Whenever I eat a pomegranate, I think to myself, "handle these beautiful rubies with firmness and gentleness at the same time--a good reminder for me how to handle my precious children also."
This was a delicious accidental discovery. I had some residue from some essential oil on a plate, and ate my pomegranate on it.
1 Drop Essential Oil of Cinnamon
1 Pomegranate
Wipe the cinnamon oil lightly with a paper towel on the inside of your single serving bowl-it's important that there is only a hint of cinnamon. Don't drop the oil into the seeds themselves. Place Pomegranate Seeds in the bowl, stir, and eat up..
This is a modified version of my mother's Christmas wassail she used to make. I love the citrus juices in this recipe, and I can feel good about giving my kids a hot cup of Vitamin C and Antioxidants when they come in from the cold.
1 1/2 Cups Honey
4 Cups Water
3 Cinnamon Sticks
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1/4 tsp Ground Allspice
1 1/2 tsp Whole Cloves
3 Cups Orange Juice
3/4 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice
5 Cups Apple Cider
1 Cup Pineapple Juice
On Contentment~
Sometimes I go without the things I want, or know I need, but can postpone. It's like a game to see how long I can do without something. I remember when I didn't have a rolling pin, but instead of buying one, I used a Nalgene water bottle for couple of years, until I finally realized how ridiculous that was! Then, I went out to go buy one, and I'm sure in my self-deprivation, I decided to buy much more than just a rolling pin. I learned then, and I'm still learning now that making myself feel poor and needy is not a very healthy mentality. Deprivation leads to splurges. That's why dieting has never worked very well for people. Eventually, we lose our self control, and will power goes down the tubes, because we haven't allowed ourselves to enjoy life in moderation.
Real wealth is not financial increase. It is our quality of life. It is having the bounties of life. These bounties may be having more time to spend with our families and friends, having good health, or gaining knowledge, skills, and talents. A bounteous life is full of valuable experience, and time well spent. In a religious sense, it is having truth, forgiveness, repentance, inner peace, and love. These are the possessions to seek after. When I get thinking about it, I understand I have been so blessed to live such an abundant life.
True wealth is knowing that we have enough, and to take it further, it's knowing we are enough. Finding contentment is a way to having a peace amidst the demands we are surrounded by. Everywhere we look we are told that we need more than what we already have. We are told that we will never amount to being as wealthy, beautiful, educated, or talented as others. So echoing things I've said before--we either try to hard, or we just give up. There is a balance in feeling content with who we are, and what we have, without going to the extreme of deprivation. You deserve to become that person you want to be. Just be more patient about it, and in the process it will creep up peacefully upon you and rest.
This Christmas, I wish you all the peace of contentment, and your families too.
"Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.”
~Mary Oliver
