.SOMETIMES RAW.

Hello and Happy Wednesday!

Le husband is French and I am German and we love to keep our traditions alive. In Germany or France, dinner is usually a light meal. Just some bread, cheese, sausages and a salad or olives and that is it. The whole family comes together, we all sit at the table, eat, laugh, live and talk about our day. In France you would enjoy wine with it and in Germany mostly beer. Then again, wine is fine with me, hah! When le husband and I had our little apartment in Manhattan there was a ritual we usually celebrated every Friday – French Revolution Night. Sounds funny, but we were looking forward to this all week. Le husband was in charge to buy the wine and I bought some french cheese (Le Rustique at a whopping $9.99 but who cares, right?), fresh olives and baguette. Done! So when we came home from work we talked about our day and our week while sipping on a glass of wine first to wind down. Sometimes we took our dinner upstairs to the rooftop of our building. Manhattan-life at its finest.

French Revolution Night is so easily done. All you need is some appetizers, red grapes that add this delicious sweetness to everything, Crostini, Baguette, maybe a dip or two, olives, a couple of different French cheeses and of course a (two) bottle(s) of red wine. (Le husband and I prefer Bordeaux)

Sometimes if le husband is in a really good mood, he makes his world famous French Onion Soup. One word: YUM!

I am German and our traditional dinner here looks somewhat like this:

Cheese plate is essential of course but if we want to add a delicious twist to our dinner, we switch over to the German charcuterie board. Once in a while I do enjoy a slice of ham, mortadella, salami, sausages, prosciutto or pâté with some mustard, black olives, cornichon pickles and bread. It really only takes minutes to put together and is also a great party/summer dinner if you have friends over. 

A charcuterie board is best served with cold beer, Lambrusco, chilled rosé or of course a glass of Bordeaux which goes to almost everything, right? When I was in France with le husband a couple of years ago I was amazed to see a wine fountain next to the water fountain at a restaurant. Gotta love France! 

Hello and Happy Sunday! 

“Everything about well-being sits firmly on this very simple rule I have learned: You must become who you really are. You must bet the real you. That means to love, accept, and be yourself no matter what. I truly believe that straying away from and separating from your inner being, or who you really are, is the root of discontent. You are not in need of self-help; you are in need of self-love. The only thing yo need to do is find yourself, and stay there.” 

Just a quick Hi from me, late on Sunday to finish this week with a couple of lines about an interesting book I read a while ago. First of all, the Reiki Seminar I attended blew my mind and was way better than expected. I learned so much about myself, about how to deal with certain situations better and how to mentally grow. Thank you le husband for this amazing gift for my upcoming birthday. It was slightly different than getting earrings or perfume and such [I am not so crazy about those things anyway!] and worth so much for me. If you are new to the whole Reiki thing but interested, I would suggest you get in touch with me and I will tell you how to connect with SEHES in Rödental/Germany. I cannot say too much about the seminar because there are no words for how fantastic this experience was. One has to feel and learn for themselves when ready. Thank you again, Martina and Uwe! 

When I was totally new to energy healing and Reiki I searched for books and explanations. Throughout this search I found Amy B. Scher’s book How to Heal Yourself When NO One Else Can – A Total Self-Healing Approach for Mind, Body & Spirit. Again, if you want to familiarize yourself a little idea about this topic, this book is a great start. Be Happy, Be Free, Be YOU! You learn a bit about energy, as well as self -and body healing. Also what it means to surrender, accept and flow when it comes to a true healing process. It is important to identify blockages that might be there and search for answers in the subconscious mind. Another chapter I enjoyed was to learn the language of my body. [The SEHES in-depth seminar covers all this a lot better and so much more!] 

It is and was important for me to change my relationship with stress and certain experiences that have been ingrained in my life. Also, according to Scher to “transform unhealthy emotional patterns and address fear”. You will learn many insights and encouragements while creating your unique map for healing. This book offers lots of solid information with many helpful exercises written in a clear, understandable language. 

Isn’t it great to eventually come into alignment with who you really are one step at a time? I love to discover new things – especially when it comes to my own person – and to figure out who I really am. 

Order your copy here. Below is a great thought-provoking video by Amy B. Scher if you would like to see. Enjoy and have a great week! 

Hello and Happy Thursday! 

While typing this, I read Facebook messages, record a message on WhatsApp for my brother and have a book waiting to be read next to me. I also wait for the bling-sound of an email from the University that I will attend in September. Oh, and I am also talking to my mom who sits next to me playing on her computer. I tell her how awesome my afternoon with Petit Joel, my friend and her son was. We can both talk for hours, but in the meantime, I want this post to be published as soon as possible because my book is waiting. Whooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhaaaaaaoooooo….. Slow motion sound playing in the back and deep inhaling and exhaling on my side. Stop!  Breathe! 

This morning I was in the same situations. Running around all morning, cooking lunch, preparing stuff, laundry, ironing, post office and then I remembered that I wanted to collect some blackcurrant. So I went outside with my son to run through the bushes to get it all done as soon as possible to move on to another errand when he looked at me. With a little bowl in his hand he said, “Mommy, slow, otherwise we drop them!” This made me think and realize that he is so right. It is important to single-task. Women are known to be able to multitask easily. Drive a car, put nail polish on, while talking on the phone, right? Not cool, but we could do it. Men on the other hand: Just drive! And when they talk they turn off the radio. Actually, not bad! We are even encouraged to multitask at work, to get things done faster. 

Having a list and doing one thing at a time seems to work better. I can focus completely on ONE task, finish it and start something new. It works most days for me at this point, but not always. We are all human, we learn, we figure things out. It is also a break for my ever thinking/analyzing brain to stop feeling frazzled and thrown into all directions. 

Here is a link to an interesting article I read in the New York Times a while ago. Read this story without distraction, can you? 

Humans have finite neural resources that are depleted every time we switch between tasks, which, especially for those who work online, Ms. Zomorodi said, can happen upward of 400 times a day, according to a 2016 University of California, Irvine study. “That’s why you feel tired at the end of the day,” she said. “You’ve used them all up.”

Monotasking can also be as simple as having a conversation. “Practice how you listen to people,” [psychologist Kelly] McGonigal said. “Put down anything that’s in your hands and turn all of your attentional channels to the person who is talking. You should be looking at them, listening to them, and your body should be turned to them. If you want to see a benefit from monotasking, if you want to have any kind of social rapport or influence on someone, that’s the place to start. That’s where you’ll see the biggest payoff.”

This evening my mom, Petit Joel and I had dinner and I checked my phone because it was constantly blinking. My mom started to tell me a story and I turned the phone off. Single-tasking. I listen! I even turned it upside down to not be distracted. Most of the time when I am outside, at the playground or anywhere else with my son I don’t even take my phone with me. This weight of the phone feels distracting and makes me want to check in a way “useless things that can also wait until later”. I am here, now with him playing. When he is in bed, I enjoy me-time and have the phone and gadgets on and check messages and whatnot but otherwise I feel it is more distracting when I would rather stop and smell the roses or  go on the slide with my son for the millionth time.