getting close to understanding the soul who resides inside this human body.
The book The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer has been a Godsend in this process. I will speak more of it tomorrow.
For now, I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes:
“Eventually it will become quiet enough so that you can simply watch the heart begin to react, and let go before the mind starts. At some point in the journey it all becomes heart, not mind. ... The mind doesn’t even get a
chance to start up because you let go at
the heart level.”
― The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself
chance to start up because you let go at
the heart level.”
― The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself
On another note, I am so pleased that I made it to the gym last night. I upgraded my membership so that I can now use the hydromassage beds. And they are Divine!
I didn't get a chance to hoop this morning, but OUILA! I did Qi Gong in a small space: The restroom here at the library!
I am a bit eccentric, I know. But it is me! I am honoring my true self! What else can I ask for in this life?
Happy Saturday!
Love,
Zita
P.S. Here is my Day 2: Qi Gong in Small Spaces video:
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