Delicious Summer Fruits

Summer is without a doubt my favourite time of year.  Not only do I enjoy the warmer weather, but I also love summer food.  Meals are more assembled than cooked, and I love the delicious, fresh, crispness of raw foods.

Summer fruits seem to be full of sunshine.   Mangoes are a huge favourite in our family and they are getting more affordable by the season.  We’ve been enjoying them occasionally for breakfast or lunch.  According to the Australia Mango website (www.mangoes.net.au ) a 200g serve of ripe mango provides you with up to 3 times the recommended daily intake of Vitamins A and C.  They also contain more beta-carotene than any other fruit. Beta-carotene is an anti-oxidant that assists with the growth and repair of cells, tissues and skin.

One of the ways we enjoy our ‘mango fandangoes’ is to eat them with banana, and topped with yoghurt and desiccated or shredded coconut.  What a delicious tropical treat!

We also love eating summer berries and cherries.  Berries are particularly beneficial to health in the following ways:

-          They keep you mentally sharp, as they contain anthocyanidins, which cross the blood-brain barrier and locate in learning and memory centres in the brain.

-          Berries have a low glycemic index, meaning that they release their sugar slowly and keep you feeling fuller for longer – the perfect fruit for those with diabetes who need to regulate sugar release to their bodies.

-          Flavanoid packed berries, such as blueberries and raspberries, may one day lead to more effective cancer-prevention strategies.

-          The antioxidants in berries can help your body fight oxidative stress caused by free radicals that can lead to illness. Eating a diet rich in antioxidants can help improve your health, protect your skin and hair, and prevent certain diseases. All fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants, but nutrient-rich berries are some of the absolute best sources.

(Sources:  http://www.joybauer.com/food-articles/berries.aspx and http://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition-pictures/amazing-health-benefits-of-berries.aspx )

I usually like to top breakfast cereal with berries, or have them with muslei and yoghurt.  I also like to make an apple and berry crumble – delicious served with vanilla ice cream.  And berries are also great just on their own, or to liven up a cheese board.

Which seasonal fruits are your favourite and how do you enjoy them?  I’d love you to share your recipes, so send me a post or comment below or you can email me at livewelllivesmart@gmail.com .   

Family Recipe Book

Each year we usually spend Christmas with my family in-law in Perth.  It’s a joyful, spirited and rather large event, with a growing number of members as children are born and partners are introduced.   We number about 30 people if we’re all present, and usually share the catering between us with a different host family arranging the lunch or dinner.  Having our two kids at these Christmas celebrations has been great fun – the family love to shower them with presents and affection.  Christmas is much more magical with kids around who are so enthusiastic about Santa’s visit and express their happiness and wonderment in such an uninhibited and pure way.

This year we are going to spend Christmas with my immediate family in Melbourne instead, and I’m so excited about it.  I haven’t spent Christmas with my Mum, Dad, sister and brother for over 10 years!  So, it’s definitely time to do it, particularly while the kids are young.  I’d love for my parents to relive the magic that Christmas brings, which they haven’t experienced since we were children.   

Because we’ll be away, I wanted to give extra special gifts for my family-in-law; gifts that were useful, thoughtful, creative and didn’t cost the earth – being so many people in number.    I found a terrific idea from Cath Armstrong who writes a magnificent blog that I follow called www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au .  Cath had some suggestions for home-made Christmas presents and one of these was to produce a family recipe book.  What a great idea!  With so many celebrations we have shared together over the years, we’ve been spoilt by all the wonderful dishes we’ve shared.  And we all have our favourities both to cook and to eat. 

 

Cath’s blog can be found here http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2014/09/100-days-to-cheapskates-style-christmas.html .

Last weekend I requested recipes from all members of the family and I’m waiting in anticipation for these all to come in.  Will people share their secret recipes for some of the dishes I’ve requested of them?  I hope so!  My plan is to have the children create some pictures to include, which I’ll scan into the document so that the whole recipe collection can be printed and bound.   I might even put the individual sheet sleeves into a display folder if I can find some nice ones, to protect the pages from splashes when cooking.

I can’t wait to put it all together and see the finished product.  I hope the family enjoy them!

Do you have any home-made Christmas gifts you’re currently working on?  I’d love to hear your suggestions, so send me a post or comment below or you can email me at livewelllivesmart@gmail.com .   

All We Have Is This Moment

I took my eldest daughter to her first concert last night.  It was Katy Perry and both of us have been huge fans for over a year now.  We were so excited and the show didn’t disappoint.  There were dances, contortionists, lots of costume changes, conveyer belts, Katy flying, … it was a high energy performance and Katy’s voice was amazing.  The show had everything and was such a great party!

I’ve been inspired by Katy’s lyrics this year, particularly from her Prism album.  Even though she is quite provocative at times some of Katy’s lyrics are very profound and uplifting.  She sings a lot about being the best you can be, finding strength within and being positive.  One particular lyric that has resonated with me is:

“All we have is this moment.  Tomorrow’s unspoken, yesterday is history.”

This is so true.

So often I worry about the future – what do I have in my calendar coming up in the next month?  What have I done in the past that I could have done better?  Thinking and worrying about either of these things is really a waste of time and energy.  What can I effect right now?  That’s so much more important.  How can I make the most out of the moment I am in right now?  Being fully present in the current moment means that I’ll take time to notice all the small miracles that happen every day.

Like when my daughter and I sat down at the concert, one of the few to take their seats early, and realised that across the aisle were seated our previous neighbours!  In a stadium seating 15,000 people what are the odds?  There are no coincidences, only miracles –everything happens for a reason.

My youngest daughter is struggling with living in the moment.  She’s only 4 years old, but worries so much about things… actually she reminds me of me!  I didn’t have the easiest of childhoods, suffering from anxiety, and now I see a similar pattern playing out in my daughter.  It really breaks my heart.  I need to teach her to live in the moment, and not worry about the past or future.  It’s what got me through…. Although it took a hell of a long time.  I wish that my youngest can get over her anxiety much more quickly than I got over mine (only about 10 years!).

Katy’s Perry’s song “This Moment”  says…..

“Can you tell me who called a race?  Can anyone stay in one place?  And when you get to the finish line, will you wish for more time?  …….

“But you know who I think will win?  Are the ones who let love in.  Are they ones who take the time.”

Do you have something to share about being in the moment?  Or taking time to discover life’s small miracles that happen daily?  I’d love to hear your stories, so send me a post or comment below or you can email me at livewelllivesmart@gmail.com .   

Stop Grocery Shopping Eating Out Your Wallet!

How much do you spend on your weekly grocery shop for the family?  $100, $200 maybe even $300?  Do you feel as though your grocery shopping is eating through your wallet, leaving you with little to save at the end of a month?  What if I could show you a better way to shop, where you’re guaranteed to get on top of this often missed opportunity to really improve your budgeting, so that you have more money to save or to spend on what you really value.  And you won’t compromise on the quality of your meals – in fact they are more likely to improve!

I started shopping this way when I was on maternity leave with my second baby.  I had wanted to take a full 12 months off work and had to plan for the loss of income during this period, and really tighten the belt and make every dollar stretch.  This was the time that I learnt the most about budgeting… and I’ve made a real effort to maintain the principles now that I’m back at work again.  If we could live off a lower cost of living then, there’s no reason why we can’t do it now.

One book I read at the time gave me fantastic ideas for following the loss leader cycle of supermarket chains specials.  It detailed a method of looking through the catalogues that come in the post or can be found online.  Then start keeping a notebook to record each grocery item you regularly buy, the price and date.  It’s amazing how quickly you can go from not really taking any notice or remembering grocery item prices, to knowing prices and recognizing a decent special.  You may even be able to predict when a particular item is likely to be on special!

Another book I read was Cath Armstrong’s Debt Free, Cashed Up and Laughing.  Cath describes stacks of practical ways to save money on many facets of daily living.  Her blog is also full of ideas, recipes, crafts, gardening tips and other advice to help you meet your financial savings goals.  You can check it out here.

Now that I have two growing school-age children and I’m working full-time, I have very little time to go shopping.  So I have switched to ordering shopping on line and having it home delivered.  Through Coles Online, if I book a delivery for Wednesday it’s free of charge.  Wednesdays soon sell out though, so I need to make sure I order groceries on the prior Sunday. 

Not only am I able to get free delivery, I have also found that I save a LOT more money by sorting items by unit price and recognizing real value.  For the past year, I have found that my weekly grocery shopping is always less than $120 per week, and I often save $30 - $50 off usual prices!  This grocery shopping excludes fresh fruit and vegetables and meat, as I prefer to buy these from growers markets or our local Farmer Jacks which sells particularly good value local meat. 

This is the method I use for shopping:

1.        Don’t be brand loyal – buy what’s on special, the best value by unit price

2.       When buying an item like flour, sugar, rice etc I buy cheap store brands as they don’t involve a recipe and quality is just as good as name brands.

3.       During the week/fortnight make a list of items that are running out or low that I need to buy.  Have a plan in mind for the meals that my husband or I will cook over the next week, and add items for these meals to the list.

4.       Don’t be loyal to one supermarket … if not inconvenient shop for the week/fortnight where you get the most savings for the items on the list.

5.       Look through catalogues (in the letterbox or online) and check products and prices against my list so that I can determine where I’ll shop for the week/fortnight.

6.       If I’m going to physically shop, I mark the prices next to each item on my list (usually rounded to the nearest dollar) then add them up so I know how much to expect the shop to be.

7.       If I’m shopping online I’ll see the tally of the total value of the shop before I commit to buy.  If I’ve ordered something that’s stretching the budget I have the opportunity to remove it.

8.       I always sort the list of items online by their unit price so that I can easily see the best value.

 

I had intended this year to shop fortnightly, instead of weekly but I haven’t yet been able to make this discipline stick.  I do want to make an effort to do this though, and get out of the habit of a weekly shop, as I think the longer I stretch the shopping trip the more opportunity I’ll have to save.

My last two weekly shops have been ordered online with free delivery, been within budget and show considerable savings on usual prices:

 

Do you have some tips to share about your successful shopping strategies?  I’d love to hear them, so send me a post or comment below or you can email me at livewelllivesmart@gmail.com .   

Meditation - for inspiration, clarity and creativity

Isn’t it strange that just when you start wanting to find out about something new in life, the topic just keeps presenting itself everywhere you look?  This happened to me just recently, when a friend of mind was getting rid of some old books and asked if I would like any of them.  I found one on meditation, which I knew I just had to read. 

 

In many of the books, blogs and articles I’ve read on different topics throughout this year, there has been the common thread of the benefits of meditation.  Whether I am reading about wealth creation, life coaching, career coaching, living slowly and simply, or building resilience the practice of meditation has been attributed to achieving a sense of purpose, de-stressing and refreshing yourself and focusing energy.  I just had to know more about meditation, and find a way to incorporate it into my life.

Most people associate meditation with stillness of the mind, and the Buddhist practice of emptying the mind of all thoughts.  But meditation doesn’t have to be the absence of thoughts.  It is about finding a relaxed state – totally relaxing your body and mind and just being in the moment.  I like the idea that in meditation I can just let my thoughts come and go, without needing to restrict them.  The most important part of meditation is that you let your body completely relax.  Having some thoughts or images to contemplate such as through guided meditations allows any inspiration or messages from the Universe to come through. 

In the book that I picked up from my friend, it details methods for how to get your body in a relaxed state that will enable you to achieve the best results from the meditation.  I like sitting comfortably on the couch or lying in bed, with my eyes closed and taking a few deep breathes, in through the nose and out through the mouth.  Some guided meditations I have listened to ask that you breathe in and out to the count of 5.  Others aren’t so prescriptive about the counting of your breath, just that you notice your breathing ….. in slowly and out slowly…. and that it’s comfortable.  I also get into a relaxed state by making myself aware of each part of my body, from my head to my toes.  When I do this, I feel aware of the tension that I’ve been holding in each part, particularly tightness in my face.  I tell my body to soften, to feel light and gentle and to let go of any tension, relaxing the muscles.  Once I’ve concentrated on each part of my body from head to toe, I then like to use a meditative visualization to move me into a deeper sense of being, and perhaps focus on finding a solution to a particular issue I’m dealing with.  There are heaps of youtube videos on meditation with calming music, or guided imagery.  I like the mediations by Deepak Chopra and The Honest Guys.  Everyone is different, you need to find something that resonates with you, for the results you are looking for.

I have started to set aside half an hour a day for meditation.  Morning works best for me, as I find I’ll fall asleep if I try to do it at night!  I might take just 20 minutes or half an hour, depending on how easy it is to get into a relaxed state of mind and body and which visualisation I choose to do.  Tom Cronin is a finance broker turned meditation advocate living in Bondi Sydney, and on his blog he recommends taking 2 of the 72 20 minute blocks available in the day for meditation.  For a perspective on why meditation is important for mental and physical health, Tom’s story is particularly interesting, and you can find out more here.

There are many known benefits of meditation, such as:

-          Better focus

-          Lower blood pressure

-          increase in creativity

-          increase is compassion

-          Better memory

-          Less Stress

-          Increased immunity

Need any more convincing?  Click here to find out 100 benefits of meditation!

I have found that through meditation I feel calmer throughout the day, even under very stressful situations.  I find that I can communicate more effectively, with greater clarity.  I have also found that when I need to I can create a positive influence on a group of people, such as in the office – particularly when I have sensed tension previously – at home, and even via meetings over the telephone!  I put this down to meditation assisting me to raise my energy vibration…. I’m just beginning to explore this, so more on raising vibrations later!

So why not go on and try meditation for yourself. All you need is 20 – 30 spare minutes a day and the changes to your life can be immediate and significant.  If you have already been meditating I’d love to hear about your technique and how it impacts your life.  You can post a comment below or contact me at livewelllivesmart@gmail.com .

Being Consumed by Consumption

Material things don’t lead to happiness – we do know this inherently, but so many of us are caught in the consumption trap and find it difficult to get out.  Advertising does a magnificent job of selling in a way that connects people on an emotional level to their products, through feelings like pride, envy, fear of missing out and competitive one-up-manship.  It’s frustrating when we recognise that we have fallen for the lie, and what once felt like an item you just couldn’t live without now sits at the back of the cupboard, unused. 

         Enjoying the freedom of a trip to the beach - it costs nothing but adds to our life immensely!

With easy access to bank and store credit cards so many make the mistake of putting the “I wants”  before “I need”, buying things with money that isn’t even theirs.  In an era when we have so much opportunity to accumulate wealth for ourselves and our families, why is it that we only seem to accumulate things?? 

We consume a variety of resources and products today having moved beyond basic needs to include luxury items and technological innovations to try to improve our lives. Such consumption beyond basic needs is not necessarily a bad thing in itself, as throughout history we have always found ways to make our lives a bit easier to live.  But when the consumption and continual spend results in spiraling debts and traps us in jobs we no longer enjoy, we need to fess up to the fact that our consumption is getting the better of us.

Recognising that we are already abundant is essential to getting off the consumption binge and getting our financial health on track.  Bob Griffiths in his book Do What You Love For the Rest of Your Life says we need to recognise that we already have enough.  He says that a most liberating affirmation that helped him change his perception of the need to accumulate material possessions is: “I will have enough only when I realise that I already do.”

We don’t really need more than we already have!  As Bob says “The reality is that on any given day we don’t need anything except food.  We already possess clothing, shelter and all the other genuine needs of our lives, plus much, much more.”  Another affirmation that Bob suggests may be helpful is “ Today, I have enough; therefore I need nothing.  I desire all that I already have; therefore I have no wants.”

By changing our attitude towards consumption and detaching ourselves emotionally from material things we are taking a step closer to our financial freedom.  By understanding our household budget, we should get to know how much we need to spend on essential items, and recognize how much money we waste on things that don’t make an impact on our lives.  I’m certainly not saying that we shouldn’t spend our money on fun and entertaining activities.  They are essential of course, for leading a truly abundant life!  But discretionary spending on things where at the end of the month you look at the bank balance and can’t for the life of you think where your wages have gone is not wise and needs to stop.

If you have any thoughts on our attitude to consumption, I’d love for you to share them.  You can write me a post or send an email to livewelllivesmart@gmail.com .

Declutter to simplify your physical space and free your mind.

Decluttering!!  Ugh! 

Where do I find the motivation to start?  Should I wait to be in the right mood, the right frame of mind?

There’s no getting away from it.  The best way to start decluttering is simply to start.  And it’s the starting that’s the hardest step, but once I do start the process it seems to just flow and I manage to go from this:

 

To this:

 

I’ve recently decluttered my work spaces, both in my company’s office and in my home office.  And boy does it feel satisfying!  At home it took me about 3 hours to declutter a relatively small room.  The method I used was to create 3 piles of stuff – 1.  To ditch, 2. To file or put away, 3.  To give away.  The biggest pile by far was the ditching pile (why do I keep this stuff in the first place, if all I’m going to do with it is ditch it?)

It seems simple.  Keep your work and house spaces free of accumulating stuff by being organised – a place for everything and everything in its place. But it’s too easy for workspaces, desks and benches to become dumping grounds.  To prevent this from happening after my decluttering exercise I have ensured that I have folders to keep newspaper and magazine clippings for inspiration, and drawers for filing receipts, financial records, invoices and paid bills.

Not only does the space look a lot cleaner, neater and more inviting but there are many other not so obvious benefits of decluttering, including those affecting our health.  The website http://www.inaquandary.co.uk/decluttering-benefits.htm lists these as:

·         You should be able to sleep better in a clean and tidy environment, and spend less time worrying at night.

·         You will feel more energised to start projects and carry them through to their end.

·         You will feel more able to deal with things as and when they happen.

·         You will feel better equipped to deal with life on a day to day basis.

·         You will have more time to pursue hobbies and outside interests.

·         You will be equipped to part with sentimental items.

In his article Declutter Your Home and Your Head, Brian Johnson says “We also have a socially driven tendency to believe that possessing more brings greater happiness. Tackling this assumption can also bring better mental health and happiness. In fact, owning more things brings with it more anxiety about how to pay for, protect and look after them. The simple truth is that owning less is easier than organising more.” http://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/sex+relationships/wellbeing/declutter+your+home+and+your+head,16685

“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” - Albert Einstein

If you want to get some decluttering done, I would suggest starting small.  There is an excellent blog page called “Declutter 52 things in 52 weeks Challenge”.  Get inspired and start with just 5 minutes today!  http://theorganisedhousewife.com.au/declutter-52-things-in-52-weeks-challenge/

If you have any tips on decluttering, I’d love for you to share them.  You can write me a post or send an email to livewelllivesmart@gmail.com .

Sunday Night Chilled Out Dinner - Homemade Pizza

I find making pizza a really enjoyable process – from the dough to the toppings to the eating! I can’t substitute the base for anything other than pizza dough from scratch – there’s just simply nothing better. The only problem I sometimes face is not starting early enough in the day – I really need to start at 4pm to be ready to eat at 6pm (our target, given the kids need to be in bed by 8pm latest).

Today I used this recipe:
1 teaspoon (or 7g sachet) of yeast
¼ teaspoon caster sugar
¾ cup of luke warm water
1 ½ cups of plain flour
1 teaspoon salt

I start by activating the yeast. This is done by mixing the yeast, sugar and water in a small container or cup and letting it sit for 5 – 10 minutes until it starts bubbling. You can see mine getting frothy here:

Then I mix the salt and flour and make a well in the centre. I pour the yeast mixture into the well and mix it until it forms a soft dough. I continue to knead the dough in the mixing bowl, before turning it out onto a floured surface and knead for about another 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic (so that it contracts back into place when a section of dough is pulled).
And this is the part that takes time. I then need to leave the dough to proof for 30 – 45 minutes. I do this by putting the dough back into the mixing bowl, which I’ve coated with a little oil. I cover the bowl with either glad wrap or a tea towel and leave it in a warm and draught free place.
After about 45 minutes when it has doubled in size I knock the dough back (punch it in the middle). Actually I rarely do this as for some reason my 7 year old has always enjoyed doing it and always comes in to help at the right time. So today, true to form it was my daughter that punched the dough and then we divided it into two balls to roll out into bases.
I preheated the oven to 220 degrees C. I was following a recipe today which gave a tip to heat the pizza trays before greasing them with a little oil and placing the rolled out pizza dough on them. This was a great idea, as it means that the bottom of the pizza has more chance of cooking – nothing worse than well-cooked topping on a not-quite-cooked base! 
Moving quickly once the trays were out of the oven, greased and the rolled bases laid on top, I started adding topping. Both daughters were in on this action. One pizza was a bacon, pineapple and cheese pizza on traditional tomato sauce. The other pizza was salami, capsicum, jalapeño, tomato and cheese on taco sauce. And here’s the result (one of the two we made):

Unfortunately the 7 year old still doesn’t like pizza, even these delicious creations. Luckily for the rest of us, there’s more to go around!
If you have a favourite Sunday night meal, I’d love for you to share it. You can write me a post or send an email to livewelllivesmart@gmail.com .

Father's Day - Gifts from the Heart

This Father’s Day, the kids and I decided that we wanted to create some home-made gifts for the three main men in our lives – Daddy, Poppie and Grandad.  Through school, kindy and daycare they had already been busy making cards and small gifts for the Dads over the last couple of weeks and I thought we could complement these with some more home-made presents.  The internet is a wonderful source of inspiration and we literally found a million ideas to choose from.

We decided that as it’s now Spring and we’re coming into barbecue season, a barbecue bucket would make an ideal gift for Dad and Poppie.  So, we headed off to our local hardware store to gather the items to go into our BBQ buckets.  We found some excellent stainless steel buckets and for Dad we put in BBQ cleaning products, a scraper and scrubber, canola spray oil, and oil catching sand.  For Poppie, who loves seafood, we put in a BBQ grill cage for fish, some wood chips to add some smoky flavour to the fish, and some cleaning products. 

Here’s the final product!

 

For Grandad – who lives on the other side of the country – we made up a relax pack of magazines ….. Science, Astronomy and Gardening ….. and included some tea, coffee, chocolate, health bars and licorice.  We included a beautiful painting of a rainbow created by the 4-year old and packaged them all up in a box.  The box was promptly mailed to ensure it got to Grandad on time.

As an extra gift for Dad, we put together a 6-pack of snacks.  We took 6 empty beer bottles, washed and dried them and used the templates and printed pages from Lil’ Luna’s blog page (http://lilluna.com/fathers-day-super-dad-pop-box-set/) to add decorative touches to the bottles, bottle tops and cardboard carrier.  The result was terrific and super easy for the kids to get involved in and do.  It ended up looking fantastic:

 

Our bottles were filled with M&M’s , cashew nuts, chocolate coated nuts, Maltesers, jelly lollies and a fruit-and-nut mix. 

The Dads were all so pleased with their gifts and the kids and I found it so very satisfying to have put extra time, energy, effort and love into making the gifts rather than just choosing something off the shelf.

For more Father's Day gift ideas - or birthday ideas for the fellas in your life, here are some wonderful ideas at Melissa Goodwin's Frugal and Thriving blog. 

If you’d like to share your home-made Father’s Day gifts, please send me a post or email me at livewelllivesmart@gmail.com .  I’d love to hear about it!

Healthy Body, Healthy Mind

A healthy mind and healthy body are profoundly linked.  It’s a well-known fact that daily physical activity is the single most important tonic for staving off the negative impacts of a busy, modern life, stretched to the max with activity.  Just 20 minutes most days of physical activity can make a huge difference in your state of well-being.

While I do believe this, I’ve unfortunately been neglecting my physical health over the last few months.  Time has just seemed to get away from me, my days filled with launching into a new job, running after two kids at primary school and helping my husband maintain our home.  Oh, let’s be honest – these are just excuses!  Now it’s time for me to put some focus into my physical health and reap the benefits.

 

Just do it! Exercise - Exercise is known to help you live a longer and healthier life. The body needs to stay in action and movement. Move it, or lose it!

And what perfect time to start, with Spring upon us here in Perth.  Getting outside and soaking up the warmth of the sun and enjoying the lengthening daylight hours with brisk ½ hour walks is exactly what I need.  I’ve never been much of a long distance runner, but maybe it’s time to begin?  In his article 7 Habits for A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body, Christopher Bergland says that humans are built to run.  “… the human body evolved to run great distances hunting prey and gathering food.  The ability to spring through the air using our gluteus maximum muscles is what sets us apart from primate cousins.” 

He goes on to share his 7 habits for a healthy mind in a healthy body, which are:

1.       Daily Physicality: Exercise for at least 20 minutes most days of the week.

2.       Intellectual Curiosity: Spend some time in focused thought, exploring new ideas every day.

3. Foster Creativity: Challenge your mind to connect unrelated ideas in new and useful ways.  
4. Human Unity: Create and maintain close-knit human bonds and a social support network.  
5. Spiritual Connectedness: Identify a Source of inspiration that is bigger than you.
6. Energy Balance: Balance Calories in/Calories out, and reduce your carbon footprint.
7. Voluntary Simplicity: Embrace the liberty that comes with wanting and needing less.

I’ve discovered the perfect motivation for my new-found focus on my physical health – it’s a programme called Steptember, and it promotes walking or running 10,000 steps a day to raise money for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance.  The event challenges people to take 10,000 steps a day for 28 days straight in the month of September.  I’ve signed up a team of four including my husband and our friendly neighbours and now have my pedometer ready to go!  If you want to set up a team and join the competition go to www.steptember.com.au to register.

As a warm up for the event, today I went on a 7km walk with the family and my visiting brother and I feel fantastic for it!  I’m excited to imagine how great I’ll feel by the end of September! 

If you have a regular physical activity regime that you’d like to share, please send me a post or email me at livewelllivesmart@gmail.com .  I’d love to hear about it!

Chicken Salad Meal

One meal that I just love to make at the end of the weekend, and to set our family up for a good start to the week, is a warm chicken salad.  The salad’s delicious fresh flavours hit the spot for a fabulous dinner and it’s so easy to make – perfect for winding down the weekend.

I am very proud that tonight’s base salad ingredients for the meal are purely from our kitchen garden – a variety of lettuce leaves, Italian and curly parsley and torn basil leaves, all picked fresh from the garden less than an hour before eating them. 

Other ingredients I like to add to make this a really wholesome and hearty meal are tomato, capsicum, cucumber, egg, bacon and of course chicken.  Tonight I’ve also added pumpkin seeds (pepitas), quinoa (cooked for 10 minutes in boiling water with a teaspoon of powdered chicken stock) and a sprinkling of chia seeds.  I’ve topped the lot off with some shaved parmesan cheese – my 4 year old is a cheese fanatic. 

We also have some left over ingredients from a nacho/taco night we had recently which go well with this meal as dressings – guacamole, sour cream and mayonnaise.  Otherwise a dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar or balsamic glaze also works well. 

 

Delicious!

If you have a regular Sunday night meal that you’d like to share, please send me a post or email me at livewelllivesmart@gmail.com .  I’d love to try it!

Overcoming Sleeplessness

I appreciate that I can’t have my best day every day.  There are always going to be some times when things are tough and I feel stressed.  Times of change, issues to deal with at work or home, worrying about the kids, about family issues….. there are a myriad of things that can cause me to feel uneasy and may even keep me up at night.  This year, I reckon I’ve had the least amount of aggregated hours of sleep compared with any other year ….. and that’s even counting the years I had my newborn babies!  I’ve gone through a lot of change, a stressful restructure at work and some new beginnings have meant lots of new ideas buzzing around my head at 2am in the morning!

I really value my sleep, and know that the more sleep I get (I need 8-9 hours) the better I perform.  I heard a radio DJ say the other day that he can get by on 5-6 hours a night, but I really think that is just bravado and the reality is that everyone should be getting between 7-9 hours of sleep a night.  It’s a most frustrating thing to recognise that I need sleep, and really want to sleep but just not be able to.  Usually I don’t have trouble falling asleep, it’s when I wake in the middle of the night that I can’t go back to sleep.  I just can’t seem to still my mind. 

There are a number of things I’ve tried to give myself the best chance of a good night’s sleep:

-          Keep a list of important tasks to remember, so that I don’t keep them in my head.  Ideally these should be in my MS Outlook calendar as meetings or tasks, but a notebook on the bedside table also works well.

-          Don’t drink coffee after 12 noon.

-          Try to relax before bedtime by doing some mediation

-          Turn off my laptop/TV/tablet a good 30 -45 minutes before sleep and instead read a book or the newspaper.  The light and backlight can stimulate brain activity, preventing it from relaxing and preparing for sleep.

-          Eat dinner in the early evening

-          Get some exercise!

This last one I really need to work on.  I’ve found the perfect motivation, too.  I’m going to take part in the Steptember program (www.steptember.com.au) which promotes walking at least 10,000 steps a day, while at the same time raising money for Cerebral Palsy.  I really need the extra motivation, and hope that after 30 days of increased physical activity it will become a habit and part of my daily routine.

I’ve also found some other ideas from the website http://www.helpguide.org/life/sleep_tips.htm which have worked for me in getting back to sleep:

• Deep breathing. Close my eyes, and take deep, slow breaths, making each breath even deeper than the last.
• Progressive muscle relaxation. Starting with my toes, tense all the muscles as tightly as I can, then completely relax. Work my way up from my feet to the top of my head.
• Visualizing a peaceful, restful place. Close my eyes and imagine a place or activity that is calming and peaceful for me. Concentrate on how relaxed this place or activity makes me feel.

I also recognise that I need to let a lot of stuff go.  There’s no need to worry about things – it’s a waste of energy and clogs up my mind with negativity, leaving less room for positive, creative thoughts and solutions.  What gets me by on those days that don’t go so well, where I’ve got a lack of energy and no pep is that if every day was a brilliant day, then I couldn’t recognise a brilliant day!  There will always be an awesome day to follow a tough one.

If you have any tips on how to get a great night’s sleep please share them with me!  Write a post below or send me email to livewelllivesmart@gmail.com .

 

Image by Marin, FreeDigitalPhotos.net