Mid-Winter

“If you’re going to live a deep life, the ultimate original commitment is, ‘I’m going to commit to discipline in the sense of things I am going to do on a regular basis, because they matter, even if I don’t feel like it.’ And that is the biggest binary zero-to-one flip that happens in crafting a life.”

— Cal Newport

…from Cal’s excellent conversation with Tim Ferriss.

This week is my son’s mid-winter school break so I am enjoying being home from work and hanging with him. It is actually snowing at the moment but the last few weeks we’ve had some consecutive dry and even sunny days which allowed for some time in the garden, doing a little cleanup and cutting back grasses. Those little green shoots and signs of new life never cease to bring me joy…

My raised garden beds have reached the end of their life and we will build new ones next month. Inspired by my friend M’s thriving small compost/worm bin, I’ve added my own in the form of a Subpod Mini. (I ordered my worms here.)

I have a new pair of glasses from RŌKA that I love…

This Jones Road Miracle Balm in bronze is adding a little life to my mid-winter complexion. Plus, it feels wonderful pressed into the skin…

And if your feet need a little TLC, this foot file and balm from Bare Hands is incredibly simple, elegant, and effective….

Most of my meals these days are hearty soups. Even for breakfast, it’s what I crave. This week it is Pamela Salzman’s kale and white bean minestrone. I also love this lentil, sausage, and chard one from Smitten Kitchen.

I just checked out Bittman Bread from the library and am enjoying playing with his technique this week…

Lastly, my sister-in-law turned me on to these super cool posters from Sandgrain Studio. My son has a Dune one in his room but I think a whole grid of them would look rad in the basement…

One Year On

These beautiful and poignant photos of normally bustling cities empty of humans are my favorite images captured of the lockdown last year.

Andrea Montovani for The New York Times

Today is the one year anniversary of our family’s pandemic experience. March 12, 2020 is the day I first closed my Pilates studio and the day my son’s school closed for a “two-week” quarantine.

In March of last year I think it’s safe to say that most of us couldn’t imagine that we’d still be living with such restrictions one year in the future. And yet here we are. Continuing to stretch ourselves and practicing the very important skill of being uncomfortable.

A few months before the pandemic I listened to Brené Brown’s excellent audiobook The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting. She talks about the importance of having a family gratitude practice with respect to the question: How do you raise kids who have everything they need to not be entitled? (And equally important, as an adult who has everything I need how do I keep myself from being entitled?) So two weeks before lockdown we all started writing in our own Five Minute Journal recommended by Tim Ferriss in his great conversation with (again) Brené Brown. My son has the kid version. In the beginning it was a great way for all of us to remind ourselves of how fortunate we were, right when it seemed as if all the “good stuff” was being taken from us. Now a year into the pandemic with all of its uncertainties, a few minutes spent writing in my gratitude journal has become an essential part of my morning routine.

When I think of gratitude I immediately think of David Steindl-Rast’s conversation with Krista Tippett. It resonated deeply with me when I first heard it years ago and I have been revisiting his words this week. As Krista writes “He calls joy ‘the happiness that doesn’t depend on what happens.’ And his gratefulness is not an easy gratitude or thanksgiving – but a full-blooded, reality-based practice and choice.”

From their conversation:

“Br. Steindl-Rast: Well, for me, this idea of listening and really looking and beholding — that comes in when people ask, “Well, how shall we practice this gratefulness?” And there is a very simple kind of methodology to it: Stop, look, go. Most of us — caught up in schedules and deadlines and rushing around, and so the first thing is that we have to stop, because otherwise we are not really coming into this present moment at all, and we can’t even appreciate the opportunity that is given to us, because we rush by, and it rushes by. So stopping is the first thing.

But that doesn’t have to be long. When you are in practice, a split second is enough — “stop.” And then you look: What is, now, the opportunity of this given moment, only this moment, and the unique opportunity this moment gives? And that is where this beholding comes in. And if we really see what the opportunity is, we must, of course, not stop there, but we must do something with it: Go. Avail yourself of that opportunity. And if you do that, if you try practicing that at this moment, tonight, we will already be happier people, because it has an immediate feedback of joy.

I always say, not — I don’t speak of the gift, because not for everything that’s given to you can you really be grateful. You can’t be grateful for war in a given situation, or violence or domestic violence or sickness, things like that. There are many things for which you cannot be grateful. But in every moment, you can be grateful.

For instance, the opportunity to learn something from a very difficult experience — what to grow by it, or even to protest, to stand up and take a stand — that is a wonderful gift in a situation in which things are not the way they ought to be. So opportunity is really the key when people ask, “Can you be grateful for everything?” — no, not for everything, but in every moment.”

My favorite film of late is the documentary The Biggest Little Farm. The cinematography is stunning, it is joyful, and it is a beautiful depiction of the complexity and wisdom found within the systems of nature. As Molly the farmer states, “The hardships we face make the dream feel so much more alive.” Rent it or watch it currently on Hulu. At a minimum watch the trailer…

Wise words from Alice Walker…

Alice Walker via Nitch

“Some periods of our growth are so confusing that we don’t even recognize that growth is happening. We may feel hostile or angry or weepy and hysterical, or we may feel depressed. It would never occur to us, unless we stumbled on a book or a person who explained to us, that we were in fact in the process of change... Whenever we grow, we tend to feel it, as a young seed must feel the weight and inertia of the earth as it seeks to break out of its shell on its way to becoming a plant... Often the feeling is anything but pleasant. But what is most unpleasant is the not knowing what is happening... Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be, eventually become the periods we wait for, for it is in those periods that we realize we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of personality is about to be revealed.”

— Alice Walker

Wintering

Good Sunday morning. We got 8 inches of snow at our house yesterday. It’s rare that we get snow in Seattle so it’s such a treat when it does happen. The last time we had a big snowfall was almost exactly two years ago. It just started snowing again this morning, candles are flickering throughout the house, my son is still sleeping, and everything feels quiet. The rain will return later this evening so we will savor it while we can…

A few weeks ago I listened to Katherine May’s wonderful On Being conversation on ‘Wintering.’ I loved it so much I listened to the unedited version as soon as I finished the first. From Krista:

“In so many stories and fables that shape us, cold and snow, the closing in of the light — these have deep psychological as much as physical reality. They draw us, even force us, to do what Katherine May calls deeply unfashionable things: slowing down, resting, retreating. This is “wintering,” as she illuminates it in her book of that title — wintering as at once a season of the natural world, a respite our bodies require, and a state of mind. A cyclical, recurrent weather pattern, if you will, in any life. It’s one way to describe our pandemic year: as one big extended communal experience of wintering. Some of us are laboring harder than ever on its front lines and also on its home front of parenting. I don’t know a single person right now who isn’t exhausted, almost as a state of being. It feels like Katherine May opens up exactly what I and so many need to hear, but haven’t known how to name.”

Katherine’s book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times is just as delightful as her talk with Krista.

“Plants and animals don’t fight the winter; they don’t pretend it’s not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives they lived in the summer. They prepare. They adapt. They perform extraordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through. Wintering is a time of withdrawing from the world, maximizing scant resources, carrying out acts of brutal efficiency and vanishing from sight; but that’s where the transformation occurs. Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but its crucible.

“It’s a time for reflection and recuperation, for slow replenishment, for putting your house in order. Doing these deeply unfashionable things — slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting — is a radical act now, but it’s essential. ”

October 29

The temp has dropped here in Seattle and now it really feels like fall. I am learning how to build a proper fire and chop wood. The wood chopping needs some work but it is super satisfying. I snapped this shot on my way out yesterday…

You can’t see them well in the photo above but my super cool Vans are these from Hedley & Bennett…

We have this beautifully simple, made-in-Seattle Filson log carrier to haul all that freshly chopped wood…

Over these last several months at home, I lost the desire to drink alcohol. I didn’t make any big decision, it just happened. And when I thought about it further it became clear that my desire for a cocktail to mark the evening or enjoying a beer after working all day in the yard was about the ritual or celebration and not the alcohol itself. However, most non-alcoholic beverages seem to lack that special something that a proper drink has when it comes to marking an occasion.

With perfect timing, Julia Bainbridge’s excellent book Good Drinks came out last month…

She writes in the introduction: “It can be difficult to snap a backbone onto a mixed drink without wine or spirits. Alcohol provides structure and complexity, and it’s often pleasantly bitter and bracing. Remove it from a cocktail, and you’re left with sugar, acid, and some cold water…Until recently, nonalcoholic mixed drinks have been treated as afterthoughts. A higher level of effort and care anoints them as proper drinks. Good Drinks.”

She also wrote Pleasantly Bitter and Thoroughly Grown-Up, No Alcohol Needed for the NYT this summer. Mentioned in the article is For Bitter For Worse out of Portland. My favorite evening cocktail fireside these days is this negroni style deliciousness…

4 oz The Saskatoon

1 oz simple syrup (or juniper syrup)

1/2oz - 1oz lemon juice

Shake over ice in a shaker, and as the bottle states “serve over ice with style and intention.” (I like a big ice cube like this.)

Another one to add to your bar cart are the SOM vinegar cordials created by Andy Ricker of Pok Pok fame…

“You get something sweet, tart, in some cases savory, and in some cases tannic, all in one pour,” says Ricker. “You don’t have to make a simple syrup or add a botanical to it or muddle anything.”  SOM and soda make a fantastic savor-worthy beverage…

A few other things bringing me joy these days…

YNAB! You Need a Budget. I wrote about YNAB here four years ago and have mentioned it a few times since. I am an unabashed YNAB pusher and think everyone should use this amazing life-changing tool…

We are going through a lot of soap these days and this everyone foaming hand soap is our favorite for the bathroom…

I like this liquid version in the kitchen. Their lemon coconut hand sanitizer and wipes are great as well…

The Dream Pant from Everlane is really good. Soft, midweight fabric and an excellent cut makes for great loungewear that is really pulled together and smart looking…

Over the summer we made a lot of pizza. We’ve had a little Ooni pizza oven for the last few years but only really pulled it out one or two times a year which was a shame. It is so easy to use and we really put it to work this summer. Even with the cooling temps we plan to keep her firing all through the fall and winter.

We have an older model but this Ooni Koda is comparable…

And Joe Beddia’s Pizza Camp is my pizza bible. The perfect dough, sauce, and technique are all found here. In fact the technique he teaches uses a standard home oven so if you don’t have a pizza oven definitely don’t let let that stop you. We use both the Ooni and our kitchen oven with excellent results.

One of the many restaurants to close in our city due to the pandemic is the acclaimed Tilth. I thought chef Maria Hines’ words in The Seattle Times were beautiful…

But Hines also holds hope for the future. Of “the heart and soul” of an enterprise like Tilth, she says, “My love and my creativity and my desire to share happiness with the world through my craft - all of that still is there. It’s just that the vessel is going to change. Whatever form that takes, you can’t take that away.”

Seattle fans who’d like a last taste of Hines’ shared happiness in its current incarnation can still try for takeout or day-of patio reservations, weather permitting, through Oct. 30. Then Tilth goes dark. But Hines calls the restaurant’s last days a celebration. She continues, “There’s this sense that it’s ending - that there’s a finality to it… we really need to look towards the light, and think about all that light we still have in us. Don’t let the temporary darkness block that out.”

Ken Lambert - The Seattle Times

And I’ve been thinking about this quote…

“Hard times are coming, when we’ll be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now, can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine real grounds for hope. We’ll need writers who can remember freedom—poets, visionaries—realists of a larger reality.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

Learning Comes from Doing

As most of us are now weeks into being locked down at home, I’ve been thinking a lot about learning and doing. In her On Being conversation, the poet Marie Howe said - “When you’re very sad, the only thing to do is to go learn something.”

I think learning something is especially important not just in sadness, but during times of uncertainty and upheaval.

The photo above was taken the month before the current stay at home order. Our backyard studio (i.e. my husband’s new workspace) was nearing completion. We had no idea then that this would soon be shared creative space!

As work has now stopped for both of us, we are collectively planning and strategizing about moving forward. We are finding “strength in the places we’d never thought to develop, spaces we didn’t know we’d occupy, room to reach beyond ourselves,” and are focusing our energy into learning how to do new things.

My husband is learning how to use his shiny new power tools by building things. He built shop tables for the studio…

And this beautiful Donald Judd inspired chair out of leftover wood from the studio construction…

@aaronleitz

I’m learning how to do Pilates videos for my clients. The challenge for me is not in the logistics of the curriculum, but in getting over my fear of the camera and finding my voice so that it actually sounds like me and how I teach in person.

Accepting that I’m not going to be an expert right out of the gate is something I’ve always struggled with.

I have to walk my talk and “Respect the Process” (which is the mantra I continually espouse) and even put on the Pilates Everyday “about” page:

“Prioritize repetition over perfection. It isn’t going to be good right out the gate. Don’t worry, just keep at it and do your best. Through repetition and deliberate practice it will start to come together. Just move. Pay attention. Don’t rush. Enjoy yourself. Repeat. Respect the process.”

Creating videos and expanding my practice online had always been on my mind but seemed like a far off consideration in the context of my normal life/work routine. I felt like I didn’t have any extra space or energy to devote to it.

Our friend Alison Pickart posted this quote last week which I printed out and put on my fridge…

“The amazing thing about human nature is that people find themselves gravitating toward things that they innately know how to do. For some very lucky ones, they will discover a passion that now has the time to be realized, which may inadvertently become a new life’s work. Great things come out of crisis, often because they have to.”

— Alison Pickart

Seth Godin nails this idea (and also accurately conveys the level of work required) in his blog post But what could you learn instead? .

“Learning takes effort, and it’s hard to find the effort when the world is in flux, when we’re feeling uncertain and when we’re being inundated with bad news. But that’s the moment when learning is more important than ever…This shift is difficult to commit to, because unlike education, learning demands change. Learning makes us incompetent just before it enables us to grasp mastery. Learning opens our eyes and changes the way we see, communicate and act.

It’s way easier to get someone to watch–a YouTube comic, a Netflix show, a movie–than it is to encourage them to do something. But it’s the doing that allows us to become our best selves, and it’s the doing that creates our future.”

Read Seth’s entire post here.

Learning something doesn’t always have to be a BIG thing. There is so much joy to be found in the process of learning small day to day things.

My fridge looks a lot different these days than it did in January…

I have pretty good chops in the kitchen but I am learning new ways to make use of what we have in the pantry and freezer, substituting ingredients, using recipes as inspiration rather than rigid instructions and trusting my instincts. Forced to simplify, this time has unlocked a new culinary creativity.

I am starting seeds inside, something I have never done before…

The sewing machine is out and being put to use making masks: the perfect project to hone my sewing skills acquired last spring at Drygoods Design’s beginner sewing series.

Repetition is the mother of all learning - Repetitio mater studiorum est.

All this learning of new THINGS is really learning a new way to BE. Attentive. Deliberate. Comfortable with discomfort. Intentional. Grateful.

A New Year...

Happy 2020! As wonderful and welcome as the holiday break was, it felt so good to step into a new year and do some thinking about intentions and goals for the year ahead. I love this passage from one of Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic emails last month on how we are what our choices make us…

“The Stoics believed that a beautiful life was the result of beautiful decisions. They also believed that the only way to freedom, to strength, to wisdom, was through continual effort. ‘Progress is not achieved by luck or accident,’ Epictetus said, “but by working on yourself daily.’”

This year I will to continue to simplify. To remove (or just as importantly to not add) what is not necessary. Beyond the obvious like having less “stuff” at home or in the closet, this also includes choosing where I direct my attention, what I read, what I allow into my headspace, being thoughtful about commitments, and continuing to create quiet space at home for cooking, reading and contemplation.

I think Derek Sivers writes beautifully on this point:

“No amount of adding will get me to where I want to be.

The adding mindset is deeply ingrained. It’s easy to think I need something else. It’s hard to look instead at what to remove.

The least successful people I know run in conflicting directions, are drawn to distractions, say yes to almost everything, and are chained to emotional obstacles.

The most successful people I know have a narrow focus, protect themselves against time-wasters, say no to almost everything, and have let go of old limiting beliefs.

More people die from eating too much than from eating too little. Most of us have too much baggage, too many commitments, and too many priorities.

Subtracting reminds me that what I need to change is something already here, not out there.”

One of the greatest benefits of going through this process of deliberately simplifying where my time and energy are spent is I have more time and energy to do the things that I truly enjoy like cooking at home.

Many people that I admire are amazing at doing weekly meal planning (I’m looking at you Pamela Salzman) and even show you exactly how to do it. It is always something I’ve wanted to do but it felt too overwhelming to get started.

But these last two weeks I made the time to get my meal planning, food prep and grocery shopping system dialed (or at least version 1.0)…

I organized my recipes and went through my go-to cookbooks and flagged the pages. I cleaned out and organized the pantry and also the fridge…

There is now always something healthy and satisfying to eat in the fridge or take to work, and I do only one trip to PCC and Trader Joe’s each week.The other huge benefit is hardly any food gets wasted.

I also learned about these great Vegibags (also available on Amazon) from the latest issue of Bon Appétit. Now vegetables skip the plastic bags at the store, get washed at home and put into the crisper bags and into the fridge. The extra-large size holds four big bunches of kale FYI…

The latest Bon Appétit is really great and full of recipes I’d like to make starting with the chicken-lentil soup on the cover, this cauliflower bolognese and this kale pesto…

And what a lovely surprise to turn the page and see this sentiment…

I think cook the way you want to feel is a great general “rule” to follow when it comes to feeding ourselves. I can’t think of a more powerful tool to change the body, how it functions and how we feel, than food. When we choose to “restrict” our eating in some way (no wheat, dairy, sugar, grains, whatever it may be) the response too often is “well what can you eat?!” The chef Seamus Mullen gives a perfect answer to that in his book Real Food Heals that I wholeheartedly agree with: Cooking nutritious food is not more restrictive. It’s more creative. We have to expand our minds and our repertoire by thinking outside the box and then a whole world of options opens up.

Also on the home front, our backyard studio is nearing completion and we can hardly contain ourselves. This dream has been years in the making…

We also gave the dining room a little refresh with some lime wash paint from Colour Atelier and a little Noguchi magic…

I love this quote from Helena Bonham Carter…

And these Stop Talking cards (which I bought locally at Peter Miller Books)…

“The problem is no longer getting people to express themselves, but providing little gaps of solitude and silence in which they might eventually find something to say…. What a relief to have nothing to say, the right to say nothing, because only then is there a chance of framing...the thing that might be worth saying.”

— Gilles Deleuze

July 23

Last week we broke ground on a long-anticipated dream project, the building of our backyard studio, which will be a work/art space for my husband. Our little one car garage was demolished to kick it off…

While watching the demo I made Pamela Salzman’s grain-free chocolate zucchini cake (which is crazy good by the way). My happy version of multi-tasking…

Speaking of cake, Simple Cake by Odette Williams is a wonderful book and one I’d highly recommend for your library whether you consider yourself a baker or not…

I’m really enjoying this turmeric tonic from Further Food. I blend a scoop of it with cold water and a little honey syrup (recipe for honey syrup here) and then drink it over ice with my favorite glass straw…

I’ve had a lot on my plate the last few weeks and my advanced food prep has been lagging. Thankfully I’ve found a go-to protein powder that I love and helps me get by if I have nothing to grab before walking out the door. I mix one scoop of this Amazing Grass Protein Superfood and two scoops of Vital Proteins Collagen with 12oz of orange juice and whip it up in the Vitamix for an easy and satiating breakfast. And on really long teaching days when I don’t have a break between clients I will make a double batch and bring it to the studio in this 32oz insulated Klean Kanteen…

This Tony's Chocolonely Almond Sea Salt bar is my absolute favorite chocolate and I always have a few bars on hand…

I just bought several sheets of these beautiful Ellsworth Kelly stamps…

My husband and I both carry around this Memento Mori as a daily reminder to be present and focus on what really matters.

“Meditating on your mortality is only depressing if you miss the point. It is in fact a tool to create priority and meaning. It’s a tool that generations have used to create real perspective and urgency. To treat our time as a gift and not waste it on the trivial and vain. Death doesn’t make life pointless but rather purposeful. And fortunately, we don’t have to nearly die to tap into this. A simple reminder can bring us closer to living the life we want.”

I am a big fan of Stoicism and recommend signing up for The Daily Stoic which is put together by Ryan Holiday (he has a book by the same name). His other books The Obstacle is the Way and Ego is the Enemy are also worth a read…

Wendy Whelan’s line to live by is one I live by too…

“Energy produces energy.”

Photo via La Ligne

Lastly, Esther Perel’s On Being conversation is a delight to listen to…

Photo via On Being

One of my favorite parts near the end of the conversation:

When I say, “The quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives,” it’s because I do think that the bonds and the connections that we forge with others give us a greater sense of meaning and happiness and wellbeing than just about any other thing — when it’s good, because it can be exactly the opposite, huh?

“And now it’s like, how much are you investing in your relationships? And I find that, often, people don’t. They talk about “my partner is my best friend,” and they treat them like shit. They talk about “my friend,” and they haven’t seen that person or talked to that person in years. It’s like, no, you can’t just do it like that. You can’t be lazy. You can’t be complacent about this and put all your energies at work and bring the leftovers home — and all of that stuff.

Or I have this question I’ve been playing with lately, and I just asked it in Sydney. I was like, “How many of you go to bed, and the last thing you touch is your phone? OK, stand up. And how many of you, the first thing you stroke in the morning when you wake up is your phone? Please stand up. And how many of you are doing this while there actually is another person lying next to you in bed?” That’s ambiguous loss, by the way. I’m like, seriously? Seriously?”

So that’s what I am trying to address at this point; it’s like, interestingly, we don’t look at relational health enough. We don’t connect it to mental health. We don’t connect it to our overall physical health. And we certainly don’t connect it enough to our societal health, if we want to really go bigger. It’s not the freedom that is our problem. It’s not the fact that we have choice, but they have always gone together with responsibility, with accountability.

You can see more of Esther Perel in her TED talk from a few years back and read her book Mating in Captivity.

Spring!

It is Spring! The chives and tarragon in the garden are pushing through the dirt. I have my work cut out for me with the insane amount of weeds to pull but with the beautiful days we’ve been having I hardly mind.

Lucas’ Papaw Ointment is my new go-to multipurpose salve for chapped lips, cuticles, scrapes and garden splinters…

I’ve been transitioning my winter clothes out and adding a few new things to the mix like this Clare V midi sac that I can’t stop wearing…

I’ve also added the Clare V framed Flore handbag to my birthday wishlist…

I recently found the perfect size pocket notepad with tear away sheets from Rifle Paper Co to carry with me for my endless list making…

And these Paper Mate Flair felt tip pens are becoming my new favorite…

This Patagonia woolie pullover has been wonderful for cutting the chill when it’s too warm to wear a jacket…

One of the biggest highlights this month is I finally started taking sewing classes at Drygoods Design. My husband gave me the trilogy class series which was on my personal xmas wishlist. The space is gorgeous, the fabric selection is killer (see the Japanese cotton I bought for my tote below) and the small classes are a delight…

If you go check out the shop in Pioneer Square I’d also highly recommend going to Elm Coffee Roasters for a latte with their house-made hazelnut milk, maybe swing by Jujubeet Cafe and order the avocado toast on the gluten-free bread from Nuflours and then head up Jackson to Kobo in the International District. Last time I was there I picked up this rad nightlight for our bathroom made by Boy Designs…

The new mantra on the letterboard at home is courtesy of the wonderful On Being conversation with neuroscientist Richard Davidson…

And along the same line of thinking I am really digging Atomic Habits by James Clear…

He is spot on articulating what I personally believe and try to embody on how making seemingly inconsequential small adjustments every day can be incredibly powerful and help us become our best selves.

“It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis. Too often, we convince ourselves that massive success requires massive action.”

This sentence is my favorite:

“Progress requires unlearning. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your believes and to upgrade and expand your identity.”

And for an incredible example of how small things lead to big things and how we can expand the limitations we often set for ourselves on what is possible, go watch The Dawn Wall on Netflix…

Good Intentions

I am big on goal setting, or rather intention setting. Goal setting was a big thing when I was a kid training as a rhythmic gymnast. “Finish in the top eight” or “make the national team” might have been the thing for that year. The focus was always on the outcome. But as I’ve grown and acquired a bit more wisdom, I am way more interested in setting intentions and the actual process of doing or learning something than accomplishing a task in and of itself.

Intentions allow us to be fully present and also provide room for change, growth, mistakes, and joy. I am big on “respecting the process” and apply that mantra not only in my own life but also in how I parent and how I teach in the Pilates studio - “We are not trying to do something perfectly or move in a perfect way. The intention is what matters - moving with intention, reaching with intention, standing with intention, looking with intention.” I talk about it every day.

I’ve always loved this passage from Maria Popova’s “10 Learnings”:

“Presence is far more intricate and rewarding an art than productivity. Ours is a culture that measures our worth as human beings by our efficiency, our earnings, our ability to perform this or that. The cult of productivity has its place, but worshipping at its altar daily robs us of the very capacity for joy and wonder that makes life worth living.”

This year I want to really focus my intentions on my (and in turn our) financial life. More than just monitoring our spending (thank you YNAB!) I want to really change my spending habits and be even more thoughtful in all aspects of our spending and consuming life.

My “remove from cart” mentality applies not only to impulsive online shopping but to all our spending and household necessities.

We rarely eat out but good quality local food is expensive and our monthly grocery bill is large. So beginning this month I set an aggressive grocery budget on You Need a Budget and I already know that around January 23rd I’m likely going to be hitting the ceiling. And when that happens, I’m going to play with only cooking from the pantry and cleaning out the fridge and see how far I can stretch it. I like a good challenge.

As I was thinking about all this, the January newsletter from PCC arrived with “Food Waste” as the primary issue - “If you don’t buy it, you can’t waste it.”

My favorite place to write down all of my intentions, not just in January but throughout the year, is in a Moleskine notebook…

With a fresh Micron pen…

Gratitude

With profound gratitude on this day, Happy Thanksgiving.

Messenger

by Mary Oliver
 
My work is loving the world. 
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird — 
equal seekers of sweetness. 
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums. 
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.
 
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn? 
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me 
keep my mind on what matters, 
which is my work,
 
which is mostly standing still and learning to be 
astonished. 
The phoebe, the delphinium. 
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture. 
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,
 
which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart 
and these body-clothes, 
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy 
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam, 
telling them all, over and over, how it is 
that we live forever.