Thursday, July 30, 2009


In my quest to figure out what life is all about, I've stumbled on a number of websites, books, e-books and mentors that all have great advice for how to live the good life. So my most recent adventures have been one, incorporating more raw foods into my diet and two, finding common ways to do silly but meaningful things.

Incorporating raw foods has been quite a challenge. I started looking into this method of eating close to the New Year, perhaps spurned on by some crazy resolution. From what I was reading it all made sense, but the idea of giving up cooked food seemed crazy. Cue Steve Pavlina, a guy who gave the full-on fruitarian raw diet a test drive for thirty days and documented every craving, bolt of euphoria and calorie counting conundrum he could. A few weeks ago, I made my first raw strawberry pie for a dinner party. Everyone in the group was fairly health conscious, but when I mentioned I'd made a raw pie, they wondered if I hadn't cooked the dough, or what exactly it entailed. Simply put, it was raw almonds and dates put through a food processor and pressed into a pie pan, then strawberries, more dates, a bit of lemon and alcohol-free vanilla for the filling. Voila!! It was delicious, giggle-inducing for it's simplicity and nutritiousness and no one felt bad about having seconds on dessert. Kaz and I even had some for breakfast the next day. I still waiver between cooked and raw food, trying to find ways to make it a way to stay full while not being limited to just all salads and fruit plates, but I've ordered a few rawbooks (not cookbooks, obviously) and hope to see what I can come up with. Perhaps raw raviolo, cheesesticks, sorbet?

The second thing is doing small things for the intention of doing something good.

"Buddhists assert that saving the lives of animals that are doomed to be killed increases ones lifespan, protects from certain illnesses and helps to remove obstacles in your life." http://www.thedailymind.com/happiness/how-to-live-longer-the-buddhist-practice-of-saving-life/

My friend Caroline is remarkable for giving her time to protecting abandoned and abused animals back home, as are numerous animal lovers in my life. So in my well-intentioned silliness, I purchased crickets from a pet store that would most likely have been devoured by someone's lizard, and took them to a park to roam free. There is a superstition that finding a cricket in your house is good luck so I sent my crickets out hoping that they'd bring good fortune back to some people in the world.

I've also started on a path of No Complaints. If you go to compalintfreeworld.org, you can get a small glimpse of what a huge difference this sort of commitment can make. My hope is to go 21 days without complaining, criticizing or gossiping so that I break the habit of it altogether. So far, I've made it a day and a half, but I will keep trying until I get there. To be honest, I think some have come to expect that sort of thing from me. One night while doing this, Kaz asked how my day was. My answer was positive, saying we were planning a birthday party for two coworkers and things like that. At the end, he replied "And what else?" For me to not complain about work made it seem like I was leaving something out. It's a big step to try to not say the first negative thing that comes to mind, especially because I have become good at framing them in a way that is somewhat comical, however, I've realized it's not good for the people I'm talking to. A couple people have decided to join me on this challenge, others have simply stated, "I'm going to take the low road and keep complaining." Fair enough.

Thursday, July 09, 2009


This is not mine... just came across it today and thought, based on the upper part of my page, I'd put it on here.