Day 80 – Moving on to India!

I’m going to look at India for my next (and maybe last?) country of this month’s topic. I’ve always been fascinated by the bits and pieces I know of Indian culture, and, now that I’ve moved to Silicon Valley, I’m surrounded by Indians on a daily basis, since many of them move here for work. I decided it’s a good time to learn more about their country. Also, since Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, visited India on her self-improvement mission, it seems somehow appropriate that I learn about the country on my own little budget self-improvement project.

And there’s a LOT to learn. India, home to over 1.2 billion people, is the second most populous country in the world, and the most populous democracy. It has long been a region of historic trade routes, and four world religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism) originated here. India is one of the fastest growing major economies, but the country still struggles with poverty and corruption. It has the third largest standing army in the world (behind China and the United States).India is also home to diverse wildlife and habitats. And, let’s not forget- Indian cuisine is delicious! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India)

How’s that for an overview? I’m excited to spend some time delving more into this intriguing country! Stay tuned this week for more!

Xoxo,

Diana

Day 5 - Monet's Badge of Honor

I’m feeling decidedly uninspired today, which may have something to do with the fact that I didn’t get much sleep last night. Yesterday was one of the first warm days in Chicago this year, and sometime in the late afternoon I realized that the AC wasn’t working. We opened all of the windows, but there aren’t any windows in the bedroom. (We live in a one bedroom right now and the baby sleeps in a bassinet in the bedroom). So… it was pretty warm and the baby was pretty unhappy about that and didn’t sleep well. Which means Mama didn’t sleep too great, either.

So, this morning while I drank my coffee, I was much more interested than usual in the amount of caffeine in said coffee. I had thought I was going to expand beyond the Impressionists today, but my groggy brain couldn’t figure out what I wanted to research. (Hey, I’m sure even the big name priv-lit authors I mentioned in my introductory blog had days like this!) I feel like you can’t really go wrong with Monet, so I decided to continue my exploration of his works.

I read the Metropolitan Museum’s page about Monet. (Find it here: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cmon/hd_cmon.htm ) Again, more than his work itself, I’m drawn to his story. I like to read about how the Impressionists were criticized in their time, and yet continued to paint in the Impressionistic style anyways. The article on Monet says that the Impressionists considered the criticism as a “badge of honor.” What if they had given up? What if Monet had followed the crowd and painted in the fashion that the “experts” thought he should? He might not be nearly as famous, or have had nearly the influence that he did. I think this is an important lesson for us all. As cliché as it may sound, not giving up in the face of criticism, and even using criticism to motivate you, really is such an important lesson. How many times have I not done something because there was even a *possibility* that others might think it was stupid? At first, I did not even want to write this simple blog because I thought it might appear to be a silly idea compared to Elizabeth Gilbert’s travels or Gretchen Rubin’s seemingly charmed New York life. But you know what? I’ve had a few people tell me they enjoy reading it, and I’m enjoying giving my morning coffee time a purpose. So here’s to Monet, and to viewing criticism as a badge of honor! You can accomplish so many things when you don’t listen to other people’s negativity!

Today’s picture is of Women in the Garden, one of Monet’s paintings initially considered too ambitious by many artists of his day:

Xoxo,

Diana

My Own Version of a "Self-Improvement Year"

I’ve realized (although this probably does not come as an astonishing revelation to anyone) that it’s popular to take on year-long “self-improvement" projects. I’ve read many of the slightly older books outlining these endeavors, such as Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, in which Gilbert travels to three different countries over the course of a year to figure out what she wants; and The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, in which Rubin spends a year trying to improve her life and attempt to, well, figure out happiness. I haven’t read Julie and Julia, an account of an author stuck in a dead-end job who finds her escape by cooking 524 Julia Child recipes within the span of a year, but I did see (and enjoy) the movie. There are others, but those three are (perhaps?) the most popular.

I’ve wanted to attempt my own happiness/self-improvement project, but have been unsure of quite how to do so. Cooking hundreds of Julia Child’s recipes isn’t really my thing (although I do enjoy cooking and baking to a certain extent), and I lack the ability to travel overseas for a year for many reasons – time, money, a job, and a newborn baby being the most obvious. I found an article called Eat, Pray, Spend (linked here: http://bitchmagazine.org/article/eat-pray-spend) which categorizes these books about self-improvement projects as “priv-lit” since, let’s face it, these year-long improvement projects are expensive and, for most “ordinary” people, unrealistic. The Eat, Pray, Spend post states that: “If more women become willing to put aside their fears, open their eyes to cost-free or inexpensive paths to wellness, and position themselves as essentially worthy instead of deeply flawed, priv-lit could soon migrate to a well-deserved new home: the fiction section.” This sentence struck me. While I don’t necessarily begrudge those who are able to tackle expensive, time-consuming year-long self-improvement projects (let’s face it, if I had the resources to travel the world for a year, I’d be packing my suitcase right now - and so would you), I feel as though there must be a better way to find happiness, zen, self-improvement… whatever you want to call it. We shouldn’t have to spend a ton of money traveling, or live in a comfortable, cushy New York apartment to feel as though we can improve ourselves. Which brings me to my idea for my own “year of self-improvement.”

I tried to think of something I really enjoy that doesn’t cost a lot or take a lot of time. Topping the list was a morning coffee ritual. Even on days when I am in a rush to get to work, I love pausing for a moment before leaving the house and inhaling the aroma of a good cup of coffee (or tea!). I find closing your eyes and breathing in the scent of coffee while holding the warm mug between both of your palms to be a very calming experience. So, for the next year, I’m going to spend 5-10 minutes every morning drinking a cup of coffee or tea and reflecting on things that make my life better, ways to learn more about those things, and ways to incorporate them into my life. The end-goal is not to “fix myself”, but rather to have a better understanding of what kinds of things I enjoy, what kinds of issues matter to me, and how I can better structure my life around those things and issues. My plan right now is to choose one topic per month and spend my morning coffee-time reflecting on and learning more about that topic.

This project is a work in progress, and I would welcome any feedback on how ways to make my year of self-improvement worthwhile. Just remember, the idea here is to keep things cheap and not incredibly time consuming so that you don’t have to have a fat savings account to participate. (Also, although the priv-lit article focuses on women, this project isn’t intended to be gender specific at all – it’s something men and women can do!)

This blog title, Coffee Beans and Dreams, is recycled from when I was a very tired, very broke law student. I used to tell myself that I could make it as long as I had coffee (read: caffeine) and kept focused on my dreams. It seems an appropriate title for this project as well.

Here I go… a year of coffee beans and dreams. Let’s see where it takes me!

Xoxo,

Diana