Happiness is...

Friday was International Happiness Day sponsored by the United Nations.  Read more about it here: http://www.dayofhappiness.net/#happiness I've been planning how to spread happiness on this particular day all week long...and yup, I got the day wrong. I thought it was today. Oh well, every day should be Happiness Day. Is anyone going to care that I am late?

I can't begin to explain why this day was so important to me. Bottom line, I really can't think of a better cause...let's spread happiness. Think about what would happen in our world if everyone did one nice thing for someone else...and for themselves on the same day. Not the gushy, over-the-top, leave me alone, sappy happiness. Rather the thoughtful gestures that let others around us know that you really do care. It's so easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day activities...here was my chance to spread a little good cheer.

I made my favorite muffins, full of wholesome ingredients and shared them with some fellow knitters. Morning Glory muffins...even the name is happy. 

So that's what I did, a day late but not day-old muffins. In the spirit of the "day", I'm now sharing the recipe with you. May each bite bring you a little happiness.

Morning Glory Muffins

½ cup raisins

*1 cup whole wheat flour (I love Wheat Montana flour)

*¾ cup old fashioned oats

¾ cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 cups carrots, peeled, grated

1 large apple, peeled, cored, grated

½ cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened (I use Bob’s Red Mill)

½ cup chopped pecans (optional)

3 large eggs (straight from the hen if you can)

2/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ cup orange juice

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place muffin liners (my preference is parchment) and lightly spray the insides of the liners. When I make this recipe, I end up with 16-18 happy little muffins.

In a small bowl, cover the raisins with hot water, set them aside to soak.

Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt). Stir in the carrots, apple, coconut and nuts (if using). In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, applesauce, vanilla and juice. Add to the dry ingredients; stir until evenly moistened without overmixing. Drain the raisins and stir them into the muffin batter. Using a small (I use ¼ cup) measuring cup, divide the batter among the prepared pan filling almost to the top.

Bake for ~20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cooking times may vary depending on your oven so it may take a few minutes more or less. Let cool for approximately 5 minutes in the pan; turn out on a rack to finish cooling.

*If desired (or needed), substitute your favorite gluten-free flour if desired.  It may take a few tries to find the right flour mixture but I would begin with a gluten-free baking flour (such as Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 baking flour). While oats are naturally gluten-free, oats are often contaminated during processing. For those avoiding gluten, substitute with gluten-free oats.

A blank slate…

I recently discovered a community writing center in town. On one of my first visits, I entered the room prepared to write about my research. What happened next was completely unexpected (and yes, eventually my academic writing got done as well).

On the wall hangs a white-framed chalkboard. The stark contrast of the pure white frame with a black slate…waiting for its next inscription. Something so innocent about an empty slate…holds such promise. Oddly the slate hangs among beautiful photos that capture people and objects from around the world. Young children with innocent excited smiles imprinted in color to be preserved for all eternity. Yet here, among these worldly photos hangs a simple board with nothing on it. Filled with possibility. A clean slate…

What shall fill this space? Another to-do list to add to the sea of never-ending tasks that need to be completed? Perhaps those chores can wait…they seem so trivial to fill this space of promise.

A sketch of words that might provide hope to all who see the board. A reminder of PEACE and that this begins with each choice we make every day. Or maybe the word DREAM as an encouragement to reach for our dreams and to make sure we have them. Even INSPIRE could grace the board…be inspired or to live our life in such a way that inspires others. Or maybe my favorite word, SIMPLIFY. This board seems deserving of such magnificent words.

Maybe one with artistic abilities might find this an appropriate place to leave an image of a favorite object…a coffee cup, flowers, mountains, skein of yarn?

On the table sits a lone piece of chalk…oddly it is bright pink. Never would I have imagined pink as a suitable color for the board. The simple board in all its elegance; shouldn’t it be graced with the simple old-fashioned white chalk? Maybe all simple things need to be jazzed up at times. Or perhaps the exciting color adds to the intensity of the promises held by chalking our simple dreams on the board.

At first, the empty space on the board struck me as odd and bare. Now, I can appreciate the excitement and wonder of what might come of filling this open space.

How will you fill in your blank slate today?

A simple breakfast...

I love simple meals. I'm not the type to spend a lot of time in the kitchen preparing elaborate meals but I still want to eat great food. Here is an example of a typical breakfast that I find 100% satisfying and filling.  I swear, I'm usually not hungry until lunch. Of course, it wouldn't be complete without my favorite cup filled to the brim with Italian espresso, hot water and some milk. 

To make this "meal", you'll need:

• 3/4 c. greek yogurt (I used Chobani blended vanilla)
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup granola (I used Udi's Simple Granola)
• The meal provides ~300 calories and ~20 grams of protein in addition to fiber and abundance of antioxidants. Oddly, blueberries have been delicious this winter. Feel free to substitute with a different type of fruit...on a per cup basis, raspberries have one of the highest fiber contents.
• All brands used can be exchanged for one you like better. Please note, that the protein content varies with the brand of greek yogurt selected. Chobani has one of the highest protein contents...and I believe that this is the key to keeping me full throughout the morning.

Enjoy! Have a great weekend...it is so beautiful in so many parts of the US right now. Hoping you find time to get outside and appreciate the weather.

Knitting is the reward for…

Ironically, on my walk today I found an inviting place to sit...as I think more and more about walking, the temptation to sit is everywhere.

A place to sit...

In my last post, I started talking about “incentives”. I thought now might be an appropriate time to expand on this topic. 

What a treat it is to be able to knit. At least, I think that most of the time…perhaps I wasn’t thinking this as I frogged my recent design over and over again.  As I continue down the path of designing knitted garments and accessories, I find myself wanting to take the simple road and knit someone else’s designs. But where is the reward in that? I must persevere. Knitting is definitely my treat.

In a recent workshop on finding time to write, I learned a trick about perseverance.  There was a lot of focus on setting rewards…the expectation was that one would write 30 minutes a day and with this completed you could provide yourself with a treat.  At first I was annoyed by this activity…why was I to “gift” myself for something I was supposed to do as part of my job? What I had failed to realize was that the treat was there to assist with developing feelings of pleasure and positive energy with the act of writing.

So, let’s remove the word “writing” and insert “walking”. If it is a challenge to find time to walk or focus on being physically active, then we need to find ways to incentivize the act of walking. While we might easily be able to acknowledge that walking is healthy and “I should go for that walk” sometimes it isn’t that simple. Sometimes you just don’t want to do it…but we need to find ways to develop and sustain a walking practice. So, let’s reward our walking behavior until we have established our walking as a fundamental part of our day that won’t be derailed by other aspects of our life.

As knitters, we find time to knit…many times we knit before we do anything else. Therefore, we sit and knit.  What if we made knitting our reward for walking? Let’s go for a walk and then, upon our return, let’s knit. Providing yourself with the anticipation of knitting to get yourself out the door to go for a walk, might just get you moving.

Let’s brainstorm a few other ways we can use knitting as a reward. 

The laundry needs to be folded, right? Fold for five minutes, knit for five minutes, repeat.

If you happen to be knitting and watching television, use the commercials to your advantage.  Do some wall-sits, push-ups, sit-ups, walk around the house…all modified as needed, then you can return to knitting during your show.

Perhaps you need a longer term incentive. Perhaps there is a lovely skein of hand-dyed yarn that you have been coveting.  Let’s say you want to walk 50 miles in a month. Let’s map this out…that’s about 12.5 miles in a week. This means you need to walk about 2 miles or 40 minutes a day, 6 days a week. Once you accomplish your monthly goal, you can treat yourself to the skein of yarn. While 50 miles in a month sounds like a lot, once we broke it down into a daily activity, it seemed just a bit more realistic.

All of this is good but we haven’t quite finished assuring how we might reach this monthly goal. We need to plan when this will happen each day. If you just think you’ll find the time each day chances are it won't happen.

I like to plan my “day off” for later in the week just in case life happens. I’d hate to plan on using this early (unless I really needed to due to other obligations) and then be caught without a day off later in the week when I might be feeling physically or emotionally more drained.  So, I’m going to plan to walk each morning after my kids go to school before I head to my office.  I know that this is the best plan for my day…you know your schedule best.

When’s the best time of day for you to walk? It might be morning, afternoon, evening…it is best to find a time that you can consistently walk and not be sporadic, e.g. morning on Mondays, afternoon on Tuesdays, etc. Success comes from building a routine. Find a time and stick to it.

Using bigger incentives. Perhaps there is a retreat that you want to attend…you could use this as a reward.  Keep in mind though that attending a retreat requires you to make a commitment in advance, probably long before you have completed your goal. So, you will go no matter what happens to your walking, right? So you’ll need to find a way to hold yourself accountable each day despite the fact that you won’t be removing your name from the list if you don’t meet your walking goals.

Bottom line, be honest with yourself and honor your walking and knitting practice. Start thinking about your walking (or other activity) goals and how you will accomplish them. 

Spring is coming…let’s be ready to go.