“To the untrained eye ego-climbing and selfless climbing may appear identical. Both kinds of climbers place one foot in front of the other. Both breathe in and out at the same rate. Both stop when tired. Both go forward when rested. But what a difference! The ego-climber is like an instrument that’s out of adjustment. He puts his foot down an instant too soon or too late. He’s likely to miss a beautiful passage of sunlight through the trees. He goes on when the sloppiness of his step shows he’s tired. He rests at odd times. He looks up the trail trying to see what’s ahead even when he knows what’s ahead because he just looked a second before. He goes too fast or too slow for the conditions and when he talks his talk is forever about somewhere else, something else. He’s here but he’s not here. He rejects the here, he’s unhappy with it, wants to be farther up the trail but when he gets there will be just as unhappy because then *it* will be “here”. What he’s looking for, what he wants, is all around him, but he doesn’t want that because it *is* all around him. Every step’s an effort, both physically and spiritually, because he imagines his goal to be external and distant.”
― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Tag: wellbeing
Parenting with (Self)Care: Guides and Links To Resources on Postnatal Health, Wellbeing and Nutrition
Nutrition and postnatal health are the topics that I have, over the last two years, become very interested in. In nutrition because I want my husband and son to be healthy; in postnatal health because I want to be able to enjoy these challenging early years of motherhood. I’ve been reading a lot around those subjects but also attending meetings and events in my town that addressed those topics. I am one of these people that need to be reminded and frequently directed on to the right path if I want good habits to settle in.
Here’s a list of resources that helped me…
The essential guide to foods that heal, Olivier, Suzannah [ISBN: 978-0716023272]. It is actually unbelievable how many ailments can be healed or exacerbated by the food that we eat. This guide is clear, well-written and packed with information. It’s a spring of knowledge that is really worth drinking from.
The 10 Secrets of 100% healthy people, Holford, Patrick [ISBN: 978-0749929114]. Don’t be dissuaded by the strange formulaic title. This book to me seems like a good piece of research, with surveys for you to fill in to provide health signposts. This book has helped me identify what I should focus on in my recovery. It’s not strictly about postnatal health and has wider relevance. I like this book and would easily spend a week reading it again.
Postnatal depletion even 10 years later. This is a title of an article that I have found online (Click on the title to be redirected to the site). It really explains clearly how depleted women can be in the first years of mothering. It’s a very informative and essential read.
Other sources to keep an eye on:
Mothermorphosis – The author, Dr Oscar Serrallach, who writes about postnatal depletion is about to publish a book on the subject. I have looked at its brief and have put my email on the list to be informed of its release.
Nutrition and Wellbeing – Have you heard about FutureLearn? It’s a platform that offers free courses online prepared by British universities. I have just signed up to a course on Nutrition and Wellbeing that will start running in Aug 17. The course promises to “Demystify the complex and conflicting messages we hear about diet, health and lifestyle today” and is run by University of Aberdeen. Here’s the link to the course.
The resources above provided practical knowledge to me and were great change triggers. If you decided to look at any of them or to participate in the course, I hope that you’ll find all the info that you need to increase the quality of your family life.
What do we truly want from our lives?
I took a break from writing this blog to fill myself up with good experiences and as I was resting, exploring and nourishing myself and my body I’ve realised how depleting our current lifestyles are – those ways of life that we choose to live in our Western society: choosing walls instead of being outdoors, choosing screens instead of faces, choosing plasticated and pre-prepared food instead of a wholesome self-made dinner, choosing an additional cup of coffee instead of additional two hours of sleep, choosing to race through days instead of experiencing them… The body registers those choices and so no wonder it relentlessly directs us towards other ones through aches, pains, and tiredness – the signals that we should be thankful for as they remove the guilt for wanting to rest, for wanting to go against the mad and pushy current of modern life, for wanting to opt out.
Having a break is a good thing, taking the time to look after ourselves, our health and our family’s health is a good thing. It reminds us what a good life tastes of, how meaningful our interactions and relationships with people are, how our family life should look like, how our spiritual life should be. We begin to recognize again which truth comes from within us and not from adverts or some silly peer pressures. It has got this power to free us from dubious and shallow chatter that we, willingly or not, witness, hear or participate in, from those conversations that take our attention away from what we really love, from what we really believe in, from what we really want to do and what we really want to be like.
I think we really and truly want to be good people. But maybe sometimes we forget that this is the ultimate aim of our existence here, maybe sometimes we are told that there are other things that we should be fighting for and we allow ourselves to be persuaded by this stupid, manipulative and limiting narrative which tries to convince us that no one cares anymore and that the way to go is not to care, which, of course, is a total nonsense. So many people care! So many people give! So many people love! So many people share! So many people give their best out of them! So many people forgive!
I took a break from the fishy narratives and I’ve braced myself with goodness, with wholesome treats of my mum’s thinking and cooking, with refreshing fruit of my dad’s orchard and the calming vastness of the meadows and fields in my Polish village.
It’s been a month of detox for me, detox from false believes that as an individual I cannot make a difference, that I don’t have enough to make a difference, that I don’t have the ability to do it or that the world will go its own way even if I try to go the opposite direction. The world is not a hostile place that mysteriously turns its back on us just because we try, the world responds to our attempts, watches them carefully. It just needs time to be persuaded. The difficulty with doing what you believe in is in that the world, general public or even our friends, are often not persuaded by the process, but by a result. The process takes time and without support it’s difficult to have the endurance, strength and resources to complete the work. There are now so many people that are ‘in that process’ of making the world a better place, of making sure that we live in a cleaner, safer, and more equal planet – we should support them with our time, money or at least a good word. It takes time to create something good, something of value. It’s the process that needs our cheering and patience. The result will speak for itself.
Postcards Without Stamps 