36, 37, 38

Three more items on my list of 101 Things in 1001Days are completed and I’ve started one of my long-term projects.

I’ve knit colourwork, which I can’t show you, since the big holiday reveal posts won’t come til after the holidays.  But I’m happy with the results and found it rather fascinating and compelling to see the design materialize one row at a time.

We did a fair trade Halloween.  It struck me one day that handing out to happy, well-fed children chocolates that were probably harvested at least in part by unhappy children was sickening.  I dished out a pretty penny for small, fairly traded chocolates.  Next year we might just hand out chips, since they’re not only made in better working conditions, they’re far more local and need to be shipped a shorter distance.

I also ate only Core Foods.  The idea of Core foods is a Weight Watchers thing.  It was magnificent.  Basically, we altered our eating only a little, since we’ve naturally been moving toward a very unprocessed diet.  We’ve found that paying attention to living in each moment – living mindfully – revealed that foods which taste good don’t always make us feel energized and strong 20 minutes or an hour later.  Doing only Core essentially meant eliminating all sugar, all flour (except for whole wheat noodles), and all dairy products that weren’t skim milk and my homemade yogurt.

Four weeks of eating unprocessed foods.  Grains, meats, lots of beans, fruits, and vegetables.  Nothing that out of the ordinary for us.  It just was a test to see what eliminating the last remaining refined carbohydrates in our diet would be like.  And it was wonderful.  I had such a feeling of quiet strength, of nourishment, of connection to the foods we were eating.  I was surprised by how few foods I missed.  I missed the occasional whole grain crackers and salsa snacks, the occasional chocolate, the odd bit of melted cheese or some feta in a salad.  I can see that this way of eating will be something I pursue long-term.

curried lentil and apple salad, from “Simply in Season”

Lastly, I have started to do yoga three times a week.  6 months is a pretty long time frame, but doing it just three times a week does give me a bit of room to fit my sometimes over-full life around it.  Thank goodness I was aware enough to instantly soften my first impulse – daily yoga.

I’ve been doing it after I run.  Several sun salutations done slowly and deeply.  Triangle pose and Warrior One and Two.  Pigeon.  (God, how I love Pigeon.)  Plank and Side Plank.  And Savasana.  Since I run right before lunch, it is a temptation to leave off Savasana.  After all, I’m just lying there.  Yet somehow I have more energy after I do it.  And I realized – a sudden, startling realization – that it is the only time I spend doing nothing. I’m not falling asleep.  I’m not snuggling.  I’m not multi-tasking.  I’m not crafting or teaching or cleaning or pondering.  I’m just still.

Two minutes or so of stillness.  It’s a small thing but it’s important.  Small and full of potential, like a seed before it sprouts.

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