Nothing you do is wasted. Anything and everything can have meaning and purpose in your life. But it’s all about your perspective. It’s all about what you choose or deem as meaningful that has a lasting impact in your life.
As I began this week, I wanted to focus on my intentions. Rather than mindlessly getting through the day, I wanted to make sure I was an active participant in my life. Have you ever caught yourself on autopilot? Just coasting through almost at a zombie like state? In the past, I’ve done this as a coping mechanism, and it only left me feeling dissatisfied and unhappy. From experience, I’ve learned this is not how I want to live my life going forward. Rather, I want to take the steering wheel with both hands and guide it in the direction I see and hope for myself. This is my life, and I want to live it with eyes wide open! I hope you do too!
One way I like to stay grounded is through mindful movement – stretching, yoga, and bodyweight resistance. This helps me to literally center my body through positive movements and remain connected to it. A year and a half ago I had tendinitis in my left foot that literally stopped me in my tracks. As a runner before suffering this injury, I struggled mentally to shift my workout mindset. Thankfully, I came across Caroline Jordan Fitness. She had a whole series on hurt foot exercises that literally saved me. But more than the workouts, her videos encouraged and supported me when I really needed it. Through her exercises, I realized that your workouts should make you feel good and positive. It taught me that listening to your body is the first step in understanding what it needs and how it can perform at its best level.
Mindful living – What are you doing and why are you doing it? Another way I like to intentionally live is through crafting and creating at home with my children. Not only does this allow us to reuse old items but it is a great learning opportunity to think outside the box. A wonderful recourse for this is: Zero Waste Kids by Rob Greenfield. In his book, Rob provides hands-on projects and activities to reduce, reuse, and recycle. One of the projects is Natural Play Dough! My toddler, Ruby loved doing this project with me, and I loved that it used one of my favorite vegetables: beets! The best part about this activity is that you can save the boiled beets for later! For our play dough, rather than boiling only one beet, I cooked four. This not only made our dye a deeper color, but it allowed me to cook more beets. Once they were done boiling, I saved them in an airtight container and stored in the refrigerator. Once ready to eat, I added them to my salad for dinner. Had I had more time, I could have turned them into Beet Hummus! Click here for my Beet Hummus recipe! It’s delicious and addicting! Once done playing with our play dough, we set it aside to harden overnight. All of our creations hardened in the shape we formed! No baking was needed. Had we decided to discard the dough after playing, we could have added it to our compost to serve as an additional purpose.
Beet Play Dough
- 1 pot
- 1 red beet, chopped
- 2 cups water
- 1 large mixing bowl
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup salt
- 1 fork
Instructions:
Begin by bringing 2 cups of water to a boil on your stove top. Chop up 1 red beet and put it into the boiling water for 20 minutes or until soft. While the beet cooks, add flour and salt into a mixing bowl and blend with a fork. Once the beets are done cooking, save one cup of beet water and allow it to completely cool before stirring it into the mixing bowl with your flour and salt. Drain the beets and store them in your refrigerator. They are a great addition to many dishes! Once your beet water is cooled, pour it into the mixture. Next, dig in and begin shaping and creating!
While my daughter and I sculpted our dough, we came up with a great Valentine’s gift idea! Taking the play dough, we shaped it into a heart. Next, using a toothpick we wrote messages. Ruby’s suggestion was – I love you. We also molded her foot into the play dough as a fun keepsake from our time together! This will be a great paperweight in our office. Once done, we left our play dough out overnight to air dry and harden. Another fun craft idea would be to paint our sculptures as an additional activity!
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