It comes around

Yesterday I met up with one of my best friends for lunch. We shared a delicious meal, and then I had to scoot to class…I had my shrimp curry packed up to go, but realized I couldn’t bike across campus without crashing and/or making a huge wasted mess of truly delicious leftovers, so I asked him if he could pass it along to someone who looked like they needed it, maybe if a homeless person wanted it (I’m not sick, and it was Lenten friendly).

Yesterday, my boyfriend asked me if he could take me today to a local sandwich place we both love – we don’t really get a chance to do lunch often during the week, so this is a very special treat. This morning on my way into class there was a homeless man outside of the restaurant we’re meeting at later, picking up trash in the parking lot and sweeping off the porch. The place doesn’t open until later, and no one else was around, so he wasn’t doing it for money or for show. He appeared to be doing it because there was a broom left outside, and it seemed like something that had to be done.

I don’t know why, but I kind of felt like this might have been a sign from above…a small little sign to say yes, the karma will happen. It’s just a little peculiar that yesterday I gave away food I could’ve thrown out to a homeless person, and today a homeless person was helping tidy the establishment I planned to eat at later for lunch. I know it could be a complete coincidence, and maybe I shouldn’t read much into it…but I still like to think this is a sign. I think someone is trying to tell me that it comes around. If you act for the greater good of humanity you will be blessed, because goodness breeds goodness and eventually it will come back to you as well. As Randy Pausch said, if you live your life properly, the karma will come to you. The dreams will come to you.

Just a thought to share with ya’ll…maybe a happy thought to keep in mind on this awesome Thursday. :-)

Dairy Free Challenge

I’m going dairy-free for 10-14 days to see how it affects me. I used to have a lactose allergy and grew out of it with puberty, but lately (despite Neti-potting daily) I’ve been having really terrible post-nasal drip issues that make running more than 3 miles nearly impossible. Several online articles I’ve found have suggested eliminating or cutting back on dairy products. I was intrigued and took a quick inventory of my pantry – goodness gracious do I eat a lot of dairy! Aside from the 1% I put on my cereal and use in my breakfast shakes, I also eat copious amount of yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese, string cheese and baby Bonbels as snacks, mozzarella cheese on my pasta, pepperjack in my eggs, feta on my salads (actually, I had 4 different kinds of cheese in my fridge alone), and macaroni and cheese. Incredible…I eat a good full serving of dairy with every meal, and often in between with snacks!

Needless to say cutting it out has been a challenge. In addition to dairy products, I’m supposed to cut out any product made with dairy derivatives – this means cutting out my Nutrigrain morning bars that have whey protein, my cereal made with lactose, my Veggie Cheese I bought in haste before researching the fact it’s made with the milk protein casein, and….chocolate. Actually that’s not totally true…very high cacao dark chocolates often are dairy free, but I’m a milk-chocolate kind of girl. I have found some Central Market truffles that are dairy free (thank god for cocoa butter), and I think they are my sweet tooth’s saving grace for the next ten days.

This semester has been going well – it’s more of a challenge than last semester (more difficult classes, tying things with the lab, observation hours, trying to earn a dime on the side with babysitting) but I’m balancing it so far. It’s just going so quickly…I cannot believe it’s February already. I’ve also noticed my thoughts are preoccupied with excitement about the future: about having a job (and a real paycheck for the first time in my life), about being on a mission to help people daily, about being able to move anywhere my little heart desires…maybe even sign up for one of those health practitioners without borders kind of deal and just travel all over. That’s good for motivation on occasion, but I don’t want to let it distract me. I’m trying more and more to live in the moment, stop wishing my life away on the dreams of where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing when I graduate. I have a lot of great things in front of me right here, right now. I love where I am, who I am, and what I’m doing…and I really want to actively pay attention to all of my God-given blessings. I am truly blessed.