Meatless Monday {2020 - week 20}

So here we are: week 20 of Meatless Monday 2020… I had a bad nights sleep on Sunday night which didn’t set me up well for Monday so food was a bit all over the place but we got through the day and the rest of the week has been better and we have managed 2 social distancing walks with grandparents which has been lovely and had updates on work and nursery, a lot of days feel like groundhog day though… and that can get draining for sure at times, this is a roller-coaster of a time and it’s ok to find it all too much sometimes, just got to keep going, start the next day a fresh best you can and start looking for joy in that one 🙂

Here’s what we wore:

Me: T-shirt and sunglasses: Sainsburys TU, Jeans: GAP

Boys: T-shirts, Trousers : thrifted or gifted from various sources, Vests: Tescos, Shoes: Clarks

What’s in my ears:

Finally finished listening to “Earth is Hiring by Peta Kelly” and whilst there are some things in it which didn’t speak to me, namely the aspects of the book from the perspective someone who is very rich, the perspective of someone who hasn’t had children yet and sometime parts are a bit out there about source and vibrations and retreats which she has been on but there is plenty which would take away from this book and concepts which are really interesting which have really made me think, these are listed below:

I loved the analogy of having a a a hose direct from source of creativity and that everyone’s goal should be to try and get rid of all the kinks in their hose so that their creativity and their enlightenment can flow straight from source. In laymen terms if something doesn’t feel right then its your body telling you that it isn’t right and you should listen to this.
I love the conversation around money in the how everyone has money story and how it’s possible to rewrite that money story and how we can get in a more positive relationship with money. How so many of us bad-mouth it without even thinking about it and how it is the source of all the world’s problems. Her suggestion in the book is to change the way you think about and talk about money, be grateful for what it does bring you in your life and when you spend it see it as investing and focus on what you get back rather than seeing it as a chore and a burden, for example when you pay your electricity bill then think about all the joy you get from that electricity you use rather than seeing it all as a negative bill which you have to pay and how hard it is to cover. I think there is definitely stuff which I am going to look on with different eyes thanks to this and I am thankful for her pointing this out. It reminds me of what my online yoga teacher, Adriene, says about us berating our bodies when they get ill rather than being thankful to them for fighting the illness and grateful to them when they are well.
There are some concepts which the link to other self development books and theories which I have read for example the idea of writing your story or what you want your future to look like in the first person, in the present tense is again suggested here, for example “I am confident and I read my speech and the audience responds with love and excitement for what I am delivering”. In this book she calls it your script and she says you should write a script for an event which is about to happen and then read it over and over or listen to it over and over just before the event happens and that will change the way your brain processes that event. I found that interesting that this is once again raised as something that you should do, it’s concept which I came across first in The Secret (Art of Attraction), it’s also something which is discussed constantly within the Hollis group in terms of daily goals which you write as if they’re already happened so so it may have some truth in it to trick your brain into believing that something has already happened.
She also talks about how people are human is f*** meaning that we are all flawed humans and it’s ok that we will try and have good intentions but sometimes we fail, and all any of us can do is get up and try again.
I like the gratitude peace which again is a shared piece around on the self-development books but this is gratitude for everyone trying to do good in the world and I think that’s a nice and a new thing which she highlights that that’s what we should do we should focus on when we see people doing good if that’s not everything that they’re doing but they’re doing one thing and then focus on the good thing and be thankful for that, for example be thankful for the person who who does one good thing for the environment but isn’t doing another thing, be thankful for that, which feeds into the whole human is f***** thing which I think is a positive way to look at the world.
When someone does something which you disagree with you should always try after having the initial emotional response, which you are allowed because you are also human, you should stand back and go they are trying their best and that’s the best way to look at them regardless of what their ideology is to always think with that person is trying their best to based on what they’ve got in the tools they have and that’s quite an interesting way to dispense anger, I think, towards others is to always thinking your own head they too were trying their best with the knowledge which they have, even if I don’t agree with those then they’re still trying their best.
I love the concept worshipping mother nature and how that is the most powerful source and the kind of source and the source which should be fine the behaviour of above everything else and she does a whole piece on what would mother nature do? (WWMND – she says that she wants to get a tattoo with that on her) and how forgiving that mother nature is and how none interfering mother nature is and how others could use this as a model to look at on how to behave yourself.

I thought this book is not what I expected and though I’m not sure what I expected when I read the title “Earth is hiring” but I think it’s a really interesting and I love the concept to encourage all of the readers of this book to all raise their vibrations and how that can create a more positive world if everyone tries to get into alignment and everyone tries to to lift themselves to be better people and do good in their own lives and how if everyone’s trying to do that then the world will quickly become a better place. We are all flawed humans but if we all work together on the good things then we will raise collective vibrations of doing things for the better and focus on the positives for the future. I would definitely recommend listening or reading this book just because it makes you think in a different way and I’m just try and read it with an open mind it may be parts which you take and parts that you don’t that’s what I find that they definitely were takeaways from it.

Here’s my week in 4:

Social Distancing Walks: As restrictions were eased a bit this week, we arranged and had 2 social distancing walks, one with each set of grandparents. It was wonderful to see them both in person again after so long, but it was so weird and hard to not allow any physical contact with the kids, but it was certainly a baby step back in the right direction, which I think at this point is all any of us can do. We deliberately went for a walk during the week and to woodland in a rural location, not where the crowds were likely to be, and it did work really well.
I joined the camping chair gang: Adam has one, the boys each have one, and is it wrong to say I was feeling left out 😉 but I wanted to get something feminine but not in an “here’s the boy one so here’s the girl one” kind of way, which is so often the case unfortunately with products which start as being for a male audience first I find. Then I found that Joules did one – whoop! I was pretty much sold instantly and I am so happy with this purchase. £30 well spent 🙂
2 day heat wave: It was hot hot hot for the first half of this week, with the temperatures getting into the high 20’s. Hard to not be able to go to a splash park, which would usually be my go to, but we had lots of fun in the paddling pool cooling off 🙂
Fashion Collab: I was offered a fashion collab this week, which was a first for me, and exciting to have, as we all know I just love anything pretty, I’m excited to show you the blog post reviewing the items I picked in the next week, but I hope that this turns into some more similar opportunities too and develops into being able to promote greener fashion brands going forward 🙂

Video of the week:

Only started watching this this week, and am loving it already. I just loved the book Becoming when I listened to it last year, I would highly recommend listening or reading it if you haven’t already. Michelle Obama is such an incredible and inspirational woman and is very much one of my celebrity mentors. So wonderful to see her for this documentary into the real her as she navigates her book tour for Becoming. 100% one to watch <3

What we ate this week…

Breakfast:

The boys had their banana and milk whilst I had my cuppa in the garden then we all had hot cross buns and fruit for breakfast and I had a much needed 2nd cuppa

Lunch:

Due to our late start we had a late breakfast, so we decided to just do cereal for lunch to prevent things from getting entirely topsy turvy. I also had a packet of beef hula hoops to keep me going (again these are surprising vegetarian – a lot of meat flavoured crisps seem to be). We shared some eccles cakes on our walk.

Dinner:

For dinner the boys had toast and beans :). I had a meze of pitta, carrots, pepper and hummus and then we all had yoghurt for pudding. Then I had a cup of rooibos tea and some matchmakers after the boys had gone to bed.