Day 17 was packed with outdoor labor. Cleaning up some piles of branches and weeds, doing some more trimming, taming the jungle that our backyard had become, etc. I kept finding myself impressed by the weeds that had overtaken the planting areas in the back. I know they’re the bane of a lot of people’s existence when it comes to landscaping but I’ll lay out what I was thinking…
Always Gratitude
We had a late start but for good reason. Our smoothie place opens an hour later on the weekends. About 3.5 miles of walking and 2 smoothies got us back home for cold showers, meditation and journaling. My gratitude this morning was focused very much on leisure.
- Soap
- Bath tubs
- Books at bedtime
**If you’re looking for a gratitude journal, this one is good. The one-minute gratitude journal by Brenda Nathan. Simple, to the point, and filled with great quotes.
A Simple Food Day
Well they’re all pretty simple these days, ha! Started the day with a banana, tumeric tea, and my dragonfruit smoothie. I did break a little bit of protocol because the smoothie had apple juice in it and not whole apples. I’ll let this slide once. Lunch was cucumber and avocado rolls. Dinner was 3 bean chili in the instant pot (love that thing) and some white corn tortillas. I don’t know what I’ve eliminated that has made me feel so energetic or solved my digestive issues but I have a lot of reason to believe white flour has a big part to play in that. I also snacked on cherries throughout the day. I can’t get enough of them lately. Possibly my sugar cravings getting to me!
The Jungle
Our backyard has several bushes spread out on a slope and then a whole lot of overgrowth. I don’t think we’ve mulched the back yard in about 5-6 years at least. That explains why the weed growth is so excessive.
The ultimate goal is to get all of the weeds knocked down, trim up the bushes/trees, and then mulch the whole thing. As you can see from the picture below, I was successful at stage 1. Onto stages 2 and 3 tomorrow!
A Lot To Learn From Weeds
I can hear the home landscapers and front yard farmers cursing me under their breath right now. Weeds can be a huge nuisance on a piece of property. I’m not saying we need to anoint them as sacred cows and not attempt to control them. But while I was weed whacking, it occurred to me that weeds are pretty amazing. Here are the main reasons why:
- They grow in diverse places, including some very inhospitable ones
- They never give up, they just keep coming back
- Their defenses can be impressive, especially the ones with thick stalks and thorns
- They’re happy being weeds
Weeds possess some of the qualities that I would like to embody in my life. I too would like to be able to grow and thrive in diverse environments (even difficult ones). I too would like to never give up (my favorite movie is Cool Hand Luke where he’s boxing Dragline and kind of wins because he won’t stay down so Drag just gets bored and walks away). I too would like to have strong defenses to defend myself and my family from harm. And I too am happy being me and continue to work everyday to keep it that way.
There’s a lot to learn from weeds.
Day 18 here we come!
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That's impressive that simplifying your diet has made such a big difference. I'm really pleased for you. I guess it's going to be hard to know what you've dropped that has made the difference and it could also be a combination of things, I guess.
As you approach your 30 day mark, I'm curious to see what your thoughts will be moving forward. Please tag me when you reach that update as I know I'll miss it otherwise.
I'll try to remember the tag. It's my intention to do this cleanse once every 3 months. So 2 months off, 1 month on. During the 2 months off, the goal is to keep the habits I've gained during the cleanse going so that 'cheats' are just that, cheats. And that way they don't become habits again. That's the theory! LOL.
That sounds like a really good approach. So the cleanse will almost be like a reminder at regular intervals rather than becoming a distant memory.
Exactly. It's there to allow me times of indulgence but will help me get back to a base state of health on a regular basis.
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