Feeling Good

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I came across this article today and I thought it would be best if I came out with a feels good blog too. Cause today feels good, and thats just the good truth of it.

I’m sitting in the living room, got some Gnarles Barkley playing, and I just turned up the bass. Life is good.

 

Enough of the that silly talk.

To feel good is essential to living like a champion. Some people start dwelling on things that they cannot take any sort of control over. To be more specific, some folks start to dwell on things like why can’t ‘this person’ change and do this, why can’t ‘the teacher’ change the curriculum to better suit me, why can’t ‘my roomate’ not slam the door anymore.

You may notice my placement of quotation marks in that previous paragraph; cannily placed by yours truly. It was placed there to pull your attention. It was placed there to hopefully pull your attention to the point that one  shouldn’t look for an answer to the question in a source that is outside of their own circle of influence. Yes, I am stealing this from The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen R. Covey. Mr. Covey points out that there is a circle of influence that everybody has around them. Primarily people we have direct influence on, mainly behavior. Think people like parents and siblings.

A lot of stress can be accumulated from worrying about the wrong thing. I once read something that brought to me the idea of  productive  procrastination. This is basically as it sounds. For example, sometimes one can find themselves fretting over things that they don’t want to do, so they get distracted with little things. Much like what your probably doing now: procrastinating and reading this! 🙂 Either way, I would probably call this productive procrastination because this article aims at focusing on learning the mind, in new and exciting ways. Or, like I believe, it can reinforce facts that you’ve already either known, or feel like you knew. That could be some kind of a paradigm shift if you care to look at it in that light.

The secret to solving this stress and moving into the feeling good place,  is brainstorming, or at least throwing the worry or stress factors around in your head, thinking: “What is it exactly that I’m worrying about?” Soon, yes I promise you, soon you can make a list of things in your life that need to be focused on so that you can reduce the amount of stress, increase productivity, make yourself self happier, and love life a little bit stronger.

I was just about to say that even in the end, the devil wanted to be happy. But then, I am probably influenced by television programming thinking that the devil ever wanted to be happy… Perhaps he only had a interest in doing the baddest, most hate filled things he could think of. So.. bad example.

Remember to focus on things in your life that you can change. Things that you know that you have an influence on, like happiness, being cheerful to people around you, giving support to people around you, having no doubt about your intentions in life, and going for them. What I do to stay focused, is write myself little notes to remind myself of what to focus on, a to do list if you will. Also, I have a quote of the week that inspires me to do what I want to do.

Do you have some ideas on how to make this system more successful? How to continually be a content person at peace with the world? A person who feels good?

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Chicken au de Rouge -or- Red Chicken Spaghetti

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Tonights dinner was what I call Chicken au de Rouge, and yes, I do think I’m fancy because I put a French twist to the title. It consisted of fried chicken with a red tomato paste on a bed of spaghetti. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and its a recipe I stole from my girl Sare, but she’s nice like that and doesn’t mind sharing a bit.

Ingredients:

  1. Onion (2 slices)
  2. Carrot (1)
  3. Mushrooms (4)
  4. Orange Pepper (1/2)
  5. Red Pepper (1/2)
  6. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Spices:

  1. Sesame seeds
  2. Poppy seeds
  3. Paprika
  4. Ground coriander seed
  5. Basil
  6. Oregano

To start off with, get some water boiling for the spaghetti. While your waiting for this, I emptied two cans of tomato paste (little small ones) into a pot, and put the heat on very low, leaving it to simmer. I added about 2 cans of water to this mix over time, stirring the entire sauce constantly. Take 3 cloves of garlic, mash them up into a paste, and add this to the sauce. Also, take about a tablespoon of basil, tablespoon of oregano, and two cloves and add them to the sauce to give it flavor. Don’t be afraid to go crazy on these spices for you cannot have to much. Stir it lots. At this point I put a lid, very loosely and crooked, on top of the paste, just to keep the pot from spitting out the paste all over, not to keep the steam it at all, in fact, you want to let it breathe. Stir this frequently to keep the paste from burning on the bottom of the pot.

By now, the water should be boiled, put the spaghetti in there, and keep it boiling. I don’t use salt in the water, but do as you choose.

Turn on the chicken now. I spiced it with some sesame seeds, poppy seeds, paprika, and some ground coriander seed, along with a splash of extra virgin olive oil to keep the texture nice and juicy and non-stick. Stir occassionally.

Take the time now to cut up your vegetables. I cut my onions first, so I could put them into the chicken right away to get them roasted a little. I used half a red pepper, half an orange pepper, 4 mushrooms, 2 slices of onion, and 1 carrot.

I wait until the chicken is just about finished cooking, that is, there is no more pink showing on the chicken. I stir the chicken occasionally, so when it gets to the point of almost done, there is only about 1 or 2 chickens that have a slight bit of undone (pink) to them. Flip those pieces showing pink so they cook, wait about 2 minutes, and then at this point add all the veges to the mix, and cover the pan with a big lid to let it steam cook for a few minutes.

The spaghetti should probably be done by this time, so strain that and set it to the side.

When the chicken mix has been steaming for a few minutes, remove the lid, and pour the tomato sauce (that you’ve been stirring constantly!) into the chicken and vegetable mix.

At this point, I don’t like to let it cook for to long with the sauce in there, I like each thing to keep its own taste, and I like my veges to be a bit hard. I keep the heat on low, so the sauce doesn’t spit everywhere, and let it simmer for a couple of minutes, until I get to hungry to wait any longer, and then serve!

As you can see, I added some cucumber slices, and red & orange pepper slices to add some gourmet appeal. I’m trying to remember the old axiom: “Appearance is everything.” Its a long and slow battle trying to make dishes pretty.

I’d love to hear if you make this, see any pictures, and how you liked it if you try. Any suggestions on how to change the recipe?

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Jambalaya – Yumm

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So tonights dinner consisted of my own rendition of a Jambalaya. It was amazingly delicious, quite possibly from the sausage juices, more great meat found at Devicks Ranch.

To start off, I put the rice on as usual. 1:1.5 rice:water combination. For myself, it takes about 1/3 a cup to make enough rice.

Then, I chopped up the sausage into little slices, and put them in the frying pan, which I turned on at the same time the rice came to a boil, turning the rice down as low as it goes after it came to a boil.

Then, I chopped up my garlic and onion, putting them in as quick as possible with the sausage, allowing them infuse their flavor into the sausage.

At this time, get a little water boiling below a steamer for the peas or corn to come.

While waiting for the frying, chop up a carrot(1), mushrooms (4), and red pepper (1). Wait until the last 5 minutes to put these vegetables into the frying pan with the sausage. When all the vegetables are in the pan, put a lid onto it for a few minutes to steam the carrots and red-pepper a little, to reduce the crunch just a tid bit! 🙂

At the same time the chopped veges go into the pan, put the green peas (1/2 cup) or corn on to steam for a few minutes.

When all things seem done,  pour the rice and peas into the frying pan with the rest of the Jambalaya; mix it around getting the rice soaked in the sausage fat! Yum. And presto!

Hope you all enjoy, more great food ideas can be found at Exercise and Mind! Let me know how it turns out; I’d love to hear.

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Fast Completed – Mission Accomplished

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So, My fast has now been accomplished. It was a great journey, and I really felt good about doing it. Although, the last 2hrs was probably the hardest. I ended up starting to cook my dinner at 630 (end of fast was at 7), thinking that I’d be done making dinner by 700, but it turned out I finished making it by 645, SO, I had a very insistent roomate who persuaded me to not eat until 700 exactly, by his clock. That part helped me wait until then.

I started eating slow, and continued that way the whole meal. Taking breaks. I didn’t want to eat anything to fast as to hurt my stomach. The whole time eating I could hear it sweetly calling my name in happy lamenting.

My stomach grows hungry again as we speak. This might clear the fridge out this hunger…

So I’ve learnt, as I’ve stated before, that I will not die from starving, and that I can survive. I now know what its like to starve, and I’ve gained this valuable knowledge about my body.

I’m not really sure what else I’ve learnt. I didn’t do soul searching, or meditating, it wasn’t about that this time for me. It was more, I guess, about cleansing my body from badness, and to gain a new understanding of how it works. No, it was not about getting skinny, I’m very fit and lead a very healthy life. Yes, I follow exerciseandmind.com very rigorously.

Anyways, I’ve survived, and will live to tell my friends, family, children, and grandchildren about it.  Yai!

Does anybody out there have any other thoughts on fasting they would like to share with me? I’d love to hear!

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Hr. 60 of 72hr Fast

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This morning I’m not feeling like doing a whole lot. I’m really starting to feel my body getting weak. It’s almost like a drunk feeling, maybe its some kind of diabetes yelling at me? Who knows, wish I knew more.

Getting up to quickly makes my head go a little bit light headed (more than usual!), which probably isn’t the best thing in the world either. I’ve been talking with people about my fast lately, and a lot of them are saying that I’m just being stupid, and whats the point of it, which is a very hard question to answer. How can you explain instinct and primal urges? Can you explain how you get the urge to have sex? Is “she’s just really hot” a good enough reason? hmm.

Suppose I should get some homework done today. Its really hard for me to focus these days. I feel like I should be doing something spiritual to go along with this, but it just seems daunting to focus on not focusing if you can get my drift.

Today is a horrible gray day, suppose I should be thankful that the outdoors aren’t calling my name, for I don’t really feel like going outside today. I’m kinda in a slump lately, which probably isn’t the best thing either for my state of mind for doing this fast. Oh well, I’m a strong fellow, I can put my mind over any matter, and I WILL BE HAPPY ABOUT LIFE.

Any suggestions on something I should try while in the late hours of my fast?

Yesterday I noticed that I started to smell a little bit. More than I normally do 😛 . I guess this is any of the toxins that are choosing to come out of my body. I imagine that today might be about the same. I’m curious how its going to be with regards to that. TBD.

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Hr. 48 of 72hr Fast

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Today was much more of an active day than day 1 of the fast. I had school for about 4 hrs, and have just finished cleaning the kitchen. Yes, I’m getting ready for cooking again!

I’m learning lots of things about myself, even after 2 days.

  1. I’m a human being, and I am capable of of not eating for 48hrs so far (hopefully 72).
  2. When I get hungry after not having lunch and my stomach grumbles, thats all mental.
  3. No, I will not flop over and die if I don’t eat. It will be a slow process.
  4. Certain things loose their validity (ie. negativity, grumpyness, hostility, and remedial conversations.)

This morning, while ironing my shirt, I heard my stomach grumbling. This was the first time since I’ve started my fast that I’ve heard my stomach talking to me. Nothing major though, just the morning blues it turns out.

Now, my roomate is sitting next to me with the wrap that he’s just made, smelling of roasted garlic spice and boy oh boy does it smell good. Also, today I sat down at school right next to the pizza lunch going on. I suppose not the best places to sit while on a fast. But, my mind is stronger than that, I will not take the salted nuts he’s just offered me, I will take my stand and wait another day. Yes.

Nothing else really to note here. Slight light headed’ness. Last night I had a headache, but I’ve been getting those lately for some reason. I guess you could say that it was part of the motivation to start the fast. I noticed that today in class, my legs fell asleep when resting on my knee a lot quicker than usual, but I honestly expect such things to happen when I don’t feed my body food, and also that when I walk for a long time the bottoms of my feet hurt a little bit.

So, so far, all is good. I’ve been dreaming of double chocolate cookies all day…

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72Hr Fast Has Begun

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I have decided to undertake a 72hr fast. It was half spur of the moment, half pre-meditated if that makes sense.

Basically, last night, I ate a very small dinner of one avacado, and one naan with roasted red pepper dip, and had a half of a bowl of Lays chips, and woke up this morning thinking: “I will start my fast”.

I did a little research on the subject and I think it goes without saying that eating junk food isn’t good before a fast, but also that one should plan ahead a day or two and structure their diet tapering down to nil food. The key though, I feel, is to ensure that you are eating healthy foods prior to the fast if you wish to feel as little pain as possible.

So now, as I’m in hr.20, I’m feeling good. Not to hungry and feeling the inside of my mouth tasting a little bit weird. You know when you are about to get sick, and your glands inside your cheeks start to salivate? Thats kind of what the feeling is like, minus the oozyness. But I can feel those glands going! I guess this is a good thing.

The purpose of this fast isn’t necessarily a detox, as much as its a spiritual/mental thing; its about control my body and mind to an extent that I can do anything. I suppose I’d be lying though, for in a way, I have been feeling lately that my guts are becoming toxic, I wont discuss the details to save my blog from becoming explicit… to much.. 🙂

I’ve also learnt that when coming out of the fast, I must ease my body back to eating levels a non-faster preserves. No-problem.

Right now, like I said, everything is going good. I went for about a 45 minute walk earlier this afternoon, at about hr.16 or so, and it was ok. One thing I’m noticing is that I’m a little bit light headed, and I’m very conscious of every little squeek that my body gives me in refute to my movements. Its hard to tell whether I’m just aligning with my body more, or if its because of the fast that I feel those tweeks. Either way, I’m happy, feeling good, and glad that I’m finally doing a fast.

I’ve been having weird cravings, earlier it was a grilled cheese sandwich, and then it was a Big Mac. Weird because I don’t eat dairy anymore, or eat fast food anymore, McDonalds for at least 5 years, and dairy for at least 2yrs.

For more information on fasting, check out : exerciseandmind.com

At any rate, I highly suggest for anybody to do one, if not for longer at least 24hrs. I’m already feeling more positive and more in tuned with myself.

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Spring Time : Cherry Blossoms Are Here

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I’m listening to Two Sisters, by Tom Waits. Some of his stuff just rocks me to my soul, but this one in particular makes me think of the old west when I was a young lad (no, really I was never involved), but it makes me remember a time when men wore dress pants every day, top hats were in fashion, and so were mustaches.

But most of all, this time makes me think of the spring time. How there is always a hope beyond all recognition that things are going to start looking better, but still one knows that tomorrow will come and drag on just as the last have come. Thats ok though, because we did, and do have cherry blossoms to keep our spring time hopeful.

They just look so beautiful all over the place, sticking out against the cold grain of the leaf-less brothers and sisters out there.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how cities and citizens decide that its in their best interest to chop down trees everywhere. This, without a doubt, makes me feel sad for what we have lost in our expansion as a society. Today I went for a hike today, in support of WildNed through the woods, which just brings back so much feeling of health and wealth that is beyond any currency that exists. The fact that we chop down all our trees to put up concrete is understatedly sad.

A house just around the corner from where I live, was for sale and gated up for the longest while, but finally did sell. So, what does the new owner do as a first priority? He chops down the row of trees that spanned the entire length of the lot side to side, must have been about 20ft tall those trees, most about 2ft apart.

Keep our trees, keep our nature, keep the earth so that tomorrow I can go out for a walk in it and see flowers blooming and children playing in the fields. Please join my fight in stopping people from cutting down old trees on their properties just because the insurance company says its a risk, and it’ll save you $20 a month on insurance.

Besides, they help us all breath!

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Norwegian Cruise Lines Pearl Experience

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Recently I’ve made a trip on the great Pearl, which is among Norwegian Cruise Line’s fleet, into the Caribbean where we stopped at Samana in Dominican Republic, St. Thomas and Tortola in the Virgin Islands, and finally for a day in the sun at the Great Stirrup Cay just outside of Miami. Overall the trip was great, free food, entertainment to keep me from going stir crazy, and day excursions into places that were exotic and warm. Alcohol was expensive ( to be expected ) and a lot of overweight, and old people, which I suppose is also to be expected.

The first day was hectic, loading onto the ship, standing in line, getting our rooms, finding our way around the boat, and then finally falling asleep on a new bed. Yai, were on a cruise.

It took one full day before we reached the first town, Samana, located in the Dominican Republic, which incidentally is on the same island as Haiti. Maybe I should have already known this…. When we got there, we had to tender to land (take a smaller boat from ship into the dock). Yes, more waiting in line, but not to much. We were slow starters, so we were among the last to go.

As it turned out, there wasn’t too much to see in the small town, but a lot to get haggled about. The instant we stepped outside the gates of NCL, it was haggler after haggler, asking us if we needed a ride to the water falls, into town, scooter etc. Then we walked another hundred paces, and were into the nick-nacks selling. “Brother, this one is for you, got the right shirt for you here. Brother where are you from? Oh I have a sister living there. yes yes.” At one point, they were blocking the road so that we couldn’t walk any further until we rather forcefully pushed our way through and continued on. Think moving through a crowded bar but nobody else around. yes. it was fun. My folks bought some very cheap, and very large paintings from the artists. They are pretty.

Next we were off to the new and fairly modern city of St. Thomas, complete with a yacht club, and one with a helicopter on the top of it.

There was even a part of the city named “Yacht City” which was pretty cool to see Louis Vitton and Gucci stores there…. Coming from the poverty we just passed through. I was able to get online at a small place called Hubbly Bubbly Hukka lounge. No, I did not try the Hukka. I think it was $15 for a huke? But, I did buy some beers there at reasonable price, and had a very friendly bartender serving me beers.

After this day, we headed for Tortuga, another city in and amongst the Virgin Island. It was a less fancy town, possibly smaller, and once again we required a Tender to get into the port.

We wandered around for a bit, found a place to sell us Red Stripe Jamaican Beer for $1.50 which were also tall beers! so we pounded a few of those back, and headed back to the boat.

After this, which was our 4th night on the boat, we had a full day of ocean

The next day we hit the private beach of Great Stirrup Cay, where we had a full day of sitting on the beach cooking like lobsters (ie. getting red) on beautiful tropical sand and ocean to swim in. We were buying $25 buckets of beer (6 per bucket) and by the time we were to get up and head home, were feeling happy! The brother got up for the first time in a while, and fell right down right away! haha. So funny. One of the lifeguards was right there and laughed along with me and my mother! He was cooked red completely! Poor fellow.

This was our last day full day on the boat, and now I’m sitting here, the next day, on solid land in a Miami hotel right next to the airport, yes there are airplanes going overhead constantly.

Each morning I would get up, head to the all you can eat buffet, and get myself a omelet made, with ham, onions, mushrooms, peppers, and spinach. So good. I’d usually get a eggs bennedict, some bacon and some sausage (turkey and pig) to go with it. Today I also had some french toast. Yum.

After this, it was usually to the tender desk to get a number to be called to take us over to the land, or else sit down in a nice spot on the deck and read my book. I managed to finish off The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, which was a pretty good book. Kinda getting used to his style of writing, and definitely enjoy the dream it takes me on. It was a big book though. I’ve now started The Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, which is turning out to be a very very interesting book. If your interested in how the USA is taking over the world, its a must read.

After this it’d either be lunch time, which was beer if we were on land, or more buffet on the boat. Probably a bit of chicken, salad, and who knows what else. Always yummy, but usually the same selection of a buffet. Near the end, it was kind of hard to face the buffet. Same old thing in a way, but still a lot of selection.

By this time, the family was usually very tired, and we’d either head off to read some more or take a nap. This is when I’d usually find my way to the gym (if I hadn’t drank to much), up to the deck to read some more, or off to the courts to play some bball.

Then we’d be off to the formal dinner palace, where we’d dress up, and be served by some really good service. It was really a treat to get the service, and the great food from the restaurant, and is always fun to dress up. The New York Cheese Cake was my favorite and most desired dessert I picked. Had it almost every night.

After this, at 9:30, we’d head off to the theater to take in the evenings entertainment. Generally it was really good. I’m a bummer sometimes, and just want to read my book, but my folks loved it. I cant believe those people up there could do what they were doing, with the boat rocking as it was. Magic Tricks, comedy acts, vegas show girls, and swinging circus acts were all involved in the entertainment.

Following this, I got into the habit of going to a 24hr lounge, and ordering some won ton soup, which hit the spot completely. Around this time, it was bed time, completing a full day of life on board a cruise ship.

I am always astonished to find the amount of people that are overweight in this wonderful world. The amount of people that could barely walk, crouched over, wrinkly and overweight was astounding. I hope I never get to be in that sort of shape. I’m taking the necessary precautions.

My folks are talking how their going to be staying in Miami Beach tomorrow, kinda makes me jealous, but I realize that my time has come, and my adventure must end. Back tomorrow off to Olympic bit Vancouver, to hit the books for another few months of happyness?!

Time to get back on track with some help from Exercise and Mind . Get my focus on, get my exercise habits back, and get my love returning for all things necessary. Its always been there I guess, but I always find its hard to focus again.

Hopefully this pending cold goes away, and its just the long day I spent in the sun getting its best of me. I’m happy we managed to get away on a cruise, my first experience on one, and I highly suggest it for people who are looking to relax and explore new lands conveniently. Let me know if you have any other experiences on your cruise you’d like to share!

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Bennigans Dinner, Miami

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Tonight I went for dinner at a place called Bennigans, thats right next to the Miami International Airport, conveniently located right next to the hotel I’m staying at tonight. To be to the point, I was very disappointed.

First off, on the menu, they have a picture of a full pint, with big arrows pointing at how regular pints fill up to ‘this’ certain line, but theirs fill up to ‘this’ certain line. We received a pint that was about the size of a glass you usually get in a hotel room in a plastic wrapper. Very unimpressed. The folks took a lot of offence to this, egged on by me, they complained, and we eventually got a 1/3 or so of the mug filled up to make up for the lacking pint. Sure, this is alright, but seriously now. If your a manager of a restaurant, and somebody complains about their pint being pint sized, and you know that the flyers are lying, not to mention that you’ve watered down the pints, do you not give them a full, complimentary pint? I would. But then again, its a restaurant thats besides the airport, which means very few returning customers, and the staff seemed about the ‘just graduated’ age. So, I guess things are becoming more clear.

We sit around, me finally with my bottled bear (a buddy of mine once said: “I always get bottles of beers because each one is especially brewed for you”. I now see his point.

Dinner is served. Let me first say that it was tasty, yes. How can a beef dinner not be tasty smothered in gravy? yai. SO I will not fuss further about the meal. No, wait, I will.

My meal was beef soup or something like that, which was basically chuncks of beef mixed with some red potatoes. Yum. yes, yum. But the side they gave me, was mashed potatoes. Red Potatoes. Kinda odd no? I did, as it said on the menu, have a choice between about 8 other sides (substitute the mashed red potatoes for them) but, I did in fact receive a caesar salad to start with too. So, it wasn’t anything I couldn’t deal with. But really, its odd to be smothering your potato chunks with mashed potatoes…. If you ask me.

So the fellow that was serving us did have some fast service, and he humbly and care-ingly accepted the complaints we put forth. But, at the end of the day, what is a tip for? Service, enjoyment, the whole experience? Yes I think so. So, at a place like this, where we were very unpleased with a few things, but satisfied with a few other things, how do you decide?

We found out, that a gratuity was already automatically added onto the bill for us, at 15% so we didn’t have to debate how much to tip. I didn’t like this part of the whole deal. Tipping is for service thats already known to be very good, at a place thats very classy and only really rich people go there. This place was more like a run down Red Robins, or a Chucke Cheeses. I was very unimpressed with this little fact that was added on the bill. Automatic gratuity. We should have definitely raised a lot more stink there than we ended up raising, but let it be known from here on forth, I, or we, will never again visit a Bennigans.

The end.

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