Detachment from reality: when lies become the “alter ego”

On February 11, 2016April 3, 2016 By Inese, visual artist, writer and life sciences bloggerIn addictions, goals, happiness, lifestyle, obsession, self-admiration20 Comments

Detachment from reality: when lies become the “alter ego”

Internet sometimes gets me. I’m having nausea after looking at Facebook stuff for longer than 5 minutes.

The understanding of being honest is so much distorted that I’m quite happy I could grow up without any internet. Without a need to constantly compare myself to others. Without a need to watch and analyze the reactions of others or lack of them. It feels totally absurd to me when I am seeing how much time is spent on self-analysis and self-observations. Some people analyze every single step and every single thought they had during the day, but it does not stop there. They analyze the social media reaction to every line and picture they have posted, and it is not surprising they come to conclusion there is something wrong with them quite frequently. Everybody would be convinced about the same if they kept endlessly analyzing everything and drawing conclusions which actually do not have any reason.

Does this relate to the obsession with selfies? The obsession of creating oneself in a way one doesn’t exist and would like to be perceived? The Internet certainly allows for that: one can create their online image and live with it until there comes along somebody who discovers they are not what they are pretending to be. I believe selfies and self-love; self-admiration; self-magnification and self-analysis are symptoms of the self-glorification epidemic. These are sprouts of the same root. How is it even possible one has so much time to take endless selfies, edit them, publish them, then follow-up on every single comment? Or just post in bunches whenever there is a chance to take out the phone. Afterwards, they quite often feel totally dissatisfied, disappointed and unhappy since there are so many others doing exactly the same and steeling their deserved love and admiration.

This is so phenomenally silly that it is fairly hard to get why anybody would want this to happen. Why would we want somebody else to define who we are, how we are, and sometimes even deal with awful misconceptions? What is the point to rely on somebody else’s judgement who most often does not even know you?

Whenever I’m reading about somebody’s struggles, I have to admit our struggles and sufferings are really suited to the greatness or nothingness of our personal perception. It is obvious that difficult and intolerable has hundreds of interpretations. Once I heard some famous girl telling on TV that it was such a disaster for her to choose the correct nail polish. One rich and famous person told she was facing extreme difficulties and hardships choosing outfits, it took like hours to choose a dress. Wouldn’t that be excellent if the most difficult thing I have to deal with was choosing an outfit?

What really strikes is that most people assume life is supposed to be smooth as an ice-cream in a cone.

That is the wrong message from social media. Things don’t change just because we call them differently. Cabbage does not become a rose if we call it “rose”. Some pictures so obviously scream “Like me, like me, like me!” Do I? Not really, and I do not post any likes under pictures if I think the look is rather bad than good. I usually avoid commenting on family pictures or other personal photos.

I was also reading how somebody thought they were ready now to fall in love, so this should have been happening shortly afterwards. They were very disappointed when it didn’t. It seems nobody told them it is by far not enough to write on the wall: I am lovable; I deserve love; I am beautiful, so on. Love is the most complex chemistry and it has so many ways of expressing itself. It never comes when we are asking it to. It’s more unpredictable than winning a lottery. The winner is rare and the time when this happens is unknown. Just like all good things in life. It is too bad there is so much fake stuff out there.

Addiction to social media and devices causes extreme detachment from reality and distorted evaluation of actual matters. Overrated and overpraised nothingness means nothing, as well. I’d say be careful with compliments. Be realistic towards yourself. We are so different, because our DNA is unique, our life, love and happiness are unique. Do not allow anybody to tell you who you are, what you should like, love or go for.

Keeping memories alive and our brain fit

On January 20, 2016April 1, 2022 By Inese, visual artist, writer and life sciences bloggerIn brain health, depression, happiness, health, lifestyle, mental fitness10 Comments

We know what happens to body parts not in use, for instance, during longer periods of immobilization: they degenerate and we have to work very hard to re-establish their flexibility and activity, and that involves all tissues and cells. That takes work, exercise and treatment. While wrinkles on somebody’s face or body shape clearly indicate person’s age and are visible at a first glance, the memory glitches and mild brain dysfunction are not. That’s why most people are obsessed with looking younger at any means, with diets, must have outfits and tools. That is an inevitable part of the visible and directly noticeable personality. Nobody is afraid to spend money on gym, sports equipment, hairdo, makeup, plastic surgeon and costly skin treatments. There’s so much money spent on useless food supplements which quite often harm the user without giving any of the benefits commercials promise. How come the most important part, the commandment and interaction managing center, the brain is so frequently left out of the scene of self-improvement?

Keeping memories alive and watching the brain health is the most neglected aspect of our general health. Why?

Most likely, the main reason is nobody can see the aging of our brain or notice it right away. As it progresses, the person experiencing this badly affecting disorder is not even aware of it. This trouble becomes a serious issue when the memory loss is already large enough to affect the daily routine and any normal activities.

We simply should not allow that happen. Do we? Along with genetically inherited factors, mobile and digital devices do not demand us to use the memory and our brain. Everything is on the phone or laptop: directions, reminders, alarms, alerts and lists. We can send notes to ourselves and make endless to-do and other lists. How is that bad? It’s very simple: while we are watching screens or scrolling through them, our brain is half asleep. It’s crying for attention, but most people do not take this seriously until the brain turns itself off. The usage of our brain with well-known activities even with demanding, but familiar mental activities is very little. The brain requires daily exercise, daily workload and high level usage. That’s the only way to keep neurons alive and not to lose any connections which are called synapses. That’s the only way to develop new neurons at any age. The research in twins shows that genetic factors are by far not everything since one of twins develops dementia or Alzheimer’s while the other does not. That is a very strong indication in favor of epigenetic factors, like our daily activities, the work we do, the level of our involvement in challenging mental tasks.

Good food, absence of harmful chemicals, physical activity and proper care are essential elements of our well-being, but they make no sense when the brain stops functioning. They make zero sense without cognitive function and memory. The sad reality looks like this, however: once we are done with school and degrees, the active learning period ends, too. How many people who engage in intentional brain exercises on a daily basis when their job does not require that do you know? Let’s compare this number with people who care about their diet and physical activity. I can bet that there are very few who will say they know a lot of people who learn playing a new instrument, who do a research or learn a new language and who do visual arts for their brain exercises every day at an older age.

I would call the lack of brain exercising phenomenal in times when statistics reveal that the number of people suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s is expected to double in countries like Canada and the USA by 2038. Besides, there is nothing complicated about it: book your drawing and painting class, language learning course, music class or do your research with visual illustrations right away. Do not delay because any hesitation is causing trouble.

It’s proven by now through many controlled trials that the best brain life boosting activity is drawing and painting because:

it is something new every time;

it is challenging and requires obtaining new skills every single minute;

it is a skill one can build on while starting at an easy level;

it is rewarding and pleasurable activity;

it involves socializing when taking a class in a group;

it reduces stress, anxiety and nervousness;

it involves positive thinking and positive attitude towards reality.

These elements of brain exercising are essential. Besides, doing an art class is easy, affordable and some class always takes place close by. Just a small note: drawing and painting with alcohol does not improve brain function because we get opposite effects: alcohol kills brain cells while visual art extends the life of neurons and number of their connections.

Taking care of the brain is essential. We shouldn’t put it off.

New Year: setting steps and path to better ourselves

On December 31, 2015April 1, 2022 By Inese, visual artist, writer and life sciences bloggerIn challenge, goals, happiness, lifestyle, New Year's Resolutions, positive thinking2 Comments

Who am I in the school of life? A life-long student, an observer, an explorer, and a teacher. The main thing is: we should never say “I know it all”. We do not, and it is unlikely, we ever will.

My personal experience is that too much talking is useless and leads to misunderstandings, disputes which solve nothing but cause reactions which would not happen otherwise. I also think that talking and discussions should be kept to minimum as opposed to simply getting things done. It is a point of view of and Eastern European. I was watching some movies back then in 70-s, and there were some serials which most often involved: Do you want to talk about this?” These series showed that these particular people could avoid so many misunderstandings if they only would not talk so much. If they simply had been acting as they had intended to. Well, many counselling and advisory services want us to do exactly that: talk about things. I realize that there are people who need to talk out their problems. I am somebody who has to act in order to solve something.

A typical person with western upbringing makes plans, drawings, sketches, explores all possible materials, any possible tools and any ways to get some particular item done, and this involves endless discussions either on the phone or in person. A typical person with eastern upbringing gets right away to make that particular thing they need. They have a necessity for that item and a plan in their head, they have some experience and they most often use whatever is available without special tools and without special exploration. If there is something I will desperately need to get by, I can get it any time. The result is usually equally good. It is just so that my direct approach saves time and misunderstandings. It saves discussions and arguments. I have also seen how people, who want to be prepared for everything, get done nothing. Therefore, I would say: just get to it whatever it is you have decided to accomplish. Life always makes its corrections. It always does, whether that is a house you are building or a relationship you are fixing. We certainly need a general plan which outlines steps we are about to make in order to get wherever we want. However, steps and path are what we have to be aware of at first. Pointing out steps and becoming knowledgeable about clear path which leads us to the result is actually more important than the distant and huge goal itself.

It is also so that the brain can easily identify such steps and alert us by giving certain signals if we are about to lose our path and to get lost.

Here is an example: resolution I will be healthy and eat healthy realistically means nothing in the point of view of the brain. It will say: so what? Be. Resolution: I will discontinue any soft drink usage either at home or eating out indicates path how to get rid at least of some unwanted chemicals and sugars.

Resolution: I will lose weight means absolutely nothing for the brain. Resolution: I will take 30 minutes long walk every night between 7 and 7.30 pm gives your brain an idea what to stick at. Resolution: I will be nice to other people technically means nothing. Specify the situations and steps.

Resolution: I will control my blood sugar more frequently to avoid upsetting my family with my bad moods is a good resolution. I will most likely do just that.

My other New Year’s resolution due to the above explained also is: I will speak less and only when the situation requires, and think, make decisions and do more.

Specifying steps, pathways and issues in numbers helps, as well. The signal has to be direct and call to action. That leads to big goals much faster and with less frustration and disappointment for failures.

Happy New Year and may all your dreams come true!

Food for brain: feed your happiness, not depression

On December 28, 2015August 3, 2017 By Inese, visual artist, writer and life sciences bloggerIn depression, happiness, health, life, lifestyle, natural treatment, nutrition20 Comments

Do you sometimes think that everything you eat can make you happy, full of energy and joy, or upset, depressed and exhausted? The truth is, feeding our brain the right way will provide us with more power to overcome bad days, allow to have much fewer bad days and to feel better and less stressed out or anxious.

We are aware by now that we can successfully teach and exercise our emotions and feelings provided the chemical reactions and levels of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters are in balance. However, we rarely think, that food we consume and nutrients we provide our body with have an extremely huge impact on our mental state, emotions, feelings and ability to determine whether we are having more bad or good days. Among the most important brain chemicals are serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, melatonin, insulin and prostaglandins.

Due to external and internal stresses, many people might complain about very long-lasting mild depression. I have heard recently many saying they experience a seasonal affective disorder. Well, we all do to some extent if any nutrients are lacking in our diet and we don’t give an appropriate boost of those.

I used to have extremely bad intolerance to winter darkness and was upset most of the time when the weather was cold and I couldn’t get enough air and sunlight. I had sort of no energy to deal with any issues. I refused jobs just because I didn’t feel I could handle them. As many of you know, I’ve devoted many years to medical research, writing and analysis of patient data and symptoms; therefore, I have come to conclusions that everything which is within us affects everything from our physical condition to our mental states.

Digestive and metabolism disorders heavily affect the balance of brain chemicals. For instance, most of serotonin is produced in our gut and during the sleep. It’s extremely simple: people who have good metabolism and no noticeable lack of nutrients and who take their time to rest and pay attention to long enough and good sleep, shouldn’t be having too many bad days either.

How about external stressors which do not depend on us? Like the angry voice of your boss or piles of work that needs to be done, but you’re stuck in a traffic jam, or kids insisting you do one thing, husband being grumpy about something else while you’d rather do nothing of that, but something totally different you believe you need at the moment? That’s exactly the same story: we have built in coping mechanisms, and when our brain chemicals are in good balance, when we do have our thyroid and adrenal glands not working in hypo-or hiper- regimen, these coping mechanisms can work properly, too. That is why you will see in the same situation one person laughing, the other person ignoring this situation completely, but the third one will be crying or going crazy. It’s not exactly their personality that causes these reactions; it’s how well they are prepared for dealing with any issues.

Everything starts in the gut. When we are treating a mood disorder or mild depression with strong medicines, alcohol, drugs and comfort food, we are aiming for side effects and reactions which we actually want to avoid. The New Year is almost at our door step and holiday season is in full swing, so alcohol consumption is high. Your liver does not care how beautiful the cocktail looks or how expensive the drink is: once the processing starts, a big label “toxins” is assigned to the contents of the decorated drink. Many pre-processed foods, soft drinks and food with high content of artificial ingredients get assigned the same label: “toxins”. When we add to this some damage which over years has happened to parts of our body that take care of removing any toxins and leftovers, the picture becomes quite clear: these toxins are going nowhere, but accumulating straight within us, poisoning our mood, destroying our chemical balance and making levels of brain chemicals significantly off. Therefore, it should be very easy to understand: treating bad mood with a pill, drug, alcohol or sweets is absolutely wrong. This means relieving symptoms for a short-term while, in fact, we need a long-term adjustment and correction to the cause of all these disorders and imbalances. That’s how we get caught in a roller coaster of sweets and sugars that we decorate with a glass of wine or champagne.

Artificial supplements and drug store vitamins might not always get absorbed as good as the ones which come from the real sources, just because your ancient DNA and your body recognizes them much better.

If you love engaging in writing New Year’s resolutions, the first and the most important item should address the BALANCE: balanced activities, balanced sleep-awake periods, balanced intake of nutrients, balanced body processes, balanced reactions due to balanced metabolism. Everything else is secondary.

I love not only eating vegetables, but I’m extremely happy to take their pictures, as well. This activity alone lifts my mood. I paint these things quite often also: beautiful shapes, colors, it’s pleasure for eyes, as well.

Christmas memories that can make us cry

On December 18, 2015January 26, 2018 By Inese, visual artist, writer and life sciences bloggerIn Christmas, depression, happiness, lifestyle, positive energy, sadness13 Comments

There is a house on a hill far, far away, across the ocean, across huge fields and deep forests, and my mom is writing a Christmas card to me sitting at her old table, wearing a blue warm shawl around shoulders in her small lovely room. Letters are lining up unevenly, and the card always starts with “My dear daughter”.

Christmas time is very special time not only because we are trying to do something good for others, to give more than take, to support more than we usually do, but also because it brings back memories. If you’re older like me, you are having plenty of memories, as well. Each year has been marked with some event, some person, some special gift, somebody’s birth, wedding or death. I intentionally sometimes do not look through photos. These are the old, real photos on paper that I’m talking about; a few are grey-yellowish already since they’ve been taken more than 50 years ago. I don’t want to hurt myself too much because that is the past and it’s not in our power to return to life those people who have walked away either from us, or from this dimension.

If you are like me, your friends and family live very far away in another continent. My husband’s family is in Canada, but nobody resides close to us. Our Christmas means only two of us, and I am so grateful it is two, not only one. I have had completely lonely Christmas and bad ones, too, when there was no food on the table and when I even couldn’t get a bus ticked to get to my family back then in Latvia. I have been sick during some Christmas and I have been extremely happy also. I have been even freezing terribly during some Christmas, there was very little firewood at home, and we needed it badly to keep the fire in the stove going and ourselves from freezing.

If you are a very sensitive person who easily slides into depression, you should keep yourself away from the most painful memories, too. Some tear or a few running down the cheek is absolutely fine, but we shouldn’t submerge ourselves into a deep, dark, lonely lake of tears and melancholy. It helps to be among other people, at least chatting with online friends or somebody over the phone will make it feel as if together with somebody. There are always events at the church, and nobody feels lonely there. It is wrong to assume that one has to be only smiles if they want to cry in reality. It is fine to let your memories unfold as long as they don’t wrap you up in a too thick layer of regrets, feeling of guilt and sadness. The worst companion for a lonely grieving person is alcohol. It can create the illusion of joy and pleasure, but it fades away very quickly leaving one in deeper depression than ever. Whatever you do, do not use alcohol as a pain reliever. The blurry mind gives us wrong instructions and takes onto wrong route.

Whatever our memories and situation at Christmas, there is always something to be grateful for. It is fantastic to be with somebody. It is great to have good food. It is excellent to have lights and candles and to be warm. It is a blessing to have somebody who loves you and who you can love in return. Don’t have a party? So what? Have to stay in bed? Well, next year should be having a better ending then. Things did not happen as you expected? They here and there do, and they very often don’t. Too busy, too many guests, too boring and tiring party? Relax; take your time, one can always find an excuse to sit down at some quiet corner.

My best Christmas memories are associated with family which is far away at the moment. We were very happy together. Celebration was not that much about plenty or expensive gifts those times, but mostly about the great feeling, Christmas warmth, delicious self-made meals, Christmas songs. Our tradition also includes saying a Christmas poem at the tree, and all kids were doing that in order to receive their gifts. It was always a bit different in Latvia: the biggest celebration is on December 24. We are supposed to have 9 dishes on the table; we are supposed to eat something 9 times during this night, we sing a lot of special Christmas songs and we have also other 2000 year old traditions: like dressing up in special costumes and visiting other houses in the neighbourhood. It used to be so much fun that sometimes we returned home only by 3 or 4 in the morning. We were laughing a lot, even dancing. Giving, receiving and unwrapping of gifts was always done on December 24, as well. Therefore, Canadian Christmas seems quite boring to me. It’s most likely a very nice celebration when somebody gives a Christmas party, but it is a really slowly unwinding night for people who do not have any guests, visitors and who are simply lonely.

We cannot buy love or happiness with a gift, but we can show our love and gratitude. Giving somebody an opportunity to feel safe and preventing somebody from loneliness is a valuable gift, as well. There are people who only need you to be with them, and not much more. To light up a candle, to make a place for joy.

The soothing Sunday thoughts: late autumn midnight

On November 15, 2015April 1, 2022 By Inese, visual artist, writer and life sciences bloggerIn fall, happiness, lifestyle, nature photography, pain, sadness, writing8 Comments

Look how leaves are dancing and swirling around, and it is such a sad dance with wind whispers brushing our face and with colors fading away and making a room for the silence.

The silence covers our daily struggles and doubts with weightless cloth of dusk as the darkness sets in to rescue us from the exhaustion. Or? Or to torture us with its deceptive softness and tranquility. Some of us cannot close our eyes and say a prayer with hope that the next day is going to meet us with more enjoyable events.

The bare trees share our despair, but the cool sun tries to make everything look better and more attractive. Or? Or our wrinkles are visible so well in the bright sunlight and there’s nothing we can do about it. Not at this moment which takes so much away from us and leaves nothing instead.

I am finding that getting older has made me more moderate and more appreciative of half-tones: grey hues, soft shadows, hardly-visible lines and I can also experience the entire autumn within just one leaf, I don’t need the whole tree anymore. Or? Or this is the experience reminding me that nothing is here to keep. I am writing down this moment and splashing some paint over a paper. Somebody might find it after years, and they would be speculating: who did this and why these colors are so strange and washed out?

It’s a very late autumn day with just one leaf still not saying good-bye and not flying off the tree. This day has my steps which get lost in the rustling layers of leaves. This is how the day walks away, too. So little done, no perfect memories remain, no bad pain, no huge achievements. Just small steps melting away in the rustling leaves. There is not one single color missing in this bright carpet of leaves: the mosaic is complete.

Colorful and soothing

Tiny apples

Garden is going to sleep

Joggling between light and darkness: sunlight energy preserves

On October 5, 2015April 1, 2022 By Inese, visual artist, writer and life sciences bloggerIn fall, happiness, health benefits, life energy, mindfulness, nature15 Comments

Are you just like me, a person sensitive to the sunlight and lack of it? Well, the gold of falling leaves and frost-touched trees will still shine through the dullness of cool days, but more than ever we should be thinking about the preservation of some sunlight within us for the exhausting and energy draining winter.

There’s inspiration everywhere at the moment. Have you seen the vines recently? Yellowish, soft green, orange, light red, saturated red and purple: it is such a symphony of colors which burst out straight in our backyard. What do the bright orange and red ash-berries and rose hips tell you? Pick us for tea, pick us for jam, and pick us because we’re ready to celebrate the fall!

Herbal tea with a tiny bit of fresh ginger is an excellent warming and body cleaning drink. As you may know, moderate doses of any tea which you feel attracted to, will only do good for you. Fruits and vegetables have top nutrient value around their harvest time. Although, we can eat vegetables and fruits all year round nowadays, the naturally ripened and freshly harvested ones are the best choice for our taste buds and body, especially those ones grown in the area where we come from or reside in.

The red rowan

Take a walk

The more sun and good weather a fruit or vegetable has enjoyed during its ripening, the more of good energy it will have. Indeed, I’m referring not only to the energy we are measuring in calories, but also to the universal energy which is present in everything either as positive, neutral or negative vibrations. This energy has also a direct value: it will result in pleasure, feeling of happiness and life energy, in a strong bad luck resisting force. This means: the same fruit or vegetable gives us double benefit when we consume it straight after its harvest while it is still full of life, has undamaged cells and is rich in flavor.

Garden is full of treasures

Calorie counting makes people mean, small-minded, it upsets them, and they feel as if being punished for something which is not their fault. This is the time to enjoy any natural fruit and vegetable dishes, eat them free of guilt and with huge pleasure, therefore, our meals will result in great effects on our mind and health.

This is the time to take long walks, make our hearts and souls take off with leaves and dance in the wind! It’s way overrated that big physical loads in sweaty gyms make one feel good and healthy. Look at some people: how much struggle they go through to get their daily dose of physical exercise! Fresh air is absolutely free so far, and the best exercise everybody will benefit from is a simple walk. When the sun plays a shadow game in colorful leaves, it is also a pleasure for our eyes. This is exactly the way to achieve mindful experience of happiness right here and right now. Why not go for it?

Did you know that brown shades of lipstick are really in for the fall? How about coffee with cream if you’re blonde like me?

Happy fall and lots of sun!

The patient, calming and adorable garden neighbor cucumber: love it, eat it, pickle it!

On August 17, 2015September 27, 2022 By Inese, visual artist, writer and life sciences bloggerIn easy and quick recipes, easy diet, healthy food, lifestyle, vegetable recipes, wonder foods23 Comments

Cucumbers are in the season. At least in my backyard garden, I can enjoy plenty of small pickling cucumbers and also long English type of cucumbers.

There are so many reasons to fall in love with this guy: preparation of salad or cucumber juice takes practically no time. Adding cucumber to salads and cold soups, gives them so much more freshness and flavor. I come originally from Latvia, which is a place where everybody has a garden or at least some balcony or backyard plants. Cucumber time in Latvia is associated with snacking on quick pickles, one hour pickles and tonnes of fresh garden salads. I have implemented this delicious summer snack in my Canadian summer.

My artistic side cannot stop adoring the shape of leaves, blooms and fruit, they are so attractive! I have painted and drawn them numerous times.

I am not sure whether the grocery store vegetables will do the same because of shipping and storage, but fresh ones from the garden can do a lot to improve our health. I personally simply love the flavor, the look and the taste of these easy to grow vegetables. All they need is watering fairly rich soil and some string to travel up.

I can tell from my own experience: having about one cucumber with dill and green onions a day stabilized my very moody blood glucose levels. It became so stable that I was really surprised, I’m not sure what I will do in the winter, but it works excellently for now, especially because I love eating them.

I will briefly remind that cucumbers:

refresh your breath, cure gums, destroy bad bacteria in the mouth;

facilitate digestion and metabolism, kill bad bacteria in the gut, cure constipation;

carry out toxins present in the body due to very specific substances they contain;

stabilize blood glucose levels, especially when consumed with dill;

stabilize blood pressure, especially with dill, because dill is a very well known blood pressure reducing herb;

when using cucumbers for longer term, they prevent cancer due to lariciresinol, pinoresinol, and secoisolariciresinol that cucumbers contain;

reduce bad cholesterol due to sterols they contain;

flavor will calm you and put in a better mood, this is scientifically tested and found to be working;

cucumbers are an ideal product for weight loss: very few calories and lots of good stuff!

refresh skin, decrease swelling under eyes;

cure sunburnt skin;

help with hangover.

We could continue and continue.

Cucumbers are inexpensive and when in season, always available from farmers market and our own garden.

So, I picked some along with plenty of dills and blossoming dill and dill stems:

For inspiration some Latvian recipes from series: I have very little time and money

5 minute cucumber salad

Cut cucumber in medium thin slices. Small cucumbers and any cucumbers must be peeled (if needed, because sometimes they have thick skin) always from the light end; this prevents from getting the whole vegetable bitter. In dry weather, small cucumbers can become bitter if they lack water.

Chop generous amount of fresh dill and green onion.

Dress with either: sour cream plus small bit of mustard or some mild vigar (very little); mix of mayonnaise and whipping cream, like I do; olive oil plus mild vinegar. Lemon or lime don’t go well with cucumber. Add salt and pepper. Salt is added on cucumbers directly before serving, otherwise they release too much juice and water.

Dill goes so well with cucumber and has similar properties: regulates blood pressure and blood glucose levels

1 hour quick pickles

Choose a plastic or glass dish with tight lid.

Combine 2 teaspoons honey or sugar; 1.5 tablespoons vinegar; 0.5 teaspoons salt, freshly ground pepper, 2-3 cloves of garlic, cut in smaller pieces on 1 long cucumber or 2 small ones, mix

Cut cucumber in slices, they don’t need to be very thin, add plenty of chopped dill and finely chopped green onion. Close with lid. Shake well for about 30 seconds. Leave in room temperature for about 20 minutes, place in fridge until the meal time. 20 minutes is already enough. Serve. I know how people are afraid of vinegar, but small amounts of it go well with lots of recipes. It’s needed for pickling purposes.

Next day mild pickles

Pour water in a pot. Amount depends on how many jars you make.

On 1 litre water: 2 tablespoons kosher salt; 2 tablespoons sugar

Bring to boil. Meanwhile wash small pickling cucumbers. Cut off both ends. Stuff in a jar blossoming dill/dill stems, 2-3 cloves of garlic per 1 l jar; add some whole pepper, place cucumbers tightly. Cherry and black currant leaves work well, too. Use just 1-2 on each jar. Pour over boiling water. If desired, add some spoon of vinegar, but that is not necessary if you don’t like vinegar. It simply facilitates faster pickling process. Put on lid, leave in room temperature for quicker results, place in fridge to use after 2 days.

When left in room temperature, these pickles are ready after 12-15 hours, sometimes even faster. The smaller vegetables, the faster they get pickled. They absorb neither much sugar, nor salt. If you add very little, there won’t be any decent taste. We have very many varieties of this type of cucumber recipes in Latvia, I just described the absolutely simplest and quickest.

I love all of these, and I put new quick pickles in some jar every second day. After I’m done with quick pickles, I will put in some cucumbers for winter. Winter pickling recipe is obviously different. If you are worried about any ingredients, I’d say, don’t be silly and, secondly, replace vinegar with some strong sour substance.

Fruit flavored water ideas and how much water is healthy

On July 20, 2015February 27, 2022 By Inese, visual artist, writer and life sciences bloggerIn health, health benefits, healthy ideas, lifestyle, natural food, pictures of fruits2 Comments

The essential water

It has been hot and very hot recently, we had a heat warning in place, and I believe we are all aware how important it is to keep ourselves hydrated. People use all kinds of liquids to quench their thirst. However, using soft drinks, beer, milk shakes, especially the very sweet ones, will make us thirstier than we were.

Water is the most essential substance of the body, and therefore, it needs to remain within a healthy range in order to keep our body functioning properly. Our body has many signals, we just have to listen to these signals and replace the lost amount of water when we feel thirsty. However, that will depend, as well. Diabetics will feel thirsty always when the blood sugar is too high, that is a body signal to alarm that glucose rates are running high.

How much?

Moderate use of water is good for everybody, but the type of water is definitely a very private choice. People tend to follow all kinds of strange advices; there are many wrong ones on the internet, as well. Briefly saying, one has to know his own condition and use any substance responsibly, whether that is sugar, salt, water, juice or alcoholic beverages.

I would think that people who already have too much weight are staying away from sweetened drinks and especially in hot weather because their body already functions in a stress mode. We have to pay attention to heart palpitations, dizziness, fatigue, headache and similar symptoms; therefore carrying a bottle of water with us is a good idea for anybody, but especially for people with some disorders.

Water is simple

Water has a very simple chemical composition and therefore is absorbed fast: the first portion already after 5 minutes, the main part within 15 minutes, but a complete absorption is achieved after approximately 1.5 hours. Our body uses pure water, and that explains why normal amounts of it decrease the feeling of thirst. However, we should always use water in moderate amounts. Our kidneys can only process a certain amount of fluids and water within an hour, when we are exceeding about half a liter in hour we are asking for trouble.

Moderate use

Testing brain response to drinking water, scientists found that our brain has a positive response and creates a feeling of satisfaction only during the moment when we are quenching our thirst. Pressuring oneself to use more water than advisable (woman a bit over 2.5 liters and men about 3.5 liters during 24 hour period in conditions when activity level and sweat production is fairly high) makes no sense (I am not referring to people who do sports). Our kidneys will have to work in extreme stress conditions and when the amount noticeably exceeds the amount our kidneys are able to process we will experience a situation when the electrolyte (salt and mineral) content in the blood is severely diluted, resulting in extremely low sodium levels in the blood. This condition is called hyponatremia. The outcome can be fatal. One should never ever participate in any drinking competitions, even when it is something as innocent as water. If this person stays alive, kidney failure is inevitable.

Low sodium

Many conditions including congestive heart failure, liver and kidney failure, pneumonia and drinking abnormal amounts of water in a short period of time are commonly associated with a low sodium concentration in the blood. Therefore, be aware of how much of water is healthy for your personal health condition. Too much is never good, as we know keeping everything in balance never harms.

Will people who prefer just soft drinks fall in love with water? You could certainly try serving it as fruit water and slightly fruit-flavored water. Kids especially love the multicolored fruit slices in their cups and glasses. It looks festive and attractive. I personally never use any sweeteners with fruit water or similar water based drinks.

Color and freshness

Citrus fruits add so much freshness and flavor to these simple drinks that it is impossible not to try some. We can use different ice: freeze tea or diluted juice, place a mint leaf before pouring in water for freezing. I have taken very many pictures, I will continue with one more post how we can teach children to love water and how such a great habit makes our life easy.

I prepared ice, mineral water and water and sliced some orange, lemons, limes and cucumber. I have mint and lemon balm in my backyard, so I got some leaves, as well.

Such water looks great and is delicious and refreshing

There are always things one can add to enjoy such simple natural drink

Pleasure to look at, pleasure to try

Lots of freshness

I combined cucumber slices with lime, also adding a small bit of lime juice and some mint and lemon balm leaves here and there. There was no sweetness, but this water was extremely refreshing. The newest research tells us cucumber flavor alone is calming and makes us feeling more pleasant.

Lemons, limes and oranges are simply fresh; I think this is always the brain reaction towards citrus flavors.

There are millions of options and combinations, and all of them are good!

Stay hydrated and healthy!

Therapeutic horticulture for realistic optimists: one step closer to good life

On July 9, 2015April 1, 2022 By Inese, visual artist, writer and life sciences bloggerIn challenge, flower photography, happiness, health, lifestyle, natural treatment5 Comments

I would like to suggest implementing a few rewarding activities in our daily routine.

We can certainly find happiness within ourselves, but since we are also very social creatures, our happiness, feeling of fulfillment, pride, love, satisfaction with life and desire to embrace life as is, will quite often depend on relationships, appreciation of other people and interactions with them whether in a small family circle, in a larger social group or even global context. Therefore, we need a strong support. A strong something to hold on, or somebody who is always up to the challenge, who we can always rely on, who we can trust completely.

There is a person who we can always count on. This person is us. It can be extremely hard to make somebody else feel happy and satisfied with the current life settings if the situation is far from brilliant. However, it is practically always possible to make ourselves satisfied with life.

In order to avoid disappointments, I’d say we should

rely on ourselves whenever possible;

ask for support and advice people who we trust when we feel lost, and

always treat the situation realistically and appropriately. problems don’t solve themselves, we do.

Plenty of people suffer from pain, severe disorders, stress, nervousness, anxiety, insomnia, mental disorders, obesity, diabetes, liver or kidney diseases, cardiac and vascular illnesses, post-disease traumas and simply fear from life once they have experienced an unpleasant treatment from somebody, bad situations and accidents or loss of and detachment from people who they cared about.

That is painful, devastating and overwhelming; and although, we tell ourselves to forget and live our life as if nothing ever happened, it takes time and huge effort to either start everything from new, or correct whatever we are able to correct, change and adjust.

After a very bad accident about 2 decades ago, I can hardly recall any single day when there was no pain. It can be extremely bad or just irritating, but pain is always with me; my nasty companion, never leaving me alone. Multiple surgeries and long treatments were the reason I got into complications. Quite honestly, it’s not a pleasure, even though nobody would notice any visible changes in me. It is tough because I am on a strict schedule which doesn’t allow for any deviations. So, what do I do?

I love life even with all its troubles, with all its restrictions and limitations. There are many. However, I choose not to focus on limitations, but my abilities, talents and rewarding things.

I am writing in my other blog how art can be an extremely useful tool for maximizing our potential and doing something valuable which brings a lot of satisfaction and fulfillment in our life. There are many people who attend my classes, I would not have met them without my love to art and teaching.

Many people do gardening, love flowers, plants and nature, and that is fantastic!

Gardening can mean many different things: gardening for profit, gardening to provide oneself or family with clean and nutrition-rich produce, gardening for fun and as a hobby and gardening as therapeutic horticulture. You probably have not heard that much about the latter before, but this means using your garden, balcony, backyard or any natural space for growing plants, vegetables, herbs, flowers and similar, and doing this all mainly for therapeutic purposes. “Hortus” means “garden” in Latin, and that’s why we call it horticulture (cultivation of a garden). Horticulture has extremely long history and it deals with multiple food growing, exploring and enriching, and non-food aspects, including psychology, design and even treatments.

One does not have to be a scientist to see how many beneficial effects gardening has on the person who loves it.

How could gardening for therapeutic purposes help somebody who is not a gardener and doesn’t want to be one, but would love to still enjoy being out in the nature?

Beautiful and delicious

We are spending enormous time indoors: in buildings and in vehicles nowadays. That is a huge part of our life. We have lost the connection with natural processes and we have forgotten that nature has and always has had a cure for everything. The truth is, we simply walked away from it being sure that chemicals will replace anything we need and technology will make our life a dream. That did not quite happen, and the easy life came at a very high price: epidemic numbers of incurable and difficult-to-cure diseases, damaged DNA and inherited conditions from which children suffer and will keep suffering as adults all life.

Most people have forgotten or have never known how that feels: to touch the soil.

Well, they should try that because the Earth has incredible powers, and it can do both: cleansing and re-energizing. Therefore, people who would benefit most from growing something or participating in outdoor gardening activities are first of all small children, kids, adolescents, elderly and sick people or those who suffer from mental conditions.

Contact with soil, plants and flowers can be not only of huge aesthetic value, but it also contributes to everything we so badly want emotionally and physically: get rid of stress, sleep well without pills, become more confident, happy and satisfied with life by watching the growing and life cycle in the garden.

Here is what clinical research has found: therapeutic horticulture can help with

reduction of pain and stress, improvement of attention and focusing ability, decrease in agitation and anxiety, improvement of the quality of life;

gaining new skills and regaining the lost ones, improvement of memory, sense of responsibility and social interaction and many more depending on the person who needs some relief.

My beautiful garden: there is always only good news

How does the therapeutic horticulture work for me?

I do it mostly for pleasure and I simply must have a garden. I have always had one and have made numerous new gardens anywhere I lived, always from scratch. I take care about my flowers, plants and herbs every day and every moment when I can afford to be outdoors.

If I cannot walk or something else is wrong on that day, I can sit there and simply adore all shapes, colors and the natural perfection. The morning dew or afternoon heat, the mystic colors through foliage at sunset, the first berries or tomatoes: that is a source of endless calm, happiness and satisfaction. Being out in the garden re-energizes, takes away pain and cheers me up even in the worst days. I am drawing and painting my garden, flowers and vegetables, and garden becomes my art and inspiration. Well, it is an integral part of my life. It can replace so many things which I cannot do, attend or go to. I will return to this theme some time again because it is essential for me to share with others how much such simple activity can give us.