CHRISTMAS TIME

* WISHING EVERY ONE A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS *

May we wake up and open the window on a garden full of snow

(Or may we have enough creativity to imagine it)

May our days be merry, our family and friends happy

May we feel blessed and grateful for all the good things that surrounds us

May we all be mindful to make our world more peaceful.

And as every christmas holiday needs its traditionnal playlist, here's a list of songs to listen to (and drive everyone around you crazy), inspired by the world's best crooners ever:

Marshmallow World - Dean Martin 

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Dean Martin

Silver Bells - Dean Martin

Winter Wonderland - Dean Martin 

Jingle Bells - Frank Sinatra

White Christmas - Frank Sinatra

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Frank Sinatra

-

A mix of all these songs on one album

*

Merry Christmas

TO BE(LIEVE) OR NOT TO BE(LIEVE)

One year ago, I've been told to read this book: The Biology of Belief, by Bruce Lipton. I did, and I now count it into my fav' books list. 

Bruce Lipton has a PhD in cell biology, he studied quantum physics and he's one the best in the field. You can learn everything about him HERE.

This book is based on investigations proving that our cells are more influenced by our beliefs than by our genes. 

Thanks to this book, we realize how our environment and our beliefs are extremely powerful, and how they determine our behaviors.

Some parts of the book are a bit "scientific" but believe me, it's worth it to cling to it because what you learn in this book is going to change the vision of your life in a wonderful way !

Bruce Lipton make it very accessible to everyone, explaining the results of his investigations with meaningful detailed diagrams, illustrations and examples.

He explains the power of our beliefs, all the little things we have recorded during years and that are stuck into our minds making us think they are "reality". 

But they are actually just OUR reality so we have to be mindful and open-minded to notice that some of them are confining us in certain categories and roles. They are creating limiting beliefs that prevent us of doing something or being someone we could totally be able to do or to be.

Our brain has a capacity to change everytime we are thinking about something, everytime we are learning something new, everytime we are practising something etc. it's called plasticity. 

Plasticity is the proof that everyone who wants to change, can do it. For good.

No need to blame on our parents, our teachers or any of our relatives for the beliefs they gave us or helped us to build. They gave us one of the thousands visions we can have and in a certain way, we agreeed with it. But if we want to change this vision we have to take it as a starting point to the change. A starting point to reprogram our beliefs and thoughts.

As Bruce constantly posts videos, quotes, news, you can follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.

Have a blast learning more about our cells' functionning !

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

The end of the year is coming...

Soon it'll be Christmas time, and in the twinkling of an eye 2015 will be over.

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This time of year is often a time of getting an overview of our entire year, analyzing what we've done, what we haven't, what changed into our lives, what we still have to work on and so on.

For those who'd like to do so, I made out a quick list of what can be done to improve and/or make our daily routines funnier and nicer, and give priceless gifts that bring joy and warm our hearts:

- Be grateful: 

Choose a jar or a box, put colorful post-it notes next to it with a pen 

Write on a note something you are grateful for, everyday, several times a day if you want to (it can be the "smallest" thing like "I'm thankful for the sun shining this morning") and put into the jar

Offer people who come to visit to do so

Read them after a month (for example) and start over

It will help you appreciate the beauty of the world and realize that you have wonderful thing into your life.

- Smile:

Even if you're busy, preoccupied, stressed out or tracked by your daily routine with no time to raise your head, smile to people. When you enter into a store, when you bump into someone in the street, when you catch someone's eye, when a member of your family comes back home after his/her day of work, whenever you can.

We don't smile enough.

Plus, smiling even if we don't really feel like smiling contracts the face muscles that work when we laugh, so it stimulates the same areas in our brain and secretes the hormones of pleasure. We'll therefor feel better and happier.

- Compliment:

Tell people you know sincere compliments (whether they're family, friends or acquaintances). Tell them somthing you really appreciate about them, about their personality, their character. It'll feel good to them and good to you. And it will probably make it easier for them to do so in the future.

I hope you'll have a great time trying these positive things !

CLEAN OCEANS

SEABIN PROJECT

Two sea lovers guys launched an amazing project to clean oceans: a bin that swallows water, catching everything floatting in it. Platic bottles, paper, oils, detergents, ffuel... everything we can find in the sea when we want to go for a swim that has nothing to do here.

It works very simply, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.

You can follow them HERE.

They quit their jobs to invest all of their time and money in this project, to make it grow everyday, and develop it worldwide.
To do so, they need our help, and we can invest any amount of money in their project on this page RIGHT HERE and discover more about them and the whole project.

A great opportunity to contribute to change and to start acting for our planet and preserve its wealth !

PARIS MON AMOUR

I am speechless..
I don't know if the date of 11-13-15 means something like "friday 13th is always good/bad luck" and I don't care.
I'm still really shocked but I want to write something... Even if emotions and words to describe them are mixing in my head again and again.
The only thing I know is that we're definitely living in a crazy world, going in the wrong direction.

I was moved to see how many people support France on social networks.
The example of changing Facebook profile pictures sounds like a good one to me. I asked myself that question "am I changing it because it happened in my country and my beloved town Paris ?" - No, I'm doing it because we're all involved. All in the same boat. No matter the country, innocent citizens lose their life everyday. No human being is supposed to be killed. No one, nowhere.

Friday night, my motherland shivered, trembled. The streets and places I used to go to and hang out with friends became horrifying crime scenes.
Friday night, all the reasons why I'm in love with Paris, its freedom, its lifestyle, are the reasons why people died. We cannot accept it.
Yes, our turn is apparently officially up. I want to say "again". Charlie Hebdo's symbol ain't the problem anymore. Being French is the one and we all become potential victims.
Victims of absurd ideologies. So are millions of people in their own country. My French flag on Facebook means "we're living and sharing the horror that people live abroad, and in the name of my homeland I support people living these barbaric acts whenever and wherever they occur".

I wonder how and why we got here... But the thing is: we're living in a world of incomprehension and fear. And it has to stop.
I'm sad and deeply touched and moved. Everyday I wake up hoping for a better world, and even if it really hearts and makes me sad, I will not let this kind of events break my faith.
We are a nation, we are strong, and we will fight for peace on earth. May French people stand up, be proud and never give up. As all the nations fighting for peace on earth.

Today we pray for Paris

Everyday we do for Peace. 

GLUTEN FREE PASTA

Here's a little pasta recipe
Very easy
Very yummy
Gluten-free

Ingredients:

- Eggplants
(that aren't too big so you can cut quite small slices)
- Parmesan
- Eggs
- Pasta (GF)
- Oregano
- Lemon juice
or
- Tomato-basil (organic) sauce
for those who wouldn't like the lemon/parmesan sauce



Instructions:

Slice the eggplants
Put them into the frying pan on a low heat so they can get softer
Then put them all on a plate
Whip an egg in a bowl, and pour Parmesan in another
Dunk eggplant's slices into the egg, then into Parmesan
Put them into the frying pan (medium heat)
Fry til golden on the either sides

Mix oregano, basil and lemon juice in a bowl, then add Parseman and keep mixing until it gets homogeneous.

When your pasta is cooked, add the sauce (whether it's lemon or tomato-basil) and the eggplants on top of it.

Hope you'll enjoy it !

MINDFULNESS TIPS

Results and benefits of mindfulness have been scientifically proved. And even if we still need more researches into this field, it's interesting to know what changes it can bring into our body and our brain.

To name a few: 

- improves memory

- improves concentration

- reduces agressive behaviors

- reduces anxiety

- reduces chronic depression symptoms

...

Summer 2015, Provence, France

To facilitate our mindulness practice, we can get "helped" by a clock on our watch, our computer or whatever to remind us we have to take a break to meditate and recenter on the here and now. It can be during lunch time, or a break during the day, or when we're back home after work.
It helps us get more concentrated and relaxed.

We can also usefully get helped by our smartphone installing an app that offers exercices of mindfulness and meditation, and that shows us our evolution.

I recently bought the app Zenfie and it's a really good one. You take your time, every day, to meditate and be more mindful. They guide you step by step and it makes everything easier. Even if the session only lasts 10 or 12 minutes, you really feel peaceful afterward. And that's what really counts. You can try longer sessions when you feel you need it. 

Only 20 minutes meditation a day have been proved to be very efficient on our brain, so you can take it easy.

Because we'd probably like to be more mindful all day long, we can try mindful eating on each or one of the daily meals.
Take the time to smell, to look at our food, to chew it and really taste it. We can analyze all the flavors of our food, think about how it feels in our stomach, and take time before the next bite.

We can also share this experience with someone, parents, siblings, boy/girlfriend, friends... 

If they are not practising too, we can only tell them what we experience, the changes we noticed, how we feel. Maybe they'll try it too and telling them will not be our only motivation but sharing will too !

And if we feel like we can't handle this daily exercise alone, maybe we can join a meditation group or meditation-based yoga activity.

Remember: it doesn't matter if we miss 1, 2 or 5 days. The most important thing is to keep it in mind and not to be afraid to start over again.