And here we are at 31st December with another year completed too. How was yours? I'll sum my 2015 up in 3 words - creative, challenging, energetic. Creative because Thrive Yoga's online classes became a reality. Challenging because that process was long and demanding, and also because of the many difficulties that come along with a member of the family having dementia. Energetic because even when I'm not working, my leisure time is spent on-the-go, walking the dog, running, gardening, etc.
Although generally I'm not one for dwelling in the past, it can be a really helpful process to review the year to help prepare for the coming one. This afternoon I'll be settling down with my brand new notebook to answer some thought provoking questions. I thought I'd share them with you so that you can do a little "lifestyle design" too to help your 2016 be your best year ever.
Firstly, here are a few tips before you start this inner work:
- Be honest - this stuff is just for you - you don't need to share it with anyone,
- But don't be critical - it's not a competition and you haven't failed at anything. You're writing this stuff down as a guide for the future not as something to regret and give yourself a hard time about.
- Don't just do this on a piece of scrap paper then forget about it - writing it in a dedicated notebook or journal will make it easy to refer back to so you can align your 2016.
- Don't worry if you don't feel you've got much to write - it doesn't need to be an essay, bullet points work well.
Ok. Ready? Here we go....
- What worked for you in 2015?
- What didn't work?
- What did you do too much of?
- What didn't you do enough of?
- What little things did you enjoy doing in your day-to-day life?
- What would you like to do differently in 2016?
- Why?
- What 3 words sum up 2015 for you?
Now, with that out of your head and down on paper, say goodbye to all that you experienced in 2015 and get ready for a new 365 day journey full of potential, inevitable ups and downs, and infinite possibilities.
Next week I'll be sharing a similar guide to designing your 2016. I love doing this - it feels so good to turn the page and have a fresh start.
Here's a recipe for a nutritious soup to help with those New Year healthy eating intentions.
Tomato and Turmeric Soup
This soup is so easy to make and it feels great to be enjoying something so healthy. Tomatoes are full of lycopene which is a powerful antioxidant and has high levels of Vitamin C. (If you're interested in knowing all the scientific data, click here to go to the website of the World's Healthiest Foods which gives very detailed information.) Turmeric is a spice that is widely used in Indian cooking and also in eastern medicine. It known to be a good antioxidant and has potent anti-inflammatory qualities. (You can take a look here if you'd like to learn more about it's health-giving properties.) All the other ingredients are good for you too (apple cider vinegar especially) so this really is a case of "let thy food be thy medicine".
You will need:
5oz cherry tomatoes, rinsed and cut in half
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup (120ml) of vegetable stock (Marigold vegetable buillon gives the best flavour - always!)
1 small onion finely diced
1 garlic clove minced
2 teaspoons turmeric powder
1 teaspoon coconut (or olive) oil for frying the onion
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon of dried basil
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
Mixed seeds to garnish
And here's how to make it:
Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onion and garlic gently for 2 minutes.
Add the turmeric and cherry tomatoes and cook gently until the tomatoes soften.
Add the can of tomatoes, vegetable stock, apple cider vinegar and basil.
Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
Transfer to the blender and blend until the mixture is creamy.
Season with salt and pepper and serve garnished with mixed seeds.
If you don't require this to be a vegan dish you could add a spoonful of Greek yoghurt to make it more creamy and some grated Parmesan to add to the flavour.
The papers and the news on TV are full of negative things, constantly reminding us how bad everything is and promoting fear. But it isn't all like that - it's just that they choose to show us a one-sided view of things. Whilst we need to know what's going on, it would be nice to hear some good news for a change. Here's an article about some positive things mankind did in 2015 to help redress the balance.
9 Actually Good Things Humans Did For The Planet In 2015 - because it's not all gloom and doom
by Emma Loewe via Mindbodygreen
It's easy to become discouraged when considering the state of our planet. We're constantly bombarded with stories about how our cities are collecting in smog, our ice caps are melting and our temperatures are skyrocketing (I mean, who in the Northeast wasn't freaked out by the great Christmas Heatwave of 2015).
Climate change presents a complex challenge, but it's one we can all approach with a healthy dose of optimism. The environmental movement reached some seriously impressive milestones in 2015 - here are a few I was especially grateful to see as mbg's green editor.
1. Wellness companies found some pretty ingenious ways to upcycle materials
In an effort to cut down on waste, manufacturers continued to design upcycled goods from used material this year. Yoga mats constructed out of recycled wetsuits and Adidas sneakers made with ocean plastic trash are just two examples of trendy, practical second-life products that any wellness junkie could use.
2. Billions of dollars were invested in clean energy research
Thanks in large part to donations like Bill Gates' recent multi-billion dollar fund, alternative energy sources are becoming less expensive and more widely available. In a shift away from coal, the U.S. now sources about 13% of its energy from renewable resources. At one point this summer, Denmark wind farms collected enough power to fuel the entire country and then some.
3. The world came together at the Paris Climate Summit
Earlier this month, 195 government leaders from across the world met in Paris to draft a comprehensive plan to combat human-caused climate change. The resulting Paris Agreement calls on every country to do its part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and holding global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius. The accord is the first of its kind, and President Obama said it "represents the best chance we have to save the one planet that we’ve got."
4. We started to tackle the trashy problem in our oceans
The bad news is that there's a ton of plastic in our oceans - anywhere between 93,000 and 236,000 metric tons, according to a recent study. Upwards of 13,000 pieces of plastic are dumped into our waterways each day, and they often end up in massive garbage patches or, worse yet, in the bellies of wildlife. But there's some (relatively) good news too. The U.S. government just passed a bill demanding that personal care companies rid their products of microbeads - tiny plastic particles that collect in waterways and can be dangerous to marine life. Meanwhile, innovators like 20-year-old Boyan Slat are thinking up creative ways to clean up existing marine debris. Slat will test his design for a floating ocean boom that uses ocean currents to collect trash off the coast of Japan in 2016.
5. Major clothing brands vowed to clean up their production practices
The fashion industry is a notoriously unsustainable one. Up to 2,000 gallons of water go into producing a single cotton T-shirt and an estimated 20% of industrial water pollution comes from textile dying. In an effort to get these figures down, traditionally "fast fashion" corporations like Kohl's, Nike, Target and Walmart signed onto the American Business Act On Climate Pledge this year. Some promised to reduce their water consumption while others pledged to invest in more renewable energy sources, but each company set a specific plan to lessen their environmental impact in some way.
Shoppers can now check in on their favorite brands with resources like www.projectjust.com a site that compiles information on the transparency, labor conditions and business models of popular retailers.
6. Large restaurant chains made green pledges
Likely fueled in part by the impassioned campaigns of celebrity chefs, 2015 proved a promising year for sustainable restaurant reform: Chipotle nixed its genetically modified foods, Taco Bell opted to serve cage-free eggs in its breakfast options, and Kraft, Nestlé, Panera and Subway promised to get rid of their artificial ingredients. Sweet Green introduced a salad made out of food scraps and Starbucks announced that it has more LEED certified locations than any other global retailer. All these changes speak to an underlying dining shift towards natural, healthy fare served in sustainable spaces.
7. Farming saw a resurgence
In a movement largely spearheaded by health-conscious millennials, more people than ever before are shopping for local, organic food. The head chef behind NoMa, the Copenhagen eatery voted the Best Restaurant in the World last year, recently announced plans to close doors and reopen atop an organic urban farm in 2017. The farm-to-fork movement is clearly having a moment - time to dig in.
8. The tiny home movement got big
Tiny homes are less resource-intensive to build and less energy-exhaustive to maintain than traditional houses, plus they often give their owners more freedom and mobility. These days there are plenty of design options for people looking to take a walk on the minimalist side, and you can find everything from tiny wooded retreats to wind-powered pods (see photos below).
9. Bikes took over city streets
Hopping on alternative transportation is a great way to cut down on one's carbon footprint, for cars are one of the most egregious contributors to dangerous air pollution. Many European cities are encouraging residents to add some green to their daily routines by making streets more bike-friendly. Earlier this year, Paris held its first carless day - a city-wide event that reduced smog-producing chemicals by 40 percent - and Oslo announced that it will completely ban cars from its city center by 2019. Milan is currently in the midst of a three-day car ban of its own, and Dublin and Madrid aren't far behind.
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| An Ecocapsule |
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| Inside an Ecocapsule |
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| The Matchbox in Washington DC |
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| Inside The Matchbox |
I hope you have a wonderful New Year and I look forward to connecting with you again next week here on the blog with some ideas for planning a fabulous 2016.
I'll leave you with a video that I hope will set the tone for your coming year.... enjoy....please do let me know in the comments section if you didn't laugh! I bet you do though!! :-)
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