the eye of the storm

the flavor of this week: hurricane. fast paced. varied. action oriented. lots of 'new' stuff. Externally, lots of stuff has been going on. Internally, my mind is going ape shit.

As such, I've been super aware of bringing myself back to centre. Walks, yoga, running, 'quiet time', meditation, sleep - naps. Mmmm. All so important while all this shape-shifting is going on. Now it's crazy. soon it will have more of a metamophasis flavor. perhaps libertation. transformation? fingers crossed!!

but for now it's crazy.

that's ok.

the last high

how it ever happened that I lived my whole life without crowd surfing I don't know...but this past Saturday @ the Pearl Jam concert I finally experienced it. i knew i wanted to...I've always wanted to...but held myself back. Next time...or it's stupid so why bother? these were the types of conversations that streamed in my head when I was rationalizing against doing what I want.

In the midst of the chaos I looked back at my friend Sabrina and she told me to go for it...and I shrugged. Then a girly girl type with a big hand bag and chunky heals turns around and says to her guy friends: "hold on", tucks her bag under arm and away she went...just like that. at that moment I knew: if she can do it I can do it. And so I went.

It felt exhilirating surrendering to the arms below me, and frankly in those brief moments I felt safer up there then I did on the ground. I still have a throbbing foot from 'down there', and only happy memories from floating above. I landed right in front of the band, and ran to the side - high fived a cop and ran up the the girly girl and thanked her for being an inspiration.

Later some dudes coaxed me to go again...and of course I did.

Crowd surfing. I get it. Finally.

when life gives you lemons

make lemonade. duh!

i heart summer lemonade

• 1 liter spring water or 1 ice cube tray
• 8 organic lemons sliced in half
• 1/4 cup agave nectar

blend & garnish with fresh lemon zest.

easy!

this old-school classic gets a new twist with agave nectar (or your own favorite raw sweetener).
It is fun to make and goes down sooooo good.

Another option: pop the mixture into the freezer for a bit and then spoon the slush into cups.

For pink lemonade just add a few raspberries & a couple sprigs of mint to the blender, and voila! hardcore delicious.

thanks shannon leone for recipe inspiration!

www.rawmom.com

a free bird?

My life seems to go through weekly or monthly themes. Currently, I'm going through a spell of learning how to focus. Or practising 'focus'. or just focusing. Why is it so hard for me to just do one thing at a time?

One of my recent life teachings illuminated this truth: I am way more powerful when i'm living in the present moment than frittering about the past or future. In the present moment, my creativity is at its peak; my higher self undeniably resides in the here & now. And I think my attention-deficit ways of being are micro episodes of living in the future (specifically) - which scatters my energy. dang it.

Where my fragmented attention goes energy flows and results show. i suppose that explains my merry go round life. it's fun - but where the heck is it going?

My sister has been calling me a 'free bird' lately...because I just do what I want whenever and change my mind abruptly. And while I recognize what where she seeks security and knowing, and I crave sponteneity and freedom - perhaps she's just airing a subtle reminder my way to focus...on what I want...for a span of say 30-60 minutes at a time...and observe what happens.

Perhaps that merry go round ride would turn into something more scenic, sensory or even inter-galatic.

whoa.

the mind-gong effect of Rumi

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

Don't go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.

Don't go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth

across the doorsill where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.

Don't go back to sleep.
~Rumi

my magic ‘mood’ hair.

Ummm, so how can I control my life when I can't control my hair? If a ‘hair style is the final tip-off whether or not a woman really knows herself’ (Givenchy), then perhaps I’m going to have to dig deep in the next few days or weeks to get to know myself and how my hair works.

Fascinatingly, my hair days are generally a solid reflection of myself. Good hair day – all is well in Krystyna-land. Bad hair day – I’m as frazzled as my hair is frizzled. How is it that this works so accurately?

Last week I went to Wizard Training Camp www.wizardtraining.com to hone my manifestation skills, etc. I had a great time, enjoyed the processes, the fresh air, and the company of the fine, illuminated beings that were there. I’m still working to make sense of my paradigm shifting week off the grid.

Anyway, got my hair cut in Vancouver after the camp and in my sleep deprived, somewhat delirious state, I stated to my stylist that I trusted him to cut & color my hair to the best of his ability – after giving him my guidelines for what I expected. Interestingly, I feel asleep during the haircut portion of my appointment.

Fast forward a couple days when I finally wash my hair and realized that the poofyness of my hair wasn’t so much from the styling products scrunched into my hair, or a residual effect from the best day ever at Kits beach but because my hair was cut was far shorter and more layered than I realized - aaack. In other words, my current head of hair is utterly unmanageable!

Not surprisingly my week looks a lot like my hair – the color is lovely, but the style is a mash between bed head & insane asylum – and my week has been fun and filled with delightful people, but I feel weary & confused. Perhaps as I’m integrating my learning’s from last week, the chaos of my life (& hair) is surfacing only to be smoothed out in the near future where my purpose will make more sense (and my hair will be better than ever).

I trust my hair. I trust the universe.

eat junk, become junk

Probably one of my larger monthly expenses – besides all the money involved with property ownership – is my food bill. Being super choosy has its price – with money, yes – but if not money, then time, effort &/or creativity is the ‘bill’. In the past few years I’ve come to recognize that paying more for the best food available is worth the cost of acquisition.

When I consider that every molecule of what I consume is used as the building blocks for my body – i.e. becomes a part of it – the choice becomes simple. Do I want my brain to be composed of molecules from a big mac or a home grown organic garden salad with all the fixin’s?

Brillat-Savarin said: Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are. When it comes to food, much of the “stuff” available to eat out there is like, EW. Far from being food, many of the products available are simply ‘edibles’ that we consume to fill our tummies. So, if we’re eating foods that technically aren’t even real – exactly who are we?

Concocted in a laboratory for maximum yield & profit or flavored for our habit-forming eating and sensory pleasure, these foods are slowly destroying our genetic make up.Yep, one meal at a time genetically modified Franken-foods, and edibles grown with fungicides, herbicides, pesticides, larvicides, antibiotics and hormones are fucking with our DNA slowly, but surely. Oh, darn.

How to get over this whole “dilemma”: pay attention. To what you eat. All the time. Michael Pollan, food researcher and author, proposes a new answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. An excerpt from the first chapter of his book The Omnivores Dilemma helps to make sense of things (click here).

Reading ingredients makes this easy. If the words on the side of the box sound like something from a chemistry experiement...in reality, they are.

The best part of committing to eating the best food ever – all the time - is that food becomes an adventure. Searching out delicious, nutritious eats no matter where you are, who you're with or what time it is generally serves up the most interesting people, places and experiences. Bon appetite.