Are hamburgers Kapha, Pitta or Vata?

You may have realised by now that I am a fairly introspective person. And by 'fairly' I mean 'very' :) But of late, I have been even more introspective than usual, just thinking about things. How things in life work, how I go about doing things. And as such, my reading list is wide and a little deep, as you can see from my book stack above.

What has prompted this is really one idea: I could be doing things a little better. I could feel a little better health-wise. I could approach what comes up in life's great cycle a little more calmly. There's room for improvement.

Health-wise, I have been dogged over the last couple of months by chronic sinusitis and a very delicate stomach, prone at the slightest provocation to upsets. But I keep going. Sniff my nasal spray, keep eating the same stuff I've been eating since I grew teeth. And the complaints are still there. Huh. Funny that. Maybe time to re-assess!

So, I've been reading about the Ayurvedic principle of well-being, with special reference to food. Don't ask me to explain it all to you just yet, but what I can tell you is that I am a Pitta-Vata type. Do you know anything about it? I'd love to discuss it with someone. But having said all that, I'm not going to get crazy about it. I'm still going to eat chocolate. Maybe even the odd hamburger if the mood strikes me. But I am going to try and put some of the principles in place - for now, I'm going to try the ideas that work for me, and see how I go. For some it might sound like half-measures, but I've found that the best approach for me is to take things one step at a time, not come over too ascetic or I'll give up. So tonight, I'm going to put together my own version of a Pitta-Vata dish. Rice, sweet potato, carrot, cumin and fennel seeds.

And I'll keep you posted on my journey of 1000 steps.

Away and here

I cannot tell you how much I enjoy being on holiday. I love it. In fact, I can honestly say, that I have never been anywhere that I didn't love. Some places, of course, I have loved more than others but there has never been anywhere that I have haboured an on-going dislike of. Even if that conclusion needs to be reached through rose-coloured glasses some years hence. I am always trepidatious about leaving behind the trappings and comforts of home before I go, but once I am there (wherever there may be) I am in my element. I love the very 'awayness' of being away. New things, things I have never seen before (and may well never see again), things which draw me out of myself and away from any problems which I have left behind and which may be waiting for me on my return. Strangely enough though, I always manage a disaster (thankfully minor so far) while I am away. There is a photograph of me amongst the April chill of Hay-on-Wye in Wales, an unbecoming woollen hat rammed onto my sinus-swollen head, my eyes puffy. I staggered around Japan with swollen ankles. There's evidence of this too - digitally captured I stand amongst the ordered and beautiful splendour of one of Kyoto's many temple gardens, one ungainly, elephantine foot swathed in bandage. In Germany, I thought it would be hot, so I took skirts and cheesecloth tops. It was so brisk that I had to buy jeans and a jumper at our first stop in Cologne. In Japan, I thought it would be cold, so I took my thickest jumpers, scarves and woollen hats. It was 28 degrees celsius most days and so I spent a considerable chunk of time hunting amongst the Japanese clothing shops for anything cooler which would fit my decidely non-Japanese frame. The more I think I am prepared, the more I try to cover every eventuality, the less prepared I seem to be. This is just one life-lesson which I have taken from traveling (if not quite thoroughly absorbed into my everyday life just yet) and it alone gives me all the more reason to love traveling so.