Regret

 It is often said that at the end of our lives, we are more likely to regret the things we did not do than the things we did.

When contemplating whether to do something or not, hopefully a fearless voice in our heads  say, “You never know until you try.” Encouraging us to be go for it rather than to hold back. It reminds us that it is only through experience that we learn about this world and ourselves. Even if we regret the outcome, we have learned something, and the newfound knowledge is almost always worth it.
This wisdom can be applied to situations both large and small. From accepting additional responsibilities at work to trying Vietnamese food, there’s only one way to find out what it’s like. We have all had experiences where we tried something we didn’t think we’d like and fell in love with it. We may have found ourselves stuck with nothing to read but a “boring” book, only to kick-start a lifelong passion for Victorian literature. We may have decided that hiking was not for us until we fell in love with someone who goes all the time. On the other hand, we may try sushi only to learn that it is truly not for us. In this case, we gain greater self-knowledge from the experience. And yet, we might still remain open to trying it prepared in a different way. The right combinations might make you a convert — you’ll never know if you don’t try it.

It is often said that at the end of our lives we are more likely to regret the things we did not do than the things we did. As an exercise to test your own willingness to discover through doing, try making a list of things you regret not having done. You may begin to notice patterns such as a failure to say what you really think at key moments or closed-mindedness to certain types of activities. Just being aware of the opportunities you missed might encourage you not to miss them again. There’s only one way to find out.

 

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Pineapple Coconut Oatmeal Bake

This pineapple coconut oatmeal bake is a delicious and easy breakfast recipe. Perfect for a quick brunch recipe that is light and simple.

Prep Time 10 mins       Cook Time 35 mins     Total Time 45 mins

Ingredients

  • 2 cups old fashioned oats
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs slightly beaten
  • 1/3 cup melted butter
  • 1/3 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup diced pineapple crushed is fine too, whichever you prefer or have on hand
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Combine oats, brown sugar, salt and baking powder. Beat eggs, butter, yogurt, milk, and vanilla together using a whisk or fork. Stir wet ingredients into the dry until well combined. Add in pineapple and coconut.
  3. Pour into greased 8×8 baking dish. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

Can mixed and put into the refrigerator overnight then baked in the morning.  Love this for an easy Christmas Morning breakfast with the Grands.

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New Year 2021 by Robin Bunch Brobst

I have really struggled with my New Years post, hence why it is out on day 4 of the new year. I am a person of great privilege and I am aware of that every single day. I have a roof over my head, heat in my home, food in my pantry, money in the bank and friends and family that love me and support my dreams. What a crazy world we live in that all of those basic human needs are considered “privileged.” But, I am also an adult that has a child inside her that at some point in her childhood had almost none of those things. The one constant in my childhood was that someone was always in my corner loving me and supporting my dreams. I am positive that part of the reason why I have what I have now is because of those struggles early in my life. Somehow, I was blessed with a resilience and a positive attitude that helped me push through the obstacles that life put in front of me. 2020 was hard for all of us but really really really hard for a far greater number of us than most of us can wrap our brains around. It’s so easy for us to sit inside our warm homes with our full belly’s and judge what others are struggling to deal with every single minute of every single day. What I hope for all of us in 2021 is that we actually take a moment and look outside ourselves. Really look! Don’t judge, just look. Put yourself in someone else’s place and feel real empathy. Make an effort to be kind. Make an effort to think “what if that were me?” Make an effort to listen, really listen. Make an effort to thoughtfully engage with someone that doesn’t think exactly as you do, seriously, make an effort! Make an effort to see the person, not the color of their skin, their gender or who they love. Make an effort to be grateful. Make an effort to learn from history and DO BETTER! Make an effort to just BE BETTER! Yes, I am a Pollyanna, but I truly believe that if each human on this planet just made an effort to be a better version of themselves, this world would be truly amazing! Cheers to being better ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️. Cheers to 2021 ❤️❤️❤️❤️
The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul…” —Gilbert K. Chesterton
Thank you Robin! So well stated…truly needed♥️  Love Loretta
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Ageing Gracefully by Madison Taylor

Aging Gracefully

by madison TayloR

As we cultivate our life, our beauty becomes as much about what we are creating and doing as it is about our appearance.

We tend to associate youth with beauty, but the truth is that beauty transcends every age. Just as a deciduous tree is stunning in all its stages–from its full leafy green in the summer to its naked skeleton during winter and everything in between–human beings are beautiful throughout their life as well.

The early years of our lives tend to be about learning and experiencing as much as we possibly can. We move through the world like sponges, absorbing the ideas of other people and the world. Like a tree in spring, we are waking up to the world. In this youthful phase of life, our physical strength, youth, and beauty help open doors and attract attention. Gradually, we begin to use the information we have gathered to form ideas and opinions of our own. As we cultivate our philosophy about life, our beauty becomes as much about what we are saying, doing, and creating as it is about our appearance. Like a tree in summer, we become full, expressive, beautiful, and productive.

When the time comes for us to let go of the creations of our middle lives, we are like a tree in autumn dropping leaves, as we release our past attachments and preparing for a new phase of growth. The children move on, and careers shift or end. The lines on our faces, the stretch marks, and the grey hairs are beautiful testaments to the fullness of our experience. In the winter of our lives, we become stripped down to our essence like a tree. We may become more radiant than ever at this stage, because our inner light shines brighter through our eyes as time passes. Beauty at this age comes from the very core of our being–our essence. This essence is a reminder that there is nothing to fear in growing older and that there is a kind of beauty that comes only after one has spent many years on earth.

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Sweet and Sour Chicken with Rice noodles

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Rice noodles

89081008Serves 2

Cooks in 20 Minutes

 

 

Ingredients

  • 7 oz  free-range chicken thighs , skin on, bone in *
  • 4 oz fine rice noodles (Asian dept. at Albertsons, less expensive at world market)
  • 7 oz sugar snap peas
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 teaspoons chili jam  **

Method

  1. Pull the skin off the chicken. Place the skin in a large non-stick frying pan on a medium heat to render and get golden, turning occasionally.
  2. Cut the bones out of the thighs and chuck into the pan for bonus flavor, then chop the meat into bite size pieces.
  3. Move the skin and bones to one side of the pan, then add the meat alongside and cook for 5 minutes, or until golden, stirring occasionally.
  4. Once crispy, remove, chop and reserve the skin, discarding the bones.
  5. Meanwhile, cook the noodles in boiling salted water according to the packet instructions. Halve the sugar snaps lengthways.
  6. Once soft, drain the noodles, reserving a mugful of cooking water.
  7. Use scissors to snip the noodles into roughly 3” lengths.
  8. Stir the Worcestershire sauce and chili jam into the chicken pan and let the jam melt, then add the sugar snaps and noodles.
  9. Toss over the heat for 2 minutes, adding a splash of reserved noodle water to loosen, if needed.
  10. Taste and season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper, then dish up and sprinkle over the reserved crispy chicken skin.

*So the crispy skin is kinda good but if you want it a little faster buy boneless skinless thighs and skip the skin.  I have also made with chicken breast, steak and shrimp.  All good.

**I found strawberry serrano at central market very good.  Have also used jalapeno jelly and Peach Habanero jelly all with great success.

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Pork and Gratin Mash by Jamie Oliver

Pork and Gratin Mash by Jamie Oliver

Serves 4  Total Time 30 minutes  approx. 420 cal

Ingredients

  • 1 ¾ # potatoes
  • 14 oz pork tenderloin
  • 2 sprigs of fresh sage
  • 2 oz Cheddar cheese – I like sharp cheddar
  • 4 slices prosciutto

Method

  1. Turn the oven to broil – set rack to upper middle
  2. Wash the potatoes, chop into 1” chunks, then cook in a large pan of boiling salted water with the lid on for 12 minutes, or until tender.
  3. Meanwhile, put a shallow oven safe skillet or casserole on a high heat.
  4. Season the pork with sea salt and black pepper, then place in the pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sear for 3 minutes, turning regularly, while you pick the sage leaves.
  5. Remove the pork to a plate, toss the sage leaves into the fat in the pan for just 5 seconds, then scoop on to a plate, leaving the pan off the heat to use again do not clean.
  6. Drain the spuds, tip into the skillet, grate over half the cheese, add 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and mash well, loosening with a splash of water, if needed.
  7. Taste, season to perfection with salt and pepper, and spread out to the edges. Grate over the remaining cheese, sit the pork on top, then gratinate under the grill for 10 minutes.
  8. Lay the prosciutto around the pork in waves, sprinkle over the crispy sage, then broil for 2 more minutes, or until the pork is cooked to your liking. I prefer 145 degrees.
  9. Rest for 2-3 minutes, then thinly slice the pork and dish up.

Quick and yummy.  I serve with applesauce and garlic toast!

 

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Ginger Shakin’ Beef (Jamie Oliver) Approx. 373 calories

Ginger Shakin’ Beef (Jamie Oliver)

Serves 2               Total: 16 minutes

10 oz      Strip Loin (about ¾” thick)

1 ½ “      Fresh Gingerroot

1 TBS     White Miso Paste (Brookshires in Asian Dept)

2 Tsp      Honey

1 TBS     Red Wine Vinegar

2 small  Bok Choy (or romaine lettuce-option 2)

S & P to taste

Olive oil

 

Pull the fat off of the strip loin, finely slice the fat, and place it in a cold non-stick frying pan.  Put on a medium –high heat to crisp up

Peel and matchstick the ginger, then add the ginger and let it crisp up too.

Cut off any sinew from the loin, then dice the steak into 1 ¼ “ chunks and toss with the miso until well coated.

Scoop the crispy fat and ginger out and set aside.

Add the steak to the pan.  Cook 4 minutes tossing regularly, then drizzle in the honey and red wine vinegar, toss for 1 more minute until shiny and sticky.

Meanwhile, halve the bok choy, cook in a pan of boiling water for just 1 minute, so they retain a bit of crunch, drain well and place on plates.  Top the Bok choy with the steak and sticky juices from the pan and top with the reserved crispy bits.

Option 2:

Heat a grill or griddle to high – 1-2 hearts of romaine lettuce – cut in half.  Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.  Grill for 30-45 seconds.  Remove from heat, plate and serve as above. (this is my fav)

Approx. Calories 373, fat 19, protein 35.7, Carbs 13, Sugar 9, Salt 1, Fiber 2.9

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4 Reminders to Help Reduce Stress in Challenging Times

Here are four reminders to remember when you’re feeling stressed and to utilize for your next meditation or journal practice.

1) Everything is Temporary. ~ Universal Truth. The only consistent in life is change.  Think of an ice cube having the ability to become water, and egg hatching, wounds healing.  This too shall pass.

2) Life happens for you, not to you. ~ Tony Robbins. If you ever remember a challenging time in the past, you will likely see there was a reason, a lesson.  Humility and strength do not come when things are easy.

3) Muddy water is best cleared when left alone. ~ Alan Watts.  Sometimes the best thing we can do is nothing.  We can see challenging times as an opportunity to get silent, allow space and time to naturally evolve.  Nature always knows what to do.

4) “For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.” ~ Cynthia Ocello.  In order for a muscle to become stronger, stress and muscle damage must occur.  Just like chronic stress, too much complacency can be a bad thing as well.  Stress in small doses teaches us to evolve.

 

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Get Outside

A little fresh air, the sun on our skin, bare feet in the moist grass: spending time outside can bring so many small pleasures, making us feel refreshed and revived. Whether it means sitting in your balcony sipping tea or going for trek at LG Ranch’s Hiking and Yoga, finding time to spend outdoors has lots of benefits. Here are a few for you:

1) Improves short term memory

Have you ever thought that spending time with the flowers and trees can actually improve your memory? The University of Michigan conducted a study that revealed students who regularly went for a nature walk actually had a better memory to retain information for longer.

2) Reduces stress

The world is flooded by digital media. Take some time to unplug the screen and go outside in nature which can do wonders for reducing stress. Nature has a calming effect on our brains, even if it means going outside for just five minutes each day. As an added bonus, outdoor exercise, like going for a walk, hiking, and so forth, gets the blood flowing and heart pumping, another way to lower stress levels.

3) Increases levels of vitamin D

Today if you go for a test to check your vitamin D level, your report will say that you have a deficiency of vitamin D. I know too much sun can damage your skin and possibly lead to cancer. Studies show that getting 15 to 20 minutes a day (especially in the morning hours) of sunshine will allow your body to absorb vitamin D, which helps strengthen bones and reduce the risk of cancer, type 1 diabetes, and multiple sclerosis.

4) Improves sleep

Spending time in natural light helps our bodies regulate sleep patterns better. When the sun goes down, our brains will release the right levels of melanin to help get a good night’s sleep.

5) Strengthens the immune system

Research has shown that going outdoors and getting enough sunlight can help boost the immune system too. Make sure to take a little stroll outside or enjoy a bit of fun outdoors to help fight disease and stay healthy.

6) Increases happiness

You can find all kinds of different activities outdoors for all fitness levels and preferences. Whether it means going for a hike and yoga at LG Ranch, taking the dog for a walk in the park, or mountain biking, finding outdoor activities that we enjoy will boost your mood and help to feel happier. Plus spending time in nature promotes mental well-being.

7) Reduces inflammation

Inflammation in the body can lead to all sorts of disorders, from depression and cancer to autoimmune diseases. A study demonstrated that participants who spent a bit of time each week walking in the woods experienced lower levels of inflammation in the body.

8) Improves vision

We spend a lot of time looking at screens, which can damage eyesight. Going outside gives our eyes a break from staring at a computer, television, or smartphone. Australian scientists even found that children who spend time outdoors reduce the risk of developing myopia later in life.

9) Inspires creativity

Nature comes in so many colors, from orange-sky sunsets to seafoam green waters and rose-colored gardens. Spending time outside gives a chance to get inspired by all the gorgeous sights, smells, and sounds of the outdoors. Science backs that up, too, showing that spending time outside actually helps get our creative juices flowing.

10) Develops a deeper sense of spirituality

Going for a long walk in a park on your own gives you an opportunity to be with yourself. You feel more meditative. Spending time in nature helps us live in the moment as we breathe in the air, listen to the sound of the birds chirping, or feel the grass on our feet. Nature can even teach valuable lessons and reveal metaphors to help us connect with our spirituality. The changes of the season reflect the peaks and valleys we go through in life. Meanwhile, a coursing river reminds us of our need to “go with the flow” and navigate the waters of life, so to speak.

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The Forgotten Art of Squatting

The Forgotten Art of Squatting Is a Revelation for Bodies Ruined by Sitting

by Rosie Spinks

In much of the world, squatting is as normal a part of life as sitting in a chair.

Sentences that start with the phrase “A guru once told me…” are, more often than not, eye-roll-inducing. But recently, while resting in malasana, Hindu squat, a deep squat, in yoga class, I was struck by the second half of the instructor’s sentence: “A guru once told me that the problem with the West is they don’t squat.”

This is plainly true. In much of the developed world, resting is synonymous with sitting. We sit in desk chairs, eat from dining chairs, commute seated in cars or on trains, and then come home to watch Netflix from comfy couches. With brief respites for walking from one chair to another, or short intervals for frenzied exercise, we spend our days mostly sitting. This devotion to placing our backsides in chairs makes us an outlier, both globally and historically. In the past half century, epidemiologists have been forced to shift how they study movement patterns. In modern times, the sheer amount of sitting we do is a separate problem from the amount of exercise we get.

Our failure to squat has biomechanical and physiological implications, but it also points to something bigger. In a world where we spend so much time in our heads, in the cloud, on our phones, the absence of squatting leaves us bereft of the grounding force that the posture has provided since our hominid ancestors first got up off the floor. In other words: If what we want is to be well, it might be time for us to get low.

To be clear, squatting isn’t just an artifact of our evolutionary history. A large swath of the planet’s population still does it on a daily basis, whether to rest, to pray, to cook, to share a meal, or to use the toilet. (Squat-style toilets are the norm in Asia, and pit latrines in rural areas all over the world require squatting.) As they learn to walk, toddlers from New Jersey to Papua New Guinea squat—and stand up from a squat—with grace and ease. In countries where hospitals are not widespread, squatting is also a position associated with that most fundamental part of life: birth.

It’s not specifically the West that no longer squats; it’s the rich and middle classes all over the world. My Quartz colleague, Akshat Rathi, originally from India, remarked that the guru’s observation would be “as true among the rich in Indian cities as it is in the West.”

But in Western countries, entire populations—rich and poor—have abandoned the posture. On the whole, squatting is seen as an undignified and uncomfortable posture—one we avoid entirely. At best, we might undertake it during Crossfit, pilates or while lifting at the gym, but only partially and often with weights (a repetitive maneuver that’s hard to imagine being useful 2.5 million years ago). This ignores the fact that deep squatting as a form of active rest is built in to both our evolutionary and developmental past: It’s not that you can’t comfortably sit in a deep squat, it’s just that you’ve forgotten how.

“The game started with squatting,” says author and osteopath Phillip Beach. Beach is known for pioneering the idea of “archetypal postures.” These positions—which, in addition to a deep passive squat with the feet flat on the floor, include sitting cross legged and kneeling on one’s knees and heels—are not just good for us, but “deeply embedded into the way our bodies are built.”

“You really don’t understand human bodies until you realize how important these postures are,” Beach, who is based in Wellington, New Zealand, tells me. “Here in New Zealand, it’s cold and wet and muddy. Without modern trousers, I wouldn’t want to put my backside in the cold wet mud, so  [in absence of a chair] I would spend a lot of time squatting. The same thing with going to the toilet. The whole way your physiology is built is around these postures.”

So why is squatting so good for us? And why did so many of us stop doing it?

It comes down to a simple matter of “use it or lose it,” says Dr. Bahram Jam, a physical therapist and founder of the Advanced Physical Therapy Education Institute (APTEI) in Ontario, Canada.

“Every joint in our body has synovial fluid in it. This is the oil in our body that provides nutrition to the cartilage,” Jam says. “Two things are required to produce that fluid: movement and compression. So if a joint doesn’t go through its full range—if the hips and knees never go past 90 degrees—the body says ‘I’m not being used’ and starts to degenerate and stops the production of synovial fluid.”

A healthy musculoskeletal system doesn’t just make us feel lithe and juicy, it also has implications for our wider health. A 2014 study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that test subjects who showed difficulty getting up off the floor without support of hands, or an elbow, or leg (what’s called the “sitting-rising test”) resulted in a three-year-shorter life expectancy than subjects who got up with ease.

In the West, the reason people stopped squatting regularly has a lot to do with our toilet design. Holes in the ground, outhouses and chamber pots all required the squat position, and studies show that greater hip flexion in this pose is correlated with less strain when relieving oneself. Seated toilets are by no means a British invention—the first simple toilets date back to Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium B.C., while the ancient Minoans on the island of Crete are said to have first pioneered the flush—but they were first adopted in Britain by the Tudors, who enlisted “grooms of the stool” to help them relieve themselves in ornate, throne-like loos in the 16th century.

The next couple hundred years saw slow, uneven toilet innovation, but in 1775 a watchmaker named Alexander Cummings developed an S-shape pipe which sat below a raised cistern, a crucial development. It wasn’t until after the mid-to-late-1800s, when London finally built a functioning sewer system after persistent cholera outbreaks and the horrific-sounding “great stink” of 1858, that fully flushable, seated toilets started to commonly appear in people’s homes.

Today, the flushable squat-style toilets found across Asia are, of course, no less sanitary than Western counterparts. But Jam says Europe’s shift to the seated throne design robbed most Westerners of the need (and therefore the daily practice) of squatting. Indeed the realization that squatting leads to better bowel movements has fueled the cult-like popularity of the Lillipad and the Squatty Potty, raised platforms that turn a Western-style toilet into a squatting one—and allow the user to sit in a flexed position that mimics a squat.

“The reason squatting is so uncomfortable because we don’t do it,” Jam says. “But if you go to the restroom once or twice a day for a bowel movement and five times a day for bladder function, that’s five or six times a day you’ve squatted.”

While this physical discomfort may be the main reason we don’t squat more, the West’s aversion to the squat is cultural, too. While squatting or sitting cross legged in an office chair would be great for the hip joint, the modern worker’s wardrobe—not to mention formal office etiquette—generally makes this kind of posture unfeasible. The only time we might expect a Western leader or elected official to hover close to the ground is for a photo-op with cute kindergarteners. Indeed, the people we see squatting on the sidewalk in a city like New York or London tend to be the types of people we blow past in self-important rush.

“It’s considered primitive and of low social status to squat somewhere,” says Jam. “When we think of squatting we think of a peasant in India, or an African village tribesman, or an unhygienic city floor. We think we’ve evolved past that—but really we’ve devolved away from it.”

Avni Trivedi, a doula and osteopath based in London (disclosure: I have visited her in the past for my own sitting-induced aches) says the same is true of squatting as a birthing position, which is still prominent in many developing parts of the world and is increasingly advocated by holistic birthing movements in the West.

“In a squatting birthing position, the muscles relax and you’re allowing the sacrum to have free movement so the baby can push down, with gravity playing a role too,” Trivedi says. “But the perception that this position was primitive is why women went from this active position to being on the bed, where they are less embodied and have less agency in the birthing process.”

So should we replace sitting with squatting and say goodbye to our office chairs forever? Beach points out that “any posture held for too long causes problems” and there are studies to suggest that populations that spend excessive time in a deep squat (hours per day), do have a higher incidence of knee and osteoarthritis issues.

But for those of us who have largely abandoned squatting, Beach says, “you can’t really overdo this stuff.” Beyond this kind of movement improving our joint health and flexibility, Trivedi points out that a growing interest in yoga worldwide is perhaps in part a recognition that “being on the ground helps you physically be grounded in yourself”—something that’s largely missing from our screen-dominated, hyper-intellectualized lives.

Beach agrees that this is not a trend, but an evolutionary impulse. Modern wellness movements are starting to acknowledge that “floor life” is key. He argues that the physical act of grounding ourselves has been nothing short of instrumental to our species’ becoming.

In a sense, squatting is where humans—every single one of us—came from, so it behooves us to revisit it as often as we can.

 

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