step machine

April 3: Minimalism, mindfulness and living intentionally

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Judy mentioned the buzz word “mindfulness” in a comment on March 30 and it got me wondering, what exactly is it? Can we put a finger on what makes someone mindful? For me, mindfulness means being present in, and making the most of, the moment. It’s a huge part of being mentally fit. Adding just 10 minutes of meditation each day to my morning routine has helped me with awareness and honing my thoughts. It may not mean the to-do list gets done faster (or written for that matter!) but I do feel more centred and focussed when needed.

There are many great blogs and websites promoting mindfulness in its many forms and I tend to gravitate towards the ones about living, and being happy, with less. Recently I came across this great site www.paris-to-go.com from Ariana Schwarz. I think I binge-read almost everything within a few days.

Part of me would love to be as extreme as she is with her wardrobe, with about 40 items in total, but when I look at the clothes I have, I love them (thanks to Marie Kondo’s method of asking “Does it spark joy?”) and couldn’t imagine parting with so much.

But then I do a 180 again and think how liberating it would be to have everything I own fit into my backpack, and then I flip again and think of all the current variety which allows me to be a chameleon. And as much as I’d love to live with just a few pieces, I love being able to change my look.

Other great blogs and websites I enjoy – about being mindful of our environment, our resources, our consumption, our health, our finances – are listed below. This is in no way a definitive list – there must be so many more out there, but these are the ones I look at regularly.

Living intentionally/Minimalism:

The Tiny House Movement/Living Small:

Conscious consumerism:

Minimalist Fashion:

Travelling Light:

Financial goals:

These are all saved on my phone as my favourites, and wow, when I look at them all lined up like that, I now know where all my time goes every day! Ha! Not everyone posts regularly, so I should set up a system where I get an email when something new comes in, rather than checking on the sites all the time.

So there you have my reading list to do with minimalism, living with less so you appreciate more, living mindfully and trying to make as little impact as possible. I hope it leads you to new resources and ideas if you’re also on an intentional living journey.

Exercise today was 15 minutes on the step machine with the hand weights. I’d just had a shower and slathered myself in moisturiser (I know, all wrong!) and, boy, did I sweat! Leo was cooking tortilla too, so the heat from the kitchen added a few degrees to our warm little house and sweaty little me. It’s still horribly cool, windy and rainy outside.

Pastora and her husband Leandro (Leo and Leo in da house!) arrive soon for an afternoon and evening of painting hard boiled eggs, food, drinks and laughter. And all in German! Very much looking forward to that.

Wishing you a wonderful day. I hope you’re having fun with family and/or friends wherever you are.

March 25: 30 minutes on the step machine

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Still no communications at our house, so this will be short, as I’m using my iPhone as a hot spot and dread how much that’s going to cost! But what can you do?! The cable company is coming tomorrow to fix things (hopefully!).

Without a cost-effective Internet (or television) connection, I haven’t been able to search for new workouts. Not happy about that! So today’s fitfor15in15 exercise was 30 minutes on the little step machine with hand weights, looking out the window at the birds in the feeder and listening to As You Wish, the audio book by actor Cary Elwes. The whole experience was totally charming and only slightly sweaty.

In the book, Elwes gives a behind-the-scenes account of his time working on The Princess Bride movie. Have you seen the movie? I think it’s a classic; it has everything! Humour, fighting, fencing, giants, true love, pirates, witches, betrayal … oh the list goes on! It really is one for all the family. And listening to Mr Elwes read his own musings is quite an ear-opening experience – he has one heck of a jolly plummy accent and whatnot, I say old chap!

I took some nice photos in the student quarter of Bern today (will post them when we have wi-fi again) before meeting Claudia for lunch. We had piiiizzzaaahh and it was delicious! Not so good nutritionally but very good for the soul.

Claudia, from Dresden, is one of my former German teachers and has lived in Bern for over 10 years. We’ve continued to meet once a week to talk German for about an hour and then English for about an hour to ‘maintain’ our foreign languages. She’s become a good friend and has been my lunchtime restaurant tour guide in the city too!

Leo’s suffering from shocking hayfever at the moment, poor thing. Birch trees, be damned! My turn comes with the grasses in May/June. Can’t wait for that …

Wishing you a wonderful day, and bring back my Internet please, Mr Fix-It Man!

March 4: Step, step, stepping out

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A short post today, because I have something fun planned for tomorrow – silliness with a fitfor15in15 theme, encorporating my love of numbers. I hope you drop in again!

My neck and shoulders were a bit sore from yesterday’s workout, so I took it a bit easier by jumping on the step machine for 30 minutes and indulging my love of a murder mystery with another Miss Marple episode.

For the first 15 minutes, I used the tin cans in a variety of arm lifts and curls. Then for the second half, I did jabs, uppercuts and other boxing punches without the weights. It was enough to work up a decent sweat.

Then I ruined it all by eating three chocolate biscuits with a cup of tea while watching the rest of the show. Argh! They were constantly having tea and cake … it’s like I was brainwashed by their quaintness!

Wishing you a wonderful day.