Bite sized wisdom: stick to the core

Have you seen a tree blowing in the wind? A willow swaying on the banks of a creek, with the leaves moving, jumping, curving left and right, following the wind patterns.

While the leaves sway, the core of the tree is sturdy. Its branches are flexible and ready to face all incoming weather. Its trunk goes deep into the roots connecting to the Earth’s core, a place of strength that’s not visible to the eyes because it’s deep within.

That’s where all confidence comes from, a hidden place of power. Coming from a self that’s connected to the environment around. A self that knows to live in the moment, feeding off the surrounding energy. With time, we begin to understand things by collecting all life’s moments and analyzing them for a deeper knowledge. Not just coasting through life’s day to day events, but going deeper and drawing patterns of our actions.

Right now we are feeding off the energy around, but it doesn’t mean we’re feeding off the right energy. Having stopped feeding off the energy of our environment, we are now feeding off the energy of distractions. A glow of a dark screen as a new text message comes in, a red number on top of Facebook messenger, or an orange heart on a lovely photo. Distractions are addicting and they’re everywhere, but they’ll forever stay a distraction.

What really matters though is self actualization, self realization, self love and analysis. The roots of a tree begin in a seed. Its identity forever hidden inside Earth. By knowing who we are, learning to empower ourselves, and being kind to ourselves we become flexible for we will always believe in our own strength. Whichever way the situation may turn, we will always be true to the core principles that hold us up.

We develop these core principles with experience, trial and error, and constant innovation. By picking three or four to stick to, we adopt the ones that resonate with us. They can be either exercising, making a smoothie, trying to keep a promise, etc.

To be successful in life you have to first tap into yourself and find your hidden strength. If you stick to those values, even if pushed and pulled, you’ll never lose your bearings. Let’s pick a destination to follow, wherever it may lead. To do so, follow your heart, it regenerates itself and powers your whole body. It has wisdom to share, so listen in.

These ups and downs can shift through the day, but at the end of it we are who we are. So let’s make sure that we have a good core to grow on.

Happy developing!
Hokuma

Bite sized wisdom: seasons of a day

It seems like every living thing has a cycle to follow. There are four seasons in a year, different stages in a caterpillar’s metamorphosis, and different shapes a seed takes on before blooming into a flower.

If this is a fundamental truth of nature then does it mean we have seasons in a day? A spring, summer, fall and winter? If so, then our days might look something like this:

Spring (Morning) – You wake up slowly, but once off your feet you are full of energy which you acquired during your long night’s rest.

Summer (Brunch) – This is the time things really starting to heat up. You are on fire, responding to e-mails right and left, printing out copies of reports and dropping wisdom at meetings. You have reached the peak of your energy supply!

Fall (Afternoon) – After a long time in the heat you feel a bit burnt out. Your brain and muscles begin to relax from the day’s worth of work, and brain firings begin to cool.

Winter (Evening) – Having spent your energy on the day, it is time to hibernate with food, warmth and comfort. In the cold you heat yourself up, replenish your energy and set yourself for the upcoming day ahead.

With this in mind, is it possible to say that we have some cycles we follow, and the trick is to find the times or seasons that work in our favor. Doing so could help us find the period that works best to wake up to, to adjust to, to play with or to reinvent completely.

Each day is different. Just like each year brings us a new season, the goal of life is to enjoy each moment. To do that, our bodies and minds need to function sustainably and efficiently. One way to do this is to draw patterns that we can analyze and learn from.

Whichever route is taken, whichever season becomes crowned the favorite, things change, years become shorter, months become longer and everything around gets older.

Embracing the fleeting moments is what we have but uncovering its patterns is something fun to do – both for creativity and sustainability.

Happy uncovering!
Hokuma

Bite sized wisdom: winter is here

Dear Friends,

We are deep into winter. Leaves have fallen, birds have flown, and as I scribble down these words snow is making its second appearance. The beauty of snow is that it falls out of the darkest skies, on the gloomiest of days. It reminds us that some magic requires shadows to be seen.

This is true of our own magic and creativity. We as humans are made up of happiness and sadness, health and sickness, positivity and negativity, and yet we always seem to think that one is better than the other. It’s not. To fully appreciate the light we need to go as deeply into the darkness. I think this is why we have our own winters.

Usually winter makes us feel cold and bare. Many plants and animals are nowhere to be seen so we start believing that we are surrounded by something negative. We are not. While things may seem dead, they are actually re-energizing, planning and preparing for a new life ahead. Why do you think spring is one of the most colorful seasons? It’s because after conserving all the energy, the flora and fauna is ready to be reborn and appear in all its glory. I’d like to think this is also the reason we celebrate the New Year and the ‘new us’ during winter.

On a personal note, as is evident by lack of activity on the site, I’ve been fully immersed in my own winter. Though my winter came earlier than it did for others, I believe that come spring I will be more energized to create and give back than I have in the past.

After all these years I’ve learned that taking things slow and being constant is more important than rushing ahead in bursts of energy. One of my personal goals for 2016 is to stay constant. I will commit myself to writing at least one blog a week. The reason I’m sharing my personal goal with you is because having a support system as we go through life, or an outlet into which we can pour our thoughts and get back new perspectives, will help us grow better and stronger than if we do it alone.

I’m going back to basics and learning to live simply. A lemon tree produces just one sort of fruit all its life, but it does it so well! Instead of trying to be everything and nothing, because I get overwhelmed with all that I need to do, I’m allowing myself to focus on just one thing and perfecting that art as I go.

Life is short, and we should experience as much as we can, but we shouldn’t sacrifice on quality just so that we can increase the count. I’ve come to know that more is not always better. So, I’m getting behind nature and learning to take my sweet time because I know that when the time comes the fruits of labor will be that much sweeter!

Happy New Year!
Hokuma

Bite sized wisdom: accepting metamorphosis

The term metamorphosis is defined by dictionary.com as “a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism, as from the caterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adult butterfly”.

If you are not familiar with the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly then let me give you a crash course. A butterfly lays one egg, and since it’s very picky as to what it eats, it selects a plant that it knows the offspring will like.

The caterpillar is born in a skin that is too small for it, so as it grows the new skin forms on the inside and the older skin sheds off. After eating and crawling for most of its life the caterpillar reaches a point of adulthood where somehow it senses the need to transform. At that point the definition of life it grew to accept begins to change.

To bring on this change the caterpillar stops moving and finds a safe shelter in its chrysalis. There the caterpillar slowly transforms its body, grows wings, develops antennas and a slew of other things. This process takes about 10 to 14 days, and varies by species.

When the process is done the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly and emerges into the same world as a changed being. While life around may seem the same, the butterfly is not, and its past reality is replaced by a new one. Yet, even in this time, the butterfly is not done transforming. It needs to dry off its wings and build up flight muscles before it can fly.

Interestingly, if you ask a caterpillar about the future it imagines for itself it won’t be able to tell you that one day it will fly. And the buttery doesn’t remember its past to tell you where it came from, yet its the same organism.

Our lives are just like the caterpillar’s. We can’t predict the future and so we don’t know what treasures await us. We know that change is natural, but yet we fight it. And if we keep fighting off change then how will we ever transform into what we were born to become?

As another year comes closer to its end, we as creatures have no clue of what 2016 has in store, and truth be told, there is no need for guessing either. Our only task is to accept that whatever we define as our ‘life’ for the time being is subject to change. And we simply need to give ourselves the space and time to realize and transform into a new version of ourselves.

Day by day I’m learning to not fight the future but accept it as it comes.

So I’m always growing, always changing.

Happy transformation friends!
Hokuma

Bite sized wisdom: the path is the goal

Every seed comes with a purpose. Take the seed of a flower for instance. This seed has all the instructions on how to break open, ingest nutrients, drink water and soak in life.

To fulfill its ultimate life goal, blooming and pollinating for the next generation, the seed realizes it purpose day by day as it unfolds into a beautiful flower.

To change its destiny would be impossible. A rose came here to be a rose and nothing else. So have we come here with a purpose of our own. We will achieve it one way or another, but enjoying the path through all its stages is something we forget to do.

We do have some control, such as the intake of three key elements: water, nutrition and energy, the portion and combination of which can either propel or hinder our development. So, we do have input into what happens to us. Still, a rose by another other name will still be itself no matter how much water, nutrition or energy it takes in.

Nature shows us this message cycle after cycle, seasons after season, and yet we somehow forget that everything unfolds, changes and repeats. We cannot control what type of seed we are, all that we can do is accept the journey and enjoy the ride, because no one knows where it may lead to.

Right here, right now, life is happening.

Welcome life!
Hokuma

Bite sized wisdom: keep the garden growing

Dear Friends,

The heart of summer is already behind us and August is here, bringing us closer to a change in season and weather.

My garden, which started out small and green, has grown, bore fruit and is now withering away in the heat.

I am guilty of not giving it enough attention, or adapting quickly to the hot weather by increasing the portions of water I share with my green friends. But, everything in life is a lesson and the biggest trick is to learn from what comes our way.

Here are three life lessons my humble garden taught me in the past few days:

1. Lost fruits of love

My favorite plant in the garden was the strawberry bush. It always bore sweet red fruits for me to indulge in. When life became busy, the weather got hotter and my attention span shorter I forgot to water the plant more. Slowly the leaves turned brown and the red fruits, still waiting on the branches to be picked, simply dried up. The plant had no incentive to keep flowering as what it was offering was no longer appreciated, so it withered away. In life we have a lot of moments and sources of positivity that we take for granted. Then, one day that source decides not to supply us with any more gifts of love, but it is too late to turn back time and the only choice we have is to wait for another chance to treat it better. Next summer I plan to be wiser and more loving with my strawberry bush and the rest of the plants in the garden.

2. Go towards opportunity

While the more fragile plants were lost in the heat of the summer, other plants took the opportunity to bask in the sun and grow stronger. My other lovely plant, which gives me round cherry tomatoes to snack on is still green and sharing its treasures with me. When looking at the brown hues of my once green garden, this red fruit is a sign of hope and potential and so I don’t get sad. Instead of worrying about the state of the garden at the moment, I’m focusing on the powerful message that this “insignificant” tomato is sending me – ‘everything’s gonna be alright’. And that’s the case with life, no matter how bad things may be for you now, if you simply focus your attention on the good and the possibility of tomorrow then you’ll be happier and will still get to enjoy red fruits, even if they’re of a different kind.

3. Start planning for tomorrow today

One thing I learned this summer is that weather and time move quickly. If we are not prepared for the upcoming seasons and the changes they bring we are unable to address the challenges and take care of what we want to protect. So in the next few weeks I will be cleaning out my garden and planning what to plant next for the cooler weather. Luckily the list is long and I’ve got a lot to pick from, including onions, squash, carrots and so much more. To enjoy all of them, though, I need to prepare my garden and my self today. After all, what you reap you sow, and it’s never too early to plan for things you’re excited about!

Nature inspires me, motivates me, feeds me and nourishes my soul. My little garden is just a tiny shadow of what the world around us holds and all the wisdom it can share with us. The trick is to simply slow down, listen and pay attention to the lessons.

I hope these bite sized wisdom posts are helping you as much as they are helping me.

Happy living to all!
Hokuma

Bite sized wisdom: Plant science

Dear Readers,

Have you ever found yourself leaving things until the last minute? Moments when you overestimate the time you have and underestimate the time it takes you to do something.

In about a few minutes I’ll be leaving on a trip.

You might be wondering…why is this girl sitting writing this when she could be packing her last minute items and checking important documents. Well, I don’t have a valuable answer other than – I put this off until last minute.

And while this is possible to resolve thanks to new technology and inventions, in most cases in nature what you let slip from your hands rarely comes back. This is especially true of time and missed opportunities. Best example of opportunity is of course a seed that bears hidden fruits. Unfortunately, if you don’t plant the seed just in the right time with the right care nothing will grow of it.

Time is a special gift called life and we are the seeds of opportunity.

Lets sow them and start blooming!
Hokuma

New Beginnings

What a day Novruz was! So many new beginnings, and while some beginnings start on their own, others rise from the ashes of those that came before.

My new years was a ride of ups and downs. From unseeable obstacles popping out on my path, which I had no control over, to amazing people stepping in to help out. And then having a sudden load of happiness fall on my lap when I received a Google Alert on “food waste” and saw this very blog featured on the list! And in all that excitement, I watched the most tragic event, my computer absorbing its last charge of energy before it left my life forever.

And yes, we know that nothing lasts forever, but we avoid believing in it for fear of the changes it could bring. Even this very period of springing life and budding future comes at the heels of a cold winter, when everything lay dormant, cold and dark. And my computer was a metaphor for that.

It had a very difficult past. It came into my life suddenly and became a dear friend. It had its own share of troubles, from cracked screens, to near death experience, to actual death, and me spending lots of money trying to bring it back to life, because I wasn’t ready to let it go. And exactly two months after it was brought back to life, and came into my arms once more, I had to watch it die in the moment of so much joy and excitement. There’s no other explanation. It is a sign from the universe telling me to let the past be the past, because so much positivity is waiting for me ahead!

And no matter how much energy, money, time and love we invest, some things aren’t meant to last. No tight grips of the hand, or breaking of your back, wallet and mind, will keep that special something in your life. It needs to be set free.

Without much choice, I let go. It took a long time, but I’m finally able to embrace the ‘now’ of life. Realizing that instead of worrying about the future or trying to revive the past, it’s time to breathe deeper, speak softer, live calmer and love harder, because we never know at what moment our end may come.

2014 is going to be an amazing year- I feel it! And I can’t wait to see all the beauty, adventure and happiness, along with some sadness, it will bring my way.

On that note, I’d like to share with you some beautiful Azerbaijani pastries that I mentioned to you in the previous post, that are now accompanied with pictures. As well as, debut my beautiful ‘samani’, which you can see above this post. It grew into a lush green field on my small plate and I couldn’t be more thrilled. If you’d like to see more, then visit the Say No To Food Waste Facebook page.

I’d like to end this post by cheering to life, new beginnings and happy living!

Much love to you all!
Hokuma

HAPPY NOVRUZ!

The seeds of my samani have sprouted and are bravely growing upwards. The other day a delicious shipment of traditional deserts arrived on my footsteps: pakhlava, shekerbura and shor gogal. The house was filled with the aroma of rice and we lit up some candles.

This fire aspect of the holiday takes root in the Zoroastrian religion. On the last Tuesday before Novruz you make a bonfire to jump over and light up candles in the house. Each candle represents your family member. Each individual makes a wish, and it is said that the candle which dies out last represents the wish that will come true. So picking your candle wisely was always a difficult challenge for me.

But, as I prepare to celebrate the coming of a new astronomical year, the reawakening of nature, I feel something awakening in me. My spirits are higher, my smile is wider and I feel like a budding flower that is ready to open up its arms and sing to the world: “HELLO! I’M HERE! ALIVE AND HAPPY! SO GLAD TO BE HERE!”

This is what I feel, and I am so sure that many positive things are waiting all of us. So as you come together to celebrate, rekindle friendships or make new ones, stay open, stay positive and something magical will happen. And if you really want some extra protection, then burn some uzarlik (rue), as it will provide you protection from evil eyes and negative energies.

Here’s to new beginnings, new adventures and new life!

Happy Novruz friends!!

Much love,
Hokuma