Have you ever stopped for a moment and thought about all the things that you possess and all the things that you spend your money on and wonder what the point of it all is?
Lately I've been doing a lot of this. I find that we, as humans, spend so much time and money investing in things that promise to bring us joy. All we have to do is turn on the TV or listen to the radio and we are immediately bombarded with advertisements for the newest phone, car, internet service, video game, clothes etc. The advertisements themselves might not necessary persuade us into buying these things that we don't necessarily need, but that combined with seeing other people walking around with these fancy objects makes me feel like we are missing out on something. For example, when the smartphones began to come out only a very few people had them. It was mostly high-end professional that got them as company phones and then we were fascinated with how they function and the glitz and glamor behind them. Now there are a small majority of people that don't own a smartphone and if you are part of that small majority you are immediately judged as inferior or even laughed at for possessing "old" technology.
My question to you then is, what do these things do for us? How does having the latest shoes, the newest model of a cell phone, the newest/biggest TV improve our lives? What enlightenment do these object posses?
I look around the house at the things that I own and I can't say that any of them add value to my life. Sure I am thankful for them and blessed that I have them, but could I live with out them? Yes! That ultimately is the truth of life, and the idea of living simply. The things that I own that are of the most value to me are things that were given to me as gifts from those that I love and most of those are thoughtful, hand-made or even enlightening gifts that bring a sense of joy and peace in my life.
To live simply is not to devoid your self of material things, but it is to not be wasteful. Don't buy the $150 shoe when you can buy a similar pair for $35. Don't spend time, money and energy investing into things that don't bring with them inner peace and happiness. Ultimately the objects will fade away but your inner peace will always be there even if there are no objects around! So take the challenge, for the next month be watchful of the things that you do and see if you can live simply.
With peace & happiness
Monday, October 31, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Basil Fried Rice
As I am sure you have figured out by now, I like to occupy my time with many different things. Another one of things that I love to do is COOK!!! It's super relaxing for me and really quite fun :)
This is one of my favorite dishes to make. It's inspired by this restaurant in Atlanta that my family and I used to go that had a delicious Basil Fried Rice. Unfortunately the restaurant shut down a few years ago and so this is my attempt to recreate my favorite dish.
What you will Need:
This will usually feed about 2-3 adults depending on if this is going to be a main dish or if you are going to be serving it with something. I also like to add Tofu to this dish, but you can add whatever meat the you prefer. If you are going to be using tofu, make sure you marinate the tofu over night to get the best flavor possible.
I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I do. If you have any question just let me know!
photo courtesy of Emmanuel Thelamour.
This is one of my favorite dishes to make. It's inspired by this restaurant in Atlanta that my family and I used to go that had a delicious Basil Fried Rice. Unfortunately the restaurant shut down a few years ago and so this is my attempt to recreate my favorite dish.
- 1 cup long grain rice
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 large head of fresh broccoli florets partially steamed
- 1 green pepper sliced (can use other colors if you prefer or a variety/ mix of peppers to give more color)
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 1 can baby corn
- 2 jalapeno peppers finely chopped (remove the seeds if you don't want it too spicy)
- 10-12 Basil leaves
- 1 bunch of green onions for garnish
- Ground Red Pepper (to taste)
- 4 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 4 Tbsp Vegetable oil
- Cook the rice with about 1-2 Tbsp of soy sauce, 4-5 basil leaves and some ground red peppers. I use a rice cooker, but you can do it on the stove top if you prefer.
- Using a wok on high heat, quickly stir-fry all the vegetables. (use as much oil as needed). I like to do them separately, but if you have a larger wok you can throw in all the veggies at the same time.
- Once all the veggies are stir-fried add a little bit of oil, basil and soy sauce in the wok and allow to sizzle a few seconds and then add in the veggies.
- Add as much ground red pepper as you need to achieve your desired spice level.
- Add in the cooked rice and stir-fry a few more minutes
- Garnish with some chopped green onions and serve hot.
This will usually feed about 2-3 adults depending on if this is going to be a main dish or if you are going to be serving it with something. I also like to add Tofu to this dish, but you can add whatever meat the you prefer. If you are going to be using tofu, make sure you marinate the tofu over night to get the best flavor possible.
I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I do. If you have any question just let me know!
photo courtesy of Emmanuel Thelamour.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Being Present
I've started to read a new book that has become an integral part of my life. It's become an addiction that I am very proud of. The book is entitled The Power or Now: A guide to spiritual enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle.
Unfortunately my new addiction means many blog posts on my spiritual journey. I don't expect you to follow my journey, I just wish to inspire someone to take the journey for them selves!
"I'll be happy when..." I am certain that all of us have made this statement at some point in our lives. Reflecting on the future as a place where "happiness" will be found. I'll give you a personal example. When I moved up here it was partly to go to school, but it was predominately to achieve some greater happiness that I felt like I was missing in Ga. I thought that being away, rather running away, from my past to a new place would bring me happiness. I had built up my future to be so much. I made it seem like I would be on top of the world here in Md and that I would find some magical key that would unlock my eternal happiness. Unfortunately that was not the truth.
I'm not saying I am unhappy in my present state, I am however saying that my skewed perception of life in Md is quite different then the reality of life here. I realized after moving up here that I'm not really a northern girl. I enjoy the south. I enjoy the warm weather and mostly I enjoy being close to my family and friends and seeing them for every holiday big or small. I never realized how lonely it gets not having family/friends to celebrate your birthday with or to just randomly go out to dinner with. Again, I'm not saying that I don't have friends here or that I feel alone, just saying that there is a difference in what I viewed as my future and what actually is my present.
Which brings me to my main point. We spend so much time focusing on our past or in-visioning a better future that we stop living in the present, The Now. We are so wrapped up in our past that we fool ourselves into thinking that we will have a better future and in this way we forget the present completely. As Tolle ask in his book, "In this very moment what problems do you have?". The difficulties of our lives are those that we create for our selves by constantly searching in the past and wanting a better future. By being present and experiencing the Now we eliminate the pain and find true eternal happiness and peace within our selves:
"Past and future obviously have no reality of their own. Just as the moon has no light of its own, but can only reflect the light of the sun, so are past and future only pale reflections of the light, power and reality of the eternal present. Their reality is 'borrowed' from the Now." (Tolle p.50)
Take a moment to stop what your doing and look around. Observe everything around you. Think of all the wonderful things that you have in your life at this very moment and I assure you a smile will come across your face. God has blessed us all with more then we could have ever imagined, it's just that sometimes we get so caught up in some idealized future that we forget that presently we already have everything that we need.
With love and peace.
Unfortunately my new addiction means many blog posts on my spiritual journey. I don't expect you to follow my journey, I just wish to inspire someone to take the journey for them selves!
"I'll be happy when..." I am certain that all of us have made this statement at some point in our lives. Reflecting on the future as a place where "happiness" will be found. I'll give you a personal example. When I moved up here it was partly to go to school, but it was predominately to achieve some greater happiness that I felt like I was missing in Ga. I thought that being away, rather running away, from my past to a new place would bring me happiness. I had built up my future to be so much. I made it seem like I would be on top of the world here in Md and that I would find some magical key that would unlock my eternal happiness. Unfortunately that was not the truth.
I'm not saying I am unhappy in my present state, I am however saying that my skewed perception of life in Md is quite different then the reality of life here. I realized after moving up here that I'm not really a northern girl. I enjoy the south. I enjoy the warm weather and mostly I enjoy being close to my family and friends and seeing them for every holiday big or small. I never realized how lonely it gets not having family/friends to celebrate your birthday with or to just randomly go out to dinner with. Again, I'm not saying that I don't have friends here or that I feel alone, just saying that there is a difference in what I viewed as my future and what actually is my present.
Which brings me to my main point. We spend so much time focusing on our past or in-visioning a better future that we stop living in the present, The Now. We are so wrapped up in our past that we fool ourselves into thinking that we will have a better future and in this way we forget the present completely. As Tolle ask in his book, "In this very moment what problems do you have?". The difficulties of our lives are those that we create for our selves by constantly searching in the past and wanting a better future. By being present and experiencing the Now we eliminate the pain and find true eternal happiness and peace within our selves:
"Past and future obviously have no reality of their own. Just as the moon has no light of its own, but can only reflect the light of the sun, so are past and future only pale reflections of the light, power and reality of the eternal present. Their reality is 'borrowed' from the Now." (Tolle p.50)
Take a moment to stop what your doing and look around. Observe everything around you. Think of all the wonderful things that you have in your life at this very moment and I assure you a smile will come across your face. God has blessed us all with more then we could have ever imagined, it's just that sometimes we get so caught up in some idealized future that we forget that presently we already have everything that we need.
With love and peace.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Crazy, Stupid Love
It has been some time since I last wrote an entry. I don't quite remember why it was that I stopped writing but for my first entry back what better way to start off then talking about love.
I just watched this movie tonight and I have to say that it was a lot more then I anticipated it to be. It was funny at times, and yet heart warming at other. It is a stereotypical chick flick but I think that is what makes it worth watching.
The movie talks about love and the sometimes crazy and stupid things that we do for love. What makes it so great is that everyone has been there in their lives and therefore can relate to some, if not all aspects of the film. Witch makes it a feel-good film at the end of the day.
The message that I loved the most about the film was the notion of not giving up on love. I know that we have all experienced it and seen it in our own lives. Life, society whatever you want to call it teaches us to give up on love. Just like the kid in the movie I used to think that Love was going to be a given in my life. That I would grow up and fall in love and get married have children and live in a beautiful home with my husband. The thing that I didn't realize when I was a child is that not all of it is a given. Love, in and off itself, is a given. We all find love in our lives. But the rest of it is not...the marriage, the home, the children....all of that comes with time and effort and a great deal of understanding and growing with that love and that is where we all mess up. We find our one true love, our soulmate, and then we just let them walk out of our lives for the stupidest reasons. The movies helps bring back those childish emotions of love.
While it may be hard and discouraging at times; be the person that you are. Love the way that you know you would want to be loved. Most importantly though, don't give up on your childish dreams of love because I promise you they will come true...
With Faith in my heart.
I just watched this movie tonight and I have to say that it was a lot more then I anticipated it to be. It was funny at times, and yet heart warming at other. It is a stereotypical chick flick but I think that is what makes it worth watching.
The movie talks about love and the sometimes crazy and stupid things that we do for love. What makes it so great is that everyone has been there in their lives and therefore can relate to some, if not all aspects of the film. Witch makes it a feel-good film at the end of the day.
The message that I loved the most about the film was the notion of not giving up on love. I know that we have all experienced it and seen it in our own lives. Life, society whatever you want to call it teaches us to give up on love. Just like the kid in the movie I used to think that Love was going to be a given in my life. That I would grow up and fall in love and get married have children and live in a beautiful home with my husband. The thing that I didn't realize when I was a child is that not all of it is a given. Love, in and off itself, is a given. We all find love in our lives. But the rest of it is not...the marriage, the home, the children....all of that comes with time and effort and a great deal of understanding and growing with that love and that is where we all mess up. We find our one true love, our soulmate, and then we just let them walk out of our lives for the stupidest reasons. The movies helps bring back those childish emotions of love.
While it may be hard and discouraging at times; be the person that you are. Love the way that you know you would want to be loved. Most importantly though, don't give up on your childish dreams of love because I promise you they will come true...
With Faith in my heart.
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