Happy Monday!
I was just reading through the new comments on yesterday’s ‘life question’– what a great way to start the week. I am constantly inspired by the journey that you share with me on the blog!
I also appreciated that some of you voiced your honest opinion of the book. Some of you said that you couldn’t get through the book and you didn’t like how the tone/message changed after Italy. I got about 1/3 of the way through the India book last night and I did notice a shift. The tone got more serious and Elizabeth really delved into meditation, yoga and the history behind it. While I did find a couple parts have been slow in India, I found the part about where she struggles with meditation absolutely captivating as I have struggled with meditation and quieting my mind for a long time. I found that I was taking a few notes for myself and I hope to re-visit meditation in my own life (I will blog about it!). It will be interesting to see how my opinion of the book changes as I read through India and Bali. I hope I will enjoy it!
I told you last night that I would be sharing with you this fun raw cookie recipe that I made yesterday! They are so yummy, I hope you will enjoy them as well.
Raw Energy Cookie Bites
Inspired by That’s Fit.ca’s Raw Seed Cookies.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup of almonds
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
- 9 medjool dates, pitted
- 4-5 dried apricots, chopped
- 2 tbsp cacao nibs
- 1/2 tbsp pepita seeds (pumpkin seeds)
- Pinch or two of sea salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Directions: Place pitted dates and almonds into a food processor and process until the mixture is ground up. You can leave a few larger pieces if you prefer. Remove mixture from the processor and place into a medium sized bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well with your hands. Form into mini cookies or balls. Makes 8 mini cookies.
Nutritional information (per mini cookie): 136 calories, 4 grams fibre, 5 grams fat, 2 grams protein.
I am in love with these mini energy cookies! So delicious and packed with so many healthy foods.
You can also double the recipe and pop them in the freezer for quick snacks!
Here is another quote that I loved from Eat Pray Love, page 115. Elizabeth is talking about pleasure and how our society typically feels guilty for pursuing pleasure in our lives. In this quote she speaks to a ‘glimmer of happiness’ that she started to feel after being in a deep depression for a couple years. She was on the path to ‘mending her soul’.
“It was in a bathtub back in New York, reading Italian words aloud from a dictionary, that I first started mending my soul. My life had gone to bits and I was so unrecognizable to myself that I probably couldn’t have picked me out from a police line-up. But I felt a glimmer of happiness when I started studying Italian, and when you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face-first out of the dirt– this is not selfishness, but obligation. You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight.
I came to Italy pinched and thin. I did not know yet what I deserved. I still maybe don’t know fully what I deserve. But I do know that I have collected myself of late- through the enjoyment of harmless pleasures- into somebody more intact. The easiest, most fundamentally human way to say it is that I have put on weight. I exist more now than I did four months ago. I will leave Italy noticeably bigger than when I arrived here. And I will leave with the hope and the expansion of one person- the magnification of one life- is indeed an act of worth in this world. Even if that life, just this one time, happens to be nobody’s but my own.”
I thought that was one of the more powerful quotes in the book so far. I absolutely loved this quote ‘you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face-first out of the dirt’ it gave me such a great visual and helped me understand her sentiment. I also agree that sometimes happiness comes from the little things in life. I think many of us get overwhelmed by assuming that we need to do all of these huge and crazy changes to be happy, but sometimes happiness comes from a small decision to just pursue something that you enjoy- even if it has no practical purpose.
For me, my glimmer of happiness was starting Oh She Glows. On October 31, 2008, I started Oh She Glows. It was one of the most difficult times of my life and I was struggling with my career and graduate school. I was depressed and I cried in bed so many nights. The blog was my glimmer of hope each day- a distraction from the unhappiness that I felt with my career choice. It was something so simple as writing a few words each day and hoping for that connection with others to help guide me though.
Little did I know that something as simple as writing a blog would have been the thing that gave me the courage, confidence, and desire to seek out happiness, not just for a few moments every day, but for my entire day. Sometimes, these little glimmers of happiness can be the seeds for amazing change and transformation in our lives.
I also loved her analogy about ‘putting on weight’. When Elizabeth went through her divorce she lost about 25-30 pounds and was skeletal. Putting on weight was not just a representation that she was getting healthier, but it was a metaphor for the growth that was happening on the inside of her as well. I thought it was so interesting because so many women denote weight gain with a negative emotion or loss of control, but sometimes weight gain represents a time in your life when you are enjoying the pleasures of life and just…happy.
I appreciate hearing your own thoughts on this quote…Do you have any ‘glimmers of hope’ in your life right now? Have you ever experienced any small pleasurable activity that got you though a difficult time, like the blog did for me? Are there things in your life that you could do to create these small bits of happiness in your day?
I really enjoyed this post – and hearing what everyone else had to say. When you mentioned “The blog was my glimmer of hope each day- a distraction from the unhappiness that I felt with my career choice. It was something so simple as writing a few words each day and hoping for that connection with others to help guide me though.” >> This really rang tru to me :)
running has made me so happy this summer. i love seeing progress and feeling so strong when i run a race. The last race i sprinted across the finish line and i was on a high for hours…. funny how much i love it. i would have never imagined this new passion at age 36 after having two kids. So it makes me feel excited about what else the future holds… rather than lamenting my age like i was a year ago. :-)
That is great…age really is just a number, right?!
i have to try that recipe.
Those are like Larabars in a cookie, but even better and chunkier. I really have to get that book now. Another sign today that I must read this book is, we are selling the DVD of it at work. I opened up the box and there it was.
Someone is telling me that this book is very important for me to read, maybe life changing?
I have so many glimmers of hope in my life:
– My 1 year old daughter – her smile, her laugh, her pride, watching her discover new things, when she wraps her arms around me, when she lights up when she sees my face. She is my world and nothing else in life really matters than her health, happiness and safety. It puts a lot in perspective for me
– Simple things. I am surrounded by beauty and make sure I take the time to enjoy it all. I love the hot sun these days, driving with my windows down, being healthy enough to get out and work out…my life has really changed once I started to really be grateful for the little things in life
Italy was so fun, India was okay, then Bali was incredible. So hold on through India!
So I pretty much spend about 7 and a half of my 8 hour day at work on your blog and CANNOTTT stop talking about it. Girl, you make the day so much better!! I just read your races page and that pumped me up to go on my own now. Also I live in the okanagan (B.C) and was wondering if you ship glow products here?>
This raw cookie recipe is exactly what I was looking for. Yesterday I ran into an old high school teacher who told she she has cancer and has turned to a raw food diet to help her get better. I spent all last night looking for raw cookie recipes and these are perfect! :)
That’s too funny! I posted that exact quote from EPL on my blog a week or two ago because I was so struck by it. A few years ago when I was struggling with a bout of depression, working at a summer camp was my source of happiness. It felt awesome to have a purpose and spend all day playing with kids.
Glimmers of happiness? I am sitting in my den typing this while my 2 year old dances and “sings” to the Wiggles while holding his stuffed bear. Need I say more? I think having children put many things into perspective for me. It is the little things, moments, that are to be treasured most. These are the things we remember. Before we had children, my husband and I did some traveling. It was wonderful, exciting and interesting, but does not nearly make my heart swell as much as when my four year old climbs into bed with us early in the morning to snuggle.
By the way, to all who feel that you must travel now before children, please do not feel discouraged if your circumstances do not permit you to do so at this time. Is it easier to do without children – oh yes – but once my children are a bit older, we fully plan on taking them on some adventures.
I underlined this very section when I was reading (and re-reading) Eat, Pray, Love. What a powerful message! This passage reminds me of something my counselor said to me when I was in treatment for an eating disorder. I was telling her how mad I was that I no longer fit into my size 0 jeans. And she interrupted me and said, “Why would anyone ever want to be a zero?” As in “Why would anyone not want to take up space in this world?” That one comment resonated so deeply with me that as I continued to gain wait I saw it as a positive — I suddenly understood myself as DESERVING of taking up space. As women we continually diminish ourselves, in our relationships, at work and through our bodies. We preface our beliefs by saying, “This might be stupid, but…” or “This is a dumb question, but…” or even, “I think that…” Only when we acknowledge that we are deserving of space, an opinion and/or true pleasure can we open ourselves up to our true potential. For me true pleasure is a new book, a bowl of full fat ice cream eaten in slow, grateful bites and the sister-friends who make me laugh until I cry. Thank you Angela for reminding me of taking up space and pleasures and to always be kind to myself.
I went through some pretty dark times when I broke up with my boyfriend and he’d starting seeing someone, and I just couldn’t find it in myself to find my faith. What really helped me out was: Doing an insane amount of physical activity (running, pilates, yoga, dance, you name it, I took the class), cooking for myself, reading food blogs, solving other peoples’ problems, traveling to a different country, reading.
I did all of the above, and I felt the surge of hope every time I was absorbed in something.
Hi Everyone ! I love reading all of your posts. I went through a severe depression at 19 when I went off to college, lost my long term boyfriend, two best friends and my parents got divorced. I remember my glimmer of hope was learning how to like being alone. Now it is the number one thing favorite thing about myself. I can feel comfortable with just being me and learning the things I like to do, without the need for the companionship of others all the time.
My father recently passed away in May and I felt that depression starting to creep back in. At 25, it is hard to lose your father, especially when I consider all of the personal things my dad and I struggled with. My glimmer of hope through it all was my blog. I started the blog because I have always had a passion for health due to my own personal journey with health, and my desire to help others. At 19, I began having an intense passion for recipe creation but never knew what to do with it. Last year, I started sharing my recipes with readers through my blog, Millie’s Kitchen ( www.millieskitchen.blogspot.com). The day after my daddy died this May, I thought about what I wanted out of life and how it is so short. As a result, I threw myself into concentrating on writing for the blog and now my glimmer of hope is that I’ll one day write my own recipe book. The last meal I cooked for my dad was his favorite and he told me it was the best spaghetti he’d ever had. I’ll never forget that, or how much it meant.
Great responses you all:) Happy posting and I LOVE this recipe. I’ve got one of my own called Cookie Dough Coins that I love on the blog!
Heart and Soul,
Heather
I am struggling with several things. First, I am in recovery from a severe case of anorexia, and it is hard break free of the horrible grasp of the sickness. Second, I am lonely. I don’t have friends, never have had, but I am hoping that this is going to change the more I learn to open up and let others in. Anorexia, in addition to all its other horrors, causes you to shut down completely, to revert to your own little twisted world.
My third, and perhaps biggest, concern is to do with the fact that I have been at university for four years, studying energy technology, and am only one year away from getting my Master’s in Science (Technology). And the concern that I have here is that I have recently realized that none of the jobs that this education has prepared me for seem the right ones for me. I do not want to sit in front of a computer for eight hours a day, be stressed out, and have no time for the things I actually want to do. I have no idea what I should do. My dream job would be something more creative, more free, but I am exhausted from having studied this long (this education programme has not been easy, I can guarantee you; it has been an excruciating amount of work) and don’t know if I have the energy to start studying again. All of this makes me scared to think about graduating, it makes me scared that I will have to spend my whole life doing something I have no interest in doing.
Thank you for this blog. It is such an inspiration.
I don’t know what my glimmer of happiness is. Maybe it’s finding something, or someone, that I love and that accepts me. I really don’t know. I hope I find it soon.
Wei-Wei
I read this post with tears in my eyes, and identified with so many of the responses. I have had Chronic Lyme Disease since August of 1999 and it has destroyed me life in so many ways; in fact I’m going through a relapse right now. I married an awful man who made me feel guilty about my illness; thankfully I had the courage to leave him. There are times that I want it all to end, and I truly mean that. To my core sometimes its all too much, and I cannot envision living the rest of my life this way, especially since I am only 32. But I try to hold onto tiny things that get me through each moment (forget each day), like a vase of my favorite flowers….I guess I don’t have the answers, but that this is a continuous quest for everyone.
I love this blog and I’m so happy I found it!!
Hi Alison,
I happened to have stumbled onto your blog a couple of days ago and have thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts. It has not been until reaching my thirties that I’ve found my “happy place” – realizing what is most important in my life finding the balance between love, friends, career and self. Lately a lot of this has been also attributed to a self-commitment to exercise and healthy eating – and subsequently feeling great! Your raw cookie recipe above sounds delicious and I can’t wait to try it. No excuses, since I appear to have everything I need in my pantry! I read “Eat, Pray, Love” a little while ago and was too inspired by Elizabeth’s journey. Please keep up your wonderful entries and I look forward to reading more :)
Cheers!
Suzanne
I love what you said about pursuing something that you enjoy, even if it has no practical purpose. For me, everything I consider must have a practicality…but sometimes we just need to do things for ourselves without a reason other than making ourselves happy!
When I was reading this book I would see a quote that I liked and then write a memo in my blackberry, like “EPL: page 117 bottom paragraph” just so I’d remember how much I liked it!
Love the reliving these quotes in your posts!
Made these yest, and threw in some coffee beans… fantastic!
Hi. Hope this isn’t a repeat but wondering how many carbs? Thank you!