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I have a cold ... let's talk remedies

2/1/2017

There is no better time to talk about cold remedies than when you have a cold. Okay; I have a cold so what do I do to alleviate the symptoms and bring about a swift recovery?

Drink plenty of fluids - our mothers are right. I drink hot water with a slice of lemon, a piece of fresh, peeled ginger, a spoonful of honey and a green tea bag (which I use a few times before I dispose of it).

This concoction flushes my system, re-hydrates me and soothes my throat.

Sore nose - I have a Manuka honey balm that I slather all over my nose and lips to stop them from getting dry and sore.

A teaspoon of Manuka honey once a day - it tastes funky but it's awesome for combating colds, especially if you have a sore throat.

Vitamin C - I up my vitamin C intake to about 1000mg a day for about 4 days.

Even though I don't much feel like eating, it's important to give your body the energy to fight a cold. I have no taste right now so I am upping the ginger, chilli and pepper seasoning, and having a lot of vegetables, including the following for their Vitamin C content -

Bell peppers
Spinach
Broccoli
Peas

Plus a kiwifruit every day, on top of the usual fruit I eat - cranberries, raisins, dates, apple rings, dried apricots, and prunes.

A teaspoon of black mustard seeds once a day - I put mine in my porridge, along with a tablespoon of chia seeds, a tablespoon of pumpkin seeds and a tablespoon of sunflower seeds. Some almonds and walnuts.

If you have a cold, I sincerely hope that it clears up quickly because colds are miserable.

Alp
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Meditation

1/17/2017

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I wanted to share with you my meditation practice, something I do most days.

Today's music is
https://soundcloud.com/spiritualmoment/astral-projection-music-lucid-dreaming-binaural-beats-deep-sleep-meditation-music

I use a 6 second cycle but if you're a beginner, I would suggest a 4 second cycle. This is how I do it :-

Find a quiet place where you are least likely to be interrupted
Get yourself into a comfortable position for the next 30 minutes
Take some deep breaths

When you're ready to begin, start the music and concentrate on the mandala, filling your mind with the image and allowing no other thoughts to enter your mind except the counting as you breathe.

I breathe in for a count of 6 seconds
Hold my breathe for a count of six seconds
Exhale for a count of six seconds
And hold for a count of six seconds

Repeat until the end of the music.

This may take some getting used to, so I recommend a 4 second cycle for maybe 10 minutes or even 5 minutes to start with until you feel able to extend the count and the overall time.

It is a practice that cleanses the mind, relaxes the body and brings about a total feeling of peace and calm.

Give it a try.

Alp

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My basic hummus recipe

1/16/2017

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A mainstay of my diet - delicious and healthy ... and so easy to make for yourself.

Hummus is one of my super foods - I have a tub in the fridge always. I used to buy it but these days I make it. I wanted to share my recipe with you.

First, I use dried chickpeas (or tinned if I didn't have time to soak and cook them in advance). Usually, I soak a big pack of dried chickpeas (16oz Goya brand from Krogers) overnight and cook them the following day. I divide the cooked chickpeas into four quart sized freezer bags and freeze them. I use one bag per batch I make.

You will need a blender - one with a bit of oomph!

To the blender add the following:

1. 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds - for a stronger flavour, toast the seeds first (I buy my sesame seeds from Big Lots - the Red Mill brand is really good and cheaper than most). If you use tahini, you'll probably need somewhere between 1 and 2 tablespoons.
2. Juice of one lemon or a tablespoon of aged white wine vinegar
3. A pinch of salt
4. A teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
5. A tablespoon of Italian herbs
6. 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
7. 3 large cloves of garlic
8. 1/3 cup of olive oil

Blend until you have a smoothish paste. Then add the chickpeas slowly while blending, and more olive oil until you get the desired consistency. Taste and add more seasoning. If it gets too thick just add a 1/3 cup of cooled boiled water.

This basic hummus is delicious but you can use it to make all kinds of other dips. Some variations I typically use:

Add some sun-dried tomatoes or pitted black olives (or both!)
Add a roasted bell pepper or a roasted zucchini
Add a tablespoon of dried sunflower or pumpkins seeds
Add a teaspoon of chia seeds and mustard seeds

You may need to add more oil and or water depending on the consistency you like. I like it pretty thick.

Store in the fridge and use within the week (if it lasts that long!)

Tips
Stir in a tablespoon of olive oil if it begins to look a little dry or gets too thick
You can freeze hummus
Use as an alternative to classic pizza sauce
Thin down with vegetable stock for a great soup base

I have hummus everyday, usually with some tortilla chips or on a bagel. Chickpeas are low in saturated fat, and very low in cholesterol and sodium. They are also a good source of dietary fibre, protein and copper, and a very good source of folate and manganese.

Make your own hummus - it's cheaper than store bought, fun to make and you can dress it up just how you want. I also love making my own hummus because it's never exactly the same twice; if I feel the need, I can up the garlic or substitute with raw onion - so versatile.

Alp

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Okay; let's do this again

1/16/2017

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I had originally planned to do a 100% vegan (sometimes raw) food blog but it didn't work out as I planned so I've canned that idea. I realised that what I really wanted to do was to share my wellness journey with you; a journey devoted to being and staying happy despite suffering from depression for the last 35+ years. There will still be loads about food - mostly vegan - since food plays such a vital role in my wellness regime.

If you suffer from depression, I hope what I put out in this blog is helpful to you.

The reason for using the yin-yang symbol at the top of this page is quite deliberate - my lifetime goal is to stay in balance. I characterise and visualise the management of my depression as striving to remain in balance - attempting to remain dead centre between the positive and the negative.

To kick off, below, I have pasted a blog post from a while back. It has all the themes that I would like to explore further over the course of this journey.

Happy? It's a question I ask myself every day when I wake up. Invariably, the answer is yes. As a depression sufferer of more than 35 years, that might sound contradictory - life is not without its challenges.

My wellness journey started about 10 years ago - it will never end but my goal - to be and to remain happy - is significantly closer to me than it ever was. How? The question I am asked first by most of the people who speak to me on the subject.

This recipe is a personal one - you can't buy the product off the shelf [I only wish you could]. All I urge you to do is to experiment with the ingredients and see for yourself what works. I am not telling you what to do - I cannot accept the responsibility for your choices/outcomes - that does not mean I am not compassionate - I will literally do anything for anybody because to do so makes me happy - but I am not interested in control.

My goal is - to be and to remain happy. Everything I do is designed or chosen with that goal in mind. Could I be happier? Yes. What am I doing to be and remain, and even further, my happiness?

I'm in the fortunate position to be able to write and share my stories - as my principal occupation [I won't say job], I'm incredibly lucky that I have found what I love to do the most - I can't imagine doing anything else. That was a relatively long journey in itself - I didn't begin writing until 2009, at the tender age of 44, and I didn't start publishing until the end of 2012.

The triumvirate of a healthy diet, regular exercise and a decent amount of sleep. I'm largely vegan - that doesn't in itself make my diet healthy but being a vegan has caused me to be more mindful of what I eat - and I cook a lot more these days. I walk whenever I can - it helps to have a dog that need a lot of exercise. I sleep for on average 8 hours per night. These aspects of my daily routine are a great barometer of my general state of mind - when I detect that something is wavering/going off track, for example, when my appetite is poor, my sleep is broken or I feel lethargic, I know to look for something else to account for the change.

I make time daily for meditation.

Writing is a creative process but I also need other creative processes - I really enjoy multi-media art work.

When I can, I get in the garden and plant things. I need the sun and the wind and the rain [not snow] - we are elemental.

I have to have projects that need collaboration - hence The Carter Seagrove Project. Working with other artists is fundamental to my creative process; be it, working on text, cover designs, video or any other kind of medium. Why is collaboration so important? I think it has to do with sharing ideas, energy and learning through doing - plus, collaboration inevitably means compromise, sometimes tolerance and patience [my worst failing is being impatient], and most importantly, achieving a shared vision of an outcome - which requires a lot of communication and understanding, especially when neither of the parties is necessarily working in their preferred medium, or speaking in their native language. Collaboration is, by default, challenging - challenge creates energy.

I think a lot about energy - all is energy - what does it really mean?

When I am working towards my goal, having expressed my intent as honestly as I know how, and I have accepted the price I am paying for my choice, and I am clear about the rewards that I will gain, the energy to achieve things just flows - energy follows intention. I give of my resources and I receive energy back.

Rarely does money come into the equation - I work in exchange for the things I need - that is the best manifestation I can think of that describes the energy cycle.

Happiness is a function of honesty. Am I truly happy or am I deluding myself? If I am deluding myself ... why?

This is a daily self-challenge. Am I staying where I am/doing the things I am doing not because I am happy but because I am afraid to move/change? I regularly audit what is going in my life and whether it is truly making me happy, and whether I need to change something to keep on track. A change in my core indicators of appetite/exercise/sleep usually indicates that I am not being honest with myself about something - though I may be in the middle of processing it and just not finished yet. What is likely to be the cause?

Not saying something when something needs to be said - I am blunt and to the point but there will always be times when I keep my mouth shut when I should have addressed the issue immediately
I choose an easy option in an attempt to avoid paying the [full] price for my choice - murder will out, as they say
I lapse in my daily routine - I can afford to do that occasionally but not regularly [why do I lapse? I think the underlying depression simply erodes my resolve slowly but surely until it becomes manifest again].

Fear stopped me from achieving my goal - that was much truer in the past, not so true now. What was I afraid of?

What people thought of me and what I was doing [the biggest fear and inhibitor to my happiness]
Being different/drawing attention to myself
Failing/making a mistake
Succeeding

It has taken ten years to shed those fears. Now, I am blissfully unconcerned with these things - and many others. Yesterday I shaved my long hair off because it was bugging me so much - it's difficult here to find a decent barber and it was getting untidy [especially around the back of my neck], and I noticed that it was getting much thinner of late - I buzzed it all off. I feel totally liberated and regretful that I didn't do it years ago - but why hadn't I?

A recipe for happiness?

What's my goal - be specific - a simple goal, well said.
Everything I do is for/towards my goal
What makes me happy? Sharing, conversation, writing, reading, movies, gardening ... so do those things!
Good food
Regular exercise
Plenty of sleep and rest
Meditation
Regular study - it doesn't matter what - last course I did was on screen-writing, the next could be on macramé
Collaboration on a project
A daily audit - am I happy, truly happy? How are my dials? Is something wavering?
Daily - Do the most important thing that needs to be done - hang the rest, don't stress it
Deal with things when they need to be dealt with/be blunt [and as polite as needed]
Recognise when you don't have all the data ... and go and get it
Remove negative influences - that includes people [it mostly includes people]
Forget calendars, schedules, plans - be in today [why worry about what could happen tomorrow when you have today to enjoy first?]
Be honest
Challenge fear - break it down and understand it, take a deep breath and scream out loud - FUCK OFF FEAR!
Dance
Change your playlist
Clean all your windows
Get rid of everything that you don't need; preferably by giving it to someone who needs it
Write your thoughts down
Volunteer at your local animal rescue shelter
Plant herbs in your garden [and use them!]

I am not an expert, except when it comes to my own happiness. I am no therapist or doctor - sometimes you need advice - get it but do not become dependent on it, and avoid always looking for others to validate your choices/actions - because no one really cares, and often they are validating your choices in order to validate their own choices.

I hope you join me on this journey.

Alp Mortal

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My Personal Wellness Journey

I have a cold ... let's talk remedies

Meditation

My basic hummus recipe

A mainstay of my diet - delicious and healthy ... and so easy to make for yourself.

Okay; let's do this again

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