Q and A a Day, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Ham on Rye, Catch-22, The Best of Roald Dahl, Norwegian Wood

Why I Always Carry A Book Around

Personal, Wellbeing

A friend of mine recently asked me this question: “Why do you think we should always keep a book with ourselves? I personally feel that it a good way of staying in isolation and leading life with someone’s else’s experience. I love books and respect the fact that it gives lots of knowledge but I also feel we slowly become book worms and speak very bookish language and forget ourselves. What do you think?”

For as long as I can remember, books have been a hugely important part of my life. Throughout my whole career as a student, I always brought a book to school with me. I kept it on the corner of my desk to read whenever I finished a test early or to read during recess. I always have one in my purse, whether I’m going to a quiet social gathering with my friends or to some bigger function. Books are an essential and enormous part of me, and maybe because of this, I can’t fathom spending life as a non-reader.

Are Books Isolating?

I think that whether carrying a book around at all times depends on whether or not you think isolation is a bad thing or not. As an introvert, it’s always a comfort for me to have a book on hand so that if I’m feeling exhausted in a social situation, I can retreat into a book and find some privacy there. I don’t even necessarily need to read the book for it to be a comfort for me. Just having it around is nice. Furthermore, it’s usually the people that I’m closest to who I’m comfortable sitting and reading, enjoying companionable silence with.

I also don’t think that having a book on hand has to be isolating. In fact, I often find that it can be a topic for conversation when I’m out and about. I’ll get questions from strangers asking what I’m reading or if I see somebody reading something that looks interesting to me I’ll ask them about it. Books can actually serve as a way for me to connect with the people around me who I would normally be too shy to talk to!

Stories Make Us More Empathetic

Reading stories exposes us to the life stories, experiences, and emotions of the people we read about. There are many lives I’ve read about that I wouldn’t necessarily want to live for myself, but that I am grateful for having read about. By reading books written by different people and from their different perspectives, I feel like I’ve gotten a glimpse into so many lives and am better able to imagine things from their points-of-view. If you want a little more info, check out this video

Books are one of my greatest joys, and reading is a very meditative experience for me. I don’t think there’s any thing wrong with being a bookworm or connecting with others over a story. Many of my friendships have been built through a mutual love for books!

Joyous Health: A Cookbook Review

Joyous Health Review

Product Review, Wellbeing

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a bit of a bibliophile and thus, I can never be found without a book in hand. For a while now, that book has been my go-to cookbook, Joyous Health: Eat and Live Well without Dieting by Joy McCarthy. I just can’t seem to keep my nose out of it. Whenever I’m feeling like I need some recipe inspiration, or even a little cheering up, it has definitely proven helpful to look through this vibrant and beautifully designed book.

Fun fact: Joy was one of my instructors at the Institute of Holistic Nutrition where she taught one of our social media classes. She was so energetic and awesome as a result of which, I’ve been following her blog ever since. 

“Joyous health is more than the absence of disease or the avoidance of the occasional cold or flu. It is an optimal state of wellness not just physically but mentally and socially, characterized by: a positive mindset, feeling and looking fabulous, good digestion and elimination, restorative sleep, healthy relationships, having energy for exercise and sex, [and] feeling joyous!”

As much as I love a good cookbook, I like a good lifestyle guide even more. Over half of “Joyous Health” is a lifestyle and wellness directory. It’s the perfect book for individuals who are just beginning their wellness journey, and aren’t sure where to start. In the lifestyle guide section of the book, Joy provides her 6-week program to “Joyous Health”, including tips for improving your digestion, improving your emotional health, and a 10-day meal plan complete with easy-to-follow recipes and simple ingredients. It was quite a struggle to keep myself from highlighting the whole book. 

It's not always about food. It's also about choosing to have a joyous attitude.

The book is all-encompassing and approaches health from a truly holistic perspective, featuring everything from food elimination for optimal digestion; how to clean up your beauty regimen; a list of her favourite superfoods; how to give your kitchen a makeover; and how to improve your mental health though activities like yoga, meditation and pursing healthy and positive relationships. 

You always have the power of choice and the power to heal your body. You have choice over your thoughts, actions, words and every morsel you eat.

 The photography and design of the book is stunning. It is bright and colourful, and truly puts you in an atmosphere of joy, hopefulness, and positivity while reading it. I also tend to have a bit of a thing for lists, which there is no shortage of in these pages. 

I made quite a few of the recipes in the book, but one of my favourites was the Curry Lentil Loaf on page 234. It is so filling and delicious, and it makes a huge batch of the stuff. I ended up recently finding a few squares that I froze a couple of months ago and I am so happy to be re-enjoying this recipe. It’s fabulous on its own, or crumbled over a salad (and is especially tasty saturated in balsamic vinaigrette with some goat cheese and sundried tomato). 

“Joyous Health” is definitely a must-have on my health and wellness shelf. Though it actually doesn’t spend very much time on said shelf since I’m so often riffling through it! 

An inukshuk, each rock symbolizing one aspect of Lissa Rankin's "Whole Health Cairn": physical health, mental health, money, environment, creativity, sexuality, spirituality, work/life purpose, relationships, inner pilot light

Why Should You Keep a Journal?

Personal, Wellbeing

Ah, spring. Mother Nature is always a bit confused this time of year, and on this particular gloomy weekend, I wanted to express the awesomeness of one of my favourite past-times: journaling. It isn’t a fun time to be outdoors, so when better than now to spend some time on a little introspection and self-exploration?

Emotional Health and Journaling

The holistic approach to health is all about addressing the issues of a person as a whole rather than their individual symptoms. There are so many more components to health than just diet and exercise. Your physical health is just one small part of your overall health. In Lissa Rankin’s “Whole Health Cairn”, she depicts several aspects of health as a part of an inukshuk. If any one piece is missing, the whole thing collapses.

An inukshuk, each rock symbolizing one aspect of Lissa Rankin's "Whole Health Cairn": physical health, mental health, money, environment, creativity, sexuality, spirituality, work/life purpose, relationships, inner pilot light

Keeping a journal is one of my favourite ways to address many parts of the “Whole Health Cairn”, Which parts you address will, of course, depend on what you decide to write about on any given day.

Why keep a journal?

Journaling is a very meditative experience and can be a great way to organize our busy minds, keep track of our dreams and goals, and explore our thoughts.

I’ve kept a journal for as long as I can remember, and my methods of doing so are ever evolving. I’ve kept sketchbook journals, fill-in-the-blanks journals, food journals…

No matter how I go about it, I’ve always found that journaling is a great way to put things into perspective. Sometimes, the events of our daily lives, and our thoughts, can be blown out of proportion and overwhelm us. Writing down our thoughts and re-evaluating them can help us to look at these events with a more realistic and levelheaded mindset. Our thoughts are just thoughts. They can be as positive or negative as we allow them to be.

What should you journal about?

Feel free to write about anything and everything you feel like! Your journal doesn’t have to be a sterile space; use it as an extension of your wacky, wild, and creative brain. Write about your day and things you want to remember. Make lists of your goals. Make lists for your grocery shopping. Sketch and doodle. Brainstorm. Keep your journal by your bed so that you can grab it and start documenting you dreams while your eyelids are still stuck together, before you begin to forget things. Write down what your grateful for. Write a story!

When should you write in your journal?

Whenever you feel like it! I bring my journal and a pen with me everywhere I go, just in case an idea hits me, or there is some element of my day I want to go back and explore. You can turn journaling into a daily ritual or as a way to unwind in the evenings. For example, take an hour before bed to grab your journal and a cup of tea, and write about your day. If something upsetting happened that day, writing it down can help you vent your frustrations and go to bed with a clear mind. If something amazing happened that day, writing it down is a way to relive it and remember each brilliant detail.