spring time in the garden....

a honey bee delighting over the spring crocus blooms..

our new mini daffodils...

St.Francis amongst the forsythia...

the perfect host.....

me, my toes and garden rocks.......

a year gone by...

It's been a year since I have populated this blog and it feels good to be here. I have been musing of late to begin a new blog because of the life event in the way of a significant birthday, but now it seems quite alright to continue on here. There needs not be anything 'new', so I will simply carry on ..... as does my life.

Yes, one week ago today (and it seems much longer), I had my 60th birthday. It has been so interesting the lead up to this day. I have reflected on this number much over the past months. It seemed to me that this birthday in particular had a feeling wrapped around it that I found sometimes difficult to understand. And by no mean was this a bad or ominous feeling, but just something of a nature that I for a while could not describe. It wasn't that I was trying to deny my age, which I have never done. And then it occurred to me that the word I kept hearing in my mind was the word 'urgent'. This word in itself does not at least for me conjure up a positive reflection, but this was the word that kept resonating with me. So I pondered just what this meant for me.

I have come into my "third third" in life. In other words I have reached the score of years that will take me from 60 to 80. The number 60 was a tough one for me to accept for a while.  I thought it  reflected 'oldness'. I remember other milestone birthdays in various ways. When I reached 30 I thought I was finally really a 'big girl' and when 40 came about I thought I knew most everything about life there was to know.... (ha). Then when I turned 50 I realized just how wrong I was about 30 and 40 yrs of age. Now at age 60 life is so different and of course so much of that is due to different responsibilities that my life has compared to previous years. I continue to have the pressures of work, but view them in a different light than before. Retirement is on the horizon and within reach (although I would like it to be sooner than later). I am no longer active in raising my family so those responsibilities are not in the forefront although being a parent never ceases.

The urgent part of my life now extends to what my priorities will be in my life from this time on. How will I live my days and what will I make decisions based on. There is no time to waste in each day that I am given. Each day is precious. I am by no means feeling morose about this sense of urgency, but instead it allows me to realize how important things in life are whether they are of large or small importance. I feel that I can finally give myself 'permission' to live a simpler way of life than in years past. Permission was often difficult for me because of pressures I placed on myself and now I have let a lot of those strings go and this feels quite ok. All of this has evolved over the past many years and now arriving at age 60 it seems to clarify it perfectly. My path is laid out in front of me and how I navigate along that path is of my own choosing to embrace. My wise mind resides closer to the surface these days and this is like a wellspring of knowledge that affords me comfort. I will never purport to know everything and make perfect decisions but I have the wisdom to understand what is best for me and how that might look in my life.

These next 20 years will involve the possibility of many changes in my life. I look forward to them and will embrace them as my life unfolds. My life won't be perfect I'm sure, but it will be the best life that I choose to live based on my history. It's time to live well. It's time to live simply. It's just simply time for so much to embrace in life.

Namaste,
Maggie

Quinoa Bean Salad

The days are beginning to gain hours of daylight and with this comes the excitement of warmer temperatures and sunshine. I can already feel the 'change' within me that translates into my my longing for foods that need not warm me as they did during the cold winter months but instead are cooling to the body. As the seasons change so do our tastes and desires for different foods.

I went to my repertoire of cookbooks last week and was looking for something to make that would be both quick and nutritious as a side dish. I came across a recipe for Quinoa Bean Salad and I was in! I love chick peas and also kidney beans and the best thing of all was that I had all of the ingredients already in my refrigerator and pantry! I have already made this recipe twice and it is so tasty! It bears sharing with everyone so that you can enjoy it too. I do try to use organic ingredients (which quinoa is most often organic), but any fresh, local ingredients will be delicious also! And when it's made with love it's just the best ever :)

Let's share in some facts about quinoa. It is an amazing food choice!
can be bought as a grain, flour or in flakes

• grains can come in red, black or a white / golden colour
• grains cook up to 3 or more times it's original volume
• cooks up quickly
• an excellent source of protein 
• is considered a complex carbohydrate allowing for easy and slow digestion 
• is gluten free

Quinoa Bean Salad

1 cup of water
1/2 cup of quinoa
One 19oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
One 14 oz can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup sliced green bell pepper
1 cup diced celery
3/4 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Bring the water and quinoa to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave the covered saucepan on the burner for another 4 minutes. Fluff with a fork and allow the quinoa to cool.

Combine the quinoa, chickpeas, kidney beans, green pepper, celery and onion in a large bowl.
In a small bowl mix the vinegar, oil, garlic, oregano and black pepper until well blended.

Add the dressing to the salad, mix well and serve immediately.

* I do like the salad to sit for a while in the refrigerator for the flavours to blend. I find it gives time especially for the dried oregano to become more flavourful.

Credit must always be given to the authors of the cookbook ~ Quinoa 365 : The Everyday Superfood Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming

I hope you add this recipe to your summer meal plans and enjoy it's fresh taste and all of the amazing nutrition it has to offer!

Healthy blessings sent this morning!

Maggie

in the midst of March

I see that my last post was a few months ago as the calendar turned from one year to the next. Here we are now on the doorstep of Spring. It is a pleasing place to be as the winter was long, snowy and cold. It was much like last winter and many of us were hoping that we especially did not repeat the winter of 2014. But it seems we did for the most part and yet once again we made it through and Spring is now heralding us.

 Just this morning I awoke to the songs of both a cardinal and a robin and the sounds of a blue jay which I'm not sure is exactly what I would call a song?? So it seems we all sing the praises of the months moving on and the arrival of the season next to the last. The sun shines today with just merely wisps of cloud and the temperatures will hopefully rise to above the freezing point. The snow that has accumulated into large drifts are now melting rapidly and the grass that has hibernated over the winter is now beginning to reveal itself. This is nice to see in the simplest of ways. All of these actions are indicators of both an end and a beginning. Like being at the state of betwixt and between. It is neither Winter nor Spring.

 I'm still cocooned in my morning ritual of tea and some reading and now obviously catching up on some work. I am returning to my Reiki practice this year and have just ordered a few books that will inspire me to walk down this path again. I'm excited to receive them for many reasons. One being that I love books and adding these to my library will be lovely. I share in the life of a book each and every day. It's a part of who I am. So to read a section of a book today and to also order new books makes this a wonderful day!

Now to be on to the list of things that encompass my day off. Aaah…..where is that list?? ;)

Blessings to all,
Maggie

first new year post ….

I found that over the months of 2014 I was an off and on again blogger for reasons that weren't entirely clear even to myself. I do know that over the last few months of the year I was simply ok with not blogging and had even thought of quietly closing the blog. I chuckle inside with that because I'm not sure anyone would have noticed that. My blog is truly only a place where I write what may be on my mind and if it is something that is of interest to anyone else then that is ok too. But I do like to write and put words together to create a thought. I don't look for followers and don't expect any. It's just all ok with me.

During the last quarter of the year I seemed to have a quiet place inside of me that simply didn't want to speak through the blog. I have checked in on other blogs from time to time and found that they are also  empty of words and life for the blogger is at that time no longer through the keyboard. And that is all ok.

Looking back now as I exist one week into the new year, I feel that 2014 was a year of settling in to life as it now surrounds me. For me that involves my relationship of 2 years and finding the rhythm that works for the two of us. Relationships are multi-faceted and layers deep because any two people that comprise the relationship are similarly vast. This can create difficulties often but finding an ebb and flow of understanding is the path that will find the least resistance. It seems that we have become these intense creatures who want so strongly to remain an individual that there is a subliminal fear of becoming less of who you are if you relent in a relationship to the other individual. It's just not so though. It was a dance for myself that found it's cadence in 2014. It has in turn also made me a better person I feel because I can now exist inside of the relationship and not feel vulnerable by compromising any part of who I am. I have a history of leaving a part of myself behind and becoming someone else or maybe call it 'half of who I really was'. But now it feels as though I have 'come of age'…..and I smile as I write that because a part of me then is also saying ….. 'finally'. And I can honestly share that I have felt this before, but something feels new this time. It feels real. It feels right. And it has come from a depth inside of me that has an awareness. That wise place that comes with age. That wise place that comes from appreciated experience. There will always be that mental ebb and flow, but the return to that wise place lies in one's power to eventuate in a more rapid fashion allowing a fuller life to exist in each moment.

Settling into life for me hopefully means that the flux has found it's conclusion, but I also know that nothing is forever carved in stone and challenges will present themselves but inner wisdom will prevail if given the chance. Knowing is a more comfortable process in life rather than it feeling open-ended. When we look deep inside of ourselves we often know exactly what our answer is, but we often do not want to acknowledge the answer. It's ok, it's all a growing process and a coming of age. Everyone comes to it at a different pace. Life is like that. And when it arrives you will feel that long deep sigh that acknowledges your arrival.

Live your life well. Life will give you what you bring to it. Access your inner wisdom and create the life you desire. Seek and you will find. Listen and you will hear.

I wish you all the best.

In love and light,

Maggie

BE HAPPY…...

This hangs in our stairwell to remind us each day of those things that will make us HAPPY!

 

my email attachment…...

Yesterday I received an email that was sharing information with me. I won't go into details of that information as it really isn't relative to what I learned about the email today. After reading this email I was very, very angry. What I was being asked to carry out was not the problem at all. I was angry at the composition of the email and how the writer immediately went to a place of suspected non-compliance on my part and laid out in no uncertain terms what the consequences would be for my inaction. My goodness …. I haven't even been given an opportunity to comply and I'm already being painted with the brush of disobedience.

This email was sent out to many people and not just myself. I believe there is a way to communicate that will achieve results in a positive fashion and have people feel positive about it. And then there is communication that is not positive. For me, I felt this came across as a threat. That is my personal opinion. As a finger-wagging in my face. Neither of these methods leaves me feeling very good. I discussed the email with my partner at dinner and I could feel my anger once again and it was rising even higher. I am disturbed by people who communicate in a way that is negative, leaves a person feeling negative and feels that this way of communicating is worth the outcome. This email was meant to be intimidating and nothing else.

Now here's the good part. I learned something from that email. I know there is negativity around us everywhere, but yesterday it came through in this email. It was like an attachment that I didn't have to open though because it was simply in the written words and maybe it was in my interpretation, but then again my interpretation is my reality. The next time this happens I will immediately cleanse if I'm in a position to do that and if not I will make sure that the negativity does not attach itself to me and clear it from my environment. Dry brushing is also a good practice to participate in to make sure that your body is cleared of negativity. Even meditating quietly for just a few moments will clear the negativity. Make note of the pertinent information in the email and then delete it.

The power of negativity is amazing and we all deal with it differently. Yesterday I was having a great day and then I read this email. It didn't turn my day upside down, but I certainly was upset when I read it and when I talked about it later. It was still affecting me hours later and now I realize that I could have changed that. I needed to deal with it immediately and then let it go. Let my frustration and disappointment go. Let my expectations of better communication from this person go. Just let it all go. There, I feel better all ready. If we let all of the negativity around us cling to us it will weigh us down and we will feel very heavy with its burden. Let's lighten the load.

Thanks for listening……

Blessings to all,
Maggie

Turn down the volume on life…...

Life has required a lot of smudging lately. Much more than what is our usual. It's a ritual that we share here at home as a part of our spiritual practice and it brings us balance and clarity and grounds us in our life. But lately it seems that we have been drawn to the meditation room more frequently to smudge and find that balance. Things just seem 'off' in a bigger way than normal causing us to look deeper for that balance. I know we have just finished a time of retrograde and this is often an unsettled and interesting time to work through. But having said that, it still seems that there is an energy present that is not settled. And I have felt it for a while now.

Weeks ago I kept hearing a phrase in my head that talked about life being too loud.  It seems as though there is a 'loudness' that prevails in so many ways from the macro to the micro and it is deafening us from what we really need to hear. And what we really need to hear should be soft and loving and not loud and harsh. It feels as though my mind and soul is assaulted with all of this loudness and it is so unsettling. 

Just watch the tv news or listen to the radio and you will hear it. Listen to conversations in line at your local grocery mart and you will hear it. It's at work in the lunchroom and its even in traffic when you head home from work. There is this 'loudness' everywhere. Everyone wants desperately to be heard. Everyone wants to be noticed. Everyone is desperate for acknowledgement. Yes, that's exactly it….. desperation. The world has become this desperate place that seems to exist in a chaotic fashion much of the time. And lately it just seems to be louder. Sigh……

It saddens me that we feel we need to live this way. I look around me at the world at large and am not convinced that this chosen path is working. There is strife everywhere. There is unrest everywhere. There is war that has gone on for far too long. We as a human race struggle and it seems to be getting louder. And as I said previously the microcosm is just a smaller version of the macrocosm. It's what we have been exposed to and let creep into our own lives. Once again I sigh……

So I strive to find and most importantly keep that balance and clarity. It is difficult though. It needs nurturing all the time. It needs a reminder often. So we smudge, we meditate, we takes walks in the forest and maybe sometimes when we need to we just close our eyes and travel in our minds to a peaceful place. Even just being 'present' allows us to better realize what might be going on around us and then not allowing ourselves to be drawn in. But if we continue to allow the loudness to prevail then we will become deaf to what real life should and was intended to be. Loving, peaceful and with less loudness. Let's try to live a softer life. Let's turn down the volume. We don't need to scream to be heard. We can speak softly and still share our message. 

Blessings to all,

Maggie

hello from here…...

I look at my last post being from June and I realize that I have once again been away from the blog for a long time.

A lot has happened since June. We had a wonderful holiday in B.C. and made many memories and we also got married! Had a wonderful garden party and shared our happiness with our family and friends! Maybe I could share a blog post about our special day soon. And the rest of what kept me away from here I guess is just life in general. The daily grind, which I will touch on later. So I'm back sort of and know that not anyone at all is depending on me to write an blog post, but I guess for myself it's a place to write down a few words and share something of how I feel about life and other things. I go through periods of time where words in my head just want out and this is my 'out' place it seems. Some things shared are not at all important (in the true reality of life)  and other things I might be a bit more passionate about. Yet I try to be careful in sharing passion because you can walk a fine line there in terms of sharing vs. preaching and I am not at all passionate about preaching. I feel like preaching is an 'in your face' kind of activity and that is usually uncomfortable. It just seems 'loud'.  I find lately that life being 'loud' is something I would rather steer away from. There is so much 'loud' around us and  I have been craving the opposite lately. It may be the change of the season from the active feeling of summer to the settling of autumn and the nearing of the ultimate cocooning in winter. Maybe I'm experiencing that shift. This suits me quite fine. Give me a snowy afternoon with the fireplace burning, a movie and my partner close and I'm a happy girl. Quiet is good.

Reading is quiet. I feel empty if my bookmark does not have a pair of pages to lie between. My reading passion lately has again been about Julia C, having gone through this phase once before and yet I needed to pick up another of her bio's and touch on her life once more. There is something about her 'passion' that makes me smile for her, knowing that she was so desperately longing for something to round out her life or at least become involved in and then found it in Paris no less!! What fun! As I read her bio's she just seems to have had a love for life that I think maybe we find hard to experience in these times that we live in now. That 'joie de vivre' that we all want so much! Yes, we secretly want this for ourselves and I am no different in wanting it also. I'm no fool! It's out there and an arms length away but there is so much else out there too and we often grasp for something that is not as satisfying. It's all about choices. Don't get me wrong my life is not an unsatisfying one by any means but we all have moments where the drudgery sometimes takes over……yes, admit it, it does happen, and we can tend to get our mindset stuck there and that is not a good thing. I know that life is not all fun and fabulous ….. lol…..as much as we want it to be but a balance just tipped a little over to the side of fun and fabulous would be perfect right? We would all take it in a heartbeat. The perfect life aside, I can truly say that while reading of Julia's life I had many, many moments where I would outwardly smile at her experiences. I loved those moments because I am truly then taken out of my own world and can feel joy for another. I think this is so important so that we can step out of this self centred world that we live in for even a moment and enjoy happiness for someone else. Julia seemed to have a balance of good proportions in her life. Wonderfully tipped to the side of fun and fabulous I must say! I've learned much from reading of her life. I only need to see a picture of her and I smile for so many reasons.

Well I've landed here again and I'm thinking that I want to be back blogging more but I write that hesitantly because it's always the time factor that needs attention to it in the end. So, we will see how it goes and I will end this post feeling no pressure.

Keep smiling and find your 'joie de vivre' even if just for today!! Oh, and I'm off to the library soon to pick up my next book to slip my bookmark into!

Maggie

starting my day …..

It's time to get my day started in terms of productivity, but just a quick post first. I haven't posted in a bit and am happy to be here again. Life is busy but I feel something slowing it down lately. It's probably just how I've been feeling lately. I want that 'slowness' to invade my life and let me find the calm that is more healing than the hectic pace. I am right now sitting on my deck overlooking the garden and the sun is warming me nicely. The squirrels are feeding along with the birds and the resident chipmunk is running his little racetrack where my flagstone encircles my grass in the garden. It's such a funny sight to see him racing along the stone track! It makes me smile every time :). My green tea is done and I am just finishing up my green smoothie and a list is made for the day…I do better with lists. All this is a good start to my day.

In my last post I talked about our food journey we were embarking on and we are still on track. We are feeling our bodies adjust to the changes and we physically and mentally feel so much better. It wasn't a huge adjustment for us but there are always parts of a journey that are more difficult than others. I will share about that in an upcoming post. We head to the holistic nutritionist tonight for our monthly followup and I will check in about that soon here. 

Must fly now but here's a picture of my sun tea that I made on Sunday…… well, I didn't really make it. The sun did ! 

Have a lovely day! ….. and if you need to, ….. slow down :)

Maggie

a green breakfast …...

During our first week of our wellness journey we had 3 days of rebooting our systems and this meant having a green smoothie as our breakfast each day. I quite enjoy smoothies but the ones we were used to were fruit smoothies made with yogurt and almond milk. This smoothie was going to be different. We are talking vegetables here and a couple of fruits ……but yes, serious amts of vegetables, but that also meant great nutritive value! I bought all of the various ingredients and began chopping. I quickly learned after making the first batch that there was something to be said in terms of what order the ingredients went into the blender to make it easier on the machine. At times the blender sounded like it was sadly groaning as it tried its hardest to liquefy the vegetables. It did finally get the job done and I ended up with this beautiful green drink! I had for reasons unknown to me at the time saved the bottles from tomato passata that I like to have on hand and these were perfect to keep the smoothies in.

I was loving the colour but now we had to taste them. I remember pouring us each a glass for the first time and taking a taste. We were pleasantly surprised with the taste and finished the glass easily. You can taste a hint of each of the ingredients and the two fruits allow for a bit of sweetness to come through. I personally love the colour of the smoothie although I have had comments from my co-workers when I have taken it to work, that the colour is appalling in terms of a drink in a glass. I guess green drinks are not really the norm and will attract attention often. I'm happy to drink it and know that I am getting so much goodness from just even one glass of this green drink!

I love this pic of several of the ingredients ready to blend! You can barely see it but the coconut water is in there too at the bottom. I do have to say though that now that I have made this several times I do not put all these ingredients in the blender at the same time as it makes it too difficult for my blender to do its work. There are probably blenders out there that are more heavy duty than mine is that could do it but I follow an order that makes it a bit easier for mine. 

Adding the parsley…….

The finished product! All bottled and ready for the refrigerator and the week ahead.

Drink up and enjoy the goodness!! 

Green Smoothie Recipe

• 1 cup kale or 2 cups spinach
• 1/2 cucumber
• 3-4 stalks celery
• 1 avocado
• 1/2 bunch parsley
• 1 apple
• 1/2 lemon - juice only
• 1/2 bunch mint
• 1/4 pineapple
• 1 cup coconut water or filtered water

Chop all veggies and fruits small to make for easier blending. I have yet to find any bunches of fresh mint so I haven't used it in mine and I still love the taste. I also find that I put more coconut water in so that it is thin enough to drink.

Blend and serve! 

Thanks to Sarah Tilley, RHN for the recipe!!

In wellness,

Maggie

the psychology of food…..

It's been several weeks now that we began this journey of wellness specifically regarding the food that we eat. When I had previously thought about a reboot or a cleanse and then following a nutrition plan that would support losing weight and our wellness, it all seemed like a great idea. As the day neared that we were going to begin, an interesting thought process began to take place in my head. It was as though I was going to have to grieve the 'loss' of some of what we normally ate and this bothered me more than I realized it would. I was thinking of all the things that I was going to have to give up and the list just seemed to keep getting longer. All I could think of were the foods that I might never get to eat again! My mind was immediately taken over by such words as ''can't have" and "deprivation". It was as though I was going to be punished now so that I in turn could be well and I would have to make a trade-off to do so. All of my focus was on the negative aspects of what I was going to have to do to achieve my goal. I was focusing on how hard it was going to be and how I was going to be missing out on so many foods that I would normally enjoy. And yet many of these foods were some that led to the weight gain and some did not further my wellness.  I remember distinctly realizing that this kind of thinking would do nothing to make my goal feel and be attainable. Who wants to feel deprived? Who wants to feel like there is a mountain of work ahead of you? Who wants to feel like there is a long list of foods that you can never eat again? I came to an understanding that if I was going to be successful that my focus needed to be on all the foods that were going to bring me closer to my goals.

There are many foods that we have not eaten since we began this journey. It's interesting to note that I do not miss them as much as I thought I would. I can truly say that I have not felt deprived of these foods and realize quickly that partaking of them would not bring me closer to my current and immediate goals. I'm not going to say that I will never again eat a dessert or breads but they will not take on the same role in my diet as they did previously. I know what makes me feel well and what will not and that too much of something will leave me with a negative balance as opposed to a positive one. It has been important to be checking in with Sarah our RHN and she provides us with support and encouragement in the way of her knowledge and also recipes for us to follow. We do our weigh in and cheek in with our Tanita scale stats. I feel that we have been doing great so far on this journey that we have chosen to take and can see that many of the changes we have made will be ones that will carry on for us even after our goals have been achieved. Feeling well and reaping its benefits are a way of life. We know that we don't have to be purists to be successful, but making good choices will always bring us closer to our goal of wellness rather than farther away from it. Good food = good health, along with a peaceful mind and a calm spirit.

Wishing you wellness,

Maggie

Our healthy journey…..

Several weeks ago we made the decision that we were going to embark on a journey that would see us increase our potential for good health and 'eat to live' essentially. Life is busy and we both have stressful jobs and this translates into effects on our bodies that warrant attention. Our nutrition is compromised by the needs that our bodies require to process the stress inside of us each and every day. Nutrients are used to combat the effects of stress and if we are not eating well to begin with then the effects will be quite damaging. So we decided to make changes for ourselves that would have us invest in our own futures. Changes that include methods of stress reduction and a nutritional approach to look at what we eat. We were already eating probably at least 50-60% organic, were cooking from scratch always, had eliminated most processed foods from our diet and yet we knew there was always room for improvement. We contacted Sarah, a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and our journey began. I have an extensive background in nutrition but we wanted to do this right and have support along the way from a professional. Our goals were to lose weight and provide our bodies with the foods that would support wellness in the best way possible.

For myself I am very much enjoying the journey because I know I am doing good things for this body of mine. I can admit that I just recently turned 58 and I want to create an existence of wellness for myself that will support many more years of an active and productive life. In order to do that I chose to create this wellness path. I have a solid foundation in terms of nutritional knowledge and awareness and this has allowed me to feel relatively well for many years, but I still felt that I could feel better. I was beginning to feel a bit 'achey' a lot of the time and this disturbed me quite a bit. I felt as though I was becoming 'old'. Eeek!…..I do not want to feel that way and therefore the desire to make this change began. I had given up sugar several years ago, but it did seem to be creeping back into my diet from time to time and my biggest challenge was going to be giving up butter! I have a love affair with butter and I knew that I had to break the ties of this relationship to where we could simply be friends but no longer lovers…. lol.

We are following along with a meal plan and particular recipes currently while we work with Sarah for several weeks, but our plan is to make changes in our food choices and create a lifestyle that supports our nutritional wellness at all times. It will simply become a way of life for us. Right now we are still in the intensive stages where we have to follow along with the designated meal choices and this does require a lot of prepatory work, but if it is not done then it is setting us up for failure and that is not a choice we want for ourselves. Our refrigerator has never been so full of vegetables !

I will continue to blog about the journey and share how things are going. I truly feel that 'we are what we eat' and the effects that it has on our bodies is summed up in how we feel and move through our day. Food affects our mind and our bodies and we have no one to blame but ourselves when we make poor choices. I've made those poor choices and then regret them pretty quickly after I did. For me it's now time to make the good choices and reap the rewards.

We start our day with a hot cup of Lemon Ginger tea to help us detox and cleanse our liver which is an organ that is so important in terms of our body functioning well. I have come to love this cup of tea each morning!

Benefits of lemon include : 

• cleanse the bloodstream and liver
• aid digestion
• boost the immune system
• prevent heart disease and cancer
• lower blood cholesterol levels
• lower high blood pressure 
• stimulate the liver
• reduce inflammation

Benefits of ginger include :

• remedy for nausea, morning sickness, upset stomach, indigestion, vomiting, motion sickness and cramps
• promotes healing of inflammation 
• helps lower blood pressure
• reduces fever
• reduces cholesterol
• prevents internal blood clots
• aids circulation
• eases asthma symptoms 

*NOTE - avoid consuming ginger in large amts if you take an anti-coagulant as it can thin the blood further and taking more than 3 gms of ginger at a time can cause stomach upset. 

I simply use the juice of half a lemon and grate a 1/2" piece of ginger (use organic if possible - I don't peel the ginger then) and steep it in hot water for several minutes…..and then enjoy! Your body will love you for it each morning! 

Have a great day filled with good choices!! 

Maggie

Health information on ginger and lemons taken from Prescription for Dietary Wellness by Phyliss Balch, CNC

calm is better……..

I've been away from my blog for a while and this seems like a good moment to catch up. My last blog focused on what was going on at work and I must say that it has been a significant stressor and a huge change and since I wrote about that extensively last time I am done with that discussion.

A focus that did come out of that change though was how I deal with stress and what it means to deal with it. I felt very overwhelmed with just that particular stressor and came to realize that I needed to channel my energies so that I could have calm rather than anxiety. Having worked for many years in the field of mental health I have done extensive research on stress and know well enough the causes and effects of such and yet understand all too well that we often get so caught up in the eddy that it can create that we can get lost in it all. Some stressors in our lives will not be going away and are not in our control, but others are ones that we maybe can have control of and alter them to make them less stressful.

No one is exempt from the stressors that modern day life brings to our lives. It is everywhere and all around us readying itself to take from us if possible. The key is how we navigate through all of what is presented to us and how we let it effect us. I've had many years of stress from my childhood to single parenting and recognizing that taking on stress is only half of the equation. The other half is all about how we deal with it so that it doesn't take over our lives and render us ill from all of the effects that it can have for mind, body and spirit.

 I have come to know one way that works for me and how this is woven into my life. My home is my sanctuary and safe place in the world and inside of my home I have a special place too. I have my meditation room that is devoted to quiet and peaceful reflection. It may be where I read or maybe I write. I might listen to some quiet music or I might meditate. Our altar is located in this room and I can smudge as well as reflect in prayer. My affirmation and tarot cards are kept in the meditation room and our drums also hang here to be used when we feel like sharing in drumming energy. There is only good energy that exists here in this space that is devoted to peace and calm. It is a sacred place for us.

We all need a place that can afford us the peace and quiet that we deserve after a long day or as I often do, it is a place where I begin my day. Our lives are busy, hectic and overrun with so many demands on our time and energy and knowing that I can either begin my day or come home and enter this space is a relief for me. I know that the world around us will try to take from us constantly and rather than end up in a bankrupt state of mind we can add back by spending time in this special space dedicated to us. Even if you are not able to dedicate a room such as this, then maybe you can create a corner or space in an existing room and make that your 'special' place where you can reenergize yourself from all the demands the world puts on you. We must look after ourselves and it is never too late to start if you haven't already. Blessings to you all………

Maggie

no longer a true nurse…...

I am in the midst of change in my work world. This is not something new for any of us that put in our 37.5 hours per week and generally speaking we all roll with it. It's inevitable that in the course of our lives professionally we will encounter change and we all know the mantra of 'change is a good thing'. And, yes I believe that change is a good thing but we need to be very careful with what we change and what the outcomes of that change will be because there will be both positives and negatives with any change.

I am a nurse. I have been a nurse since 1976 and have worked in different settings but my current position is on an acute medical unit and has spanned 23 yrs. I am an RPN and the importance of mentioning that is that all of those 23 years were directly spent at the bedside of my patients providing care. During all of those years I have seen many changes in both healthcare and at my workplace, some of which have been beneficial and others have been not but we endure. The latest change that has been implemented is big, in fact it is the biggest of big that I have seen so far in my career. This initiative involves ten hospitals in my area and will cost $26.1 million to implement over the next 3 years. So I will say it again…..this is big folks!…. and with a cost like that it's not up for discussion at this point and it's not going away.

So herein lies my need to accept change as my work world is no longer resembling what I have know for so many, many years. There have been changes in the past that I have accepted and others that I have been resistive to. Those that I resist generally always directly relate to how it may affect the patient care that I provide. I chose my profession because I have a desire to offer and care for persons who require assistance in a medical setting. I personally have always provided care from a holistic perspective for my patients so that their needs are attended to as a 'whole'. Our wellness triad of 'mind, body, spirit' is not separated into silos, but instead all of the sum of these parts need to work in concert with each other to create the symphony of health that will allow us to live our best life. My understanding of this has been my philosophy of care in all the years that I have stood at the bedside. I have provided the medicines and dressed the wounds, but a large part of nursing is also the psychological and emotional support that we provide. I have witnessed the anxieties, the sadness, the worry, the loss, the disempowerment in the eyes of patients and also in family and/or friends that I cannot simply walk away from and instead offer support and encouragement where and when it is needed.This folks is beginning to change.

In my 38 years I have adapted to change and re-invented myself as a nurse several times. This by far represents the biggest change to date. It is a hospital optimization system that is going from 'paper processes to electronic technology'. I won't get into details except to say that I will be in front of  a computer screen most of the day and the pt will be witness to this as I must at times wheel the computer system right to the bedside so that I can administer medications and 'scan' their armband with my laser scanner. As a side note…my exposure to the electromagnetic field of the computer screen has now probably more than doubled or tripled….. but this 'change' is not an issue I'm sure. In reference to arriving with the computer directly to the patient I actually had someone say to me that this technology was going to bring me to the bedside more than previously and she thought this was a 'great thing'! …..oh my. I will add that this person was not a nurse who made that comment ….. interesting.

I feel the nurse part of me slowly dying. The tasks that I am now expected to carry out are now shifting the balance of hands on nursing vs. documentation dramatically. I am really no longer a nurse. I have been morphed by the healthcare system into what I will call an MCT….. a medical computer technician for the most part. If I have a moment of time to provide nursing care then that may be a good day……. for both of us. My heart is sad that the reason why I chose this profession is no longer at the forefront of healthcare. We have come to much of this because of the litigious society that we live in. It's the fear of being sued. It comes from us living in a state of paranoia. We have created this over the years and now this is where we have arrived. I know I will 'catch on' to the processes that I need to know to now do my MCT skills. I might be older, but I can be taught. But I can honestly tell you that I will never 'catch on' to letting go of providing the balance of holistic care that my patients are entitled to and yet those people running the system will tell you that patient care is #1. I have come to understand that 'they' say one thing and mean another. This is infinite wisdom that you will be witness to if you watch and listen closely. I'm always offended when this occurs because 'they' obviously think that I am gullible enough to believe it.

So once again I have to regroup, reinvent and reposition myself in my career or maybe I need to seriously consider retiring and letting someone new and fresh take over for me. Maybe their philosophy is more aligned with this new healthcare paradigm as opposed to the philosophy that was such an integral part of my training so many years ago.

All of this makes me feel sad, defeated and disappointed in our system. There is no advocacy for nurses. We are told what to do and how to do it……end of story. My heart truly feels that I am no longer a nurse. I am being told to be something else and if I want to keep my job I will simply be obedient and follow the rules. I am so thankful that I am on the downside of my career and will be able to retire sooner than later. I can't imagine beginning my career now, but I guess I have to remember that students are taught a different philosophy than I was all those years ago and the need to desensitize will not be necessary for them as much as it is for those of us who came up in a different time.

If I don't have time to hold your hand …. I'm sorry. If I don't have time to sit and listen…. I'm sorry. If I don't have time to wipe your tears ….. I'm sorry….. and to the family member who just lost a loved one….. I'm sorry I may not have the time to spend with you in your moment of loss. This just all breaks my heart and makes me feel an emptiness inside of me where I used to feel pride in my work. I turned to my partner the other night after a day at work and with tears in my eyes said 'I can't be the nurse that I've always been.' I wept quietly as I realized that I had to let go of this part of me.

Blessings to all,

Maggie

Weather & Gratitude…..

It has been a tough weather week here and it seems like it's not quite done yet. Even though the snow is not coming down the temperatures and the road conditions are creating havoc for us all. Yesterday I awoke and the windchill was -41.7! Never have I in my 57 years heard of such a thing in Southwestern Ontario. Wow…. I had to work and when I got into my car to warm it up the sounded like a tin can upon opening and when I sat in it there was no movement at all ……. it was a solid brick of cold. When I turned the key in the ignition the sound that emanated from it was like a pathetic squeal of some sort and even once it was running it didn't sound happy about it but it got me to work and home again without any problems. We also had our sump pump pipe freeze and burn out the pump and since this all happened on a Sunday when resources were at a minimum it took us into Monday to get it fixed. UGH…..but you deal with it because there are no alternatives. So chin up it was! Oh and did I mention that the locks on my car door did a funny thing on Monday morning due to the extreme cold and locked when the door was closed and the car was running so as to warm up in these cold temperatures! Oh yes, and had to call CAA to come and open my car. So there have been lots of things getting in the way or our regular routine and we often don't deal with it very well.

I'm hearing so much frustration with the weather events of the last few days and I know it's a struggle at times but I have to wonder if the worst of it is the fact that we have no control over our lovely Mother Nature. She will do as she choses and we are the recipients of such. Long ago in years past we had the same type of weather conditions but I think we have gotten off easy over the past many years and therefore we tend to forget what they were like. And of course some of you were probably not even born yet! In the 1970's the weather created many challenges and I remember being stranded at my job in London. Yes, stranded 'at' my job, not at my home! Big difference. Who wants that! In the big storm of 1978 I remember finally being able to drive home and the snowbanks were at least 3 times higher than my car! It was incredible! This week the buses have been cancelled for the local schools for the last 3 days and remember the kids have not been back to school yet since the Christmas break if I am correct in thinking that. People are scrambling to find alternate child care as they are still heading to work and this can become complicated and stressful but sending large numbers of children to school in huge buses that will be skidding on ice is probably not a good idea either. To put bus drivers and children in imminent danger makes no sense. My partner drove to work in London this morning and she said the roads were all ice! No salt will melt this at these temperatures so I hear.  I am always seemingly being taught lessons of patience and I have to wonder if this is yet not another one of those grand lessons. For me it might very well be a time to sit back and really realize just how ok all of this is.

Kelly and I spoke last night of our gratitude in being inside of a warm house with all of our amenities and to instead think of how the homeless population must be struggling so much more than anyone else is right now. We have the gift of a front door that opens with our own key. The homeless do not. They may never own a door with a key. Hopefully warming stations in the area are able to handle the needs of this population. We are also aware of the stray animals that roam and in particular the one cat that our neighbour feeds from her porch has not been seen in a few days. I hope it's ok. Our feathered friends are flocking to our backyard to feed voraciously at all the bird feeders we have out and the heated bird bath we have so they can preen and drink. We spotted a squirrel having a big drink the other day too!  Our bird food budget is expanding but that's ok.

I have to think that these kinds of experiences are sometimes meant to shake up our world a bit and make us realize that life can throw us a curve and we are able to manage it well. The stress that people are feeling is not something that will always help us to navigate through these challenges in a positive way. People become frustrated, agitated and then it can all start to go wrong. Having that negative energy in us and around us is something that will drain us for sure leaving us feeling even worse. If you are warm and safe be grateful. Maybe a day of gratitude is what we need to get us back on track because even with all of these weather challenges there is still much to be grateful for.

So on my day off today I choose to sit quietly with my pot of tea and a clay mask on (ha! so glad you can't see that!) enjoying sharing my words with you. I hope you are warm and safe and looking forward to what the rest of your day will bring and maybe even what the rest of your winter may bring. We live in a country where seasons come and go and this winter season right now seems to be speaking up loudly at the moment! Let it speak and listen carefully. A lesson may unfold.

Warm blessings to all,

Maggie

coming to an understanding…….

I have slept and still I ruminate so I need to blog. I sit with my tea this morning and think back to my experiences this past weekend at work and how they have left me empty in so many ways. It is not a new feeling, but it surfaces from time to time and we all feel it. It eats at us for a few days and then we accept it and move on because we know that nothing will be different except in how we deal or reckon with it.

I won't get into detail except to say that the conditions that we all worked under this weekend were ones that stretched our abilities to the maximum. What we are expected to deliver as a health care professionals under normal circumstances, we were not capable of over the past several days.
The frustration set in early on Friday and I recall standing in front of a co-worker and my eyes filling with tears while I said "I know I'm not doing a good job today as a nurse". And it barely got much better over the next two days.

We all have standards that are both professional and personal regarding our careers and mine personally mean a lot to me. It's what lends me to be the nurse that I have become over the past 36 years. I'm not naive to know that there will be days that are more difficult than others and circumstances that will challenge us. We are trained to deal with all of that and yet this past weekend we found ourselves in situations that took us even further.

My biggest let down is the lack of support that I felt from my own organization. Nothing that filtered down to me the nurse on the front line. For me this could have gone a long way in letting me know that they knew just how hard we were pushing to keep things going so that our patients were being looked after. But I wasn't allowed that privilege even once.

As I thought about all of this after a well deserved rest I was led back to a book that I read so many years ago. A book that I have bought at least 4 times and keep giving it away to someone who might need it more than me. A book that has been so much on my mind lately that when I ordered a Christmas gift online I tucked this little book into the order with it. The book is called The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. The basis of this little book is simple. There are four agreements that we can use in our lives to help us to navigate through life in a more understanding fashion. They are as follows :

1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don't take anything personally.
3. Don't make assumptions.
4. Always do your best.

Three of the four, and maybe even all four apply following my weekend of work.

There is a part of me that wanted to be less than impeccable and scream at someone about all of this and yet I know quite well that my efforts would have been less than well received and there are times that I believe proper delivery of word is key to getting your point across. Sometimes even less words have more of an impact than too many.

There is a tendency to 'take this personally' and this is often the tough one to let go of. I have to remember that decisions made at a level above me are not directed at me 'personally' and not even as a collective group, but rather are made from a completely different perspective. One that I may not feel is right, but then remembering that I have no control over that.

I had the silly 'assumption' that when we were working under such extreme conditions that it would have been nice for someone to have come along and showed or expressed just how much our efforts meant. Once again I only need to re-read # 3. "Don't make assumptions" because in assuming I will inevitably be let down…… and I was. So feeling let down is my own fault.

Now # 4 is the biggie! Always do your best even when its under difficult conditions. This can be a challenge because a person really has to focus on what is happening in the moment of delivering patient care and forget about how frustrated you might be. Just do the task at hand and do it well. It is with this understanding that I do my best that I am able to leave each shift and go home knowing that I did the best that I could given the circumstances that I worked under.

So maybe this all happened so that I will sit down again with this little book and read it once more. These four simple agreements are good mantras to keep in mind on this journey that we call Life.

May your day be filled with love & light.

Maggie

my tea party…...

I've done it for years. It is my normal routine to get up for work early enough that I can do it, and even if I am not working I take the time for it ……. a tea party that is. A tea party for myself to begin my day. I love the quiet solitude of early morning and for me it lends itself to beginning my day in balance
which then in turn sets me up to have a good day. Now, it doesn't always follow through that way but I at least begin each day the same. I'm never rushed since I get myself up early enough to allow for it and all the other things that need to happen on a work day especially. Some people would rather sleep, while I would rather have this time to myself. I know some of my friends or co-workers think I am a bit crazy to do that but it's important for me to have this time and it starts my day off perfectly. As much as I am physically alone I most often will be reading so in fact there is usually someone invited to my tea party. Any number of authors have sat in on my tea parties and over the years I have learned much and shared in many stories. I love to read but my days leave little time to share in that so early morning is my 'reading time'. Books are a passion for me and to have a book in my hands is a wonderful thing. I don't think that I would ever own a Kindle or reading apparatus such as that because the tactile experience of having a book in my hands is not something that I would want to give up. Ok, I admit I have a kindle app on my phone which I thought might be a distraction while waiting for an appointment or such, but I usually forget that it's there and end up reading something interesting in a magazine instead. Maybe I was a writer in a former life as I love the ability to put words to paper and create something that someone else would enjoy. Words can be such a powerful thing. I read a lot of non-fiction and this feeds my constant desire to learn but I try to squeeze in a bit of fiction from time to time to allow myself to escape and be entertained also.

I remember in my younger years as a mom that I would get  up early and have my then coffee party (I don't drink coffee anymore) before any of the children awoke so that I could have some time to myself before the busy days of motherhood took over. I also treasure the memories I have of the tea parties that I had when I owned my bookshop and I would sit in my cosy chair in the shop and be amongst all those books! It was heaven for me! I could walk up to any shelf and pull a book and open up to any page and read. Sometimes I would take my tea party on the road and find a coffee shop where the atmosphere was of good energy and I would take my book there and sip on my tea. Most of my tea parties are now in my home which is my special place on Mother Earth.

Invited to my tea parties lately has been author Carolyn Myss as I am re-reading her book The Creation of Health that is also co-authored with Norman Shealy. Two amazing people that bring so much knowledge to the world of health and wellness. But I may have to share in my morning authors as I have a book waiting at the library for me by Jenna Woginrich called One Woman Farm which chronicles her transition from city cubicle to rural homesteading. Should be a great read!

My tea parties always have a special mug or tea pot which have changed over the years. I recently acquired a special set, on sale of course, and I'm sure it will be with me for years to come. It's tea party perfect!

 I think I will always make time for a tea party in my life. It's just that special to me. I hope you find the time to spend a few quiet moments for yourself before you begin your day. Namaste…….. Maggie 

childhood soup….

It's a funny thing because there is little that I remember from my childhood for various reasons that would relate to a completely different blog post, but one thing I do remember is my mother making us homemade tomato soup that was absolutely delicious! As a matter of fact until I was an adult I never tasted a tomato soup other than this one. When I made this soup for my first husband he quickly said "this doesn't taste like tomato soup at all", because he was used to Campbells soup! I remember being so disappointed at the time but I understood what he meant. It dropped of our menu sadly. As a child we rarely had soup out of a can and I can truly say that I was raised on amazing soups! I was never given the recipe on paper and only learned from watching her make it time after time.

I made it just the other day for our dinner and served it simply with a baguette and some cheese and it was wonderful! All you need are flour, butter, tomato juice, water, a little salt and pepper and this time I added some cream and you will have the most delicious soup ever. I am lucky enough to have my own canned tomatoes which brings the summer flavour home in the cold winter months. I also this time used a few sage leaves that I dried from the garden to sauté in the butter and then added them again while it simmered at the end and the flavour was delicately tinged with the sage and yet did not overpower the tomato. The cream added at the end made it perfect! I wish I could give you the ingredient portions but that is not to be. It is only in my head and depends on how much tomato juice you have. 

I wish you could share in a bowl with me as it's also made with 'Love'……

I hope your day is filled with wonderful flavours and that they might be reminiscent of a time gone by.

Maggie xoxo

a great book…..

I love to read and yet I haven't had a book in my hands for quite some time now. At least not a book just for the pleasure of reading and relaxation. There was a book that I have had my eye on for many months and I recently decided I was going to buy it and then I searched it online at our local library and they had it! Perfect! I picked it up on Tuesday and once I had started into the first few pages I couldn't put it down and finished it the next day!  I was spellbound by the writings of a woman who was experiencing something that I somehow related to. If you read on you will wonder how that works since she became a farmer and I am not that at all, but I am certain that in any one of my many former lives that I was that pioneer woman who lived off the land and lived a life not unlike hers. It was just all too familiar to me for it to be less than true.

The book tells of a woman from the big city of New York who leaves what she knows as her comforts and heads to the country to follow a man and his passion for farming. My intrigue with all of this was the transition from the complexity of city living, to the simplicity of a bucolic lifestyle. That impression I must say is a superficial one because we all know that any lifestyle will have its difficulties and complications that will lend itself to anything but simplicity. I though, viewed it in it's most simplest of terms for myself. I live in an small city compared to many and it's really not all that demanding on me. I traverse through my life fairly well but I am longing for that time in my life when things can slow down and be less demanding of my time. Maybe it's because I am in my late 50's and I have lived the 'busy' life, with a career that I still participate in and raising three children in my former years and now I have a longing to change it's pace. There will always be demands but we can choose what that will look like and then the outcomes are so very different. My story isn't much different than many others out there, but for me I feel 'my time' is arriving. It's becoming far more important for me to look at life and realize what I need from it to make me happy. I have so much already in place that makes my life a happy one but the one thing that I long for is a life in the country. This is so ironic in ways because I grew up as a child in the country and felt that it restricted me so much that when I married and moved to the city I vowed I would never, ever live in the country again! Ever! But that pioneer woman inside of me is telling me now to go back. Oh how things change, and then we change and then life also changes. 

The 'call' to someday return to country living is what drew me to this book. The woman in the book left the hectic life of the big city, but for her it was the city life that she knew so well and then in turn was not difficult for her because for her it rang with familiarity. She moved to the country and began a new life that was very unfamiliar to her and at first filled with so many different types of demands, but over time she knew that her heart was happiest in this environment living the life that she chose and that 'her' time had arrived in life. I came to understand that at the end of each day it is what we choose to fill our life with that makes the difference. As I read through the pages of her story that had me so very riveted, I knew that what she had chosen was bigger than anything I would ever undertake at this time in my life, but it reinforced my understanding of what it means to choose a life that you are happy with. It's so important to choose things in life that are of course responsible, but also those that feed our soul and make us happy. We know deep down what they are and it's a matter of listening to that inner voice and taking that step even though sometimes it will feel risky and those first few steps will feel like you are wearing a new shoe instead of the comfort of one that is well broken in. Kristen in the the book followed her heart and many times might have questioned her choice, but in the end she knew that it was what she needed to do. I loved the conviction she had in making this the life she needed for herself. It makes me believe that I can have my country life or a resemblance of such and live out my years more quietly and more simply. Every life has its challenges and yet it's all about choice and what we decide to make of it. The author chose a life that her heart embraced and I have much of that now. I am looking for just one more piece of the puzzle to finish it and it will manifest when it is ready. Until then I choose to participate less with a hectic lifestyle and live simply instead. 

I hope that your choices are ones that your heart embraces. 

Btw…..the book is titled "The Dirty Life" by Kristin Kimball. Check out her website for more info on her book and her life on Essex Farm.

Blessings, 

Maggie