Setting yourself challenges

Brene Brown's TED Talks have been resonating with me over the last week. Her  phrase "Dare Greatly" has really got me thinking. One of my new year resolutions was to do and experience different things in 2015. It was about being bold and getting out of the rut that I thought that I was in.. There is nothing wrong with having a routine. We all have them in our lives and structure enables us to get on with our lives. Sometimes we just need to do new things to make us realise we are alive!

I'm not talking about becoming an adrenaline junkie - although sometimes it's exciting to do something really exciting and different! I can't believe that it's five years since I did this zip wire experience! Here's a quick video of one of the zip wires I actually went across! The adrenaline was pumping that morning.

 I am talking about doing something different that makes you feel good, that doesn't cost a fortune and makes your heart sing!

So today I was interested to read about a wife who set her husband a quirky list of things he had to do as a 50th Birthday present. Here is the list below:

                                                    This has got me thinking!

Everyone I seem to has some form of "to do" list. Their format differs from person to person -  from "my back of an envelope friend", "the can't go anywhere without a notebook friend" to "there must be an app I can make notes on friend". What ever the to do list looks like, generally, this always had a list of jobs and chores that we need to complete either in work, for home or a shopping list.Let's face it this list is often dull!  I was wondering, after looking at this wife's quirky list,  how often we set our selves challenges on a list of fun things?  I for one, don't have one!

 I might have an item on a more boring "to-do" list that says something like "go to cinema to see a certain film" or "book restaurant for dinner with x". I don't want a bucket list - and I am not calling it this - they often have exotic things to achieve such as doing a parachute jump or visit a special place that we have always wanted to visit.

Bucket lists have their place too. I'm talking about making a more realistic list of things to achieve that makes us feel good - it's about simplicity that we can incorporate into our every day lives. So instead of going to the gym - it might for example change to- after work I will run in a park and enjoy the feel of the wind on my face.

You need to personalise your own list! That makes it so special! 

There are some great ideas on the quirky list above though - I so love the idea of No 32 on the list "Try an alternative therapy" - there are so many male friends that I would love to have this on their list! To just try it once - and not to put it down before they have even tried it! 

I also like no 19 on the list " Put £5 in a prominent book in the library with an a note that it is for the finder to keep". Imagine finding the £5? You would be delighted and also intrigued who left it there - a whole story could evolve in your mind!

So I am off to make a list of 5 things that I want to do in February!  I have decided that I am going to make a monthly list rather than a big annual list.

           "BE BOLD- BE BRAVE- BE HAPPY- BE FREE-  BE SILLY- BE ORIGINAL"
 
I am going away on holiday next month so I am giving some thought on what I can do when I am away that will make this holiday even more special! But for today it was eniough to have a dog walk with Colin with our friends Ruth and Jazz around the lake at Virginia Water instead of the normal route we take for the morning dog walk!

Beautiful Virginia Water - a very chilly walk around this lake.

                                                  

Sardine Pate - a quick and easy lunch

When I went to Penny Brohn Cancer Care two years ago I was taught how to make this easy lunch or snack. Tinned sardines are not one of my favourites so I was surprised by how this tasted so good! I used this one today with sun dried tomatoes which gives the end result even more flavour.

Sardine Pate

This is what you need.........

1 tin of sardines (in olive oil or spring water)
1 large carrot - finely grated
1/2 lemon - juice only
1 tsp of wholegrain mustard
Olive oil to mix through to the desired consistency

Here's what you do........

Blend all of the ingredients together.

The end result1!

If left for a few hours before eating the flavours develop.

I like to spread it on an oatcake but it's equally nice on a chia and oat crispbread or some warm toast.

                                                   What could be easier!!!!

The coldest morning so far......

It was a very cold start to the day and I was not  really looking forward to the morning dog walk!

Ruth with Jazz and Colin - a frosty January morning

Chobham Common in the frost

Back home for a warming bowl of porridge with blueberries and milled seeds and goji berries

Brene Brown - Dare Greatly

My writer friend Alison sent me a link to a Ted Talk entitled " Listening to Shame" by Brene Brown which has really inspired my week! 

I was a little put off by the title if I am being totally honest, not really knowing what to expect. I was very surprised!

I was interested to learn more and found her 2010 TEDx Houston talk on the power of vulnerability. 

This  is one of the most watched talks on TED.com, with over 15 million views. She has spent the past decade studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame. She asks how do we learn to embrace our vulnerabilities and imperfections so that we can engage in our lives from a place of authenticity and worthiness? How do we cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection that we need to recognize that we are enough – that we are worthy of love, belonging, and joy? Give these talks a go - you'll be surprised as I was I hope.

Brene quotes this by Teddy Roosevelt : 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”

In simpler terms Brene explains why we find being vulnerable such a hard thing to do.

“When we spend our lives waiting until we’re perfect or bulletproof before we walk into the arena, we ultimately sacrifice relationships and opportunities that may not be recoverable, we squander our precious time, and we turn our backs on our gifts, those unique contributions that only we can make,” says Brown. “Perfect and bulletproof are seductive, but they don’t exist in the human experience.”

 In my mind it's about getting out there, having a presence and living -  it's OK that we're not perfect and that what we do or are trying to achieve is not perfect. We need to just have to work at it - yes we may fail along the way but that's OK - it's the experience that will make us and is part of our own individual stories. No two person's stories are the same. We don't have to manipulate ourselves to be someone we're not. It's about being grateful for who we are and the life we live and having the courage to dare greatly in whatever we do.

Here are some inspirational quotes from Brene Brown:

• “What we know matters but who we are matters more.”
•  “Hope is a function of struggle.”
•  “Vulnerability is not weakness, and the uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure we face every day are not optional. Our only choice is a question of engagement. Our willingness to own and engage with our vulnerability determines the depth of our courage and the clarity of our purpose; the level to which we protect ourselves from being vulnerable is a measure of our fear and disconnection.”
• “To love ourselves and support each other in the process of becoming real is perhaps the greatest single act of daring greatly.” 

and my favourite:

 “One of the biggest surprises in this research was learning that fitting in and belonging are not the same thing. In fact, fitting in is one of the greatest barriers to belonging. Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be in order to be accepted. Belonging, on the other hand, doesn’t require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are.”

                      Check out Brene Brown's website - there is so much more!

Thank you Alison my daring friend! Yes that's daring and not darling - although she's both.

Celeriac Soup

What an ugly vegetable celeriac is!

I  try to  eat seasonally so when I was at my local veg stall this week, I bought celeriac. It was cheap too - a £1 for a fairly big ugly beast!

Ugly vegetables are in the news,  Jamie Oliver is backing Asda’s decision to stock misshapen veg at a discounted price. And about time too – why should they be slung on piles of rejects just because they don’t meet the supermarkets’ beauty parade rules of height, weight and skin perfection?

The veg whose had the greatest gnarled heads and the ugliest veg on the aisle has to go to Celeriac!!

Originally introduced into this country in the 18th century, it has never achieved the popularity it has enjoyed in Europe, where sales outstrip that of celery. Perhaps we are put off by the ugliness? The flavour is similar to celery although in fact it tastes more rounded, mellow and nutty than celery stems. It doesn’t have the stringy texture of celery.

 I thought that it was a root vegetable. A little research however showed that while celeriac is generally classified as a root vegetable, and certainly looks and behaves like one, it is actually either a “corm” or a swollen stem base,  What ever its botanical category, in teh kitchen it's treated as a root vegetable.

So what I thought can I do with this ugly veg?  There are all sorts of recipes using raw and cooked celeriac but I wanted to make something simple for lunch.  Of course, my staple of the moment, soup. I added rolled oats as I read about it in another recipe and it thickens the soup - and it does it well.

So this is what you need......

Ingredients

1 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion,chopped 1 teaspoon salt
 25g rolled oats
1 medium  celeriac, trimmed, thickly chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
 750 ml of vegetable stock
Juice of 1/2 lemon or more to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

This is what you do..........

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onions, salt, and rolled oats. Reduce heat, and sweat onions and oats covered for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add celeriac and garlic. Sweat celeriac and garlic for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add stock, and bring soup to simmer.
4. Cook covered for 20-25 minutes, or until celeriac is very tender.
5. Puree soup in a blender until smooth.
6. Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Surprisingly tasty Celeriac soup!
 

Take Five Minutes to care for yourself

                                 Take Time for yourself

 When it comes to looking after ourselves in our busy lives, I’m often reminded that most of us have just a few minutes each day to nurture ourselves, and we usually leave this time for ourselves off of our to-do list.  I was thinking what I do, when I only have a short time to grab a quiet reflective few minutes. Here are five ideas to get you thinking about how you can take just five minutes for yourself today.

Go outside and take five deep breaths.

This means literally going outside in the middle of the day - to your garden, onto the balcony outside your apartment, somewhere outside the office where you work, to a park bench, in the middle of your dog walk - and pausing, noticing your surroundings, and then taking five deep breaths:

• With the first breath, relax your shoulders.
• With the second, notice how your breath moves in your body.
• With the third, try to let go of anything pulling on you.
• With the fourth, feel the space you create inside you.
• With the fifth breath, let your mind rest in this space. 

This is the practice that saves me again and again. Noticing. Breathing. Letting go of the day. I use it as first aid several times daily.

Pause for a mug of tea or coffee.

There’s something beautiful about the way your senses are engaged when you drink something warm. A cup of Green Tea does this for me on chilly mornings because the smell and taste hold beautiful memories for me. Consider setting some time aside just for you before everyone gets up or when you have a few minutes for a break in the middle of your day. Choose your favourite coffee or tea blend and make a date with yourself to slow down and be present over your next cup.

Aromatherapy

Add some essential oils into your day. I  sometimes burn some oils you can use in a diffuser to invite more calm to your day. Here are two to try in a diffuser:  Lavender oil for calm and is a good one to use before bed. Peppermint oil can bring your energy up and is nice to use at the beginning and middle of the day as a pick me up.

 

Sing!

Singing helps us get out of the chatter in our heads and raise our spirits.There is lots of evidence that suggest that the  health benefits of singing are both physical and psychological. Singing has physical benefits because it increases oxygenation in the blood stream and exercises major muscle groups in the upper body, even when sitting. Singing has psychological benefits because of its normally positive effect in reducing stress levels through the action of the endocrine system which is linked to our sense of emotional well-being. I am not saying that this is something that you can do anywhere. If you do it outside you may get some odd looks! In the comfort of your own home or garden I think it is OK to sing. I sing along with a few favourite songs that I have on itunes or my ipod and let rip. You've heard the phrase "dance like no-one's looking" well I" sing like there's no one listening"!  The song I turn to depends on what I need - happy, sad or songs that have special meaning. Come on we all have a favourite song we like to sing along to!  We all do it in the car when we are in our own - don't we? Or is it only me?

Nourish your body

A good way to treat yourself is to treat yourself to something special and nutritious. Treat yourself to something really healthy like a green juice or a handful of fresh berries or fruit, some nuts or a small piece of dark chocolate. Stop doing everything else and just be in the moment with your treat of choice. Focus on what you're eating - the smell, the texture, the taste and savour every mouthful slowly! 

These are just some of the ideas I use and may not all be to your own style. I encourage you to think about what simple things you can do, that in a short time, can help you to feel supported in the midst of your day.

Roasted Carrot Soup

I went to see my acupuncturist on Monday. I have been visiting him once a month for the last two years. Acupuncture has become part of my maintenance regime, after a doctor at Penny Brohn, suggested that I might find it beneficial in occasionally re-balancing things . I have found that the acupuncture has helped me immensely, even when I thought I was feeling fine. During my appointment, I was talking about giving my juicing machine more work and increase the juice that I was drinking. Why? I thought that my body was in need of the green goodness of more juices. My acupuncturist said, that this might not be the best thing to do. Yes of course juice but it's important to include some warming ingredients such as ginger in the juice, at this time of year. He felt that my constitution was craving warmth and heat at this time of year and that instead of increasing the juice, he recommended I eat more warming soups. Soups are after all more palatable than a cold juice in January.

 Looking at seasonal vegetables available at the moment, there are lots of root vegetables around, which make a starchy filling soup.  Having some organic carrots in the fridge that needed using up and raw carrots were not really appealing on a wet January morning, I decided to make an easy soup instead. I was looking for a new twist in a basic carrot soup recipe so I thought a  roasted carrot soup would be different. I have roasted carrots in some coconut oil before and it brought out their natural sweetness and depth of flavour. So why not a roasted carrot soup I thought?

Here's the healthy bit .....Carrots contain high amounts of Vitamin A, fibre, vitamin K, potassium, manganese, phosphorous, magnesium, vitamin E and zinc. As long as you don't add cream it's non fattening. I have heard that if you have a nasty bout of diarrhoea, carrot soup will help with the recuperation.  Although, I have not put this to the test!

This soup is one to prepare ahead of time too for those days when you don't have much time to cook, but still want something healthy to eat as well as quick. It'll keep about three days in the fridge or you can freeze it as there are no dairy products in the soup.

So here's what I did......

To save time, I included the onion as well. I put the onion wedges and roughly chopped carrot pieces in one layer in a roasting pan and drizzled with coconut oil.  I placed the dish in a 200°C (fan 180°C/390°F/gas 6) preheated oven and roasted for around 30 minutes or until the carrots and onions were starting to brown. I then transferred the vegetables in a large pot with the a pint of  stock and simmered for 10 minutes.  I  put it in my Kitchen Aid blender and as it was quite thick I added more water. But some coconut milk would have been nice. Ready to serve.

This is how it looked in the pan. Nice warming colour.

If you are in the mood for something more elaborate you can "pimp" up your soup with sour cream, yogurt, single or double cream , creme fraiche and serve it with buttered bread.

Fruit Compotes

I have recently discovered fruit compotes. After all the hedonism around food that surrounds Christmas and New Year and falling into the sugar trap, it is difficult to wean your taste buds off that fondness for sweet things. Fruit compotes are a good way off making the transition - made without sugar of course!

They're great with porridge for breakfast or with yogurt as a treat or dessert later in the day. Try these recipes.

Plum Compote

800g firm but ripe plums halved and stoned

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

2 cloves

125g organic maple syrup

1. Put the plums, spices and maple syrup in a saucepan with 50ml of water and bring to the boil.

2. Turn down the heat and cover with a lid and simmer for 15 mins.

3. If you prefer a thicker consistency then simmer the compote for a further 10-15 mins until it looks more like a jam.

This is delicious warm or cold. It will keep in the fridge for a few days if you want to ration your portions!!

This recipe can be adapted to use other fruit and spice combinations. Why not try blueberry and lime, apple and cinnamon, pear and cardamom. I plan to experiment with this over the next few weeks and will post any successes I think you might like!

Watch out blueberries you might become a compote.

Walking

I know that I have said this before but the most important exercise for everyone is WALKING. Daily walking - 45 minutes if possible - reduces the risk of some cancers but also osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, asthma and stroke. It's good to move your body and helps with weight management if you do it everyday.

It is also easy to fit into your lifestyle -

• get off your bus a stop or two early in the morning
• walk at lunchtime even if it is to the sandwich shop
• walk to and from the station in the morning
• ditch the car and walk to the shops
• walk from the bus or tube at your destination
• walk up stairs instead of taking the lift. 

At the weekend make it a priority to get out there and walk. Wrap up warm, put on your trainers or walking boots and get out there. Explore the neighbourhood you live in or why not take a trip to the countryside or beach and make a day of it. It's a cheap way to exercise - no expensive gym subscriptions you'll still be paying for and not using by the summer and no special equiipment is required.

If you're interested in how many steps you've walked there are many apps out there that will track these for you. For iphone users try Stepz app or Andrioid Noomwalk app. I use Noom Walk and always find it fascinating how many steps I take everyday - you just need to have your phone on you all day or you don't get credit for all those steps!!
 

In the words of Nancy Sinatra "These boots were made for walking". So what are you waiting for get out there and WALK WALK WALK!

It's 2015!!!!!