In touch with your inner self

It was such a beautiful morning, I decided to get a few things done around the house, but found myself getting all flustered and my head was full of clutter and I didn't feel settled. So I went inside, got my iPod and plugged it into some PC speakers I have outside on the deck, and put on some calming music and meditated. As Adam would say, there is that middle aged hippy at it again! I have missed the practice so much, but got into a meditative state fairly quickly.

After about 40 minutes I felt totally calm and at peace with myself. I felt like I had this bright aura around me for the rest of the morning. After I finished meditating, I left the music playing and went into the vegetable patch, got down on my knees, and began to weed the grass and tomato seedlings that had sprouted everywhere. I think that because I was so calm, I had no trouble determining which were weeds and which plants were supposed to be there. The remained of the day went remarkably smoothly. I mixed up the compost with my compost turner, rebuilt the pea trellis after the windy day, did a little watering from the shower buckets, and checked the beer fermenter to see if fermentation had stopped. It has, at last, so Adam and I will bottle it, and then put another brew down to begin all over again. I have picked a dark ale this time, as we are going into winter. It is much nicer to drink a denser beer when it is colder. Kim even took Amy, who is on her learners, out for a 2 hour drive. They had a great time.

I cooked a lovely soup for dinner. Here is the recipe;

Bacon, tomato & lentil soup

Olive oil, 1 Tbspn
Onion, 2 medium, diced
Garlic, 2 cloves, crushed
Celery, 1 stick, diced
Lean bacon, 4 rashers, rindless, trimmed and chopped
Thyme, dry 1 tpsn
Lentils brown, dried, half cup
Canned tomatoes, 400g
Water, 1000 mL
Bay leaves, 2

Heat a large saucepan over a low heat and heat oil. Add onions, garlic and celery and cook gently for 3 minutes until soft. Add bacon and thyme and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add lentils, tomatoes, water and bay leaves. Bring to boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring a few times. Cook until lentils are tender. Serves 4, about 200 calories per serve.

Kim worked out the calorie count with her calorie calculator (clever lady). We had two slices of wholemeal bread to help fill us up. The soup was a simple, slow meal, that was very wholesome, hearty, and tasty. Once again, it is the simple things that are the best in life. It made me think of something I read the other day that was written by the current Dalai Lama. I will leave it with you to ponder over.

The Paradox of Our Age
by The 14th Dalai Lama

We have bigger houses but smaller families;
More conveniences, but less time;
We have more degrees, but less sense;
More knowledge, but less judgment;
More experts, but more problems;
More medicines, but less healthiness;
We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbour.
We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever but have less communication.
We have become long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are times of fast foods but slow digestion;
Tall men but short character;
Steep profits but shallow relationships.
It's a time when there is much in the window, but nothing in the room.

It kind of sums up our current civilization, doesn't it!