One of the worse things in life is when you realize you have lost your way. You wake up one day and watch Olympics and you see countless of athletes that are fulfilling their dreams or attempting to. You admire their strength and determination to conquer and fight but then you look at your life and see nothing to cheer about. There are mixed emotions because you feel happy for them and jealous at the same time because they fulfilled their dream.
You find yourself buying into everybody's dream but yours. You are fixated on other people's achievements. You procrastinate because you don't want to deal or face the issues; head on. You spend hours on Facebook making useless statements and comments on everyone's page. Then, spend more time with yourself, depressed and thinking where or how you've lost it.
I know I have lost mine and I'm not sure how to get it back. It is hard to pinpoint what my dream was to begin with because I thought it was quite clear and yet I'm sort of far from it. My plan was so simple when I began my journey and it just changed course. What happened to it? Fate...I guess. What do I do then? Force way back to my old plan? Do I search for or create a new one? I'm definitely not going back so I decided to start over. It is hard when you are almost arriving at the big 3 and 0 and have to start over or go back to the drawing board.
My uncle who died a while ago visited me in a dream. Yeah...I know it is weird; but dead people visit me in my dreams and I dream people close to me that are going to get pregnant. Yep...one of those weird things. Anyway, one of the things he said was, "It's just the little things sometimes. Don't focus too hard on the big picture. Spend more time managing the little simple and basic things." So my journey for the rest of the year is getting back to the basics; one small step at a time.
Maybe, if you have some of your own experiences in this context, you can leave a comment. Maybe I can learn a thing or two.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Seasonal and Cultural Eating? Part 2
In my previous post on seasonal and cultural eating, I stated that I think that we need to pay attention to when we eat certain foods and eating within our cultural scope. I'm not saying that occasionally you wouldn't feel for something outside of the normal day to day routine or just want to try something new at times. However, I think life is not as arbitrary as we think. The seasons, patterns, resources are interconnected. There is a purpose to every fruit, every herb, every plant or substance on the earth. Maybe seasons guide us in the way we should utilize food. There is a reason why certain fruits ended up in certain regions.
For instance, maybe there is a reason why we don't have regular apples in the Caribbean, but rather we have Golden apple (Pomme Cythere) which is a way better fruit... to me. Let me give you a story. My dad made some Golden apple juice some days ago. To make it, you have to boil the fruit in water and extract the juice. When we looked at the pot we used to boil it in, it literally cleaned the pot. I mean it you would swear someone used Oxiclean or some bleaching agent and scrubbed it for hours. Whatever is in this fruit cleaned up this pot and imagine what it can do for your body. We know our body needs cleaning at times.
Pomme Cythere is a French name which means apple of Cytherea (Another name for Venus). The tree may bear about 3 times per year. There is not much information about the contents but I will surely do another write up about this and other fruits. Perhaps, it contains something that we need here in warmer climates.
Just some food for thought...
For instance, maybe there is a reason why we don't have regular apples in the Caribbean, but rather we have Golden apple (Pomme Cythere) which is a way better fruit... to me. Let me give you a story. My dad made some Golden apple juice some days ago. To make it, you have to boil the fruit in water and extract the juice. When we looked at the pot we used to boil it in, it literally cleaned the pot. I mean it you would swear someone used Oxiclean or some bleaching agent and scrubbed it for hours. Whatever is in this fruit cleaned up this pot and imagine what it can do for your body. We know our body needs cleaning at times.
Pomme Cythere is a French name which means apple of Cytherea (Another name for Venus). The tree may bear about 3 times per year. There is not much information about the contents but I will surely do another write up about this and other fruits. Perhaps, it contains something that we need here in warmer climates.
Just some food for thought...
Friday, August 17, 2012
Seasonal and Cultural Eating?
It is believed by quite a number of people, including myself, that we ought to be eating according to what is available in season and also what is accessible within your country of abode. In some countries as we all know, there are four seasons and in others there are two. In warmer climates like in the Caribbean which basically has two seasons, you see a variety of what we call "cool foods" and "heated foods".
Whether the season is more hot or more cold, you need more foods that would essentially make the body more balanced or more alkaline. Therefore, I believe that there is a reason why some foods grow all year, some part of the year and some for a very short time. Due to globalization and improved methods of preservation (not necessarily better), we have access to all sorts of food, all year round. I think the problem comes when we consume all sorts of foods we like instead of what we need.
The other serious issue is eating within your culture and not buying into other people's ways of eating too much. If it "resembles" your country, no problem. There are good health practices wherever you go but I sincerely think eating things that are indigenous to your home is very important. All the fast food that is produced with lots of "unknown components" is detrimental to your health. It is good to stick to what you know because most times, even without a lot of research, these foods in your culture pack a punch in terms of high nutritional value. We all need to reevaluate how we eat to journey towards better health.
Whether the season is more hot or more cold, you need more foods that would essentially make the body more balanced or more alkaline. Therefore, I believe that there is a reason why some foods grow all year, some part of the year and some for a very short time. Due to globalization and improved methods of preservation (not necessarily better), we have access to all sorts of food, all year round. I think the problem comes when we consume all sorts of foods we like instead of what we need.
The other serious issue is eating within your culture and not buying into other people's ways of eating too much. If it "resembles" your country, no problem. There are good health practices wherever you go but I sincerely think eating things that are indigenous to your home is very important. All the fast food that is produced with lots of "unknown components" is detrimental to your health. It is good to stick to what you know because most times, even without a lot of research, these foods in your culture pack a punch in terms of high nutritional value. We all need to reevaluate how we eat to journey towards better health.
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