I'm hitting send in a couple of days on the June hmw health newsletter, where I'm sharing one of my summer food favorites! (Don't want to miss out? Sign up here!)
Ever wonder what a health coach would do? What our lives look like? It's not all chia seeds and meditation, my friends! I'm launching a monthly blog series to give you the answers--the good and the bad, the pretty and not-so-pretty! So here we go! What I'm... ...drinking: iced decaf coffee (with a straw, because I'm basic like that). ...eating: frozen fruit (Still waiting on my AC and generally cheaper and more nutritious than fresh--win for my body temperature, wallet, and health!). ...reading: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (inspired by the picks on the New York Times' The New Vanguard List for/by women). ...listening to: Pandora's Coffee House Covers station--great background music for being productive! ...nervous about: preparing for business school (any and all advice greatly appreciated!). ...excited about: traveling up north for a bachelorette weekend and wedding celebration for 2 of my good friends! And beach season! ...wishing I had more time for: daydreaming. Travel! ...trying to be better about: planning more fun into my schedule! ...doing for self-care: acupuncture. ...wishing I could pay someone to do for me: CLEAN. Every. Day. :) Do you ever hear or read something that resonates with you so strongly that you immediately start rummaging around looking for a pen or phone to get the quote down? When that happens, I feel as if I something floating by me in the universe is so precious, profound, and exactly what I need to hear at that moment that I'm afraid that if I don't get it down at that moment, I'll lose it and lose out on a chance to change my life, even in a small way.
That's how I felt when I was listening to Krista Tippett's conversation on On Being with Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert (available both on NPR as a program and issued as a podcast) this morning. Here's what I couldn't wait to get down and wanted to share in case it resonates with you: 1. "Stubborn gladness": a concept from the poem A Brief for the Defense by Jack Gilbert that has become a touchstone for (Elizabeth) Gilbert Here's my favorite passage, which reminds us that happiness and gratefulness takes effort in the face of all that is terrible: "We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world." 2. "[E]verything we want is on the other side of this dark river of self-hatred that is so prevalent in ourselves and in our culture." - Elizabeth Gilbert It can be a scary thing to acknowledge what is holding us back. If we acknowledge that our sense of our own limitations is restraint or even something we use as an excuse to avoid fear, then we have to act, which means we can fail--something that often seems to be the scariest thing of all. But consider this: Isn't living a life without ever trying, striving, or taking risks to get what we truly want (even that which we barely admit to ourselves, never mind admit to others--think about your biggest, scariest dream) the scariest possibility of all? 3. "Ahimsa", which Gilbert defines as "that you're a friend not only to the world, but to yourself. And there, you can find your way home, I think, in almost all circumstances." 4. The power of unproven belief. Of the existence of ahimsa, Gilbert says, "I hope, [laughs] because I don't know any other way. And that's the best I've got." It made me think of something from Radio Lab's program on what happens when we die. On the question of if heaven or an afterlife exists, someone pointed out that when it comes to this question, it's the believers that win out, because they lived their lives with a sense of peace that those who do not believe in an afterlife or find solace in it may not have--and in that the believers win, no matter if there is an afterlife or not. I don't even think it needs to be religious--just beliefs that make it easier to live each day. They have power. |