Writing a gratitude list redirects your thinking so you focus on all the goodness in your life. Create a gratitude journal dedicated to all that you are grateful for.
Healing means placing love where there was none before. Forgiveness replaces anger. Peace conquers unrest. Healing means that you have replaced any physical, emotional, spiritual or mental disease with love.
Years ago, when I was raising my kids vegetarian, my parents had come for a visit. I gave my soul food loving father this vanilla smoothie to drink. He tried it. He looked at me and said, “I see my grandchildren are not suffering.” I found that comment hilarious. He drank the entire milkshake and asked for more.
Both of these shakes are long-standing recipes in my house. You know how you sometimes make the same thing over and over again? Not for a lack of imagination, but because it’s just that good. And this is super simple too.
Vanilla Milkshake
Three frozen peeled bananas
Two cups or more unsweetened vanilla or plain non-dairy milk – I use plain almond milk
Two packets stevia or two tablespoons agave
Cinnamon powder to taste
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, less if you use vanilla non-dairy milk
For the chocolate milkshake, just add three tablespoons of chocolate powder to the vanilla recipe. I use Hershey’s Cocoa.
Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender.
Tip:
Keep frozen bananas in your freezer so you’re always ready to make a milkshake. I wait for them to get ripe, full of brown spots. Then I put them in my freezer whole and unpeeled. When I make a milkshake, I run the bananas under hot water to easily remove the skin.
You can also peel and chop them. Store peeled bananas in a freezer bag.
Using frozen bananas is the difference between a banana smoothie and a vanilla milkshake.
“Our personal attempts to live humanely in this world are never wasted. Choosing to cultivate love rather than anger just might be what it takes to save the planet from extinction.”
– Pema Chodron, ThePlaces That Scare You
I’m reading this book right now, and it is a stellar work. Chodron, an American Buddhist nun, most known for her bestseller When Things Fall Apart, gives clear instruction on how to open the heart (and keep it open) especially when we don’t want to do so. A review is coming soon. If you’ve read the book, or any of her books, let me know what you think.
“……my therapist taught me, “Everything in moderation, except joy.” As I looked back over my life, I began to understand that my joy, indeed my very existence, depends on me inhaling goodness unapologetically.” – “Sharing ‘Good Vibes’ Only Can Save Your Life” by Danielle Young (link to full article below.)
I read that quote in the December 2019 issue of Essence magazine. I was reading the magazine at Firestone Auto Care while waiting for my car to be repaired after an unexpected breakdown. The column struck me so much that I took a picture of the above paragraph.
So how to inhale more goodness, more joy when the “dailyness” of life is wearing you down? Reading Mocha Angels 365 is always good! That Ms. Mocha Angel is on point! (HA HA!)
Doing things that bring you joy is key.
Enter ellieejay from the Pointless Overthinking blog. She wrote a post called “How to Love the Repetition of Life.” (link to full post below) Simple pleasures, with minimum effort and minimum cost, are the key the enjoying the repetition of life, says ellieejay. I’m down like four flat tires with her line of thinking.
The simplest of all my pleasures is singing. I sing all.the.time. Everywhere. Anywhere. Ask my kids. I dance too. I can’t dance worth snot, but I don’t care. Song and dance bring me joy. I can’t do either one of them too much.
How do you inhale goodness? What are your simple pleasures?
Ms. Mocha Angel 