Month: June 2010

sunday life: mindful eating

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This week I eat mindfully

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Now here’s a thought: what if all those folk who take photos of their every meal and post them on their blog/Twitter/Facebook were actually onto something? I’m sure you’ve seen them about. I was at lunch recently and watched a table of six whip out their iphones as their food arrived, repositioning the Maldon salt pot artfully and angling the lighting all Petrina Tinsley-like.  In a flurry of thumbs they then tweeted the images on to their cyber followers replete, no doubt, with foodie-ese captions (“River Café-inspired mascarpone-stuffed chook with intriguing heirloom tomato smear”; “Well, if those toffee shards don’t take me straight back to 1992!”).

I’ve previously found such faddish behaviour bewildering. But this week I discerned a point to it all. Fastidiously honouring your food in this way is mindfulness in action.

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How to start a book? Write drunk, edit sober.

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I’ve just started a book. As in, writing one. I’m not quite sure how this came about. But as with most thing in my life, they’ve happened while I’ve been doing other things (I’d never even read Cosmopolitan before I became editor of it). Anyway, contracts are signed. I’m off.

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How do you start writing a book? If you’re not writing a book, you might ask, how do you start a big project with multiple layers of complexity and emotion involved? I’ve been seeking an answer for a few months. There’s some common thinking out there, in case you’re wondering. Principally: don’t worrying about the perfect start; just… starting. Vomit forth ideas. Let them unfurl in a mess. Be messy with it. Be loose. Use butchers paper. Get fired up. Creative. No holds barred. Have no structure, no semblance of order.

But don’t edit.

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a sneaky trick for pushing back emails

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You go on holidays. You come home. You have 2937498237 emails in your inbox. Your heart sinks. True?

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The funny thing about this, though, is that when you start wading through them, about 80% are actually redundant – miraculously (!!) the issue or request has either been sorted by someone else or dropped off, deemed not so critically urgent, in your absence. Or the sender of the email actually pauses for half a second and realises they can answer the issue/request themselves. Der.

I’m away for a few weeks and this time I tried a new tactic.

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you look hotter on a bike

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So, I’m here in New York. And it’s bloody hot. I woke at 5:30 am in a sweat and ran around Central Park. I’m staying right on the park – my bed overlooks it. The truly divine thing about New York  is that when it’s hot everyone is out on the streets…and lots of them riding bikes, which is just lovely. The city is slowly becoming very bike friendly. My mate Bec is meeting me today in Bryant Park, riding from Brooklyn. Unreal.

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Dressing for bike riding is an interesting challenge. I personally like to push the parameters. I ride mine around Bondi in heels and skirts, if required. My style and my wardrobe work around cycling. Everything I own is stretchy (in part because I don’t iron). I buy handbags that can sling over my shoulder along with my bike lock. I wear a lot of shorts. Or pants/jeans under dresses. That kind of thing.

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