santosha

contentment

Happy with yourself, your body, your life, your assets .... content.

Not dwelling in the past, or looking to the future. Being in the moment.

This, according to yoga, is bliss.

The breath is always in the moment, and if you would like to be in the moment too, a great practice is watching the breath. If unwanted thoughts enter your mind, send them to your heart and they will melt away.

Not my drawing

J's sanskrit name, btw, is Santosha. I kid you not. It was born in Aspen, fully instated in Sayulita and is reaffirmed everyday again and again...

J and I have been practicing extra santosha by truly embracing San Diego for all that it is. We not so elegantly fought the character of the sprawling wild-child City for months until J's law-school compadre told her story of doing the same: it went something along the lines of "I lived in Point Loma with my parents and for two years I hated it with all my might, until finally, I just let go and learned to love it for what it is. Now I'm into San Diego more and more everyday."

Isn't it amazing how we all know deep down what we must do and where happiness hides, but it's not until someone (often someone we don't know) or something hits us with the truth so hard it knocks us right to the floor and we can't not pay attention.

Thank you little Law School Buddha, for J and I are embracing crazy California with all of its quirks and digging every grimy, sandy, polluted, sunny minute of it. Here's to every tattoo parlor, homeless hippy, drinking game, $2 taco, tanning bed, serve yourself froyo, and bustling A.M. bar. Amen.

My all-star girlfriend E whom I have known and loved for 21 years is a top chef and introduced me to "Nuttzo." It's a nut butter with every nut imaginable. Though I have a arguably unhealthy obsession with nuts and their butters; I continue to feast, bought this product yesterday, and thoroughly enjoyed a few tablespoons today. Check it out. (They sell it at whole foods.)

More tips from E are certain to come... she's a busy girl and has so much to share and give.

This morning J made Challah French Toast for breakfast. Does anyone out there have an absolute favorite recipe for french toast? In France french toast is called "pain perdu," translation "lost bread," because it is made by the french women with leftover stale baguettes. (And because they're not going to call it 'le toast francais' now, are they?) It's one of those things the french ladies make because they have nothing in the house but a few stale pieces of bread and an egg and here we turned it into an indulgent brunch fixture..... gotta love that.