Upcoming Memorial Day 2014

This is sort of a test post.  I've modified a setting in the blog so you should receive a notification in your email that there is a new post.

Also, I put together a montage to get us excited for Mem Day 2014 (not that we really need anything to get us motivated for that!).  It was too big to post here so I put it in a Dropbox folder. You should receive a separate email about that. Let me know if you have trouble accessing it.

I haven't set goals for a while so April will be my month to start again.  If you are interested in joining, start thinking about what healthy, life-affirming, positive goal you would like to set for April!  :)

Everyone should have access to post to this blog now or leave a comment - feel free to do so!

Ciao, chickies!
Shauna

Wabi-Sabi ... What the What?!

Let's stop being so hard on ourselves and appreciate our flaws (or at least that is how we are viewing them).  Things about our bodies, home, etc.  It seems like an age old principle although terminology I had not heard before.  And reminders such as this are always welcome.

The Wabi-Sabi Self

A Japanese aesthetic philosophy provides a fresh perspective on our so-called physical flaws.

By Jessie Sholl / January / February 2014

About five years ago, I stopped getting carded at bars and began hearing “ma’am” more often than “miss.” Though I was in my late 30s, these encounters stung at first. I consoled myself with the fact that I really was too old to be mistaken for an 18-year-old, and “ma’am” is at least a gesture of respect. I knew lamenting lost youth was, at best, an exercise in futility. I’d watched friends agonize about aging, and I’d never seen the point. But it was still hard to look in the mirror and see the lines underneath my eyes and the pouchiness under my chin without feeling disappointed.

Then I learned about the Japanese concept of wabi sabi, or “imperfect beauty.” The concept has its roots in the traditional Japanese tea ceremony and is sometimes explained by using the example of a well-loved teacup, made by an artist’s hands, cracked or chipped by use. Such traces remind the observer that nothing is permanent — even fixed objects are subject to change.

The classical Greek ideal of beauty, which underpins much of the Western physical aesthetic, celebrates smooth, symmetrical perfection. Wabi sabi prizes authenticity. The cracks in the old teacup are seen as assets rather than flaws. “Wabi sabi is a different kind of looking, a different kind of mindset,” explains Robyn Griggs Lawrence, author ofSimply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House (New Society Publishers, 2011). “It’s the true acceptance of finding beauty in things as they are.”

Yet wabi sabi is more than a way of looking at things. It is “a way of life that appreciates and accepts complexity while at the same time values simplicity,” writes Richard Powell in Wabi Sabi Simple (Adams Media, 2004). He says it acknowledges three simple realities: “Nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.”

In the United States, most of us grew up with a worldview that is decidedly more influenced by classical Greece. Unless our bodies fit a certain ideal, we resent them. This is where adopting a wabi-sabi outlook can be eye opening — and mind opening. By perceiving ourselves through this generous lens, we can stop endlessly striving for the ideal body and focus instead on real physical health. All it takes is a shift in perception.

Embracing Imperfection

We all have things we don’t like about ourselves, aspects we may or may not be able to change. It might be a physical attribute like big feet (hi, that would be me) or a habit of heading straight from the gym to a night out with friends to enjoy potent margaritas (hello, again). But apparent imperfections are often our better parts, especially when viewed from a fresh angle.

While it’s not ideal, I know I’m better off having a margarita after the gym than I am if I drink one without working out. And though my big feet have often made me self-conscious at the gym, where my giant sneakers stand out against my skinny calves, they also carry me across New York City on an almost daily basis, and they rarely hurt — even after a night of dancing in 4-inch heels. So though I don’t spotlight my feet, I appreciate them.

Braver souls sometimes turn their so-called imperfections into signatures. “Ask yourself: What can you find beautiful about what you’re now calling a flaw? And could you embrace that?” suggests Arielle Ford, author of Wabi Sabi Love(HarperOne, 2012). She notes how supermodel Cindy Crawford’s mole above her lips and actress Lauren Hutton’s gap between her teeth became their calling cards. “A lot of people would have had that mole removed, and that gap closed. Instead, they turned those flaws into assets.”

Using a wabi-sabi perspective to view so-called flaws doesn’t mean relinquishing your standards, but it does allow you to see and care for your present self exactly as you are.

 Enjoying the Process

“In nature, everything is in a state of process and then eventually a state of decay or death,” says Tony Burris, an acupuncturist in Boise, Idaho, who incorporates wabi-sabi concepts into his practice. “And we’re not excluded from that process. The process is the actual ‘there.’”

For me, respecting the process has meant accepting my relationship to the headstand pose during yoga class. I’ve been practicing for years, but because of an old neck injury that created nerve pain in my arms and hands, I don’t attempt headstand. It feels too risky. Still, even though I have valid reasons for avoiding it, I used to dread the headstand portion of classes and would find ways to fake my way through it. I’d either assume child’s pose or pretend I was trying to jump up, because I was simply unwilling to accept what my body was telling me.

Looking at my yoga through the wabi-sabi lens, and specifically its tenet that everything is unfinished and in process, I have stopped berating myself for not mastering this tricky pose. Now I can relax and enjoy a class. “When you can accept things as they are,” Lawrence says, “there is no judgment. You’re not saying I should weigh less, weigh more, not have these wrinkles, but instead this is what’s happening. The suffering comes when there’s a craving for it to be different.”

Accepting Change

“Beautiful young people are accidents of nature,” said Eleanor Roosevelt, “but beautiful old people are works of art.”

This is good for me to remember, as I note that in addition to the wrinkles around my eyes, aging is also apparent in my hands. The skin is becoming thinner, making the veins and bones more prominent, revealing tiny cracks along the skin’s surface. But I like my hands. Along with my keyboard, they allow me to make a living. So I feel grateful for them and treat them accordingly: I apply lotion, massage them, and give them breaks. I can embrace them easily.

That said, I’m not ready to even imagine not dyeing my hair. Yet many women fearlessly embrace their silver strands. “The day I cut off all my colored hair, a man stopped me on the street and asked me to get a martini with him,” says author Alice Bradley.

She continues: “I think beauty, especially as you get older, is so closely tied to the stories you tell yourself. If you believe you’re too old, or you were prettier before, that comes across in your face and your body. On the other hand, you can tell when someone is enjoying life and who they are, no matter what their age. That’s so much more important than a few wrinkles, or sagging, or whatever it is we’re supposed to be worried about.”

I’m also inspired by Jenni Rhodes, who, at 81, recently became the face of a new campaign for fashion label Vielma. Her elegantly lined visage appears carved from glass, replete with the sort of jagged edges and splintery lines that naturally accompany a richly lived life. Designer Gabriel Vielma was quoted about his casting decision in The Daily Mail: “There are different beauties in this world.”

A wabi-sabi view reveals that the belief that our bodies should fit a single, abstract, youthful ideal is actually optional. Perhaps this idea is starting to catch on.

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This carries over into everything in our lives.  Explore some of the links below.  

Wabi-Sabi Home

Wabi-Sabi Your Life - 6 Strategies Embracing Imperfection

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

To my dear chicks,

I wish you a very Happy Valentine's Day!  

May you have everything that fills you with love today and always!

Susan

A fun little nursery rhyme below:
Gammer Gurton's Garland (1784):

The rose is red, the violet's blue,

The honey's sweet, and so are you.
Thou art my love and I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew,

And Fortune said it shou'd be you.

Galette....what the hell is a galette?

August 11, 2013
Okay, ladies!  This is a test....it is only a test.  Getting together at Mem Day was lots of fun and it's been enjoyable to converse with you via text, Facebook, email, etc.  With this whole "setting a goal for the month" thing, I feel like I want to have a bit longer conversations that my fingers are willing to submit to on text. 

Now for you mobile superusers (Jennie/Robin) this may not be ideal.  But I'm on my computer so much AND I type so much faster on the computer so I'm going to test this out.

Now, the month of July was pretty good for sticking to my goals.  Okay, well 2 out of 3 ain't bad.  I did not drink pop for the whole month and substituted with water and tea.  I still need to get mmore water in. (I can hear Susan saying already....you don't drink enough water.  But my big toe hurts.  I know it's because you don't drink enough water. )  I ate 3 meatless dinners per week and it wasn't that difficult.  Of course, I was on vacation or out of town at a conference for half the month so eating out and finding vegetarian is easy.  Pretty much now at home I'm cooking one decent meatless meal and then quick "go to" meals for the other two.  Chipotle black bean burgers are a good standby.  What I did NOT do was "move every day". 

Currently, the only goal I have for August is to stick with the 3 meatless dinners per week.  With the accreditation deadline of August 5, I was so focused on that I barely realized July ended and August began.  Anyway, I think that's the only goal I will have for this month. 

Overall, I would say I am drinking less alcohol and drinking less pop which was the point of my 2 previous goals.  I'm spending more time in the serenity room....aaahhhh.  Coffee tastes so much better up there!  :-)

Tonight I made Tomato-Zucchini-Corn galette with a side of corn on the cob. 

Bought the corn, tomatoes and zucchini at Burwinkle's which is a local farm that I was completely unaware of until talking to Bill about wanting fresh corn. The corn tonight was AMAZING and really makes me think more about eating local just so it's fresh.  Easier said that done though.  I got the recipe from smittenkitchen.com which is a blog I follow.  It's very hit and miss (strawberry, lime, black pepper popsickles????)  but I like the photos and descriptions.  http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/08/burst-tomato-galette-with-corn-and-zucchini/

The farm had 3 kinds of corn, yellow and red grape tomatoes, zucchini, peaches....all so pretty.  After I made my purchases I asked when the corn was picked.  The very nice young lady at the cash register said, "this morning" with a tone of....hello, that's why the sign says fresh corn. 

On a separate note, and since I don't know how to message on Facebook, I will respond to Jennie and say that we don't live in the woods but a typical subdivision with a creek and 'holler' behind the house.  In the winter you can see the houses across the creek but in the summer it feels very secluded. 

So, the goal is to set this blog up where all of us can contribute AND it will ping us when someone contributes.  I think I've set it up where others can comment but I haven't figured out where we could all just write one after another.  If anyone has ideas how to improve this, please let me know. 

Okay, since I have no idea if this will even work, I'm going to quit typing in case it's a waste of my time.

Ciao!
Shauna