Breakfast Chats: Winter Sunsets (+ A Recipe Link)
Lifestyle conversations and everyday things
“Breakfast Chats” is a lighter series, where I share short musings and conversational tidbits about life things. It’s a regular, monthly feature that I’ve made open for access, through the year of 2024, to all subscribers, both free and paid.
Next month it’s going to be a one-year anniversary for A Slow Afternoon and I’m really so proud of how quietly but beautifully this little space has grown. I’ve been regular here with the newsletter issues, but I’m working on bringing the Instagram space back fully, so I’m going to have lots for you over there, and I hope you’ll enjoy that too.
For now, let’s get into today issue of Breakfast Chats ☼
1. Everyday Lifestyle Things
Last week, we went to see a friend of ours who hasn’t been feeling too well and as we were discussing different health related things, she told me that her doctor had advised her to sit straight and avoid the couch as much as possible. Now that advice was for her particular condition and some complications that she’s been dealing with, but even generally he mentioned that with our current lifestyles a lot of us not only spend a significant amount of time slumping in our couches to unwind, but also choose ones with extra soft structures that put a lot of pressure on the back. And his suggestion was that it’s better to either sit more neutrally or to fully lie back on your couch vs slouching in a way where your spine is taking a lot of stress because of your posture.
I was so intrigued by that conversation that I came back home and tried to read up about it more because I’ve honestly had an interest in better posture and spinal health since a few years now; not to say that I’m following all of that and doing things perfectly, but having the awareness has definitely helped me improve some habits.
And based on what I read after that conversation, was that these so called “comfortable” couch postures absolutely do create a lot of load on our bodies; there’s pressure on the spine, fluid can move through the spinal discs unevenly, the neck and shoulder muscles have to work harder to balance the head, backaches, strain on the joints, stuff like that.
I know with the kind of advice that we’re surrounded by these days, it can feel like, “oh god, now is this one more thing for me to manage?” But honestly, if we go back even 20-30 years, I can say for myself, I didn’t grow up with these super fancy couches; pretty much all the furniture in my parents’ home was straight and upright. And with time, I think we’ve been made to believe that cushier is better.
And so really, I feel like it’s not that a healthier lifestyle means adding on more things but understanding that we’ve become conditioned to believe that doing things for your health is time consuming and a hassle. It’s time-consuming to make a habit switch for sure, but once it’s a part of you, it does simplify your life.
And I think maybe, just maybe, it’s our modern day conveniences that have made our lives so inconvenient. We all know someone with a back issue, or neck or leg pain, and we wonder why it happens and I feel like the answers actually live within our daily practices that we’ve come to unsee.
I’m not saying that we should toss out what we’ve probably lovingly purchased, also maybe after a lot of saving and waiting, but to just rebuild better daily habits for no one else but our own and our family’s health.
And of course, I’m sharing what I found, but please do check in with an expert :)
2. Finding Wonder In Life
We started watching this show called Bodkin on Netflix this week, and we haven’t finished yet, so I don’t know how it’ll go, so this is not a recommendation. But I loved this part on one of the episodes and I’m going to share it with you here.
So, it’s set in a small town and one of the characters who’s come in from a bigger city, meets a local guy who owns and takes care of a huge piece of land that’s been in his family for generations. And he says that “other than the odd dip into town, I’ve never left the land”. Now the out-of-town guy is surprised by that and asks, “But don’t you get curious about what’s out there?”.
And this is what he says,
“I’m a very curious man. Every day I’m filled with wonder. When the lambs frolic in the spring. When the wren sings in the morning. When I was a boy, I watched a horde of eels wriggle their way down to the river. This land is full of stories. I never tire from hearing them. So why would I leave”.
I know travel is amazing and has its own beautiful lessons for life, but I think what I really felt with this part was that wonder exists in your heart and your eyes. You carry it with you, you don’t reach places for it. And in our lives, we don’t have to keep waiting for things to get somewhere, often what we need rests right here within us.
3. Small Traditions
Last weekend, Nabeel and I made some fruit trifle, which we were taking over to our friends’ place for Eid the next day. We’d had a busy day and it had gotten really late in the night and I thought I wasn’t up to it, but it ended up being the nicest hour, where we just quietly put it together. Just having that shared thing to do for your important festivals, holidays - even with all the mistakes and bloopers (because we always have those) - I feel like such things make the best memories.
Anyway, it turned out really great so I’m linking the recipe here, if you’d like to try.
4. Winter Sunsets
With winter here in Australia right now, we’ve been getting the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets these days. I’ve always felt that these two times of the day hold so much intelligence and magic, and just being able to witness them, for even a few seconds, really does feel like the biggest privilege.
You know, I’ve been thinking, so many things in life exist for us every single day, it’s only us who aren’t always present to witness them. The stars arrive every night, beautiful colors burst through the sky, the light swallows the dark – all at their promised time, no matter what. And I think one of the dreams of my life is to have enough space for them; if not daily, then at least most of my days.
5. Weekend Plans
The weekend is here and I’m planning on cozying up with a new book, Secrets of Divine Love. One of my best friends gifted it to me sometime back and ever since I’ve rediscovered a love for reading, I’ve been waiting to get started on it. Also, we have some friends to catch up with, do a little bit of organizing around the house and water the plants. I hope you have a lovely weekend ahead and if not, all my love to you, things do get better.
That’s pretty much it for our breakfast chat.
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I will see you soon ☼
You can let me know your thoughts later by sending me a message at @shehzeen.r or drop me a note at thedesiwonderwoman@gmail.com.
Music Credit: The music in my voiceover background is ‘Milky’ by Ninn Tendo.