November
BY Margaret Morgan
Now it is November,
Trees are nearly bare;
Red and gold and brown leaves
Scatter everywhere.
Dark now, are the mornings
Cold and frosty too;
Damp and misty evenings
Chill us through and through.
Busy are all creatures,
Winter food to hide;
Nests to make all cozy
Warm and safe inside.
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Living in the Moment
Even if for Just a Moment or Two Each Day
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I was at work the other day when one of our regular delivery persons walked by my desk. I said, ‘Good Morning’, but before the words were out of my mouth, he responded with, ‘Fine. Thanks. And you?’ He assumed he knew what I was going to say, and was ready with a standard, safe, socially acceptable response. He continued walking. Even though his last words ended as a question, he waited for no response. Conversation over.
How many times a day do we find ourselves standing on either side of this equation?
You’re in a hurry to get out the door and go to work, but one of the kids is having a melt down over needing to share the bathroom sink with a sibling. While your mind is worrying about being late to work, what you’re going to make for dinner, and if you remembered to put on any deodorant that morning, you attempt to formulate a half-hearted response to quickly calm the hurricane forming in the bathroom, all while you are walking away, slipping into a pair of shoes, grabbing your purse, and heading out the door. ‘Love you’, you shout as the door closes behind you. You don’t even wait to see if your words made a difference, or wonder if you will have one less child when you arrive back home.
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Life, and happiness, is often about our ability to connect: with other people, with nature, with our work, and with ourselves. When you take time to be in the moment, you are taking the time to connect with the things that are important to you, which in turn increases your happiness and well-being.
This doesn’t mean your kids will instantly stop fighting when you make yourself fully present in their moment of distress, but it will give you the ability to better empathize with their situation, negotiate a workable solution, and let them know by your presence that you care. It also gives you permission to deal only with the task at hand without applying any guilt or stress about the 15 other things you could or should be doing in this moment. You make the choice to connect and be present, or not. You give yourself that permission, or not.
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Humans seem to have been gifted with the ability to multi-task. We can walk, talk, and chew gum all at the same time as the old saying goes. We can homeschool our kids, work an on-line job, and do the laundry all at the same time. We can mow the lawn, change the oil in the cars all while preparing dinner in the crock pot. We are lauded as ‘better than’ or ‘more competent’ when we are able to accomplish more things at one time. Many of us, me included, take great pride in our ability to multi-talk. It makes us feel like we are on top of things, in control, taking care of business.
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But this gift can also be a curse. When we get so busy doing so many things, we fail to be present in any of them. If we allow this to continually happen over the days, weeks, months and years, what we eventually see is that our connections with the people and things we love have diminished. We find ourselves feeling more disconnected, anxious and alone.
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Our Smart phones have also come to be used as tools for distraction. They can be used, or rather over-used, leaving little time for being in the moment with the people and things we truly love. Our phone is always there, ready to be our best friend, keep us company, share with us the latest happenings of people we barely know and tell us the latest issues that we’re supposed to care about. When you see a family sitting around a dinner table, everyone eyeing their phone every few moments, it is easy to understand the disconnectedness many of us feel in our daily lives.
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So how does one be in the moment? Is it really possible to tune out all the extra ‘noise’, some important, some not, that seems to endlessly attack our senses?
Start small, but go for the long game. You’re not going to undo a lifetime of habits in one week. Spend a little time every day focusing on being present in the moment. As you improve your ability to be in the moment, slowly continue to increase the amount of time each day you stay ‘connected’ to the here and now.
There are many different ways to improve your ability to be present in the moment. The list below provides some ideas. Try them out to see which works best for you.
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Quiet your mental chatter. Be where you are right now. Don’t let other thoughts creep in and take over.
Bring your mind back each time it tries to sneak off. Just say, “No, I’m doing this right now. I’ll get back to worrying later.”
Stay focused on the task at hand. Think about what you are doing now, how it looks, sounds, smells, what others are really saying.
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
Designate a specific time in your day to focus on what’s in front of you. You might be better able to focus early in the day, or late at night. Pick a time when you know your mental clarity is at its peak.
Try to key in on the fine details of the moment. This will help bring you back to the present.
Ask yourself, “What do I hear, see, taste, feel, and smell?”
Turn off the TV, Smart phone, computer and any other compelling distractions.
Start by picking moments that tend to be more uplifting for you to fine-tune your skills: Dinner with the family, sharing the events of the day with your spouse, reading your child a bed-time story, talking with your best friend.
Work your way up to being present in the less uplifting moments: an argument with your partner, a tough conversation with your boss, talking politics with Uncle Joe.
Read about mindfulness on-line, or at your local library. There is a lot of information readily available on the subject.
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I had just finished sending out an e-mail to about 25 people with the date and time of an upcoming business event before leaving the house. I was now driving down the road to do some volunteer work which I usually enjoy and which often takes 2-3 hours to complete. I started wondering if I had sent the correct date for the event. I began to have significant doubts that I had. I began to worry. I began to fret. I began to panic. I couldn’t go home until my volunteer shift was completed. There was no way to check the date’s accuracy until I returned home. I felt my blood pressure rise. Some of the shine went out of the day. Wow! How quickly something outside the moment can take hold and take over.
What to do?
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I took a deep breath. In fact, I took a number of deep breaths.
I told myself that there was no resolving this issue until I got home, and I wasn’t going home for a few hours. I chose not to spend the next few hours worrying about something that may or may not be a problem, when I had no ability to change things.
So, I let it go. I chose to stop thinking about the issue until I could do something about it. I also asked myself, ‘what is the worst thing that could happen’? I would have to resend another e-mail with the correct date. I would apologize to everyone for the mistake, and that would be that.
It worked.
I went about my volunteer work, connected and present in those moments rather than being distracted and stressed out about something I had no control over. I didn’t think about the e-mail and the date again until I got home.
Being present in the moment will help you better connect with the people and things you love the most. It won’t make hard times disappear, it won’t eliminate disagreements, sadness or anxiety, but it will help you to be more grounded and more connected to others on a day to day basis. Being present in the moment is giving yourself permission to let go of things that are out of your control in the here and now, even if only temporarily. This in turn expands the space in the here and now for you to participate more fully in what is actually taking place.
I wish you well on your journey.
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RECIPES
Winter is on it’s way, so make way for soups and warming baked treats!
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This freezable, one-pot meal is family friendly and can be made ahead. Try using quorn instead of chicken to make it vegetarian (pictured here). For a different meaty variation you could use ground seasoned sausage (hot or mild).
Time: 35 Minutes
Serves: 4
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Ingredients
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 tsp. curry powder (or more, to taste)
5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
8 oz. carrots, halved lengthwise and sliced (about 1 1/3 cup)
1 cup ditalini or other short pasta
3 cups shredded cooked chicken (i.e. from one rotisserie chicken)
2 cups baby spinach (or for a spicy variation, try arugula)
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Toasted naan, for serving (optional)
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Directions
Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened (3-5 minutes).
Add curry powder and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Stir in broth and carrots and bring to a simmer over medium-high, stirring occasionally. Continue simmering, stirring often, for 10 minutes.
Stir in pasta. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta and carrots are tender, about 10 minutes.
Stir in chicken, spinach, lemon juice, salt, and pepper; cook until spinach is wilted (about 1 minutes).
Serve with naan, if desired.
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Almond Butter Baked Apples
DAIRY-FREE, GLUTEN-FREE, VEGAN
Sweet baked apples stuffed with vanilla almond butter, pecans, cinnamon and sea salt then drizzled with pure maple syrup. A delicious guilt-free snack or dessert!
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Yield: 4 BAKED APPLES
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
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Ingredients
4 medium-size apples (any kind will work)
8 tablespoons almond butter
12 pecan pieces, chopped (or walnuts)
1/3 cup raisins (or cranberries or Goji berries)
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup pepitas (or sunflower seeds)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
pure maple syrup for drizzling
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Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F then line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Wash and dry the apples and remove the stems. Using a knife, cut the top 1/2-inch layer off of each apple. If necessary, slice a thin sliver off the bottom so that the apples are level. Careful to cut too much, you want the bottom to be able to hold the filling. From the top of the apple, cut down around the center of the core, leaving about 1-inch in the bottom. Use a spoon to scoop out the core and seeds, until clean.
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Layer one tablespoon almond butter inside of each apple then top with 1/8th of the pecans, raisins, coconut, and pumpkin seeds. Sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon and salt then drizzle with pure maple syrup. Repeat that step until they are stuffed full.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or until apples are tender.
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Serve warm (with coconut milk ice cream, if desired) and enjoy!
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Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies
Can it get any better than this?
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PREP: 15 MIN
COOK: 30 MIN
TOTAL: 45 MIN
SERVINGS: 12 BROWNIES
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Ingredients
Pumpkin Cheesecake:
4 oz cream cheese softened
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Brownies:
2/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate chopped
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
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Directions
To make the Pumpkin Cheesecake Layer:
Beat together cream cheese , pumpkin, egg, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
To make the brownies:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8×8 inch pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder and cinnamon.
Over a double boiler (or in microwave-safe bowl) combine butter and chocolate. Melt over boiling water or microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds at a time stirring until it is smooth and melted.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add melted chocolate and continue to stir until incorporated. Add the flour mixture and fold until combined.
Pour half of the batter into the 8×8 inch pan. Spread the pumpkin cream cheese evenly on top of the brownie batter. Drop remaining batter by spoonfuls on top of the cheesecake layer. Marble with a knife.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for an hour before cutting.
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Tips and Variations:
Swirls- To get those perfect looking swirls make sure you only swirl the top. Don’t touch the bottom brownie layer. Use a skewer or even a toothpick to control them better.
Toppings– For crunch add pecans to the top before baking, sprinkle with chocolate chips for even more chocolate flavor. While still warm serve with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate or caramel sauce.
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New, Back In Stock, and Seasonal Items in October
We want to be YOUR store. Please let us know if there is something we don’t have that you want, and we will do our best to get it in!
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