It’s been over a year since my last post, where i stated that i was working hard in my final year of university and was applying for teacher training courses.
This post is mainly for myself, to reflect on how far i have come. I graduated with a first class degree, and i am now halfway through my teacher training.
Looks like i stuck with my plan!
Say hello if anyone sees this post
With my final year of university in full swing, along with applying for teacher training courses; I’ve not really had much time to blog. If anyone still reads my posts, I plan to continue blogging whenever I get more free time. X
Minimalism isn’t a crazy anti-establishment protest, but a template for simple living. In the last three months I have donated or thrown away about 70% of the clothes in my wardrobe, leaving myself with no clutter. Aside from the tidy aesthetic that many people enjoy, the task of choosing what to wear has become extremely simple and more satisfying, as my wardrobe consists of only my favourite clothes. Minimalism is essentially living a decluttered life. From clothing to relationships and even Facebook friends lists, if something no longer adds value to your life, let it go. I’m not against consumption, but I do believe that it is important to realise the difference between consumption and compulsive consumption. Are you buying something for the sake of it, or is it something that you genuinely want or need? If you are ever unsure, I’d give it a few days and see if you still feel the same about the product a few days on.
Less clutter. More meaningful living.
Cars queue together, sitting under the artificial light of the city. The traffic light in the distance changes to green. No one moves. Rush-hour traffic is accepted like a daily ritual as radio stations play their adverts, creating an unquestioned background noise amongst passengers. A glimpse through the rear view mirror shows a cyclist heading home with ease, unhindered by the congestion. A few drivers are met with inspiration, but most just get more frustrated. The traffic light changes back to red, oblivious to the lack of movement surrounding it. Welcome to city. The place where dreams are supposedly made.
After two years of vegetarianism, I’ve finally decided to try out a vegan diet. Here is how I now make my curries.
Ingredients: Mixed peppers, garlic, onion, spinach, rice and curry sauce.
Optional: Naan bread, alpro Yogurt.
This is probably the most basic recipe you will ever see, however the pictures should help.
Rice can be cooked in a pan in 15 minutes, or even 2 minutes if you use microwavable rice. – https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/videos/techniques/how-cook-rice
Step one: fry onions, garlic, and peppers.
Step two: Add sauce of your choice along with spinach.
Step three: Pour the finished product over your rice. Maybe enjoy with a naan bread and some alpro yogurt.
Enjoy.
Social media use takes up a large proportion of our time. From the minute we wake up until we fall asleep, we are constantly refreshing our news feeds. Why do we do this? Because we don’t want to miss out on anything. We need to see everything that our 678 friends are doing, the posts they are liking and the people they are interacting with. Take a look at your Facebook news feed and see how long it takes until you see something that was worth seeing. It’ll probably take a while; after scrolling past photos from your old classmate’s cousins wedding and numerous adverts, you might find something worth seeing. Perhaps it’s time to declutter your Facebook. Scroll through your friends list and delete everyone that you don’t keep in contact with, either online or in real life. Be ruthless, most of your “friends” probably don’t even realise they have you on Facebook in the first place. After working through your friends list, go back to your news feed and refresh it. Hopefully your feed is much simpler and consists of posts that you actually want to see (apart from adverts but there’s not much you can do about them).
Fake news fuelling fake views,
Defending an ego defined by designer shoes and hidden blues.
What is progression, how can I improve?
Does wealth bring happiness and an uplifted mood?
Or is that a lie, to support those eating finer foods.
Imagine that you are sat alone, with nothing but an ice cream. The ice cream is a flavour that you have never tried. The flavour is toffee. As you slowly move the ice cream towards your face, you are hit with the sweet, refreshing aroma that the ice cream carries. You then lick the ice cream for the first time. The flavour is amazing. The strong, sugary taste coats your mouth and the toffee taste reminds you of eating sweets as a child. After you swallow, you are pleasantly surprised by an after taste that sits on your taste buds. You make a mental note; this is my new favourite ice cream.
A few days later, you buy the same toffee ice cream. Filled with excitement, you are ready to re-live the moment. As you begin to lick, the great flavour coats your taste buds. It is exactly how you expected, and brings you pure satisfaction. Yes, the ice cream was very nice, but it wasn’t the same as last time. This is because you had expectations to how the ice cream will taste and feel in your mouth. The experience only brought you satisfaction and nothing more; it met your expectations.
The ice cream tasted so good the first time you tried it is because you didn’t know what to expect; you hadn’t set a standard that needed to be met. The ice cream was great. You were also mindful when eating it as you noted the small details of the experience.
To try and visualise the point that I am trying to get across, picture a rugby goal. The rugby goal represents your expectations. For this example, a rugby ball represents the ice cream. The first time you tried the ice cream, you had little to no expectations, so picture that the rugby goal is low. The rugby ball is kicked, and because the goal is so low, the ball soars over the bar with flying colours. This represents your first experience with the ice cream, it overwhelmed you with pleasure. Now let’s picture that the rugby goal is much higher, representing your expectations the second time you tried the ice cream. The ball is now kicked, and it reaches the same height that it did last time. But this time, the ball only just makes it over the goal, this isn’t half as impressive.
It is, however, possible to lower expectations. By being grateful that you have the ice cream in the first place, you are already content with the moment, and therefore any other positive feelings that come from eating the ice cream become a bonus. Leaving the ice cream example behind, I will try to put this theory into a different context. You are about to eat out at a restaurant for dinner, the food and service could be great, or it could be not very good at all, this applies to every restaurant, even your favourite place has its bad days. Before eating out, you remind yourself that you are happy to be fortunate enough to afford to eat out. At this point, you are already satisfied. You have now just finished your meal, it wasn’t that great, nowhere near as good as last time. But this doesn’t matter, you were already content. You are grateful that you have the opportunity to eat out, as many people do not. You are not as annoyed as you usually would be, especially after recognising that you were already content before eating out.
In some cases, especially when trying new things, expectations can bring fear and self-doubt. Think of physical exercise as an example. If you have never been a sporty person, the idea of a run produces a picture in your head, probably an image with negative connotations, maybe of yourself, maybe of something else. Firstly, as with the restaurant example, if you can reach a level of satisfaction before engaging in the sport, this will be beneficial. Remind yourself of what you are lucky to have, even the simplest things. You may find this difficult, but start small, as your confidence grows you will recognise things that you never thought you should be grateful for. You are well enough to engage in sport or physical activity in the first place, this is something that not everyone can say. Now go ahead, don’t give yourself time to rationalise doubt in your mind, go and experience the benefits of the activity with an open mind. This activity can be anything, literally anything.
realprogression 