“Mamma! Wake up, come and see!”

The day started being special. Presents magically appeared under the tree during the night… some from us, some from Father Xmas. 
A high mountain of brilliant colours, ribbons, shapes piled up on the wooden floor… which cracked every step we got closer to them.

“you can rip it! come-on, I want to see what’s inside’
‘oh thank you’
‘have you seen?!?! I can’t believe it’
‘you shouldn’t have done it!’
…. 

I know I’m a very lucky being, having definitely won the where-you’re-born lottery. 

Whether you had or not, in everyone’s life, there’s sadness sometimes. Moments of extreme pain. 

For me, this year, Xmas at home was sweet & sour. It was the first Xmas without my dad. 
The ritual of unwrapping presents happened as every year before 2020, although there was an underlying sadness because that chair was empty. 

To make sure the day remained special (also for the years to follow), I asked my mum to cook some special food. 
Which I enjoyed it on the day (and also on the Saturday. And Sunday. And Monday). (Yesss to the Xmas left-overs!)

And that made me think of how much food is linked to celebrations. To happy moments. Christmas, birthdays and dates. 

But how often do we eat only to ease how bad we feel?

If you find yourself truly enjoying what you eat <<First Name>>, make sure you treasure the flavour, and have fun! 

Food is energy. 
Pleasure. 
Being together.
Making moments more special.
And much more.

If you find yourself reaching for food when you feel ‘I’m not good at doing this, this will be a disaster, I’m not enough’... instead of self-sabotaging yourself, try this before your hand pulls the fridge door open:

[BTW, if you do so when your eyes are already scanning the floors of the fridge, it still works! ]

3 steps

1— take a breath in to the count of 4 (better if using the nostrils)
2— hold the breath to the count of 7
3— slowly breath out to the count of 8 (better if using the mouth)

This will make your nerves stay longer with your parasympathetic system (the one that helps you be calm, vs. the sympathetic system) … Only when you’re calm you have a clear mind.

I write it again, as it needs to sink down:

— Only when we’re calm, our mind is clear. 
— Mental fog? Not happening when we’re calm. 
— Only when our nerves & mind are calm, we can choose how to act (instead of reacting).

Are you trying this right now, even though you’re not in front of fridge?
Good! the more you practice it, the more it works.

And it also works if you want to stop reacting when somebody gets on your nerves (with no fridge-food-triggers attached).

I’d love to know if it works for you. Will you let me know?
I’ll reply back to you to let you know if it works for me… (I’m indulging in a bit too much of chocolate spread at the moment). 

To a life to enjoy, 
Laura



PS: Chocolate spread: do you like it too? I’m from Turin, the city where Nutella was born. Although I prefer the artisanal version of it. Vegan and organic version even better… even in London I found one that’s difficult to resist, let’s hope Brexit will not make it disappear from Ocado ( = online shopping for the non-London resident).