New Year's Eve

This is my first experience with Fill in the Blank Friday, brought to us by Lauren at the little things we do....

1. New Year's is (awesome/lame/other) lame. It's like you have higher expectations of a party just because it's held on a specific day. No thanks!

2. Last New Year's Eve I went to the movies with a friend.

3. My New Year's resolution is to continue with the healthy eating, exercising, spiritual work that I've been doing this past week. And to have faith that what happens is what's meant to be.

4. The best way to spend New Year's Eve is cuddled up on the couch with someone watching movies and eating popcorn.

5. My prediction for an up-and-coming trend in 2011 is a stronger focus on eating fresh, local food. But that's probably just me being hopeful.

6. This New Year's Eve I will apparently go to bed a bit late (since I'm still here typing). I had a relaxing evening in and now I'm heading upstairs to read, listen to music and meditate.

7. A fresh start is sort of a myth. If you want a fresh start, really every moment is a new moment. But those moments are also imbued with the past, so it might be a change of direction, but it's not like we can really wipe the slate clean. And would we really want to?

Thanks for the awesome list Lauren!

Stepping Out of the Car

Okay, confession time! I've lived in Nanaimo since March 2006 and today was the first time I took the bus. In Vancouver, I didn't even have a car for a while and loved using the transit system. But since moving to the Island, I've become completely car-reliant.

I decided it was time to give our transit system a whirl. Despite the fact that I can see a bus stop out my front window, today I walked for an hour before catching a bus (just to get a good walk in).

Taking the bus meant waiting around where I would normally just go and walking quite a ways when I got to my destination. But I found it pretty easy and enjoyed myself.

What surprised me were the little things I noticed. I viewed the world completely differently from inside the bus, and again on foot. I noticed things I would never notice when I'm zipping by in my car (and hopefully paying attention to the road, not sights I'm passing). I also interacted with 3 people. That's 3 people I would never have spoken to if I'd done my solo car journey.

Looking forward to my next transit travels!

Pain-Free Yoga

You have to love headlines. This article: Yoga bad for you knees, Indian doctor warns is a great example. I frowned a little when I read the headline, but this is a great article.

I know people who have gone to Yoga classes, tried something their body wasn't ready for and injured themself. It is also possible I've been this person at times in my practice. I find there are two things going on here.

The first thing is that students may not listen to their bodies' messages. Our bodies tell us when to pull back and we need to practice listening for and heeding these messages. There is a difference between a stretch and a strain. Ideally an instructor will encourage students to listen to their bodies and help them move slowly into more advanced poses to ensure they have time to pull back.

The second thing that happens is we want to get there now! Imagine that; in our fast food-cell phone society we don't want to wait for something. So we want to be able to do our ideal pose right now! But we don't get to choose that. Our bodies can only do what they can do, so let's head back to number 1 and listen to our bodies. And I'll admit that while number 1 doesn't trip me up, this one does. So I have to pay extra attention that I don't push myself too far, too fast.

Listen to your body, love your body.

Slowing Down while Speeding Up

How do you slow down when you need to keep going full speed ahead? It's that time of year for me. Work (my day job) is really busy and I'm off between Christmas and New Years. So, of course, I'm cramming as much work into as little time as possible. I'm starting early, I'm working late. Everything that just doesn't feel right to me. I know it's short term, so I accept it and soldier on.

But I need to slow down somewhere, so here's how I've carved out time for me:

• Yoga. Well, that was obvious wasn't it? When I add in Yoga (even a little bit), it helps the screeching wheels come to a halt and bring me some peace.
• Reading. I love getting immersed in a good novel. I don't have a lot of time for it right now, but I make a little.
• Making plans with friends and family. Last night I had a great supper out, shared, laughed, it was very restorative.
• Taking a little time off (we're going storm watching in Tofino).
• Laughing, a great way to relax and restore.
• Shuffling my schedule and moving some stuff to January to lighten the work load.

How are you slowing things down a bit this holiday season?

Season of Giving

The holiday season is here with all the bells, whistle, sugar and glitter that comes as part of the package. We don't really celebrate Christmas at our house. What I mean by that is that we don't do decorations, presents or really anything special. I'm fine with this, but sometimes it is good to inject some amount of holiday cheer into the season (at least more than a gingerbread latte).

A few years ago I started going to Christmas concerts and keep the tradition alive this year by heading out this Sunday with my friends. And a good friend just invited me to Christmas dinner at her house which sounds great because then I get some of the holiday tradition without having to do the whole meal at our house.

But what I really like about Christmas is the idea of giving. Last year some of us went carolling at one of the long term care facilities in town. It was a great way to give something back to others in our community.

So I started thinking about how I wanted to incorporate giving into this year's holiday. At the same time, my birthday is shortly after Christmas and I was thinking about how to spend that day (last year we went snowshoeing).

I've decided this year to combine giving and my birthday. I've invited my friends for a birthday potluck. In addition to their potluck dish, I've asked them to bring a donation to the food bank. And I'm running a contest where the largest donation will win a prize.

I'm very excited about spending my birthday with my friends, giving back (because I'll have a donation too) and bringing my friends together to give back to the community as well. Suddenly the season seems more festive!