Happy New Year! or as my friend says, “Happy Moment! as every moment is a fresh beginning”
It was only the 2nd of December. As I entered the classroom of my 1st graders, Juliana came up to me and started pulling me down so that she could whisper in my ears. She said,
“Miss, do you know it is 2nd December? Only 23 more days to Christmas!”
I love December-January time and the magical feeling it brings about. The stories of Santa, thinking resolutions, writing wish letters and sometimes actually finding them come true! 🙂 There is so much innocence and happiness around this time. I hope it stays for the whole year for all of us :-).
December Updates
December updates will be short because I actually want to take the opportunity of this post to share the Annual Survey Form for My Weekend Kitchen’s 2020 journey and also some areas I focussed on (or didn’t focus) this year.
The first half of December was usual with mindfulness classes with elementary kids at school, weekly Awakin circles, preparations for a long volunteering trip from mid-dec to end of Jan! I am here in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, serving with Moved by Love for 6 weeks. It is wonderful to be in the company of noble friends where everyone always operates from a space of love, abundance, and generosity. I can’t explain it. I have tried often and I can’t. It is like I know what an orange tastes like but if someone has never seen or eaten an orange, I cannot truly explain what an orange tastes like! Here’s a little collage to share some smiles and warmth.
7-day Vegan Meal Plan
In last year’s survey, most of you responded yes to meal planning posts and yes to video posts. Writing and sharing the weekly vegan meal plans has been an amazing practice for me. Not only it helps me with my own planning, the thought that it may help you in your journey to explore vegan options is also very encouraging! Furthermore, as the meal plan posts evolved to share monthly updates, it created a space to share with you a little bit more about me beyond food. Things I like to do, like meditation, teaching mindfulness to kids, gardening, and travel.
Recipe Videos
Recipe Videos… I started with a few videos. Initially, it was a slow learning curve and there is a lot I need to learn it but just as I was getting a hang of it, we were transferred. And since moving from Romania, I haven’t been able to redo the set-up and start with videos again. I’m also not 100% sure of how to effectively balance the time it takes to create one video with the rest of my work. Waiting to see how that part emerges.
Social Media (absence of)
Social Media has been another area of contention. Somewhere around the middle of the year, I felt like my heart wasn’t in line with the intention I was using social media with. Earlier, my primary intention was to increase engagement in my blog. As a result, my shares were coming out of a compulsion to share as frequently as possible. So one fine day, I just stopped. Stopped posting, stopped looking, stopped all notifications, and simply stopped even opening the apps. A true social media full stop. I wanted to see what emerges for me in that period. And something wonderful happened.
My top 3 learnings from almost 6 months of no social media:
- Initially, I had withdrawal symptoms! I used to look at my screen and there were no notifications (because it was all off) and I would feel like I have been forgotten. A little later it led to the realization that I was looking for confirmation from outside and it was also a blow to the ego that I am not the center of the universe! 🙂
- Slowly that impulse to just look at the phone diminished. I will pick up the phone only when it rang or I had a direct message. And there will be hours when I was separated from my phone without any anxiety. It was pretty awesome!
- Mentally, there was less clutter and more space. Last 4 months I have been able to meditate regularly. I’ve also spent more time volunteering outside with children and reading more books! I read 6 books in the last 5 months which is quite an accomplishment for me! 🙂
This break also led to clarity in intention and I think when I am ready to get back to social media, it will be with an intent to connect and not promote. I am pretty sure it will change the way I write and my outlook towards various social media metrics.
Going Vegan and A Survey Form for You!
As I feel more in tune with the values of non-violence, vegan food feels more like the right thing to do. We are still not 100% vegan. We do eat butter and occasionally cheese and yogurt. Currently, we are careful about their sourcing.
While the blog has been more or less about vegan recipes this year, I plan to go 100% vegan in 2020. And I would really love to have some ideas on what you would like to see more of and where? Your feedback and suggestions are truly appreciated and I am grateful for your time and consideration.
This survey form has only 5 questions and will take just about 5 minutes to complete. A disclaimer: I need you to put in an email address to avoid spam/robot hits but I cross my heart and make a pinky swear that I will not use your email address in no capacity.
Resolutions (?)
Do you believe in resolutions? My resolution this year is to pick up a practice and do it regularly. When I was recently in Vinoba Bhave Ashram in Paunar, one of the elders told me to pick up a writing practice and write down answers to 5 questions every night:
- What did you see?
- What did you hear?
- What did you think?
- What did you read?
- What did you do?
Just what is alive at the end of the day for these 5 questions. And that is my resolution for this year.
Are you picking up one? I would love to read and share the intentions of your new year!
Page 1 of 365. Welcome!
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