Day 358 - Sisters

Thought of the day: I stayed up very late last night and the consequence of that was clear - I was shrouded in drowsiness and had a minor headache all morning. In addition, I missed a morning bike ride and a hike with a group of friends, both of which I regretted a great deal and regretted even more as the day marched on. Indeed, it's not smart to walk through life half awake when there are so many experiences to be had and so many expectations to meet, both of which require one to be present and alert.  Arguably, self enforced sleep deprivation may not be as dangerous as drug or alcohol additions, but it does bring similar consequences and is definitely detrimental to one’s long term health. It's time for me to figure out a way to keep a better control of my schedule - however challenging it may be - and make it stick. 

Photo of the day:

Jasmine making a drawing as Lila watched on. I owed it to my girls, and myself, to maintain a healthy schedule.

Day 335 - Symmetry

Thought of the day: This morning I watched a slide show from New York Times about MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity), an environmental disease that has been plaguing an increasingly larger group of people, including the photographer who shot the mesmerizing and poignant photos in the slide show. MCS is typically caused by exposures to synthetic, toxic chemicals which are getting more and more prevalent in the modern world. This condition can be debilitating. The affected people live at the margin of the modern civilization as they need to stay clear of environmental toxins routinely used in pesticides, building materials, cleaning products, cosmetics, etc. They have to navigate the modern world like a soldier navigating a mine field - if they are not careful, they can easily step onto something that will have serious consequences on their health. I know that this condition is very real as a good friend of mine is suffering from it every day. It's painful to watch her go through ordeals unimaginable by an unaffected person. These people are paying a heavy price for our unhealthy dependence on toxic chemicals and our disrespect for the environment and even for our own bodies. Many more of our children and grandchildren will suffer if we don't not pay attention to the root cause of this and other environmental diseases and change the way we live.

Photo of the day:

A lamp in a restaurant where I had lunch.  The shape was intricate, harmonious and beautiful. Perhaps one day we will be able to develop an intricate, harmonious and beautiful relationship with the environment around us. That's our only hope for the future.

Day 269 - Farm Junk

Thought of the day: We finally made a leap of faith and decided to get cow shares for raw milk. I made the prerequisite visit to the farm today. It was a pretty long and boring drive but it was good to see the farm.  The cows graze on organically grown grass and they are fed nothing else.  As a result, the amount of milk they would produce is a paltry fraction of what a "normal" dairy cow would produce.  But what milk it would be - full of nutrients and super tasty.  In addition, the milk won't go through a high temperature pasteurization process that can destroy probiotics and enzymes which naturally occur in the milk and aid in the digestion of it.  The farm relies on its high sanitary standards and lots of testing to ensure the safety of its production.  They do more than what most farms are willing to go through - every batch of milk is tested for pathogens before it goes out of the door.  In any case, we put a lot of trust in this farm mainly because a couple of our friends, including long term customers, put a lot of trust in it too.  Hopefully, our trust will pay off and give us a long lasting health benefit in return.

Photo of the day:

One person's junk is another person's treasure.  How true it is!  I was glad to run into what looked like a junk yard in the farm. This colorful mess of farm castaways was a delight to photograph, especially against the cloudy and dramatic sky.

Day 203 - Wet

Thought of the day: I caught something over the weekend and it was getting worse, so today I took a day of bed rest.  I seem to be more prone to illness lately which made me wonder if the lack of sleep can make the immune system less effective.  So I probed around a bit and, unsurprisingly, every article that turned up linked sleep to the immune system.  So it's not just an old wife's tale, it's proven by research that good night sleeps promote immune response and when you're ill, the immune system makes you feel sleepier than usual so you will rest.  Our body works amazingly well when you give it the respect that it deserves.  It's really something, isn't it?  OK, time for bed!

Photo of the day:

It was wet and cold - a perfect day for resting.

Day 202 - Playground

Thought of the day: I just finished reading a booked titled "How Doctors Think" by Jerome Groopman.  It was highly recommended to me recently by his niece.  I couldn't recall how or when I met her but the book was definitely worth the recommendations.  Dr. Groopman explored the unusual subject of how a doctor's thinking can adversely affect the diagnosis of a patient.  With 15% of the medical diagnosis being inaccurate, this subject is definitely an important one.  Doctors are only humans and their thought process can often be influenced by the past experiences, the emotional state, the affinity with a particular patient, the fear of litigation, the subtle and not-so-subtle financial incentives, and the pressure to think and act quickly under a time constraint often imposed by the insurance companies.  No matter how skillful or experienced they are, they can make mistakes in their thought process and make a wrong diagnosis which may severely affect the outcome of a patient.  I really admire the honesty and courage of Dr. Groopman for exploring this thorny subject, especially considering that he is a physician himself, as I am sure few physicians would admit or even realize that he is fallible due to his own weaknesses.  Many of the issues he raised in the book don't really have good solutions.  However, he did take away some of the mystique surrounding physicians, and he made a few suggestions for the patients to take more control of their own care and to steer the physicians away from some of the pitfalls in the thought process by asking pointed questions.  The book opened my eyes by offering a physician's angle of view on medical diagnosis and treatment, but hopefully I will not have to make use of any of his suggestions any time soon.

Photo of the day:

My girls playing in a Lafayette playground after Jasmine's music lesson.  I am so glad that they are healthy and capable of enjoying life in its full glamor.

Day 197 - Sunrise

Thought of the day: Today I did an early morning run with a few neighbors and friends.  It's certainly unusual for me to get up this early so I took this precious opportunity to snap a few photos.  Boulder faces a wide open eastern plain so we can count on a glorious sunrise pretty much every morning as rainy or overcast days are few and far between in Boulder.  It's great for early risers but, unfortunately, doesn't do much good for night owls like me.  I've considered and even attempted, at least for a few times since I moved here, to change my sleep routine so I can catch the first lights of the dawn and do something meditative before everybody wakes up.  Regrettable, my biological clock wasn't ready to cooperate yet so I inevitably gave up after trying for a few days.  Getting up early to run, on the other hand, is something different.  The outdoor air and movement wake me up and get me an extra bounce for the rest of the day.  Things that I have done and don't regret afterward are usually good things for me.  Running at the crack of dawn is one of those things - it's good for me, and I will keep doing it as long as my body can keep up.

Photo of the day:

View of sunrise from inside the house.

Day 195 - Lila

Thought of the day: Lila had some pretty wild mood swings since I picked her up from preschool today.  The cause was pretty obvious: lack of sleep.  Her preschool set aside only half an hour for the kids to rest in the afternoon, which was way too short for Lila to take a proper nap.  As a result, she had been taking irregular naps since she started the preschool.  On some days she would skip it altogether, with disastrous effects on herself and the family.  And today was one of those days.  I have been routinely taking her out early so she could nap at home.  However, sometimes my schedule just wouldn't allow that.  The good news is that we're taking her to a different preschool in the fall, where she could get a proper rest.  Of course, by that time she may have already naturally outgrown her need for an afternoon nap, but even if she does, having some downtime to do quiet things is still way better than keeping going all day long without a real break.  I know it would be hard to convince a toddler that getting bored at times is better than getting overtired, but I wish her preschool had known better and had respected the kids' need to rest as much as they had respected the kids' need to play.

Photo of the day:

Lila in a residential neighborhood at Lafayette.  She was at a high point of her mood swings when I took this picture.

Day 188 - Girls

Thought of the day: I just watched the documentary "The Business of Being Born".  The movie explored the birthing process and how a natural process had been turned into a business and treated routinely as an ailment and emergency by medical professionals.  When I was still pregnant with Lila, I read the excellent book "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth" which delivered similar messages.  The information provided by doctors and by nurses who taught childbirth classes in a hospital setting was often one-sided and incomplete and only helped perpetuate the myth and disinformation of the birthing process.  The other side of the story is told by Ina May's book, this documentary, midwives, doulas and women who have had the natural, or alternative as regarded by some, birth experiences.  Sadly and inexplicably, not every pregnant woman has access to all the information that she is entitled to when she needs to make the important decision of how and where to give birth.  As a result, it's more likely for her to end up in a hospital and for the doctors and nurses to impose their wills on her and take control of the birthing process to make it more lucrative, convenient, and lawsuit-free for them.  That would help explain the rise of cesarean rate, which is currently at an astounding rate of 1 out of every 3 births in this country.  This has reached the level of an epidemic.  Right around Lila's birth, I distributed Ina May's book through a bookstore and other entities to pregnant women because I felt compelled to share the information.  Apparently that activity had not created enough impact as the cesarean rate kept on rising!  And it's rising in many other countries too, especially in China, where the cesarean rate is at a whopping 46%.  As a civilization, we are getting too technologically advanced to respect our body and too incentive driven to remember our soul.  We see the consequence of that in every area of our lives and the unnatural birthing process is just one of them.  Will we reach a turning point and reverse course?  I hope we will, and will soon.

Photo of the day:

My girls lying on the floor exhausted after some fun play in the house.  I love them more than what can be expressed in words.  I hope they will grow up in a world that's healthier in many ways than the one we reside in right now.

Day 186 - Girls

Thought of the day:  PBS Newshour is broadcasting a 6-part series called Autism Now reported by Robert MacNeil.  Robert came out of retirement to do the series because his grandson had autism so he had seen the ailment and the impact of it on the family first hand.  The story of his grandson was told in part-1 of the series and it was deeply touching. Autism is definitely on the rise.  It's now affecting 1 in every 110 children in America - that's a large number of kids every year - and it has been declared a national health emergency.  One part of the series explored the plausible causes of the rise of autism.  Only a small part of could be explained by a better detection and reporting of this disorder.  The main plausible cause for the rise lied in the toxicity of the environment - the 70,000 commonly used chemicals, some of which used directly on our bodies, could have an accumulative, unexpected effects on our health starting from the moment we were conceived, and in some cases long before that.  The long term effect of Agent Orange on Vietnamese kids is one dramatic example, but there could be many other not-so-obvious interactions between the environment and our body that we're not aware of.  One expert attributed autism to a genetic predisposition triggered by chemicals in our environment that broke down or overwhelmed our immune system.  The same thing could likely explain the rise of allergies, asthma, food sensitivities, multiple chemical sensitivities, infertility, cancer, and other ailments that we hear more and more of every day.  Our individual genetic make-up is playing a Russian roulette with the chemicals we are exposed to every day - it's scary to think about it this way but I don't see any positive way of describing the situation.  We can try our best to protect ourselves and our families and push through environmental regulations.  However, there's a lot that we don't have control of at this point in time, and the consequence is a human cost of development that is just impossible to bear.

Photo of the day:

Girls on the bike on Greenbriar.  Lila was napping on the bike seat.  The concern for our children can turn each one of us into an environmentalist like nothing else can.

Day 184 - Alfafa's

Thought of the day: Alfafa's is back in Boulder!  Alfafa's started in 1983 as the trendsetter for natural food supermarkets at that time.  In 1996, it was acquired by Boulder's Wild Oats which was subsequently acquired by Wholefoods in 2007.  Luckily, FTC required Wholefoods to sell some of its stores for monopoly concerns and Alfafa's former location was on the chopping board.  One of the founders of Alfafa's bought it to bring back the original store.  Today was the Earth Day and Alfafa's official opening day and what an opening day it was!  The store was crowded throughout the day.  We spent an entire morning there with a couple of friends and had lunch in its cafe.  Thankfully, the new, and also the original, owner of Alfafa's seems to really care about healthy food and environment instead of just paying lip service to both and looking at the natural food market as a cash cow.  The store really lives up to his vision.  A lot of the food comes from Colorado, there are no individually wrapped fruits (how silly that is but many stores do it), the salad bar offers all organic vegetables, and 75% of the bulk food section is organic according to the store.  On top of that, the price is pretty reasonable.  I have had gripes about Wholefoods for a long time but still had to cave in once in a while because Wholefoods offered a lot more products than others.  Well, not any more!  I am glad that Boulder finally has a natural food supermarket that's both well-stocked and well-priced, and more importantly, one that seems to genuinely care about healthy food and the environment.  I hope Boulder shoppers are sophisticated enough to recognize that and will allow Alfafa to succeed and become the trendsetter again and put conscience back into the natural grocery market.

Photo of the day:

Life music entertainment in Alfafa's cafe in its opening day.  Izzy danced to the music with her mom.

Day 167 - Zhou Mama

Thought of the day: If it's hard to find a food place that serves healthy or authentic Chinese food, it's nearly impossible to find one that serves healthy and authentic Chinese food.  Luckily, I think I have just found one right here in downtown Boulder, thanks to the recommendation of a friend.  The menu is very small and you order from the counter, but who cares if everything tastes soooo good.  It's yet another proof that freshly prepared natural food tastes naturally good, without the assistance of dubious flavor enhancers.  I know that it makes a world of difference in taste when it comes to something as simple as a hot oatmeal.  But, to my surprise, only a handful of restaurants in Boulder offer organic oatmeals for breakfast.  How long will it take for restaurants to offer it as a standard?  How long will it take for people to demand for healthy food instead of just putting up with whatever is being used in the restaurant kitchens?  Hopefully it won't take very long.  As far as I can see, the tide is going in the right direction.  Perhaps one day I will not need to be so excited when I find a place like Zhou Mama, as a healthy food place will be the norm rather than an exception.

Photo of the day:

Zhou Mama talking to a guest.  Another reason I liked this place was that it had one of my favorite poems on the wall (it's to her right).  I will have lunch here pretty much all week this week.  My goal is to try out all the dishes by the end of the week - not a lofty goal, but it's a yummy one for sure!

Day 155 - Lila

Thought of the day: When I was watching the girls play in a part of the house filled with the late afternoon sun today, it struck me how much the effect of light had on my mood.  The places I love the best invariably have lots of sunny days - Arizona, Colorado, Tibet, Ticino.  I remembered what impressed me the most when I first walked out of the plane in Tibet was the intensity and clarity of the light.  I took an instant liking to that place right there right then.  Bright and cheery light can put me in a good mood.  It works better and more reliably than a shot of espresso. Apparently the light is also a healthier mood booster than caffeine, as it makes you feel better by increasing the serotonin level instead of the adrenaline level in your body.  That's probably why people feel more alive and are generally in a happier mood out in the sun, instead of feeling all revved up and overexcited when they are cooped up and heavily caffeinated in a dark place.  Yes, perhaps it's time for me to trade in those coffee house visits for more outdoor adventures under the bright Coloradan sun.

Photo of the day:

Lila playing with her sister.  Pools of lights dotted the floor.

Day 143 - Rolling

Thought of the day: My in-laws are here to visit for a month.  They come twice a year and we always have a good time together.  They have the vitality and open-mindedness that are enviable traits for people of any age.  And they are completely comfortable with who they are, wherever they are.  I recently read on a book called "Geography of Bliss" that the Swiss people are among the happiest on the earth.  It has less to do with their material wealth - Americans are not poor in comparison but Americans are not among the happiest in the world - and has more to do with their connection to the earth, the nature, and the community.  My father-in-law hikes a couple of hours every day regardless of the weather.  The public transportation in Switzerland is superb and it takes them to visit many beautiful areas whenever they want to.  They live in the same community for many years and have developed friendships that last for a life time.  The majority of their relatives also live close by or are within a train hop or two. What's a better place for people to retire and grow old than in their own well-beloved close-knit community? Another reason for the Swiss to be happy may be that they are less obsessed in fame, money, or any other worldly possessions.  For them, it's a lot less important to have a bigger car, bigger house, bigger yacht, bigger plane than to have a happier family and a happier life.  All these factors combined make them a more grounded, and thus, happier people.  Perhaps for similar reasons, I feel more grounded and happier in Boulder too than in the Silicon Valley.  The valley is great for ambitious people as one can practically feel the vibe and creative synergy in the air which make the valley an extraordinary place but at the same time also make one feel restless, unfulfilled and a constant need to "do" something.  In Boulder, I feel comfortable just to "be" who I am and enjoy day-to-day life and my family.  At the end, it's probably just a matter of balance between the "do" and "be".  If you don't let your drive to succeed overrun your pursuit of happiness, you will much more likely to be a happy person.  My in-laws are good examples of that.  I admire them for who they are, I am happy for them, and I am happy that they are staying with us.

Photo of the day:

Lila playing inside a tube.  She was rolling around all over the floor and was as happy as happy can be.  I can't help thinking that the little beings are more connected to the secret source of happiness than the rest of us.