27 December, 2016

The Bubble

We arrived in Beijing exactly 3 months ago today. Every now and then, Brett and I still just look at each other and say "We're in China!" because really it could be anywhere.

Not really, of course. We don't speak the language, can't read shop signs or understand the traffic.
No one around looks like us at all.
Food is different. Shopping is different.
Vendors are speaking a completely alien tongue - and they repeat themselves when we don't get it.

I guess, because I've never been one to talk to random strangers - like in a store, or out for a walk - it's not as weird to me. I have always been very good at keeping an impenetrable bubble around myself. I can sit in an airport, or walk the streets of a town, go shopping, and not notice people unless they really work to get my attention (call my name, lean into my line of sight and say "excuse me, miss?" - scream bloody murder, you get it). 

So I can feel perfectly at home on an average day, and not even notice where I am. I know how to point at food on a vendor's cart and say  how many of an item I want. I understand numbers when they say the cost. What more do I need?

It sounds very exotic that I'm in Beijing, and we've seen some cool things. But we did that when we lived in the Midwest, too. What cool things are around you? What events happen that may be notable? It's the same here, except that we are the foreigners, so to all our friends and family, we are in the place with everything happening.

Get out!
Find the thing that makes your life "exotic"!
Milk it.

16 December, 2016

All We Have is Now

Welcome to another rendering of Five-Minute-Friday! On these posts, I am following the one-word prompt from Kate at Heading Home

If you want to join, click that link to her blog. Every Friday is a new word, and the only rules are: 
Write for 5 minutes. 
Link your post on hers. 
(You have a whole week to get your post up.)
 
It's pretty cool, and I find a new blog every week.
(Now if only I would make the time to revisit more often during the week.)
  

 This week's one-word is "Now".
 
Timer starting...

Stop. 
Just stop. 
Stop whatever it is that you're doing. 

Now listen.
Breathe.
What do you hear when you stop? Your refrigerator? Traffic outside? Kids in the next room?
What do you smell? Is something cooking? Is a window open? A fire burning?

Focusing on the moment is a wonderful technique to remember during the hectic time that December often is. People use this as a way to calm down during a panic attack (find things that you can identify with each of the five senses) or even for social anxiety. 

Right now, what is familiar?
Right now, what can you focus on?
Right now, what is within your control?

Doing this daily, moment-by-moment (as I think of it) is sometimes called "mindfulness" and is definitely a good way to bring you back to NOW.

The future is uncertain. 
The past is unchangeable.
All we have is Now.

Merry Christmas.

...Time's up.

11 December, 2016

There Was No Joy in Mudville...

Welcome to my Five-Minute-Friday of a Sunday! On these posts, I am following the one-word prompt from Kate at Heading Home

If you want to join, click that link to her blog. Every Friday is a new word, and the only rules are: 
Write for 5 minutes. 
Link your post on hers. 
(You have a whole week to get your post up.)
 
It's pretty cool, and I find a new blog every week.
(Now if only I would make the time to revisit more often during the week.)
  

 This week's one-word is "Joy".
 
Timer starting...

This is a really hard topic this week. Yes, I could write about the things that bring me joy on a day-to-day basis, but the reality is, I'm overall unhappy right now. Our jobs have come to a screeching halt, with a few random hours of work each week, for both me and my husband. 

We usually enjoy talking about our plans for the future - things to do with our small apartment, trips to take, places we want to eat or take friends who may visit us. Lately though, we only talk about what we can't afford, and the fact that our November pay (coming to us soon) will have to be hoarded to pay for December bills. 

When people who promise something (work, for example) fail to provide what was promised, the resulting emotion is definitely NOT "joy". What will happen to us? How will we eat? Will we ever have the financial independence that we are used to?

Questions crowd my brain to the point where the joy just cannot break through. 

Time is up. Sorry to be a downer.

07 December, 2016

Five Minutes of Peace!

I'm kind of late to this ballgame, but we've had internet issues. Again, for today's post, I am following the one-word prompt from Kate at Heading Home
If you want to join, click that link to her blog. Every Friday is a new word, and the only rules are:  Write for 5 minutes.  Link your post on hers. 
(You have a whole week to get your post up.)
It's pretty cool, and I find a new blog every week.
(Now if only I would make the time to revisit more often during the week.)
 
This week's one-word is "Crave".
 
Timer starting...

What non-food thing do I crave? I crave peace. True peace in my heart.

I actually started a Mindfulness Challenge recently. "Mindfulness" is one of those ephemeral words that implies a bunch of mental mumbo-jumbo and visualization exercises that a lot of people can't get into. But it's working for me so far.

I set a goal that at the end of this challenge I would have accepted Beijing as home. I have, logically. My brain gets it. But sometimes, on a frustrating day, the fleeting thought of "if we were in the States" passes through my mind unbidden. Or I just miss things and people. I know we aren't moving, but my heart is not at truly peace.

So each day, I meditate on the thought that this is now my home, for at least a minute. And throughout the day, my "mindfulness" is about focus on the moment. What is actually happening around me here and now? How am I responding? How is my husband responding? What can I, literally, do about it?

It has been a great week. Instead of yearning for the future we dream of, or longing for a past that can never be again, I am slowly becoming more present in my actual life, and at those times my heart is truly, peaceful.

Time's Up!