Freedom Philosophy

“We see the world as “we” are, not as “it” is; because it is the “I” behind the “eye” that does the seeing.

Attributed to French Author Anais Nin

This quote can apply to “seeing” but can also apply to eating and tasting as well. This re-scripting exercise may help you enjoy the food you are eating at home just as much as the food you enjoy out at a restaurant.

You will need a nice quiet place where you will be able to concentrate and feel comfortable. It may also be helpful to do this exercise shortly before you have a meal so that your natural desire for food is high. You will need a pen or pencil and a small piece of paper or notebook. You will also need to have been out to a recent delicious meal at a restaurant. If you can’t think of a recent positive experience, take this as an excuse to treat yourself to a nice dinner out before continuing.

Part 1

A night out for Japanese

Start the exercise by taking a few deep breathes to calm your body. Let your mind settle down. Think back to the last time you went out to a favorite restaurant. Remember the atmosphere. Think back to whom you were with or if you were by yourself, the sights you saw. Remember the atmosphere of the restaurant and how you felt as you went in to eat.

Recall how the plate looked when it arrived and how you felt as you tasted the first bite. Without being critical of the words, write down the words that come to mind on a small piece of paper. Keep thinking back on this positive experience of what a meal can be until you have 5-10 words written on the paper. After you have completed your list, spend a few minutes looking over the words. Are there any words there that surprised you? Which of the words hold the highest impact for you?

Part 2

Now, change the setting of this reflection to your home. You are sitting down to the table in front of your favorite meal at home. Everything is presented just like you’d want it. Imagine how it smells. What are you going to eat first? Imagine this meal at home providing the same enjoyment as the meal in the restaurant. Describe this meal with some of the satisfying words you used to describe the meal you enjoyed earlier. Now envision this meal as complete and yourself as satisfied. How do you feel?

Reflection:

“We see the world as “we” are, not as “it” is

Through this exercise you have begun to change. Do you think you can use this experience and the positive thoughts associated with the “at home” imagery when you next approach a meal at home? Tonight when you are at home eating look for where those positive experiences play a role.

Counselling Study, Health, Wellness, & Nutrition, Home

Not too long ago I was in the US and, as happens far from my usual home, felt like eating some Japanese food. It wasn’t this shop in the photo that I took in Grass Valley but the experience was representative of ethnic food the world over and the ways people outside of their home countries and cultures get by.

Take my friend Stu, for instance, who manages our food service at school. He has worked as a cook in a variety of places including an Indian restaurant. Some facts about Stu – he makes a mean curry and butter chicken, is from Australia and doesn’t have an ounce of Indian blood in his body. With a largely  Indian front staff, I remember asking him one day if he was allowed to show his face outside of the kitchen. “Not really”, was the answer and you can imagine the reaction from customers if their favorite Indian dishes were discovered to be prepared by a guy from OZ.

Missing Japanese food and feeling probably a bit bogged down by the sudden change in diet I went into Whole Foods to get some nori maki rolls. The man behind the counter didn’t look particularly Japanese but then again this was North America and he didn’t look Not-Japanese either. At home in Japan, people use fashion and hair style as some ways of helping distinguish between the Chinese, Koreans and local nationals. Overseas I figured my normal tricks of Jean styles, shoes, shapes of glasses, and hair might not give me as much to go on since I’m not particularly familiar with the nuances of Asian cultures outside of Asia. I took the gamble and started speaking with him in Japanese.

In broken English he told me he didn’t speak Japanese and was from Taiwan originally. He said he had learned to make sushi after moving to the US. Earlier in the week on the plane over to the States I had had a conversation with a Japanese/American Sushi Chef who had filled me in on the recent increase of sushi schools and how many people were getting into the art of sushi preparation. Ready with my new conversational repertoire I asked the man working at Whole Foods if he had been to one of the sushi chef schools.

He replied with some difficulty, “Yes, something like that.”

I then asked him if his school was in California or someplace else. He answered again, “Yes, something like that.”

It was at that moment that this Taiwanese sushi chef in Massachusetts taught me something about English. Having been through the learning curve with Japanese my first few years in Japan, I remember learning a number of key phrases that serve two life saving purposes: to effectively answer a question posed to you that you have no idea how to answer and to keep the conversation moving so you can figure out what you are talking about. “Something like that” is one of our gem phrases in English.

After the second round of “something like that” I clued into what was going on with the conversation and dropped it – hopefully taking all pressure off the chef letting him just get on with making my lunch. If his experience in the US is at all similar to my early days in Japan this probably came as a huge relief as he was free again just to go on thinking his own thoughts or something like that.

Home language, travel

Originally uploaded by sk8evangelist

This was a demanding week. Lots going on at school Monday and Tuesday. Then things picked up for the end of the week with the skatepark, high school dance and presenting on wikis at the Apple iSan Summit in Tokyo on Saturday.

I can see the effects of all that here in this photo. At just about 18k into the ride, I’m not right yet. I can see the stress in my cheeks. It wouldn’t be for another 15k before I’d start to feel like myself again.

Today’s ride was pure recovery. Usually recovery rides are reserved for those days following long days in the saddle. This recovery ride was to put those late nights of preparation, planning, and graduate school into perspective.

Oddly I thought I’d feel worse. I thought my upper body might be tight and my legs weak. I expected to look down at my speedo and see something depressing like 32kph that I couldn’t get past. In spite of my mental readiness for pain and suffering I actually felt pretty good and sat on my normal speeds, relished in having to push against headwinds and went out of my way to find some good climbs. Even this close to the ocean I got in over 200m of climbing in my short 40k journey.

What I see in this photo is that I need to figure out a way to get out at least 3 times per week and I can’t over commit myself like I did over the past week. Once in awhile this much stress is probably unavoidable but in the long run it just isn’t good. Praise Jah for cycling to turn things around.

Home, What's Fun cycling, stress