A Delicious Life

I got this quote in e-mail a couple of days ago, from the Beliefnet Buddhist wisdom newsletter:

At a time when people are so conscious of maintaining their physical health by controlling their diets, exercising and so forth, it makes sense to try to cultivate the corresponding positive mental attitudes too.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 1963*

Cultivating mindfulness when it comes to our thoughts is more important than people think. You can be eating the healthiest foods in the world, but if you are cursing the world or yourself in your head, you at best not feel so good - or at worst, make yourself physically ill. So many people go around not understanding that we are one - body mind and spirit are all connected. If one is ill, it will affect the others. So it is important to eat healthfully and nurture yourself with good thoughts, too.

*From “The Pocket Dalai Lama,” edited by Mary Craig, 2002. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Boston, www.shambhala.com.

In response to my initial post: The Fire the Grid event is happening at an interesting time. Healing is moving into the forefront of consciousness - especially environmentalism and nutrition. Al Gore’s Live Earth event is set to happen July 7. More and more stories about nutritional healing and cleansing are appearing. The time is right for change, as we have neglected these areas of our lives, and we are paying a high price for it. The world cannot afford to do more damage ecologically or internally.

I can imagine many people not buying into the whole story - needing people to meditate at a precise time on a precise day in points all over the planet. What if people don’t do it? Or what if they choose a different time or day? What would happen then?

Having sat in group meditations, I can attest to the power of being in the sangha - the shared community of mindfulness. For me, meditating in a group keeps me focused and positive, and I can feel the energy of the others radiating all around me. Having everyone living in the present moment together can be truly awakening. When I have reflected on my experience afterwards, I can see how beautiful it is to be present and still and to be around others who are doing the same.

There have been numerous stories about how prayer helps heal others and studies that (supposedly) disprove it, too. Why not pray or meditate healing energy toward the earth? Even if the act of sitting there for an hour meditating doesn’t help directly, it will help raise consciousness around the world. And afterwards, I bet you would be more likely tread a little more lightly on our mother.

An interesting proposal - what happens if everyone comes together on a specific date at a specific time to meditate, pray or create joy? Will it heal the earth? What would you do? Will you participate?

Fire the Grid

More later from me on this.

Anything you do that makes you lose track of time is the “food” that feeds your soul, raises your spirit, and makes life worth living. Having some of this nourishment in your daily life helps energize you for everything else that you do.

But even though I’m a health coach, I can sometimes forget this essential ingredient if I don’t plan it into my life on a regular basis. Recently, I was focusing too much on things that seemed “more important,” and I was neglecting this part of my life. While I was eating healthfully (mostly), I felt sluggish and tired a lot of the time. I didn’t realize that my energy was most likely dipping because I wasn’t nourishing my whole self.

For me, music is definitely one of those things that feeds me. And happily, I have started going to shows again.

This weekend, I saw Sloan play at the Sunday Canada Day music showcase at Central Park’s SummerStage. Sloan has a retro rock sound, and they’ve recorded a couple of albums that sound like they could have been released in the 60’s or 70’s. They love power chords. And their songs are fun to sing (and play).

Jay Ferguson (center), Chris Murphy (left) and Andrew Scott (right) of Sloan

Chris Murphy, Rock Star.
Patrick Pentland on left, Andrew Scott on right.

A few years ago, I used to *love* them. They were one of several reasons why I started to play guitar more seriously. Sometimes at their shows, they pull a cute girl on stage to “play” along with them for one song. I hoped that one day I’d be in the front and be that girl.

Slo-oan! Slo-oan!

These days, though my utter love and devotion has faded, I still think they rock.

More importantly, I’ve reconnected with a passion that I had temporarily left behind. I may even pick up my guitar again.

Check out this video:
Sloan at SummerStage from hotpotato on Vimeo

I participated in the 6 pm “mind over madness” yoga class in the middle of Times Square on the summer solstice. It was quite amazing.

We were on the island where (ironically) the Armed Forces recruiting station is located. Tourists gawked at us as they passed by, rolling their eyes or looking incredulously on at the crowd. More than a few asked, “Is this just one of those ‘only in New York’ things?” Traffic whizzed by our mini oasis - the only thing separating us from the cars and buses was the temporary metal barriers set up around the perimeter of the island.

I got there a little late, feeling stressed because it took a while for my train to show up. It’s funny how so many people feel so stressed and rushed just trying to get to yoga classes, a place they go to release said stress. And how easy would it be for me to let go of my thoughts of the past and worries for the future practicing on a traffic island?

I set up my mat and got ready for class. A neighbor shot this photo for me. The woman next to me came from all the way from Vermont for the weekend and made sure she got here on time for the class. Her name is Kristi - here we are together before class:

We started class with a chant and short meditation, and I felt the tension start to melt away. The class was pretty slow, but it was perfect for what I needed after a long day of work. I let go of my expectations and focused on my breath.

It started raining and some yogis quickly gathered their things and left. I stayed with the practice, breathing through it. I realized the impermanence of the rain, and felt it tapping me the way my thoughts invade my still mind. I let them wash down over me, concentrating on my breath and moving mindfully into each asana. I felt my mind get more still, my breath steadied, and my heart opened. And just as quickly as the rain came, it left. The clouds broke and sun filtered back into the square.

As we ended the class in savasana, I felt a deep sense of calm and peace flowing over and through me. I gazed lightly at the sky and watched some fluffy white clouds scatter across the fresh blueness. The traffic roared past just feet away, but I barely noticed.

Here are some pictures from Times Square Alliance website. NY Times city room blog also has a story with some photos.

I’m trying out a new cleanse product to see how it works and how it makes me feel. Today is day one of a cleansing day, and I have to say that I haven’t felt so great for most of the day.

My energy really dipped in the afternoon. I made sure to drink lots of water, knowing that my body was probably flushing out a lot of toxins. While I have a pretty good diet most of the time, I’m not perfect. I also live in a fairly polluted city, so I’m not entirely surprised that I’m not feeling so hot.

It’s almost the end of the work day, and my energy is just starting to pick up. My headache is fading. I’m scheduled to go do yoga in Times Square, and I wonder if I should just do it. I could take it easy there. It’s exciting to think that I could be stretched out in downward dog in one of the most chaotic places in Manhattan in just a couple of hours. What would you do?

I woke up bright and early on Sunday to watch CBS Sunday Morning. I knew that after sending out the notice to so many friends and family members that others would be watching, too. Sadly, my group interview was cut from the piece, and I didn’t get to tell my story on national TV. I know that my family thought I did that on purpose because they eat too much sugar. I hope they - and you - still learned a lot from watching it.

So here’s my story that I didn’t get to tell:

I am a sugar addict. I’ve been one all of my life. Grew up with a mom who baked on a regular basis. She made the best birthday cakes - double layered and covered thick with butter cream frosting. Did you know that to make enough frosting for one cake, you need at least one whole box of confectioner’s sugar mixed with a stick of butter? That’s basically the butter cream frosting recipe. I used to lick the bowl when she was done frosting it.

When I was a teenager, I used to bake a lot. Banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, muffins, cupcakes. I loved it. It was one of my fun after school activities. And I’d snack on sugary sweets frequently, when I wasn’t dieting or working out trying to lose weight.

In college, I became a junk food vegetarian - that’s someone who takes all the animal protein out of their diets and substitutes processed, negative nutrition for the foods one should be eating. I became very depressed and anxious, gained a lot of weight, lost all my energy. It was ultimately one of the reasons why I ended up leaving school for a semester. I did go back, but still didn’t realize why I felt so badly all of the time.

One of my first jobs out of school required long hours, and eventually had me working on an evening schedule. To stay awake, we’d drink coffee and eat lots of sugary foods, especially donuts. Then we’d go to the bar and drink beer after work until late.

One day, I got tired of feeling sick and depressed, and also being overweight. I started running and tried my first formalized diet - the Zone diet. I didn’t ultimately stick to this for the long run - too complicated - and I am still experimenting with my diet.

What I discovered from this first experiment, though, was that making some healthy changes in my diet and lifestyle could change my whole outlook on life. I slept better, felt better, looked better, and even thought better. And to my surprise, I was able to stop using prescription and over-the-counter medicines - I simply didn’t need them anymore.

I love PostSecret. If you’ve never checked it out, it’s a website where people can anonymously mail in their secret on a postcard. Most of them are small works of art, and sending them in - as well as reading them - is very healing for many people.

This week, PostSecret has a few really good postcards about Fathers. Father-child relationships seem really complicated; Father-daughter relationships are even more so. Some of these almost made me cry - you can tell that the people making them were speaking from the heart.

Go see them before they take them down on Sunday and put up new secrets.

I’m excited to announce that I will be appearing in a story on CBS News Sunday Morning this Sunday, June 17. The lead story in this week’s show is called America’s Sweetheart: Sugar, and it’s about the history of sugar and America’s love for it. Connie Bennett, author of “Sugar Shock!” was interviewed about the dangers of sugar and how to recover from addiction to it for the story. I was interviewed, along with 5 other ex-sugar addicts, talking about our experiences with the stuff and how we kicked it.

What: America’s Sweetheart: Sugar on CBS News Sunday Morning
When: Sunday, June 17, 9 AM
Where: Your local CBS station (channel 2 in New York)
Why: Get informed about sugar

Get Connie’s Book here: Sugar Shock!: How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life– and How You Can Get Back on Track