Whole Living Thoughts - January/February

I renewed my subscription to Whole Living magazine but I apparently didn't do it in enough time to have continuous delivery.  The subscription skipped December and January and February is one issue.

1. You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."- Mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn
2. We'll always love confident talkers, but we're appreciating confident listeners more and more.
3. Animals bring a lot of joy to the world.  It's high time we gave them a better deal in return.
4. Out: Perfumes that smell like eau de chemicals.  In: Fragrances redolent of real ingredients.
5. Cool, Misty, Calm, Peaceful: Sometimes being in the fog isn't such a bad thing.
6. Dogs, with their perpetual today-is-the-best-day-ever-attitude, could teach us a thing or two.
7. Resolved: To remember how great we feel every time we exercise--the next time we're piling up excuses for why we can't work out.
8. The foods that are good for us actually leave us feeling good.  Love how nature does that!
9. "The time is always right to do right."--Thank you Martin Luther King Jr., for being as relevant as you've always been.
10. When life hands you lemons, roast them with chickens and potatoes.

Whole Living Thoughts- November

Well, October was the worst month of my life so November can only be better, right?

1. Where is it written that holiday dishes have to leave us overstuffed?  Here's to celebrating with feel-good foods.
2. Vegetarian or Flexitarian, let's all agree to be qualitarians.
3. The older we get, the more people seem to respect us.  We are totally cool with that.
4. It pays to get in touch with your inner badass- especially when fighting for a worthy cause.
5. Healthy food isn't and shouldn't be, a luxury item.
6. The plenty-of-fish-in-the-sea thing only works if we don't take out too many of them.
7. One Thanksgiving attitude we're adopting year-round: leftovers are delish- let's keep them out of the landfill.
8. Sometimes it's not that you find the right job; it's that the right job finds you.
9. The surefire sign of a great friend, mate or boss?  He or she brings out your best so easily it's almost weird.
10. Some of the best farmers are city slickers.

Whole Living Thoughts- October

October's Whole Living thoughts: 

1. Hey, wheat flour: we love you but you're not the only grain in town. 
2. Like they say, a change is as good as a rest.  Maybe even better.
3. Tree houses are as cool for adults as they are for kids.
4. Saving the planet starts at home. (And might involve a shiny new dishwasher.)
5. In: Masked Trick-or-Treaters.  Out: Masked sugary ingredients.
6. Moms everywhere want to know: Could we be saying "Thank you" more often?
7. "Better late than never" also applies to sunscreen.
8. The Beatles had it right: "Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting."
9. Each meal offers another opportunity to improve our health.  One more reason to love eating.
10. It will all get done. It always does. 

Whole Living Thoughts- September

I really can't believe it's September.  The summer went so fast, especially August.  Now we're in the midst of school, football season, cooler weather and generally winding down from the summer and prepping ourselves for winter.  Here are this month's Whole Living Thoughts from the September issue:

1. Big steps.  Baby steps.  As long as we're headed in the right direction, they're all good.
2. Much like old friends, familiar ingredients can still surprise us.  (Tofu, we hardly knew you.)
3. The natural look doesn't have to mean the neutral look.
4. Doing the occasional yoga stretch as our desk works wonders. (We're long past caring about how we look to our colleagues.)
5. Sure, life is juggling act.  Just remember that juggling is meant to be entertaining.
6. Maybe it's time to think less about "superfoods" and more about super everyday eating habits.
7. "Come take a stand, and help us save the land- let's go out and try to make things better."  Yes, the Brady Bunch actually sang that in the early 1970s.
8. Corporate titans going green?  Let's hear it for industrial evolution.
9. We may have left the classroom behind, but we're still in favor of assigned reading--self-assigned that is.
10. Clothes made with care-in small batches, with nontoxic dyes-just might be the new black. 

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates...

You may know that my dad is sick.  I hate even typing that.  He has cancer and it's terminal.  I hate typing that even more.  I said I wasn't going to talk about my dad on my blog and instead save it for his Caring Bridge site but this is my blog and I've decided I'll talk about him when I want to and today is one of those days...sort of.

I came across some quotes last month that help bring life and the situation into perspective.  So while I am not really going to talk about my dad per se, all of these quotes have to do with what he is going through, what we are going through, what I am going through and maybe what you have gone through or will go through as well as just simple perspectives on life, nothing more.

Every moment of suffering brings an opportunity to build resilience.

Opt for quality over quantity.  Value is revealed over the long term.

Any moment can bring awakening to what really matters.

Optimism isn't just a shift in perspective.  It's an act of bravery. 

Whole Living Thoughts- July/August

Whole Living thoughts this time are for both July and August so I thought I'd put them right smack in the middle of the month.

I have to say that I look forward to reading the list more than any other part of the magazine. 

1. Some of the best inner journeys start with the passport-stamped kind.  (Pass the in-flight peanuts.)
2. When our life stories start to sound predictable, it's time for a rewrite.
3. Overrated: multitasking.  Underrated: unitasking.
4.  Summer tomatoes: the universe's way of reminding us that good-for-you food tends to be delicious.
5. Midwives- of babies, ideas, peace- do amazing stuff.
6. Expanding the mind: always a cool thing-so what if it sounds a little too '60s-trippy.
7. Perpetually good advice from James Brown: "Get up offa that thing- and dance 'til you feel better."
8. Running on the beach beats trudging on a treadmill every time. (Just sayin'.)
9. Ever notice how people brighten up when you recognize their efforts?
10. There's a reason why nature is sometimes called vitamin N.

Whole Living Thoughts- June

Happy June!  Here's this month's Whole Living thoughts:

1. It's important to occasionally go out on a limb- especially if you expect to get the best fruit.
2. Walt Whitman may have said it best: "If any thing is sacred, the human body is sacred."
3. Think about the places or environments that bring out the best in you.  Now figure out a way to visit them more often.
4. Dwelling on small joys is more rewarding than obsessing over little annoyances.
5. File under cliched-but-true: the quirky things that make you "you"- even the so-called flaws-may turn out to be assets.
6. When we look after our health today, tomorrow starts to look much brighter (and more fun!)
7. Time you enjoy wasting isn't wasted time.
8. Those tiny changes we make in our personal worlds can be stepping-stones to big changes we make in the wider world.
9. The upside to grand failures: they make great stories.
10. Burgers and hot dogs can be part of a balanced diet.  Yes, really.

Whole Living Thoughts-May

Happy May Day!  Here's this month's Whole Living thoughts:

1. Time for an energy audit--your own.  Slowing down could be just the boost you need.  
2. Want to witness a small miracle?  Plant a seed.
3. Working with your hands, even for a few minutes, seems to clear the mind.
4. Listen up!  Your inner voice would love to be heard.
5. Eggs are a lot like life: rich in possibilities and full of surprises.
6. Hiking mountains: Far more enjoyable than trying to move them.
7. Ever notice that the things we worry about most in life tend to be the ones that never happen?
8. Clearing Clutter is as good for the soul as it is for the living room.
9. Teachable moments are not just for kids.
10. Take a less from your hair: When a situation can't be controlled, take a looser approach.

Whole Living Thoughts-April

Happy April Fool's Day!  I don't have anything funny or a trick to post but I thought I'd post the Whole Living's monthly 10 thoughts as I've been doing for a couple of months.

Happy Birthday Greg Lindy, you April Fool!

1. Action is one of the best remedies for fear.
2. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help the next generation.
3. Worth asking: Where in my work is the opportunity to improve the world, even in the smallest way?
4. Making waves may be riskier than treading water-but it's also more productive.
5. Going green is like protecting your health; it comes down to respecting the place you inhabit.
6. Often it's not our values that are faulty, but our priorities.
7. It's impossible to learn to swim without jumping in the water.
8. Follow what makes you naturally curious; it will lead you to your passion and purpose.
9. Try not to confuse one defeat with total defeat.
10. Each time you turn on the faucet, remember to go with the flow.

Whole Living Thoughts

Here's this month's thoughts on whole living as published in the March issue of Whole Living:

1. When you need to find your way, check your roots.
2. Your body knows how to heal itself; just give it the right tools.
3. Beauty is a mosaic, not a mind-set.
4. Wouldn't it be boring if the journey threw no curve balls?
5. Make eating more sensory: Think about experiencing texture and aroma as well as taste.
6. Flaws build character, not shortcomings.
7. Collect and curate simplicities that lift your spirits.
8. Challenge your brain the way you do your body.
9. If you can't stay, smile as you walk by.
10. Amuse and enrich your palate with varied, colorful foods. 

10 Thoughts on Whole Living

I posted a similar list on New Year's Eve and I thought I would post the list in the same magazine for January/February's edition.  Even if 10 thoughts are too much to tackle, take one from the list and focus on just that one.

1. Nourish your mind as carefully as you nourish your body.
2. Brisk, crisp, invigorating- Remember all the positive sides of winter.
3. Finding balance in your relationship requires all your senses.
4. If you feel the need to be critical, be sure it is coming from a place of kindness.
5. When you break a small bad habit, you teach yourself that you can change anything.
6. Prosperity begins with the assumption that there's more than enough for everyone.
7. Willpower is sometimes a biological issue, not a moral one.  Don't judge yourself too harshly.
8. The best work environments foster personal connection as well as productivity.
9. Speak your mind.  Unmet needs create resentment when they go unexpressed.
10. The new year isn't a do-over; it's an opportunity to take your next big step.

Words of Advice for the New Year

We are on the cusp of 2012 and I hope you appreciate every breathing living day you will have this new year.  I want to share the following list with you.  It was in Whole Living magazine this month and I thought it would be perfect for the new year, which brings another new start, another chapter of life and another set of memories.

1. Warm your Soul:  Savor a hot drink.
2. Be aware of the difference between anticipating and living.  Joy is rooted in the present.
3. Let go of perfection:  The most delicious moments are often the messiest.
4. Living better doesn't always mean trying harder.  Ease up.
5. Avoid getting trapped in someone else's story.  Be the author of your own life.
6. Forgiveness isn't about them, it's about you.
7. Make something, anything, from scratch.
8. You can remember good times without losing yourself in nostalgia.
9. The best gifts let someone you know how much you love, not how much you spent.  
10. Rest is not a luxury, it's a necessity.

Enjoy ringing in the new year tonight.  Be safe and talk to you again next year!