Six months ago I would have given anything for a non-rainy, properly sunny day. The odd thing about living in London is that at first when people ask you… “Does it rain all the time?” You say no, not really- not all the time, but after being there for a bit you begin to believe that it does in fact rain all the time. The truth is something closer to the fact that it may rain at any time and so you must always be prepared for the possibility.
Now, I am back in the United States in Georgia where they are desperate for rain. Anything but another perfectly sunny day… So today and the night before I watched wonderful rain pour from the sky and I was so happy just to see it and hear and feel it.
It continues to amaze me what a shift in perspective can do for one’s outlook on life. A simple change in location and rain changes from something I bemoan to something that I am hopeful for. It makes me wonder how many other things in life I bemoan that are actually, looked at from another perspective, blessings?

Food Diary
3 cups of coffee
2 slices of olive bread with cheese
1 salad with goat cheese and ranch dressing (a most unhealthy salad)
2 1/2 slices of pizza
2 glasses of wine

Weight: 161

Today was spent slowly, but surely working on a sweater. I love knitting for the fact that it makes you slow down and pay attention to the smallest details… when you don’t you have to undo everything and start over. This has been a good, albeit hard lesson for me to learn. Patience… it seems to keep popping up in life for me. I must learn to be patient… and knitting is one of those things that helps me practice this life skill that I am not so good at.

Food Diary

2 cups of coffee
1 tbs of half and half
2 slices of olive bread
2 large chunks of goat cheese
mixed greens
half of an avocado
1/2 serving of coconut milk
1 bitesize butterfinger bar
Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage
2 biscuits
Unsweet tea
4 mary janes

Weight: 161

I learned today that Steven Colbert is running for president in the primaries in South Carolina and as a registered voter of South Carolina I am all about that. I did not realize that Colbert was a fellow South Carolinian… pleasantly surprising to me… almost as cool as finding out that William Gibson was born in Conway, SC.
Today was a good day. Pleasant and slow. I knit and I listened to This American Life on my computer. All in all quite lovely. And now for my food diary…

Food Diary:

3 cups of coffee
2 tbs. of half and half
Salad
mixed greens
goat cheese
half avocado
lemon juice and olive oil
1 slice of olive bread
2 bitesize butterfinger bars
1 serving of candy corn
Grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich
2 tbs peanut butter
1 banana
2 slices of white bread
1 tbs of butter
1 serving of pringles
Pasta
rigatoni
broccoli
sausage
chanterelle mushrooms
creamy pesto sauce
1 slice of olive bread
unsweet tea

Weight: 161

Part of the process of being more conscious is to pay more attention to what I consume in many ways, but in this particular instance I am speaking of food consumption. So today begins my food diary- where I will keep track of what I eat on a daily basis. So here it goes….

3 cups of coffee
1 sugar cube
3 tlbs of half and half
2 slices of turkey
1 slice of cheese
2 slices of white bread
1 tsp of mustard
1 serving of Pringles
2 bitesize Butterfingers
Unsweet tea
1 cup of cabbage and beef stew
Unsweet tea
3 beers

Weight: 161

What have I learned today? I have learned that sometimes it is simply an ant bite. A small passing pain that is no symbol of a great issue or problem, but simply something that you are dealing with. Instead of staring at the ant bite all day long one is better served if just carry on with day to day life. Go do stuff- whatever it may be. Work, wandering, knitting…. whatever just don’t stare at the bite and wait for some big something to occur to you. If it is a bigger problem- it will occur again, but either way one is better off trying to cope with such things while you go about your normal existence…. and sometimes… maybe many times the pain passes and was nothing more than momentary.

The idea is simple. I want to be more conscious in the act of day to day life. More conscious of what I learn and think about throughout any given day, more conscious about what I put into my body, more conscious of how I take care of my body and more conscious of what I do and how I interact with the world around me.

The idea is certainly not a new one in any sense of the word and it is something that I have had on my list of to-do’s for quite some time now. My change, I think, is that I want to begin to hold myself accountable for it. I want to write about it here and throw it out into the world.

Each day I would like to write about my progress on being more conscious. I want to align my beliefs with my actions and I want that to start here and now.

So there…