Category: music

Eggs and Avocado Sandwich

Christina BruniLeave a comment

By chance I spotted on a shelf at the library a great recipe collection: Ziggy Marley and Family Cookbook.

Twelve years ago, a friend and I saw Ziggy Marley in concert. Everyone was on their feet dancing and swaying to the reggae.

I’ve collected a number of cookbooks over the years. After checking this one out of the library I bought it for my apartment.

The Marley livet (diet) uses whole, organic food. It’s called ital. You can call me an Italian because I buy fresh, organic food too.

In New York City you can use SNAP benefits (food stamps) to buy produce at GrowNYC Greenmarkets around town.

The Rastafari performer echoes in his book my manifesto: that the food you eat can impact your mood. My body feels better when I eat better.

Losing just 4 pounds made a great difference.

Owing to copyright I can’t reproduce the specific recipes in the Ziggy Marley cookbook. Instead I’ll offer you a modified version that’s irie in its own right. As well, quicker and easier.

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Rise and Shine Eggs and Avocado

1/ 2 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 eggs

2 slices sourdough bread, or other favorite bread

2 butter lettuce leaves

2 slices heirloom tomato (you can use beefsteak or other)

2 avocados

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste

Salt and pepper, to taste

 

Toast bread.

To make avocado spread: Mix and mash avocados with lemon juice and salt and pepper.

Fry eggs in butter and olive oil

Apply avocado spread to bread, top with lettuce, tomatoes, and eggs.

Serves 1 person.

It occurs to me that you can insert a slice of Swiss cheese if you wanted to.

Eggs for Breakfast

Christina BruniLeave a comment

In the May issue of Elle magazine Dua Lipa was interviewed.

She’s the Albanian singer-songwriter who won a Grammy award for Best New Artist.

Dua is Albanian for love. The music star revealed she eats eggs as snacks all the time. She cooked and fed her interviewer eggs.

My health coach vetted that having 2 eggs ( or 3 if you’re hungrier) for breakfast is okay.

So far I’ve scrambled eggs and veggies for 3 weeks.

That’s 21 days of the 90-day action plan in Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions.

Reading the Dua Lipa interview was so uplifting and inspiring.

The singer-songwriter seems real. Grounded. Like she’s grateful for her good fortune.

Just to know that there’s a famous singer-songwriter having eggs everyday can show us that Snap and Crackle Have Popped and outlived their usefulness.

I say: step away from the cereal box aisle. Your body will thank you.

 

 

Having 5 Commitments

Christina BruniLeave a comment

Easily over five years ago I read a Leo Babauta book where he told readers to list their 5 Commitments in life.

This approach made great sense to me. In the spirit of talking about recovery I want to riff on choosing and committing to 5 areas.

Do this for the sake of your mental health and physical well-being first of all.

As I head into my fifties and go through changes at mid-life the benefit of having 5 Commitments resonates with me more than ever.

It’s called a routine: adopting healthy habits that you engage in every day or every week.

This isn’t to say that the focus of your life won’t ever change. As you get older, you’ll need to improvise as you go along.

I find myself at 53 engaging in a form of woodshedding, which I talked about in one of the first blog entries in this Flourish blog.

While isolating inside because you’re afraid to go out your front door isn’t healthy I say:

Enjoying your own company when you’re alone in your apartment or house is imperative.

As I’ve started journeying through mid-life I can vouch for the positive health benefit of needing more time for yourself to rest and engage in recreation.

You need to rest after going out socially or having a long, hard day at your job.

The key to maximum productivity in your personal life lies in the beauty of honoring your 5 Commitments.

My 5 Commitments are art, music, fashion, books and writing, and exercise.

Making time each week to do something involving these 5 things I love has been the way to feel healthy and be happy at mid-life.

What are your 5 Commitments?

In coming blog entries I will continue with the focus on careers.

Yet I will apply this wisdom to everyday life.

Living in recovery doesn’t have to be so hard. Even if you’re in pain that’s when doing the things you love can help you feel better.

That’s it exactly: focusing on the 5 Commitments that bring you joy.

 

Inspiration for Living in Recovery

Christina Bruni3 Comments

I have a friend/companion. We sit at an outdoor patio. We go to Starbucks. We attend poetry readings.

Wherever we go the talk often turns to recovery. Not a lot of people would be so open in places where others can hear you. It’s refreshing–and-life affirming–to have a companion in an almost soul-mate kind of way.

I firmly believe a soul mate doesn’t have to be only a wife or husband–a soul mate can be a member of your tribe. We talk about the Sonic Youth albums in our collections. Everywhere I go I’ve met someone entranced with the music.

I value that illness holds only a minor place–because I choose to focus on the life that is possible after a break. I’ve lived through the worst– I recovered.

A woman on the Internet who uses a fake name didn’t understand why I identified as a person diagnosed with schizophrenia. I identify as a person who had a breakdown–what’s commonly diagnosed as schizophrenia.

Yet the point isn’t that once you’ve recovered you should go your merry way. By all means: only if you want to go your merry way do so without guilt.

I decided to become a mental health activist because of the cost of untreated mental illness in America–upwards of $192 billion. I’m an activist because of the untold cost in wasted lives–in the loss of human capital.

Everyone deserves to have a full and robust life–not just a lucky few who get the right treatment right away. I advocate that you can have a full and robust life because no one who has crossed over should despair that they can’t come back.

I advocate–and I always will–for recovery for everyone.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is quoted:

“Everyone must decide whether to walk in the dark of destructive selfishness or live in the light of creative altruism. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: what are you doing for others?”

My goal in this lifetime is to be an inspiration.

Your hell doesn’t have to go on forever.