I’ve had a very quiet Sunday so far. I woke up, went back to sleep, then woke up again. Got up, harvested strawberries to deliver to my folks before heading off to my last BodyFlex fitness class for the year, then went for a long walk around the park with my sister-in-law and my two nephews, and when i got home, i made a delicious lunch of poached salmon atop fresh cos lettuce from Emma’s garden, snow peas, capsicums, cherry tomatoes, avocado, toasted sesame and cumin seeds, finished with a simple dressing of lemon juice and flaxseed oil. Sounds good ay?

Sitting there with my large, fresh, nutrient-dense plate it got me to thinking. How on earth is it that i can have access to all of this? Think about it, the meal itself could have served two if i had wanted it that way, and it could have been less fancy with perhaps canned fish as opposed to fresh, but salmon happened to be on special this week. Vegetables in some countries cost the earth, whereas i had most of the ones in this dish given to me for free. And the taste! Oh my goodness, how delectable!

I recently learnt that the human brain, although mostly made up of water, is also made up of omega 3 fats – 10% of it in fact. That sounds like a whole lot to me. It is easy to understand why we need to ensure we get enough of these essential fatty acids into our diet, otherwise our poor old brains will be starved. I also learnt that the average american barely gets any omega 3′s in their diet at all, and that the ratio of omega 6′s to omega 3′s back in the days of the caveman was 1:1, but now it’s more like 50:1. How scary is that? Not only are we NOT moving anymore, like we were built to, but we are also suckered into eating processed convenience foods that are lacking in the basic building blocks of our organs.

Nice.

So, as i was feeling pretty grateful this morning at firstly being able to actually use my legs to get around (no chance of this frame becoming inactive any time soon!), but as the day went on, the abundance that surrounded me in my access to clean air, fresh water (Christchurch’s water systems have now recovered and we’re back to drinking pure springs from the tap, woopwoop!), full and complete nourishment and time to enjoy it all really had me feeling even more blessed.

I sometimes feel that i’m always on the look out for more. More of what? Well, everything. More work, more free time, more coffee cups, more money, more apple gadgets, more friends and loved ones, more air miles, more knowledge, more shoes, more inspiration, more creativity, more spiritual connections, more holidays, more dreams to be fulfilled….more abundance.

However, if i look simply at today, one very quiet December Sunday, i see that i have much more than many in this world, and even though i will continue to strive to further myself, to obtain more of whatever it is i’m seeking and to live more abundantly for the sake of my future family, i really am very grateful for the abundance in which i am already living.

After having written about how grateful i am for tea i was feeling pretty chipper this morning when i woke up, and receiving all your lovely comments throughout the day was the cherry on top. However, my test today it seems has been to not fall victim to road rage.

As i said in last night’s post, i’m house-sitting for some friends on the other side of town. Usually that wouldn’t cause too much of a hassle but seeing as the city is still in a state of total disarray from the earthquakes this past year, i’m finding it pretty difficult to get around in a calm and timely fashion. The roads are constantly being blocked from one day to the next because of repairs and the traffic is jammed up for long stretches at a time as we all try to navigate our way through the orange-coned rabbit warren of a road system, without losing our cool.

Now, i’m not complaining about the repairs, they have to be done, and the ladies and gents who are doing it come rain or shine are absolute gems – they’re our fluoro-vested, hard-hatted angels – but, the peeps on the roads are generally quite impatient and forget to do things like, oooh i dunno, indicate? travel at a decent speed? let me know if you’re gonna change lanes or just stop for no reason? Suffice it to say, my patience was tested today. I have spent more time in the car than i’d ever care to on a day as gloriously sunny as this, but all the while i was thinking about what on earth i could be grateful for in this situation.

And then i looked around me.

I saw a bunch of amazingly talented kids at the corner skate park doing some wicked jumps and tricks on their skateboards, unhinged bikes, scooters and other cool toys that i wish i could look as awesome riding as they did. I saw workmen enjoying a hard-earned break under the shade of a tree. I saw people, just like me, winding down their windows to take it all in, whilst listening to smooth summery sounds and singing along (i only sing when i’m in the car – i often dance then too, which gets me a few weird looks, but hey, gotta enjoy it otherwise….ROAD RAGE!)

This made me think. My most favourite thing in the world is probably sunshine. I am sooooo grateful for sunshine! Sunshine reminds me that we are all sensational beings in a world whose life force comes from the sun. My own spiritual self gets its energy from what Bahá’ís sometimes call the Sun of Truth (aka God), which shines out when i’m connected, just as it does out of others when they are also in touch with their true selves.

Sunshine warms me up inside and out and it makes me smile without me even trying. I look around at nature on a sunny day and everything sparkles, bursting with life and reaching up tall to the sky. I am in my element when basking in the sunshine.

I always refer to my dearest loves as “my sunshine” and their sunshininess always puts a smile on my dial.

And secretly, whenever i get a moment to close my eyes with my face up to the sun, i imagine myself getting charged up and revitalised, just like superman (sshhhhhh)

If i could recall all the summer time concerts, outings, trips, birthdays, weddings, celebrations, lazy moments, quiet times of reflection or anything else, whether with friends, family or by myself, i feel total joy. I am totally, 100% grateful for sunshine. Sunshine, blue skies and the most amazing cloud formations one could ever wish to look upon. Even when traffic is at its worst, if the sun is shining, the trip becomes a moment of total peace.

I just came from a café catch-up with one of my oldest and dearest girlfriends. It’s late at night, i should be going to bed, but pulling in the driveway she sent me a text that read “i’m grateful to have you in my life”. That stopped me in my tracks.

Wow.

All of a sudden i was filled with an abundance of gratitude for her. And then an overwhelming wave of gratitude for all of the other amazing women, men, children, friends and relatives that i have in my life. And then i felt a rush of gratitude for all of the seemingly insignificant other bounties i experience on a daily basis purely because i am that blessed. Then i had to put sleep on hold, because this is important, and i wanted to share it with you.

But first things first. Kettle on. It’s time for tea.

That might just be my first piece in this series. My Gratefulness Series.

I’m house-sitting for the next 6 weeks for some friends who’ve gone holidaying in the Solomon Islands. Sun, sea, solar-powered everything, no internet, no electricity, no noise, just nature and good company. Sounds blissful

My friends said that their house is now my house and that i was to treat it as such. That included harvesting and eating all their deliciously organic home-grown fruits and vegetables and sampling any and all of their amazingly vast collection of exotic teas. Crikey, twist my rubber arm why don’t'cha!

Anyway, back to the series. I was acknowledging this flow of gratitude and that despite so many ups and downs in our lives, no matter where we are, where we’re from, what we’re doing, how much we hurt, how much we smile, how much we love, how much we struggle, there is always, ALWAYS something or someone to be grateful for. Every single day.

So for the next wee while, i’m going to do just that. I’m going to express my gratitude for at least one thing in my day that makes me feel full. Full of life and love and grace and awe and humility and joy and compassion and energy. All those little things that make me feel blessed, because truly, we can all appreciate small pleasures and be grateful that they were there to make our day a little more rich.

Just nigh on midnight, i am sitting here, thinking about all of you out in the ether, reading about little pascaliwagg at a little table in little New Zealand, listening to Piano Works by Craig Armstrong and drinking a cup of vanilla & raspberry-enriched rooibos tea, and savouring every sip. Why? Because i am actually grateful for tea.

Tea reminds me of warmth, joy and friendship. It reminds me of laughs shared in Japan when i lived there, as we’d splash out to buy the most exotic green tea with strawberry buds or lavender beads, and bake wee treats to enjoy while watching comedies, playing karaoke-esque games or indulging in deep and meaningful conversations. I miss those friends and don’t know when i will physically be in their presence again, but i am grateful for them and for those precious memories shared over tea.

Tea also reminds me of family. My family are actually huge coffee drinkers (that may very well be a post of its own one day!), but we also all appreciate a decent cup of tea. We all enjoy an English Breakfast in the morning, a subtle Earl Grey in the afternoon, and sometimes a Chai or a Gran’s Garden or a Moroccan Mint herbal in the evening. We all love tea time, even those new members that join the family end up loving the endless beverage list offered at Chez Battrick and they often end up loading their own cupboards with an insane number of tea options just to accommodate us visiting. My tea cup, empty or full, reminds me of my loving family, all spread out around the country and around the world. My heart almost aches at the thought of how grateful i am for them. It’s ridiculous that i could have a family as amazing as this.

Finally, tea reminds me of connection. I will often have “virtual tea” with my friends in foreign lands. We’ll schedule a Skype date and it will always begin with a tea-cup emoticon followed by a question mark.

It’s brewing. Please hold…..

When i first went travelling, 13 years ago, i had no cell phone, no computer, and had only just learnt about this elusive “e-mail” thingamajig. I’d send my parents a monthly update about which country i was in and which job i was doing, and every now and again i would snail-mail something back or find a public phone to make a long distance call.

Now, it’s almost as though i just need to think of you and you’re there. That’s how well-connected we are *whooooosh!*

Virtual tea reminds me of how far we’ve come in the world of connectability. I now have a laptop, a smartphone, multiple messaging services at my fingertips and i can contact anyone at anytime in any country or time zone, and enjoy them. I am grateful for the gift of living in a world where innovation allows me to instantly comfort a friend in need or celebrate the birth of their child, catch up with my long lost loves and encourage new ones to press on in their endeavours. It starts with tea, but ends in real connections.

Now it’s time to end this post so i’ll finish my last sip and rest my head. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s brew and the next thing to be grateful for.

A friend of mine posted this article in the “Good Faith” news section of The Christchurch Press recently, and because i love coffee and i love God, almost equally, i thought i’d paste it here for you all to mull over during that caffeine break of yours….

Great coffee! The barista acknowledges my compliment with a hurried wave and smile. It’s all about the coffee bean she calls as I return to my seat. The coffee bean? Perhaps we should acknowledge the Creator of the coffee bean too? My coffee companion snorts from behind his newspaper partition. You mean God, sitting on a cloud wearing a white robe? No, sorry. There’s another version? I believe there is. You have my attention. How do you know there is a God, a Creator? Let’s start there.

How about we start with coffee? Deal!

So, we know our coffee exists because of our interaction with it. We see, smell, touch and taste it. Regularly! We can rationally conclude that a person with intelligence and skill to make this great coffee must also exist. This coffee informs us of the existence of a creator, in this case, the barista behind the coffee machine. A creation requires a creator.

Go on.

Let’s expand that idea to include the natural world and the world of humanity. Try and conceive of the intelligence required to create a coffee bean. Also consider the intelligence in the evolutionary processes that surround us, which have assisted two coffee addicts to collide at this moment in time with the plant world, and its coffee. What a glorious accident! How can our existence and the phenomenal world we live in be accidental, without design, intelligence and a Creator?

I like this idea!

It’s starting to sound like God could be partially to blame for my ballooning coffee expenses. I’ll let you explain this again to my wife.

Seriously, you’re suggesting a God-intelligence, a Creator, is responsible for my existence, my coffee, and evolutionary processes, which I doubt many of us are conscious of? That requires a leap of faith doesn’t it? I think it requires some small logical steps. Letting go of inherited beliefs and dogma, and an open mind helps too.  I struggle with the idea that I can’t see this Creator, this Divine Intelligence you call God. Surely the creation, me in this case, should be able to see my Creator, or at least have some sense of Him? I get the dilemma.

Bahá’ísacred texts explain it in this way: “God in His Essence and in His own Self hath ever been unseen, inaccessible, and unknowable.” God‘s hiding? That’s convenient. I’d hide too! We can see DNA, atomic particles, but not God? Look at this rationally. We, humanity, coexist and interact in the phenomenal world with the animal, the plant and the mineral realms. We coexist and interact, but the lower realms of existence cannot comprehend the higher ones. The barista can understand the qualities and composition of the coffee bean. The coffee bean though has no perception of the realm of humanity. It doesn’t have the capacity. How does that relate to us knowing God?

Bahá’í writings suggest the difference in degree between man and the Creator is “thousands upon thousands of times greater than the difference between vegetable and animal.” Humanity doesn’t have the capacity to see or know the realm of God, which is a Divine Realm of existence far advanced and higher than our own. We can rationally accept a Creator exists because we exist, but it’s not possible for us to comprehend this Divine Intelligence. There’s more to this story I think? Yes, there is which we’ll save for another day. In the meantime we’d better head back to that other unknowable realm. Ah, the office! Takeaway? Better make mine a double shot.

Mark Henderson is a registered counsellor and member of the Christchurch Baha’i community.

This is my current contest.

For starters, it has almost been one whole month since i wrote a blog post. Why? Because i can’t even find time to sleep, let alone time to type, and that’s a great pity because i do so love to write to you all. And if not to you all, then at least to the ether…the ether listens to me, most of the time. Yep, me and that ether, we get along like a house on fire; we are bosom buddies, like two peas in a pod

I’ve been busy with all sorts of work and play these last days, weeks, months – well, it’s mainly been work but because i love my work so much it kinda just feels like play. I mean, part of my work/play time led me to Sydney to listen to Tony Robbins and Robert Kiyosaki talk about how they made their squegga-billions and how each and every one of us can find empowerment within ourselves to do whatever we want in life. How cool is that? Then there’s the cooking and nutrition classes i’m running now week by week, educating the masses on good food choices that help you to achieve optimum health and happiness (and they’re already maxed out in capacity, which is awesomesauce), the writing and releasing of the first volume of an accompanying recipe book, and the mentoring that comes with being a leader. Plus, it’s totally getting into summer time now so outdoor PT sessions are a must, as are weekend barbecues and getaways (once the rugby world cup has died down of course!) and finally there’s all my Bahá’í work and local activities to keep my spirit in a state of peace and my heart in a state of blissful contentment.

Work or play, all these minutes of commitment add up to a 36-hour day. I did ask God for more hours so that i could also add in a good night’s sleep, but so far He’s seemed to have said no, make do with the 24 I’ve already given you. Sleep deprived or free-time poor, or not, i do still have it pretty good.

I also just surpassed my one-year business anniversary (happy birthday OXYGEN Fitness Excellence woopwoop!), in what has been quite possibly the most (outwardly) tumultuous 12 months of my life, and of the lives of so many in this city (refer to the posts under category #eqnz), and somehow i’ve managed to survive it and even thrive in it. My business and personal development is progressively on the rise and i’m even managing to find moments to meet new people and celebrate new lives (welcome to the world, nephew number four!)

爽哉 (Sawyer) Taane

Having said that, last night i had a grand total of 3 solid hours in an actual bed, with my head on an actual pillow. Reason being i had to complete some admin before rising for an early flight and as a consequence had fallen asleep at my computer. First time i’ve done that…waking up at 2:35am with a creak in my neck as i am about to slip off the couch and my laptop, still whirring, is teetering dangerously on one knee….and so the only reason i’ve found any time today to actually write this is purely because i accidentally booked a return flight later than i needed to and so am killing time in the departure lounge of the Auckland domestic terminal.

On the upside to my poorly managed flight booking skills, it has meant i’ve found two extra hours to dedicate to you lovely people

So, the time vs sleep saga is actually a question to the masses. Which is more important to you? Time, or sleep? I’ve been told by a reliable source that sleep is overrated. I beg to differ, mainly because when i’m super tired i find every little thing hilariously funny, and i also get jumpy legs. I also then function solely on adrenalin and caffeine, which isn’t bad for a wee while, but after the year i’ve had i think my adrenalin secretors could do with a holiday.

But then there’s the allocation of that time too. Time to sleep or time to work, time to play or time to relax, time to get away or time to take on a new project, or even just time to fit in a new something or someone in your life. Hmmmmm what to do, what to do? That’s where online scheduling comes into play.

I have an online calendar (go up to the top of the page and click on the big button if you want to see it), and this tells all my clients when i’m available to meet them. They book in a slot and it alerts me immediately. It works so well that i’ve begun telling FRIENDS to book in a slot that way. “When are you free for a coffee?” – ummm lemme check my calendar and book you in, or how about you just go in there and book in a time that suits you. I’ve even had to schedule a weekly date night with my sunshine because he’s just as busy as i am and it was the only way that we could ensure we actually had regular time to spend together and get to know each others’ friends and family (we’re relatively early on in our relationship, so finding moments to invest in each other is an obvious priority).

booked.

And look at that, now i have to go and board my flight….hmmm, please hold the line one moment…..

Okay, back on solid ground.

So as i was saying, time is whizzing by and although i absolutely love all my scheduled moments, this year has gone by so quickly that i feel like i’ve not had many minutes to pause and reflect, except during the wee hours of the night when i’m up typing blog posts instead of sleeping.

I wonder if i’ll figure it out. It is at the top of my “to do” list, so surely at some point i’ll reach equilibrium. But until then, i’ll just have to make better use of airport lounges and that online calendar block-out function.

And i promise to write you sooner.

Rest well everyone.

I’ve been having quite a few serendipitous events lately. What’s serendipity, you might ask? Well, asides from being the title of a terribly poor hollywood movie, serendipity is just pure, unexpected awesomeness. Here are a couple of quick definitions from our good friends at google:

Courtesy of trusty Wiki

Serendipity is when someone finds something that they weren’t expecting to find. The word has been voted as one of the ten English words that were hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company. However, due to its sociological use, the word has been exported into many other languages. In the simplest of words, it means a “happy accident” or a “pleasant surprise”.

The Urban Dictionary

1. A very good coincidence, often leading to something really awesome.
2. The act of ‘stumbling’ upon something good or fortunate. Something that makes you happy.

So, there you have it, coming across something wicked that makes you happy, and often when you least expect it. I have definitely had a week or two of wickedly unexpected joys come my way and that has had me think more and more about the notion of serendipity, chance and accidental awesomeness.

You know that whole idea of putting your goals out into the universe on a daily basis? Well, in view of progressing in the business world i had started to get into quite a bit of personal development workshopping and such, and that of course then crossed into most other areas of focus in my life, including financial, personal, health and fitness and so on. What i found was that as i would write out my goals in the present, perfect, personal tense first thing after waking, these things were at the forefront of my conscious and my subconscious mind.  This led me to seek out and pursue opportunities that i might not ordinarily pursue, through fear or doubt or perhaps mere ignorance. Not only did i seek further opportunities but i found that more and more became available – was i just blind to the multitude before? Or were these positive thoughts actually attracting them to me? Or both?

The thing about positive thought is that you have to follow through with positive action. When someone you meet offers you their card and says with sincerity that you should contact them again to discuss a networking option or whatever, then you should acknowledge that sincerity and follow through with positive action.

Positive thought + positive action = moving forward = progression = ♥ & ☺

I won’t go into detail about the numerous professional and personal development opportunities that have bombarded me since actively pursuing this track of purposeful and focused goal-setting, but suffice it to say that it’s obvious enough for me to want to keep doing it, and to evangelically yell from the rooftops to everyone i meet about the effectiveness of it. It’s almost as if finally i’m asking God/the Universe/the energy ether (whatever it is for you that lifts you up) for things with certitude and purpose and hello, i’m getting them.

Whatever i thought i wasn’t entitled to before, i am feeling quite happily entitled to now.

Serendipity, it seems, is no accident – it’s a mixture of wilful expression from within your very being, and grace from the divine realm. Whether you’re religious or not doesn’t matter, serendipity can happen to you too, you simply need to be observant and openly receptive. I for one acknowledge my spiritual self and happily accept with sincere gratitude all the blessings i have been given, not just these past two weeks, not just the past 3 decades, but also what is to come. That is super exciting.

I wish you all a serendipitous week

I’ve been surrounded by pizza all week, which is a weird thing to be surrounded by, but there you go.

Pizza boxes on the bench when i come home, pizza aromas through my car window as i drive through town, friends talking about how they want pizza, and then lastly, during the second to last week of my 12-week nutrition course we talk a great deal about the evils of generic pizza and the joys of home made. We also teach how to eat out at a pizza restaurant and to actually not consume 3 days’ worth of calories and fat in one hit…that’s right, THREE DAYS’ WORTH is what you’re usually inhaling when you go for average, oily, cheese-smothered, poor quality meat-laden pizza.

In Italy, your average pizza gives a total calorie intake of about 1000kcal. In America you’re looking at about 3000kcal – that’s 450kcal per average slice. Now think about this, how many of you eat more than one slice of pizza during a meal? I’d hazard a guess that most of us would go for at least two, if not three. You do the math.

As for fat, per American slice you’re looking at about 25 grams of fat each, and most of that will be saturated fat from all the processed fatty meats and budget cheese.

Mmmmmm yumsy. Not.

So why is it different in Italy, the home of pizza? For starters, they make theirs with thin bases, not like us, who put meat on top of something that looks and tastes like a round loaf of white bread. The Italianos then whack on heaps of veges and half the cheese that we do, and even then they use pecorino romano or parmesan, which you need less of because of the deliciously intense flavour, or mozzarella, which is not as fatty as usual cheddars and mild cheeses. Then when they do put meat on there, they use lean cuts of usually one kind of meat, as opposed to five different types of meat from three different animals. Dial-a-Coronary? Yumsy.

But hey, we all love pizza, so how do we go about ordering one that won’t a) wreak havoc on our cholesterol; b) clog our arteries; c) spike our blood sugar levels; d) sabotage any fat loss we were working on; or e) actually be the last straw in killing us…?

Easy. Here are a few tips when dining out:

• Choose thin crust
• Ask for low-fat cheese or an aged cheese
• Ask for half the usual amount of cheese
• Go heavy on the veges
• Go light on the meats
• Choose low-fat meat
• Choose the “create-your-own” options
• Eat a salad with it

Delectably spicy base from cooking for celiacs, colitis and IBS

Gluten-free, low GI pizza (adjusted from Trinity Health for Weight Loss)

Ingredients for crust

3 eggs

3 cups cooked cauliflower (grated or run through a kitchen whizz)

3 cups low fat mozzarella cheese (plus an extra 1½ cups for topping the pizza)

1 Tbs Italian seasoning

½ tsp garlic salt

1 15oz can low-sodium fire roasted tomatoes (in the canned stewed tomato section of the store.)

1 tsp crushed garlic

2 tsp Italian seasoning

½ cup red wine (See footnote to make without wine – which i tend to prefer)

Plus lots of toppings. Use any veges you would normally put on a pizza (Mushrooms, onion, fresh tomato, artichoke heart, broccoli, red or green peppers, black olives, pineapple, dried crushed red peppers)

As for meats, use any that are 85-90% lean (turkey pepperoni, turkey sausage, chicken, lean lamb, lean beef etc). Try to use mostly vegetables and go light on the meat as each serving of pizza already has lots of fat due to the 3/4 cup of total cheese in each serving.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to high heat

2. Spray the pan or line it to prevent from sticking

3. Combine cauliflower, cheese, garlic salt, eggs and 1Tb Italian seasoning and press evenly into pan.

4. Bake for 20 minutes or until edges begin to brown and crust is firm to the touch.

5. Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, garlic, wine/vinegar & bouillon, 2 tsp Italian seasoning and bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium and reduce until sauce thickens. (You may have to puree the sauce to get it to thicken up.)

6. Add salt, garlic salt or pepper to taste.

7. Remove crust from oven, set oven to Grill (NZ)/Broil (US).

8. Spread sauce over entire crust and top with 1½ cups low fat cheese.

9. Add toppings * (make sure any meat is thoroughly cooked)

10. Broil/Grill just until cheese melted.

11. Let cool 5 minutes and cut into 6 squares to serve with knife and fork.

* In place of wine you can use ½ cup beef/vege stock (made with 1 cube bouillon and ½ cup water), and a little red wine vinegar.

So there we have it. Pizza can actually be low fat, low GI (glycaemic index), low GL (glycaemic load), filled with fat-burning ingredients and be ridiculously tasty. Now, go and enjoy some

What a whirlwind of a week i have had!

It began with snow and a trip to windy Wellington, where i got ice-blasted and spent most of my time in meetings in cafés (fortunately, in the same café, so not too much running around in wind, rain and slush). But the most important thing about this trip was the session of “Body Talk” that i received over dinner with a colleague. What is that i hear you ask? Well, it’s hard to describe (which is why the link is pasted above), but in brief, it is a non-invasive practice that is used to realign your head and heart in order to fix problems within your body or mind.

Thing is, i didn’t even know i had any problems i simply mentioned to her in passing that i was lactose intolerant and off she went! Swinging her pendulum and telling me my life story, with 100% accuracy, down to a T. This woman couldn’t have known these things about me, because i’d only met her once before. She knew things about my life as a foetus even – how mad is that! She described my birth and the issues i had (i was a prem-baby) and sure enough, when i confirmed these events with my folks, she was right on the money.

So, what did she tell me i had? Well, firstly she confirmed to me that everything i know about nutrition is correct (+1 to that!) and then she said that i wasn’t technically intolerant to anything, but that i had developed leaky gut syndrome way back when i was a very little pascaliwagg.

What’s that now? Well, it sounds pretty dodgy, and i guess it is, but here’s a quick word:

The official definition of Leaky Gut Syndrome is an increase in permeability of the intestinal mucosa to luminal macromolecules, antigens, and toxins associated with inflammatory degenerative and/ or atrophic mucosa or lining.

Put more simply, large spaces develop between the cells of the gut wall allowing bacteria, toxins and food to leak into the bloodstream.

Yeah, so, in a nutshell, my whole life i’ve been letting toxins into my blood and as time has gone by, even little bits of food. Gross. Thus the intolerances to lactose and wheat or gluten, as these proteins are the smallest so slip through relatively easily.

Thing is, all my life i’ve just assumed that what i’ve been living was normal, because it was normal for me. Until of course the intolerances and the bloated belly flares. I am the fittest and healthiest i’ve ever been in all other respects, but my darn digestive system is total rubbish.

So, i’m on a mission to fix it. Turns out that i can fix it relatively easily, by eating raw milk yoghurt for a few months, every day. It would appear that the good bacteria that usually lives in one’s intestines have taken a looooong holiday for me, and the only reason i haven’t noticed it until now is quite possibly because i had a loving family who always fed me good nutritious food, i have a great work-life balance so don’t get stressed too easily, and i am stronger, fitter and healthier now than i was as a young’un when my problematic insides were less obvious. So even though they have been getting progressively worse with age, as my mind and body have been getting stronger in most other areas, i’ve somehow tolerated them relatively well.

Curious, isn’t it?

And what about fortune amidst the misfortune? Yes, there is always a silver lining to every crisis. For starters, i have increased my knowledge of the inner workings of the endocrine system, the central nervous system, the digestive system and have learnt the myriad potential outcomes spawning from antenatal steroid treatments, so my brain has had a field day over this (and if you know me at all, you know i love all things progressive). Secondly, when told i needed to access raw milk i thought it would be really tough, given that it’s semi-illegal (farmers can only sell so many litres per day direct to the public over here), but nay….a shining star of a young man only just started coming along to my Crimson Connection devotional and discussion groups and what does he do for a living? He makes cheese and yoghurt, and can bring me raw milk in abundance and with utter ease. Brilliant.

(As an aside, Mr Cheesemonger might just be saving my life, little does he know it…)

Anyway, so that was the beginning and near end of the week, until today, when i went to my first pole fit dancing lesson. I figured my own training sessions could do with a change up, seeing as summer is coming and there are only so many boxing classes my knuckles will allow me to take on in a week (much as i love them of course!) so, now the bruises are on my legs but when you get it right, it does look pretty awesome

Images from Altitude Pole

Sunshine.

Green pastures.

Blue skies, white clouds.

Quiet nights.

Fresh salmon fillets over crisp salads.

Citrus fruits ripe from the tree, just a footstep away from my table.

Coffee brewing, accompanied by little squares of dark chilli chocolate.

Uncle D and Aunty La, filling me up with humorous stories and words of wisdom.

Oh how blissful is the 3-day weekend during the week

It’s funny how a change in the weather can make or break you. If you get it right, things can be pretty awesome, but get it wrong, and you wish you’d just stayed in bed. When you think of polar opposites in terms of weather though, not the in between grey and dreary kind, it can be spot on perfect. And perfection is always the aim of the game.

Picture a super sunny day, bright blue sky, fluffy clouds, open fields, warmth, birds singing; picture something like this:

Seriously, how could one NOT be joyous on a day like that?

And on the flip side, you wake up from your warm and cosy bed, look out the window and see a winter wonderland, beautiful flakes falling from the sky, a blanketed city that was yesterday dusty and broken, but today looks like layer upon layer of  marshmallow and white-iced sponge cake, where children are running around playing, where the cars have stopped and the adults are free from work cares – everyone is out enjoying themselves and taking photos, and if not, then they’re indoors watching movies and making roast dinners and poached fruit desserts. Can you see it? It looks a little like this:

and like this:

It’s the extreme ends of the weather spectrum here that bring out the best in people i reckon. The number of people that said hello and stopped for friendly conversation today whilst i was etching heart shapes into random peoples’ cars along my route to a friend’s house was phenomenal. On a normal day, that just wouldn’t happen. But when you’re singing for joy because the sun makes you smile so much, or you’re jumping and galavanting about like a frolicking bambi character in the Narnia-esque streets (yes, when knee deep in snow, i frolic), then there’s no escaping the glee – it’s impossible to resist.

One lady i saw was attempting to prop up a leaning lamppost with snow. She reckoned it would help support it, should it the weight from snow resting on the other side prove too much for the post to bear. When i asked her about it she said, “every little bit helps…and this is just too much fun ”. Well now, who can compete with that? I had one man this evening smile and congratulate me for wearing hiking boots out, perhaps because it’s totally abnormal otherwise, given the fact that i was not on a mountain, but on a piece of flat, albeit snowy, road. I must admit, i felt a little bit excited to be able to crack those boots out today, because they are epic. They are gortex and fully waterproof, so i can frolic all i want and not get wet, cold feet. I also had my awesomejuice, dangling pom-pom woolly hat on, and that just equates to pure joy (read 可愛い子ちゃん for my Japanese friends in the know), and i also had my fingerless gloves with attachable mitten covers on, so my snow-frolicking outfit was complete.

All in all, the day was pretty sweet. It involved no work, all friends, family, good food, great conversation, amazing tea and lots and lots of luscious white snow.

I hope you all had a good day out too, wherever you were