'Because if something is in your way it is going your way'
Reading corner
Because Even the Word Obstacle Is an Obstacle
by Alison Luterman Try to love everything that gets in your way:
the Chinese women in flowered bathing caps
murmuring together in Mandarin, doing leg exercises in your lane
while you execute thirty-six furious laps,
one for every item on your to-do list.
The heavy-bellied man who goes thrashing through the water
like a horse with a harpoon stuck in its side,
whose breathless tsunamis rock you from your course.
Teachers all. Learn to be small
and swim through obstacles like a minnow
without grudges or memory. Dart
toward your goal, sperm to egg. Thinking Obstacle
is another obstacle. Try to love the teenage girl
idly lounging against the ladder, showing off her new tattoo:
Cette vie est la mienne, This life is mine,
in thick blue-black letters on her ivory instep.
Be glad she'll have that to look at all her life,
and keep going, keep going. Swim by an uncle
in the lane next to yours who is teaching his nephew
how to hold his breath underwater,
even though kids aren't allowed at this hour. Someday,
years from now, this boy
who is kicking and flailing in the exact place
you want to touch and turn
will be a young man, at a wedding on a boat
raising his champagne glass in a toast
when a huge wave hits, washing everyone overboard.
He'll come up coughing and spitting like he is now,
but he'll come up like a cork,
alive. So your moment
of impatience must bow in service to a larger story,
because if something is in your way it is
going your way, the way
of all beings; towards darkness, towards light.
[Source: http://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2013/04/alison-luterman-because-even-word.html]
Healing notes
As the year draws to a close, I have been thinking of ways to reflect on the year. Personally, professionally, emotionally. Without splitting my life into boxes that is. Last year, I found some guiding questions and answered them in my journal. I thought I would write down a few questions here that I would ask myself. If you want to, do join me in the reflection. I just use the calendar year as a way to think about days gone by and things I have learnt. Things I am grateful for. Things I am proud of. Things I found challenging and questions I asked myself. It helps me think of the year fondly and hope I learn from it in some manner.
- What were you proud of in the past year? and what more would you like to do?
- What were the people and moments you were grateful for? and what would you like to do to show your gratitude more?
- What made you joyful this year? What brought you greater peace?
- What are the questions that you asked yourself this year? Would you change anything about the questions? Have you changed because of the questions?
For now, I think so much is a good starting point. I hope your last month of the year is reflective in a way that makes you feel good. I wish you (and me) less obstacles in the last month of 2018 <3
Food experiments
I have been eating so much palak off late and really loving it. It wasn't always a vegetable I cooked willingly. But it has been yummy to eat in the cold weather here.
Palak and paneer in coconut milk
Three bunches of palak (spinach)
One big slice of paneer, around 250 gms
Some coconut milk (50 ml)
Salt
Pepper
Oil
Garlic
Pour some oil in the vessel and roast some garlic. I love garlic so I used many cloves. Depends on you the amount you want.
Add the paneer after and cook till slightly brown.
Add the palak and fry till it shrinks. Add the coconut milk now. Cover and let it simmer for a while. The coconut milk will be absorbed and you will have a slightly pasty curry.
Add salt and pepper and mix well. Serve hot. I ate it with besan chillas!
Dear you,
Has winter arrived to your city? I hope you are warm and curled up wherever you are <3
Love, kindness and warmth,
Nidsitis
'I’ve been circling for thousands of years and I still don’t know: Am I a falcon, a storm, or a great song?' - Rainer Maria Rilke