If it's one thing yoga has taught me since I began the practice, it's that you have to honor where you're at. Some days you bust out of the gate with enthusiasm, other days you simply don't. There's no judgment either way (or so the practice goes), you accept where you are, and honor that place. Not an easy thing to do, but at least thru the practice I'm now willing to look at how I'm feeling, acknowledge it with honesty, and then I struggle to not judge it (still very hard for me).
Today I didn't jump out of bed with the same enthusiasm as I had hoped to. I was more enthusiastic on 3/31 for the start of April, then it turns out I actually WAS on 4/1. It's ok though, these are rough times all around, and we strive to move forward but we accept that sometimes it's by millimeters.
On a bright note though, I drank 32 ounces of water before 11 a.m. and that felt like a little accomplishment right there. I'm shooting for a second 32 ounces before 3 p.m. It's such a silly thing, I'm not sure WHY it's so hard for me to drink water, but it just is. I know it's so good for me though, and it's an easy enough thing to change (and I need things I can control and change right now that are positive for me). Don't we all?
My second goal for this week is to eat more greens on a daily basis. I have this damn organic farm box that comes every Friday and I've tried to get on board with cooking more of the greens, but truth be told I had to throw out two lifeless and limp bunches of greens last week. Shame on me. So, this should be an easy goal (theoretically) and I can control it (I sure have the time), plus it's really good for us. So to that end, I looked up recipes for leeks. I've only ever cooked leeks with potatoes in a soup. That's it, that's my leek experience. I've eaten plenty, but it's always been prepared by chiefs far more creative than myself.
Here's the recipe I made, Chickpeas With Leeks & Lemons, it was pretty darn tasty. I happen to have a lot of canned chickpeas for some reason so this was perfect. I think part of my barrier to cooking more greens thing is that I fear the kids won't eat it and it'll just be me. The truth is at least 2 of the kids are pretty adventuresome green eaters, and 2 out of 4 is the best odds I can hope for in cooking anything for them, green or otherwise. So, add extra greens to my challenge this week, we might as well round out the healthy stuff.
My highlight today was a comment Romeo made. We had gone on our daily spelling walk. It was rainy and cold, and he was under dressed as usual (shorts, teeshirt and a sleeveless vest). He was carrying a kid's umbrella in one hand, and trying to control Milo in the other hand (which is no easy feat because Milo's pre- quarantine weight was probably 95 lbs, and despite the extra walks, it's probably now 100 lbs). The dog is CHUNK-Y. Anyway, it was wet, I'm trying to quiz him on flashcards, we are both cold, and so we came back home and Romeo declared he's "taking a shower." I come upstairs 30 minutes later and Romeo says to me with all the earnesty and sweetness that only a 9 year old boy can have, "that was the BEST shower ever, it was so nice I can't believe how nice it was." It was such a simple thing, a shower, but his appreciation for it was so deep in that moment, and so happy. The tone of his voice had so much gratitude for having that wonderful, simple shower.
I tried to grab some of that gratitude during the rest of my day, and appreciate the simple little things, like my lemon and ginger tea, and my fuzzy socks that I put on when my feet got cold.
Every day, we do what we can do, no matter how simple or little, and we appreciate how lucky we are to do it. That's my mantra to myself. That's our mantra in our business.
I'm ok with the fact that I was the tortoise today, not the hare. Tomorrow, we shall see (maybe all the water and extra greens will give me superpowers).
Signed, ME {lv}
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