5/31/2014 0 Comments EnjoyPhoto courtesy of quotesvalley.com
This post is about making the most of your situation. In my case, I had to make the most of being home all day since my car has been at the body shop for a little while. As someone whose Saturdays are usually spent with friends and/or exploring new parts of the city, it was challenging at first to face the fact that I couldn't drive anywhere. Especially given that the weather has pretty much been perfect for outdoors-y-ness (70 degrees, clear, sunny and warm), it was extra challenging. But, the following quote by Theodore Roosevelt entered my mind: "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." This motivated me to come up with ways to make my day a good one despite that I couldn't drive to Golden Gardens Park (where in my opinion the best beach in Seattle exists) or grab iced lattes with my best friend. I knew that if I spent the entire time in front of the TV feeling as if there were nothing else to do in the house, I would feel crummy at the end of the day. So, I started out my morning by going for a jog at the nearby park (for reasons mentioned in a previous Life au Cochon post, titled "Sanity"). I had gotten used to being at the park in the evening, so it was refreshing to get a taste of the morning spring air and see the dew on the leaves. Following the jog were activities I had either wanted to do for awhile, or had taken for granted and hadn't done for awhile. These things included writing, reading out on the balcony in my backyard, and spending quality time with my little brother. It was especially exciting to read on the balcony, because it took me back to the summers during high school where I'd spend every day reading or tanning under the Sun. It was especially fun to joke and laugh with my brother, because it reminded me how I don't need to spend every single Saturday outside the house. I guess this goes to show that sometimes you may not know how your day will end; but, that just means there's a higher chance of you discovering or rediscovering things about yourself and the world around you. ~~MC
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Photo above courtesy of Café Besalu.
NOTE: It may have made more sense to post this in the Foods for Fantasizing section, but I decided to put it in Life au Cochon because of what the main focus of the material is. Sometimes, it’s nice to get away from the daily life and immerse oneself in a fresh, new environment…or at least an environment where you know you can fully relax and almost feel like you’re on an overseas trip. For me, one of those places is Café Besalu (note that I said ‘one of those places’ instead of ‘the one place’…This goes to show how much I love variety in escapement). I have only been to this refuge four times, but I somehow already convinced myself that it is one of my ‘second homes.’ There is something remarkable about the bustling noises I hear as I sip my latte and eat (more like inhale) my pain au chocolat—the lively chatter between couples and friends, the constant opening and closing of the ovens mixed in with the clinks of cups and saucers in the kitchen, and the mellow jazz music fuse into a lovely mélange. All of a sudden, I am enjoying every moment that passes. I am able to glance out the window by my table and relish the way the Sunrays hit the richly green leaves of the trees. I feel myself living in the present, which can be very hard to do most of the time back in the daily life. This is why I compare escaping to such an environment to going on an overseas trip—when you are in a place so far away, you feel relaxed and reassured enough to constantly think and do in the present. You don’t worry about what’s to come or what has happened in the past. This is why I convinced myself that Café Besalu is a ‘second home’ to me—I can fully relax, let go and take in everything that surrounds me each time I make my visit. ~~MC P.S. Their pain au chocolat is literally the most amazing I have had in my life. Usually, you would find yourself searching for the hard, stiff, overly sweet chocolate somewhere in the depths of the stale pastry. At Café Besalu, you will surely get lost in the inexplicably rich, melted, conquering dark chocolate that almost flows through the freshly baked croissant. 5/21/2014 0 Comments SanityPhoto courtesy of Kyle Meyer.
Lately, I have discovered why Mother Nature is so amazing. I'm talking about the sense of calm you can't get from anything else; the magnetic pull you feel towards thinking, feeling and living in the present. Now let me tell you why I sound like I had never seen a tree before in my life... 90% of my sleep consists of dreams of unpleasant/stressful scenarios, or of possible outcomes and other things to do with the future or the unknown. I wake up in the morning with tension in my neck and shoulders, and even worse, I wake up with a mind filled with negativity and anxiety. It all seems to wear off by the end of breakfast time, but sometimes fragments of it stay with me through the rest of the day. This situation has dwindled down to a near zero since I started going to the park in the morning. I used to walk/jog for the sake of exercising, but now it 's for the sake of my sanity. I still have the unpleasant dreams at night, but I feel less tense after I wake up as I get more enjoyment out of the rest of my day. Whenever I'm in the nature, I feel small and insignificant. The trees and sky towering over me, combined with the reassuring silence (save for the light chirping of the birds, my favorite sound!), makes me feel like all my worries are minor and not such a big deal. So next time you feel like you are on the brink of falling into a deep bottomless pit of despair (or, you know, you just feel like taking a walk after a long day at work), take yourself on a tour of Mother Nature and feel your negative thoughts melt away. ~~MC |
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