Food matters

There is a myriad of advice on healthy food and many revised scientific articles or doctors sustaining a different ideal way of eating. I find it is very important to literate one selves in order to make conscious choices, but in the end, it’s always a personal choice. One that reflects not just on your health, but also on the food production system, the economy and the environment. There’s no good or bad way to go about it, it’s just a matter of making the choices that better align with your needs, what you are and/or want to become.

You are what you eat 

For our family, this translates on following a whole food, plant-based diet, meaning we eat mostly whole grains, vegetables, legumes, fruits and nuts. We do it not only because we believe it’s delicious and good for our health, but equally because we think it’s the single most important thing we can do as individuals for the sustainability of our planet.

For me personally, I also see it as a kinder way for me to flow through life. (But I do emphasise the personal in this. I don't think it’s any requirement to be kind, or that it makes me kinder than anyone else not doing it. It just makes me a kinder version of myself, and that’s a big thing for me).

I doubted on writing about this, but I also believe that in a world where we often feel powerless as individuals to make an impact on big issues, such as world hunger or environmental changes, what we choose to eat is one powerful tool to navigate life and take action towards sustainability and kindness. To the earth, to other beings and to ourselves. And, despite not wanting to push my own very personal ideas on anyone, it felt important to say so.

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Owning our our happiness

Last year, I read an advice on relationships that resonated deeply with me:

It’s important to remember that each partner is responsible for their own happiness. You can’t rely on the other one to always entertain you.

Being very fond of the stoics ideals, I try to keep in mind that it is entirely my responsibility how I react to others sayings or doings but somehow I missed this point when it comes to my most significant one.

I tend to forget that it isn't his job to make me happy, it's my job to make me happy, so this year, I will be celebrating Valentines by re-reading and sharing this wonderful piece about a happy relationship and working on making myself happy, with the certainty that our relationship can only benefit from it.

Happy Valentines, if you celebrate it!

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Space oddity

Sometimes I mention that I am quite a melancholic person. The full story would include a bit sad, with a penchant for acceptance of life as it is, mostly contemplative, and above all, an embracer of all the feelings, including sadness, despair, discomfort.

To feel it all, to feel alive.

PS: Edited, because I've learned that not everything needs to be written and because I want to say it in different words.

Someday.

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Wholeness

It's said that one of the problems of being negative, is falling into a destructive pattern where you start, unconsciously, looking for confirmation of your theories, which inevitability you'll be able to find, therefore reinforcing negativity itself. It may seem obvious but it is not that easy.

I do believe the universe will give me the answers I need when I need them, provided that I work for it. Wich is not to say that I don´t have fall downs, of course, but that in spite of them, I have to believe.

How can I not, if my life is filled with those moments?

Just today as I circle around looking for a park in the city. I'm tired, I'm thinking, almost concluding, the search is innocuous, there are no places available. I even say to myself (because nobody is listening!): obviously, how could you think there would be parking here, at this hour? when will you stop being so naive? - extrapolating the whole situation.  But then, there is one, after all, I park, look over the window and there it is:

Be whole in everything. 

Put all you are into the smallest thing you do.

I know this words too well. They're from a poem (Fernando Pessoa). I haven't thought of them for a while, but I know them. The poem goes through my head.  And just like that, the universe keeps me going, my life is refilled.

Ironic, no?

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Play | A word for 2017

I'm at a messy place right now - intentionally. Somehow, there's an unusual urge of "rebellion" - questioning everything - even the things I Know to be true. My excuse? Quite a neglectful one: my word for the year.

A memory kept coming to my mind for the past months, bugging me more than it ever did. It was the memory of a job interview with a bon-vivant Italian hotel director. Life for him was exploring the senses as much as he could - good food, good wine, parties, passion -  (not love but passion, he insisted). We talked a lot - he had a lot to say and he was, I believe, a bit intrigued by me.

At the end of the interview, he told me I was too young to be so serious, I should relax and play more. It was a personal advice, not a professional one, and he meant it both as an insult as perplexion, implying I was missing out on life.

I remember it felt weird to hear but I was so damn secure about who I was  ( as self-thought into life young women can be) that I didn't think much about it then, nor I remembered it for the years to come.

Until recently.  And then it wouldn't get out of my mind.

If I reason with this, though, I know I've made the right choices in my life. So what I am I doing? I don´t know. I guess I'm just playing with different approaches, as much as I can. Maybe there is something noteworthy that I've missed?  I'm filling my schedule and my life of different things. Things I usually don't do.  It is messy - it feels messy, there's a voice in the back of my mind saying, you know better, this isn't the way, and then there's the same inner voice that says - you'll be fine, you know where to come back to if you need.

Confused? Yes, so I am. Things might get weird over here, too. (Hope you'll endure some strangeness with me).

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Things I am grateful for

A few simple things that made my life easier/happier in 2016:

. These diy dreamcatcher and night lamp

 (for allowing everyone quieter and restful nights)

. Itunes
(for endless hours of company and discovering new bands and sounds)

. some questions
(for they uncovered a painful, need truth about myself)

. a place

(for restoring myself in every walk there)

.this company
(for bringing fresh vegetables and fruit into my home)

. a library card

(for hours reading and discovering the world together)

. a 2015 Christmas gift

(for enduring 365 days of work in 2016)

.the Rescue Time App
(for honesty and clarity about screen time)

. a simple door

(for bringing a little magic into my house)

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Until the next song

For the past months, I have been debating internally whether to keep writing this blog or to pause. I could write so many words on this subject (I did write so many words in my mind) but in the end, it's quite simple as my dear son showed me in a moment that perfectly embodies where I'm standing right now on my own blog journey:

It's Sunday morning, Pedro has left to go biking and I am alone with my son and a huge list of chores delayed from the previous day to do around the house. JP has other plans, he wants to practice yoga together.

I have no choice than to defy him into doing something else, something that allows him to have fun and be with me while I get something done:

-I have an idea: Why don't we do some free-dance?

-What is that?

-Well, we just put some music and dance

-Yes!

I go to my phone, it suggests Bjork. Perfect I think. As the music starts, a question:

-How do we dance this mommy?

-Easy: you can do any move you'd like

-Any move?

-Yes, you just have to listen to the music and feel it, your body will move accordingly. It's easy once you try it.

It was easy. After a few more questions of  reassurance - Can I do this? - He was moving nicely and having fun, while I changed the bed linen as if we were in a performance... At some point, almost without noticing, I went to the phone and fast-forward to the next song, only to hear, in a questioning/understanding little voice:

Weren't you feeling it, mommy?

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The power of the unwritten posts

Picture from Canva

I write about three or four posts a week.

Really: In my head, I write three or four posts a week.

Are they important/relevant? Mostly they are no better nor worse in relation to the ones that get published, except that once I've written them in my head, they appear to have fulfilled their job in arranging things inside my mind, and there is no need, nor time, for them to get out of the head into the blog.

My head is a constant streaming of thoughts and ideas (not brilliant, or even interesting, unfortunately, just a continuous flow). The best way I can explain it is that my thoughts are like a waving sea against the shore, nothing would be so strong as to tame them, and if I am not careful enough to be watching the shore, that sea will take and swallow me.

For the past years, I keep a habit of asking myself one question: "Am I complicating things?" to just about everything that I struggle with. This simple question has a positive impact in my life, as reality usually is simpler than my unfiltered view of things.  So, as I  navigate through the undesired busyness that 2016 seems to be gifting me with, I have been pondering about the advantages of letting this blog go.

You see, I know that I am my number one reader.

As self-centered as this is, I am probably the person who visits my blog more often, and certainly the one that learns and grows more from it. When I started, I had an image of this blog of a place where I shared my journey to simplicity, and it organically evolved to be an online journal, where I post the things I want to remember.

(For a while I convinced myself that I was doing it for the connection I've made and that I am certain I don't want to loose. But I could keep connecting through their blogs, I don't need a platform of my own to do that).

Ultimately I have been realizing that even though I tend to post the things I want to remember, blogging means so much more than the record of published posts. In fact, the blog posts written in my head have become the very best way to flow my thoughts without being drowned by them and  to keep the shore within reach. It makes all the difference.

So, yes, I write about three or four posts a week.

And, I post about three or four posts a month.

But there's a lot of invisible meaning in the process and through it, I am simplifying, not complicating. Even when I don't write, even when I don't share.

(All this being said, I did took some small steps into minimizing the amount of time I am on-line, and decided to unfollow about three-quarters of the blogs on Bloglovin. I do like to read all the blogs I used to follow, but at this point of my life I simply can't do everything I would like to do, so I am sticking to only a few ones for the time being. I am also trying to be a more active commenter instead of a passive reader, it is what makes sense to me right now and I feel that this way I can really interact and comment without dispersing too much.  If I followed your blog but don't any more, please know that I do enjoy your writing, I'm just not able to keep up with everything right now.)

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A long journey for retrieving reading time

Books have always been a significant part of my life. Being an only child, I've spent a huge chunk of my childhood with my head over a book, a habit I managed to carry into adulthood until... I became a mother. Suddenly, there was no time, or if there was, I couldn't locate it... in no time, I was out of the habit and reading became a luxury, a memory of an old self...

If when he was newborn I knew that it was just the way it had to be, as soon as he was steadily sleeping (or falling asleep, to be more accurate) in his own bed, I began aiming for some love (=time) with my books.The plan was simple: get my little jawbreaker to sleep and then read a bit before bed.

Easy, right? Well, not that simple, because his sleeping routine, although quite simple (teeth, pajamas, story, lights off, sleep) was MY sleeping routine as well: By the time he was asleep, so was I... At the end of the day, with everything prepared for the next morning (so that I could dive into a book), sitting in the dark, the silence being broken only by the occasional tender whisper: Shh... my eyelids would succumb shortly... I could only drag myself to bed, or, as it happened so many times, being grabbed by Pedro to our own bed, half-asleep.

I tried leaving his room just after the story, but that would frequently lead to a situation where he would be wandering back and forth between bedrooms, stretching his own bedtime way too far. And instead of a quiet, loving time before sleep, there was a duel of strength at a time my strength was at its worst. Not for me - so back to his room until he was deep asleep it was.

And one day, I simply took one book with me, went through his sleeping routine, only instead of turning off the light after the story, instead of trying to stay awake, instead of trying to leave as soon as possible, I just Kissed him goodnight and opened my book, quietly.
And it's been working out great! Some Days he is more excited, so I hand him one of his own books, which he pretends to read quietly (like his mommy is doing) until he closes his eyes.

I know. It was so simple and obvious, and it took me so long to get here... and I'm writing a post about something so ordinary... But it's exactly why I am sharing this story, I believe life is a trial/error experience, and it takes a great dose of failure and passing by the obvious until we get it right at some point sometimes. And the answer is usually simpler than what we imagined it, wouldn't you say so?

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Wrapped learnings from 2015

Back in July, I started recording monthly thoughts and doubts about living simply. As I take in the past year, it occurred to me that I should bundle them, so here are my wrapped learnings from 2015, a collection of affirmations, common sense knowledge, practical self-advice and self-discoveries. I would love it if you would add some of your own in the comments!

You are responsible for your life, assume it and step up. 

Balance (like happiness) has a depth to it, it is not a current state of affairs. 

Address procrastination issues promptly because they easily take over life.

Wear neutral colours and long sleeved shirts near nests of wasps.

It's important to put things in perspective when evaluating our journey.

Motherhood is a constant challenge, one that gets better and harder at the same time.

There is a fine line between hearing others and paralyse with so many opinions. If nothing seems to work, follow your gut and just go on.

There is a time to do everything, and if we follow nature's rhythm it will be easier to find a life's rhythm of wellness and plenitude.

As the thin line between freedom and safety bends before our eyes, I strive to choose kindness and knowledge. 

Don´t allow life to be so busy that you neglect to call your best friend.

Good books are worth to be read over and over.

Slow is enough. Slow is good.

If I don't give back, happiness does not feel whole.

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The Shakespeare and Company Café Proust Questionnaire

Do you also think of your own answer immediately when you stumble upon good questionnaires? I do. I can't help to do so.
That's why I tried taking stock, and that's why I am about to post the longest post of them all. But the questions are so good, I couldn't resist! I've thought of the answers as soon as I first read this, but it took me until now to sit and write them.

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Writing in English

Lately, I have been questioning myself about writing in English:

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Monthly learnings | July

The blog anniversary gave me the perfect opportunity to look back and ponder its future. I started this blog because I wanted to share my journey into to a life that feels intentional to me.
Living simply means different things to different people.To me, it represents the best way to get to where I want to be in life, which is to have a meaningful life, to feel good about myself, to be able to appreciate the beauty around me, to be there for others, to spread happiness even when embracing doubt and difficulties. I want to be happy. There are a lot of theories on what happiness means. The one I relate the most is that happiness is a state of being, not just a fleeting emotion or sensation:

"Look at the waves coming near the shore. When you are at the bottom of the wave, you hit the bottom. You hit the solid rock. When you are surfing on the top, you are all elated. So you go from elation to depression -- there's no depth. Now, if you look at the high sea, there might be beautiful, calm ocean, like a mirror. There might be storms, but the depth of the ocean is still there, unchanged." Matthieu Ricard

The depth makes the difference, but, how do we achieve that depth? From my personal experience, it comes from learning, purpose, and self-awareness.  I want to use this blog as a platform to do it, sharing my learnings and learning from what you're willing to share with me.

I'm starting a monthly series, recording my story, thoughts and doubts about living simply on each month. I invite you to join me and share your learnings too. Without further due, here are my thoughts/learnings last month:

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Chronicle of an unshure morning

[because simplicity is a long journey and there are too many feelings]

vaguely hear my name Cristiana and wake up. SLEEPY. 

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One year and 38 posts later

It has been one year since I've started this blog, so I figure it's the perfect time take stock of this process, my learnings and my expectations:

1 | Writing is much difficult than I thought it would be. I realized that the fact that my brain is full of thoughts and ideas, does not easy translate into (organized) words, which explains the rather disappointing number of 38 random posts in 365 days...

2 |Editing a template to be as simple as you want without knowledge takes way too much time than the time I can address to the blog. I've considered buying a template, but somehow I couldn't justify myself to spend money on something that is still in its embryonic stage.

3| I still haven't determined what (if anything) can I add to the world of blogging, and I'm slowly accepting that this blog won’t be the sharing the journey towards simplicity that I initially thought, as much as a place of memories, since those have been the posts I most enjoyed writing, and the ones I most enjoy to read after. Still, I wouldn't like it to be a plain record or a public diary, so I'm really just figuring this out as a go. Hopefully I'll be here next year taking stock with more clear ideas. 

4 | I'm glad that I had the opportunity to find people that I really like to read and would like to know in person one day, either because of their honest writing, their defiant thoughts, their capacity to spot the beauty and the best of every person, or for the overhaul aesthetic they present.

5| Finally, but most important, I want to take the opportunity to say: 

Thank you!

Thank you so much, Ana, Raquel, Ema, Freda, Penelope and Carpe Diem for taking the time to read and support me through this year.

I received each of your comments like a joyful flower that beautifies my day!

I'll take the leap assuming there is someone else reading who have never commented, and say: 

Thank you dear reader for being there!

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Is time management only about prioritizing?

Marão Montains | Portugal

There are times when I can't help feeling behind on some areas of my life.  And sometimes, I think I'm just plain crazy for adding even more in my agenda. But I do get so excited for doing new things, I can't help myself. And the notion that time management is only about prioritizing fails to work for me.

Usually, my way of dealing with things is to have a clear perception that there are times when things lend on some priorities over another's. Sometimes is family, sometimes is work, and sometimes is plain rest time or whatever... The past two weeks have been slightly insane at work, so the house is a (liveable) mess, we ate leftovers from our mother's house, and the kindergarten activity I must do this month with my son is still on the asap list...

In times like this I realise how important it is to have routines in my life, they are the base that keeps things hanging on while I don't have the proper time to address them like I want to. (Because - yes, ) there will be time for everything in our lives, just not at the same time. And for those of us who want to prioritize too many rocks, it's important to find a way of not letting them fall while our focus shifts, hence the need for established routines. So routines are the key factor in my personal time management system. I believe they set me up for success instead of failure. And they do so well on allowing the flow...

For me it works (for the most part at least), although I understand this may not make sense to many people.

Are you a pro-routine person? Or do you believe they take out spontaneity and creativity? 

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Spring and optimism

Hi there! I'm back from my little break, a time much needed for completing others projects. It felt good having one less preoccupation, but I've missed this blogging thing. So... here I am again!

Life has been treating me pretty good. The days are sunnier and the flowers are blooming which leads me to approach and feel the days passing in a much happier and lighter way!

I know that there is exactly the same number of hours on winter versus spring days, but days seem so bigger now... I love it!

I'm also feeling very optimistic about my writing flow here on the blog. I've been reading about habits and rhythm and making experiences in my own life and feel very excited to share them here soon.

I hope you'll like it, and I hope the sun is shining wherever you are!

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Simple truth: perfection is overrated

(Or those moments when the universe conspires in favour of true beauty)

I find that the most beautiful moments happen out of the unexpected, unplanned times!

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Taking Stock | January

Making| a simple life challenge

Baking| a birthday cake for my little man who's turned three (times does fly...)

Cooking| winter soups to warm up cold evenings

Drinking| wonder forest tea, a lovely Christmas present perfect for this season

Looking| forward living 2015

Playing| houses with legos

Deciding| a word of inspiration

Enjoying| 10-15 minutes of daily yoga at home

Accepting| work annual evaluations

Pondering| Accept/decline a work opportunity

Considering| on what’s relevant to my life

Welcoming| this weekend visitors

Needing| time & courage for tidying in "the Marie Kondo way"

Smelling| spices

Touching| a little bit of snow

Wearing| warm woollen beanies and scarves

Noticing| I need to contact my friends more often

Sorting| ideas

Buying| Two cardigans (on sale) to complete my winter capsule wardrobe

Thinking| twice before talking

Fighting| complaining tendencies

Feeling| content by how good the year 2014 was

Hearing| interesting toddler perspectives about life in general 

This is my tweaked version of taking stock. You can find the original idea (and a blank page for you to fill if you'd like it) at Meet me at Mikes. 

Previous Taking Stock:

November | October

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Simple life challenge - Three things that bring meaning to your life

Going my way through the simple living challenge, I reflected on the things that bring meaning to my life. The guide line was to think about the events of a typical week and identify those moments when we feel joy, peace and fulfilment. It was one of my favourite things to do so far. As I read it, without really thinking, I though it would be easy. In fact, it wasn't difficult to define what brings meaning to my life, but the path of reducing the list to three showed to be a defiant one.

In the end, I narrowed the list down to the following ones:

family
Without any doubt of a kind, my family is the thing that makes most sense in my heart and in my mind.

personal growth
To read, to question, to learn, to develop, to experiment, to think, to create... are a part of me and are just fundamental to me as to breathing to my life.

inspire
I want my actions to undoubtedly reflect my beliefs, and hopefully add something to the people I meet in my life. I don't ever want to be the person telling this is right or this is wrong, but I hope that my practice can show that there are many ways to act on life, and the way you act is your choice entirely.


Do you ever think about are the things that bring the most meaning to your life? Can you narrow it to three? I found that specially for those with many passions and in a constant search for balance and happiness this narrowing can be very important to have present and guide decisions.

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