THE SIMPLE LIFE: INTENTION

I am hardly a yogi by any standard, and actually until recently I was never super inclined to participate in the thought process behind yoga especially the idea of setting ones intentions. For me yoga was something physical, I wanted to be flexible and I wanted to lose weight but when I did not see the results I wanted I gave up. I still want to be flexible, I still want to lose weight but I have realized that if I want to achieve that with yoga, I need to participate in all aspects of the practice, it is only as that whole that it will be effective. I feel as though I am going through this, almost, spiritual awakening at this time in my life, where I am realizing and understanding why I am here in this moment, what got me to this point and what I have to do to get my life back on track and one of the biggest aspects of realigning my life is setting my intention. Now setting my intention can be my goal in life, my aspirations but it can also be what I hope to achieve in a single day, for me setting my intention is not just one intention but it is being intentional in every single thing I do. I realize this is super long introduction and that I still haven't gotten to the point of this spiel but alas the wait is over and here is the tie in... When I made the decision to work towards simplifying my life, it was easy to throw out my clothes, to empty my makeup drawer, to leave behind my worldly possessions but if I wanted to maintain it, to keep my life (and closet) clear and simple I was going to have to really figure out why I was doing this, and what it is that I am hoping to achieve.

My intention with simplifying my life is to relieve myself of burdens, financial burdens that come with purchasing disposable commodities, emotional burdens that come with the guilt of purchasing things that harm people, places and animals and the physical burden on carrying around so much stuff all the time. I am person who has too much going on in my head on a daily basis (something I'm sure many other people can understand) so if I cannot temper the chaos inside of me, then I can work on clearing the things outside of me so that at least some aspect of my existence is peaceful.

With my intention set I am just that much closer to achieving my goal of a simpler life. I do still battle with my materialistic desires on a day to day basis, some days my intention wins, some days my desires but overall  I feel as though I am headed on the right path. And plus with clear intentions it removes an grey area when it comes to decisions and therefore makes it much harder for me to justify that superfluous purchase.

SEPTEMBER GOALS + AUGUST RECAP

Oh August, the month before my favourite month of the year. The problem with August is that it is a month of anticipation for me. anticipation for the end of summer, for the return to school and then of course my birthday. I feel like August is just the means by which I get to September but I am okay with that. Now this year I am not returning to school nor did I partake in many "summer" activities, but nonetheless this month I anxiously awaited for September so maybe the fact that it is my birthday month had a greater pull than I had originally thought. But first, lets see how I did.

one. Read at least one book. Yes
Yes, but I kind of feel like I cheated. I was originally planning on picking up where I left off in the Song of Fire and Ice series, but that felt a little too daunting, so I re-read Go Ask Alice (which I finished in one night). I also read a book I ordered on aromatherapy, but that was mostly skimming.

two. Make a purchase at the farmers market on my own. Yes (yay me!)
I went to the farmers market twice this month on my own, and I got spinach, butternut squash, and parsnips. I didn't really use my German however, I mostly pointed and held up fingers but it was a start.

three. Try (and enjoy) one new food. Mmhm
This one wasn't too hard because I was already working on changing my mindset around food. Basically I was introduced to the idea that ones likes and dislikes in regards to food are more due to habit and expectations rather that the actually make up of the food, and habits and expectations can be changed which has opened up a whole new world to me food-wise. I have now integrated red peppers and zucchini into my daily life.

four. Keep my plants alive. Not even close...
My mother gardens, my father gardens, my eighty-two year old grandmother gardens, and yet I am blessed with the blackest of black thumbs...that and I can never remember to water my poor basil plant.

September Goals:

one. Try another new food
two. Exercise every day
three. Tame my hair
four. Read to gain knowledge

AN OFF WEEK

(source: pinterest)

It has been an off week. They happen every so often, however lately they have been occurring more and more and I think it is because I have been trying to change too much, too quickly. I have three things that I have been working on trying to do every single day, the first being exercise which was going quite well until this week. The second was writing, I decided to go back to an old unfinished journal (something I had never done before, I tend to just start fresh) and continue on in it's pages and while it hasn't been everyday it has been several times a week...until this week. The last thing, and the most recent one that I added was drawing, and it think this is what tipped the scale. 

My hope was that here in Germany I would be able to pull out my inner creative, who has been largely kept under wraps since my gloomy adolescence, since I was going to be a stay-at-home mom with a lot of spare time on her hands. I figured that since I don't have any friends here and that I don't drive, I would eventually be able to make my time spent at home into productive creative time and hopefully write that book I've always wanted to write, or do those paintings that I've dreamt of painting. What I didn't realize is that while these were all great ideas, and wonderful habits that I wanted to get into, it meant that I would have to learn to break all the bad habits I had accumulated over the last few years. Habits including streaming tv all day as background noise, opening my laptop first thing in the morning instead of reaching for a pen, giving up when an exercise routine gets too hard, reaching for whatever is easy to eat instead of making myself something good... I have this image of myself that I want to make into a reality, I want to be someone who wakes up in the morning and does yoga, someone who eats her breakfast while jotting down ideas for short stories, someone who makes a huge veggie filled rice bowl for lunch and eats it while swirling colours on a paint pallet. These are all things that I enjoy but I've been letting my laziness get the better of me, and allowing my impatience to make me fail, I know I am not perfect, but I also know that I can do better.

So with that affirmation in mind I've decided to start again at the beginning, to choose one habit and work on that single one...then once I feel like I have a gotten settled with that one I will introduce another. This obviously sets back my progress but I think that it is necessary if these are things that I wish to continue in the long run. 

Wish me luck!

D.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW

When I was a child, my sister and I used to sleep over at my aunt's place a lot. My cousin, who is a year older than me was one of my closest friends growing up and we used to spend hours playing pretend, running around and then stay up all hours of the night watching movies and talking...and in the morning we would walk (hop) along the bunny path to go to Solly's bakery and get freshly baked cinnamon buns. These were some of my favourite childhood memories.

My aunt also introduced me to the world of second-hand belongings. Thrifting has become super trendy in the last few years, and with good reason... it turns out the pre-loved goods can be just as good, if not better than their brand new counter-parts. They have more character, more variety and you will never be scared of ruining them with use. I personally adore getting hand-me-downs from family, friend or just about anyone, spending an afternoon going through someones unwanted clothing is like a dream to me. It has only been in recent years that I have really discovered how great it is that there are so many venues for finding used furniture, clothing, art, dishes etc and now that I am in the process of furnishing my apartment I feel like I missed out on huge opportunities with my previous places.

Here in Germany there is a classified section of Ebay, which is their equivalent to craigslist. We got our kitchen chairs, table and bathroom vanity second-hand. We are currently trying to hunt down a white or wooden cabinet for extra kitchen storage but we have very specific measurements we need it to fit so we haven't had much luck yet. Now that it is summer time though there have been plenty of flea markets to attend on the weekends. Pictured above are my two little pieces I picked up on two different occasions. The white birdcage caught my eye with its fleur-de-lis on it and I hope to maybe suspend it and find a small green plant to keep inside of it. The quartz crystal speaks to my inner geologist, my father always had different rocks displayed throughout his house from various work trips to northern Canada and around the world. Put me on a rocky beach with a magnifying glass over a forest any day, I love to see theses beautiful structures that have been created naturally over so much time, it is really incredible. Anyways, the quartz is currently on a shelf with some of my books where it will probably stay. 

MÜNSTER

Just a few photo's from a recent day trip to my favourite Nordrhein-Westfalen city, Münster. St. Paul's cathedral was what initially drew me to this beautiful city, but it's architecture, busy streets and atmosphere keeps bringing me back for me. This is our closest "big" city to where I am living in Germany so we pop over here on the weekends when I am needing a dose of civilization (okay, a bit of an exaggeration) or when we just want a low-stress day trip.

Things to see here:

St.-Paulus-Dom (home to a beautiful sixteenth century astrological clock)

Münster Botanical Garden 

Biking or walking along the Promenade

the Aasee

ESSEN + I DON'T EVEN LIKE COKE

Last weekend H and I dropped Bean off with his grandparents and went to Essen for the day. I had great plans to document it all with photos and everything but I think I took a total of ten photos, most of which were overexposed and of nothing in particular. I guess I have always maintained the mindset that I would rather focus on enjoying the experience rather than documenting it... that and I greatly dislike looking like a tourist taking photos of landmarks and buildings or whatever. We had a pretty low key day just walking around the city center going into a few shops and taking in the sights (p.s wearing trendy sandals for day long walking on cobblestone streets is a horrible idea for your ankles just fyi). 

We went for lunch at this bar/cafe/resto place that are all over Germany because the vegan restaurant we wanted to try was closed, and the forever indecisive pair that we are just completely copped out of this opportunity to try something new. When our waitress came by to take our drink order I panicked and ordered what H was having, which was coke... the thing about coke is that I don't like it, and I have been liking it less and less over the last year or so but H ALWAYS drinks it, so me being me ALWAYS has a sip too. Whenever we go out to eat and I can't decide what I want to drink I almost always end up ordering a coke  as well and I never enjoy it... add it to the list of weird things I do when I am under pressure. So the point being that I drank a coke and it was the least satisfying beverage. 

Other than that we went into a bio store where I was able to pick up some of my Japanese ingredients (for a much steeper price) that I was missing, miso, udon noodles and some soba noodles. Our last stop was a sports store so that I could get some weights and a yoga mat to encourage me to continue my daily workouts.

Hopefully our next day trip will yield some more photos, seeing as this blog is supposed to be me chronicling my adventures here, but I am still learning so I'll give myself a pass for now.

not pictured:

Pride parade and festival, complete with singers in drag

Cute little merry-go-round 

Little fruit and veggie tent near the train station

Gorgeous weather but with ominous clouds coming in quickly just as we were leaving 

  

AUGUST GOALS + JULY RECAP

July was my first month in my new home country and so much has happened in just a short thirty day period. Bean has gone from unsteadily sitting to pulling himself up to stand and is now sleeping through the night. Our apartment is coming together and it is starting to feel like home which is reassuring for me. H and I have already been talking about our future plans, and where we want to live next which is exciting but our adventure here is still only just beginning and we should take a step back and enjoy the ride rather than get ahead of ourselves and miss out on what is right in front of us. Time to recap last months goals and select a few new ones for the next thirty days.

one. Write a little bit every day. Almost
I unpacked my journal, I have a few blog posts waiting in my drafts and I've come up with a few ideas for some short stories. While I didn't write every single day, I did most days which felt very good.

two. Survive flying with Bean. Check 
This one was nearly impossible for me to fail, but I can truly say I have zero desire to step foot onto another aircraft anytime in the near future.

three. Unpack and organize one small space for me. Mostly yes.
We are completely unpacked and it took me a lot less time than I had expected. As for the space for me, we got a new couch which I have been spending a lot of time on, and I have organized my clothes which makes me happy, so while neither is a space just for me exactly they have still achieved the same desired effect.

four. Appreciate my little family. Absolutely

My mother raised my sister and I as a single parent, and after my almost seven month stint as sole caregiver I have so much more appreciation for everything that she gave to us. Now that I have an extra-pair of hands to help out with Bean and someone to spend my evenings with parenting has become a lot less exhausting and so much more enjoyable. I feel incredibly lucky to have these two (well one big, and the other little) men in my life and I plan on cherishing every day that I get to spend with them.

I think I did quite well last month, so lets keep up the good work... here are my goals for August.

one. Read at least one book.

two. Make a purchase at the farmers market on my own.

three. Try (and enjoy) one new food.

four. Keep my plants alive.

D.