Just Breathe

You would think NYC wouldn’t stress me out any more. Ever since moving here, I figured I had solved the concerns rolling around in the back of my mind.

• Traffic is a just a way of life.
• I can understand everyone!
• I know my way around........sort of.

I had fallen into my daily routine; when I woke up every morning I had an idea of what I wanted/need to achieve. But at the end of last week, Stacey and I got a pleasant surprise into our lives.

My dad came to visit!

Knowing my dad, you would know he LOVES to drive. One of the aspects that truly enticed him to drive to NYC (besides Stacey and I of course) is the fact that is take 11 HOURS to get here. Where this amount of driving would seem redundant and monotonous to me, he saw it as a way to truly relax and enjoy the view. 

After dropping Stacey off at the hospital Friday morning, my dad and I decided to go for our customary walk. We grabbed a quick espresso and off we went into the chilly Staten Island air. Including two quick stops for meals, over the course of that Friday we walked between 8 and 9 hours. It is funny how whenever you get immersed in a conversation, you tend to forget about the time gone by. Unaware at the time, it was relaxing to hear my dad complain about republicans and democrats or give his own solution to unemployment. As we walked, every so often my dad would get out of breath. My reply would always be “just breathe”. So we walked for hours talking about this and that and every hour or so, I would once again repeat “just breathe”. By the end of the day, I realized that whenever my dad had taken a quick break, i would too. I would stretch a little bit and take a deep breath, energizing me for the next conversation. After almost 9 hours of walking, my legs were getting a little sore but I completely relaxed. The honking of car horns and smell of exhaust fumes that I normally find bothersome didn’t phase me in the least. Truth be told I would have enjoyed walking even more.

For the rest of the weekend, my dad, Stacey, and I all ate, went shopping, played cards, and my dad and I even managed to see the new James Bond movie. We laughed, read, stayed up late, and even had some chocolate croissants for breakfast one morning. But for the rest of this week and hopefully many more to come, if I find myself getting stressed or losing my patience at all, I just need to remember two simple words.

Just breathe.

What have you done to relax lately?

Our Healing Body

Blogging is always an interesting experience. 

As much as I enjoy writing about fun, interesting, or inspiring parts of my life, when I look out at the world, I cannot help but not be satisfied with certain parts of it. Everyone feels this way about some part of their life or society around them. That is not to say I am unhappy, I am generally a very positive person. I just feel there are parts of myself and society that need improvement. 

Out of the many causes I care about, one cause that strikes a particular accord is health.

I have a great desire to be healthy, teach others around me to be healthy, and always be increasing my education on health as a broad topic.

After my studies in medicine and nutrition, a belief I firmly stand behind is that your body knows how to be perfectly healthy on its own. Given the optimal amounts of food, exercise, and sleep, your mind and body naturally become healthy. Being overweight or ill or even unhappy is not the natural state of our bodies. The question becomes: So what is this optimal amount of food, exercise, and sleep? This thought has hardly left my mind for many years.

With obesity and type II diabetes and many other illnesses on the rise, I have realized that there are fundamental flaws in the healthcare and nutrition systems of our country at many different levels. Therefore, one day, hopefully within one year, I want to write a series of posts (maybe even its own blog) which will be named Our Healing Body. It will be information about different aspects of health and living. 

What foods will keep us healthy and happy and even taste good? 

Are grocery stores and restaurants really promoting health or just trying to raise their bottom dollar? 

What factors contribute to the level of obesity and related illnesses in this country? 

How can we as individuals and as a society take health into our own hands?

The most important part about these posts in I want this to be collaborative.

I invite people to chime in different habits and routines and have a collective of recipes, nutrition facts, and health care knowledge. Be rest assured, I will still be keeping up with my light-hearted blog posts but slowly working on this overall health theme as well. No matter where you are in the world, I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and is safe, healthy, and happy. To improvement!

What improvements are you making in your life?

A Glimmer of Hope

To say the last two weeks have been busy would be an understatement. On top of a test I studied almost 3 months for, many members of my family-to-be came to visit last weekend and then of course, Hurricane Sandy happened. As much much as I am glad the test is over and having the family here was a blast, it is good to sit down and start writing again.

After all of the family left, I still had thoughts of Noah and Luca running down leaf-covered trails while Stacey walked and I carried Adi on my back. However, my computer was quick to interrupt my thoughts of the Hurricane to come, new flashes and even videos all saying “this is going to be a superstorm”. Over the next few days people certainly looked more stressed out and after the hurricane hit, there were even reports of fights over gasoline and looting of people’s houses. Being in Staten Island, there were many power lines down and trees knocked over, but Stacey and I went on with our life as much as possible. Considering we had no heat or hot water, eating dinner by candlelight was a necessity and taking a bath was certainly an experience. I won’t lie, after 48 hours without any heat or power and large quantities of food starting to go bad, stress was slowly creeping into my mind. The following morning I heard of a few places on the island had power and were beginning to open.

So I went to the coffee shop, Beans and Leaves

To walk into Beans and Leaves, with every table full of people talking and laughing, to have amazing smells coming from the counter, and for it to be WARM was all-at-once, a mood-elevating moment. A smile came across my face as I walked up to the counter and quickly ordered a house coffee and croissant and sat down at open table. As I sat and listened to people talk, I realized that Manhattan, New Jersey, and even other parts of Staten Island had been affected much worse. It was a very humbling feeling that let me see slight glimmer of hope in the whole ordeal. Around me at every seat were people who had lost a lot, some everything, and they were all in positive spirits. They were laughing, sharing pastries, even reading the same New York Times articles together. I then heard another group talking about how they were organizing food and clothing drives and had a shelter ready as well.

So after a few conversations and snack-buying sessions, I packed up and headed home. As I was walking through the leaves, I thought about how hope can rise from something so small; how right now people are organizing, taking donations, and providing food. I hope everyone who reads this is safe, healthy, and warm. But even if you are not (still TONS of people without water, power, or heat), have at least a glimmer of hope. Help is on the way.

What has given you hope recently?