GABRIELA YARELIZ

A Moveable Feast

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Here is some inspiration from Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast.

1. We become better people when we laugh and make others laugh

“They say the seeds of what we will do are in all of us, but it always seemed to me that in those who make jokes in life the seeds are covered with better soil and with a higher grade of manure.”

pg. 86, Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

If there is something I have learned working with other people and dealing with a lot of not-so-happy situations is that you need humor. Life gives us too many opportunities to smile, and none should be wasted. Make that soil well graded. /Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket…save it for a rainy day/.

2. Mystery is good in books, but even better in people

“We need more true mystery in our lives, Hem [Hemingway],”

Evan Shipman, poet. Pg 112, A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway

I don’t know if we know what mystery is anymore. We should practice. Not just mystery, but true mystery. Hemingway himself left more unsaid than said. Many scriptures and amazing writings need to be deciphered by studying and perusal. Oftentimes, the things most worth knowing take time and effort to discover.

The definition according to Google:
mys·ter·y /ˈmist(ə)rē/noun

noun: mystery; plural noun: mysteries

1. something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain.

“the mysteries of outer space”
synonyms: puzzle, enigma, conundrum, riddle, secret, problem, unsolved problem More

-the condition or quality of being secret, strange, or difficult to explain.
synonyms: secrecy, obscurity, uncertainty, mystique More

-a person or thing whose identity or nature is puzzling or unknown.

Be charming. Be mysterious. Be you.

Paint the world with happiness.

Your moment

“Everyone has a moment in history which belongs particularly to him. It is the moment when his emotions achieve their most powerful sway over him, and afterward when you say to this person “the world today” or “life” or “reality” he will assume that you mean this moment, even if it is fifty years past. The world, through his unleashed emotions, imprinted itself upon him, and he carries the stamp of that passing moment forever.” -John Knowles, A Separate Peace

breathe the air

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the
air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of
each. Let them be your only diet drink and botanical medicines.”

Henry David Thoreau

Kindness

“No one that I ever knew was nicer to me.”

A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway [said this about Sylvia], pg. 31

Oh, to have that said about oneself!

We must be kinder people.

“That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.” -Emily Dickinson

From Madame Figaro

Photo by Benoit Preverelli for Madame.lefigaro.fr Purifiée : mise en beauté Mickael Noiselet pour Clarins

By: Gabriela Yareliz

I read an article that was all about restoring our body and skin and detoxing. It speaks of the dangers of some fad diets and fasting, but the benefits of some simpler purer diets and a more controlled and safe fasting. Here is an excerpt (the heading is linked to the article):

Les 24 heures du moins

Être en forme physique et mentale. Ne pas le concevoir comme une punition mais comme un cadeau que l’on se fait. Choisir un jour off et le transformer en rituel beauté et bien-être, avec massages, bains, masques, hammam relaxation, […] Se réveiller naturellement, boire un verre d’eau à température ambiante (si possible déminéralisée). Aller marcher une ou deux heures (de préférence au vert) ou pratiquer une activité physique douce. À midi, un jus de fruits frais de saison (fraîchement pressé ou centrifugé). Sieste avec compresse chaude sur le foie. Balade ou activité physique douce. Le soir, un bouillon de légumes (carottes, poireaux, navets, oignons, tomates, herbes fraîches…). Boire régulièrement eau ou tisanes (romarin, thym, fenouil, chardon-Marie…). Le lendemain, prévoir des menus légers, faciles à digérer.Infusions coups de pouce: Melissane Digestion, Detox Tea de Detox Delight, Detox de Kusmi Tea.-Marion Louis, La folie diete

Google Translation: “Be physically and mentally fit. Do not think of it as a punishment but as a gift that we do for ourselves. Choose a day off and turn it into ritual beauty and well-being, with massages, baths, masks, steam relaxation, […] Wake up naturally, drink a glass of water at room temperature (if possible demineralized). Go for a walk an hour or two (preferably green) or playing a gentle physical activity. At noon, juice fresh seasonal fruit (freshly squeezed or centrifuged). Nap with hot compress on the liver. Walking and gentle physical activity. In the evening, a vegetable (carrots , leeks , turnips, onions, tomatoes, fresh herbs … ) . Regularly drink water or herbal tea (rosemary, thyme , fennel, thistle … ). The next day, provide light menus , easy to digest. Infusions: Melissane Digestion, Detox Tea Detox Delight, Kusmi Tea Detox.”

2014 has been a year of detoxing for me. Getting rid of gluten, GMO, processed products (including veggie meat), and eating a lot more veggies and juicing. After my detox and withdraws (there were times when I felt terribly hungry and not very happy), I feel great, and it’s reflecting on my skin and body. Something worth considering…

The Lord will provide

Based on Tony Evans: Jehovah Jireh-The Lord Will Provide message (click here to listen)

Sometimes, a condition to a blessing is action. God provides when He sees us act in faith.

Jireh, means to see. Provision requires pre-vision. “It’s when He [God] sees, that He provides.”

“Could it be you’ve been waiting for five years for something God would’ve given to you in five minutes, if He still wasn’t waiting for you to complete your sacrifice.” Dr. Tony Evans

Just as in the case of Abraham, when he was tested and told to sacrifice Isaac, God often waits to see if we are willing to sacrifice what we love most (the blessing) to obey and show superior love to the blessor. Sacrificing Isaac was a test because God provided a ram for the sacrifice.

Sometimes, our solution is right next to us (like the ram in the story of Abraham), but we’ll never know it until God sees we are ready for Him to reveal it. Abraham had to put Isaac on the altar for the provision of the ram to be revealed.

God gives, but He often wants to see what we are willing to give up when we worship.

When God instructed Abraham, Abraham arose immediately to comply.

“Delayed obedience is immediate disobedience. Partial obedience is complete disobedience.” Dr. Tony Evans.

We often want delayed or partial obedience and full manifestation. God doesn’t work that way. (Paraphrase)

God put Abraham in a situation that only He [God] could fix Himself.

Are you willing to give to God the thing you love most?

“Are you willing to trust God with your Isaac?”

Isaac is a type of everything God wants to give you. He wants to know He has you before He unleashes the blessings from heaven and pours them on you. (Paraphrase)

“When Abraham was willing to put Isaac on the table, He got Isaac and everything else. Some of us are willing to keep Isaac and give up Isaac plus everything else.” Dr. Tony Evans

Lost Generation

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Gertrude was a mentor and friend to Ernest Hemingway, and he speaks of her in his memoir, A Moveable Feast, fondly yet realistically, as one can only do when you know someone and his or her intricacies very well. She is known to have coined the phrase, “a lost generation.” Many say this describes society after World War I, after so many young men lost their lives fighting. She, however, used this to describe the young men who remained. She described the expatriates in Paris who drank a lot and had certain lifestyles, as a “lost generation.” She often criticized Hemingway’s drinking habits.

Sometimes, it seems like our generation is not too far off. Perhaps, we are even worse than they were before. We young people only care about money, self-destructive habits that seem okay because they are “socially acceptable” and getting ahead only for ourselves in the way that requires the least work sacrificing anything (value and morals) or anyone who stands in the way. We are selfish and honestly, absolute imbeciles. In a college class, what you will see are laptops open to shopping websites or Facebook. These are the future world leaders, the future of our country, the future? God help us.

We want shortcuts, fame, money, some glamorous façade of being an imitation of people we admire despite them being slaves to their own addictions and disastrous lifestyles.

Gertrude Stein would’ve probably looked at us in horror. Forget Gertrude, she’s no longer here. How does God feel when He looks upon our lost generation? We are lost, not because we were abandoned, but because we took the map and burned it.

Hemingway’s lost generation was a generation that was self-destructive, but still took time to think, feel and live life. Today, people don’t have a moment of silence to self-analyze, to feel, to live. We would rather sit in front of something that tells us how to live. We would rather do things we know are not right, to fit in. We would rather die slaves, than live free.

Choose.

This Month’s Picks: January

1]
“You had to take risks, follow some paths and abandon others. No one can make a choice without feeling afraid.” Paulo Coelho, Brida

2] Priyanka Chopra for Guess. I am a fan.

3]
“But some things, no matter how unlikely, are just supposed to happen. You know what I mean. Some things just smack of the future and feel part of an overarching rightness.”
― Marisa de los Santos, Belong to Me

4] Favorite Psalm of the month: Psalm 73
New King James Version (BibleGateway)

23 Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
24 You will guide me with Your counsel,
And afterward receive me to glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
26 My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish;
You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry.
28 But it is good for me to draw near to God;
I have put my trust in the Lord GOD,
That I may declare all Your works.

6] We are back in schooooooool. Reading, less sleep, pages, pages, pages… but we are here because we love it.

7] Francois Hollande: Scandal. Oh, politics.

Stephen Colbert had too much fun with this, but it was clever.

8] Gori Tere Pyaar Mein- a fabulous love story about a social activist [Kareena Kapoor] and a self-absorbed young man [Imran Khan]. As he accepts an arranged marriage to a young woman who is in love with someone else, before the wedding, she forces him to remember the love of his life. He then realizes, it’s never too late to be with who you love and to grow as a person by caring about someone other than himself.

9] My most anticipated film of 2014, so far.

Highway: In bondage, she found freedom.

10]

http://www.get-the-look.fr/article/leila-bekhti-cover-girl-pour-be_a1928/1

I am loving the Leila Bekhti Be cover, from 2012.

11] All of Me by John Legend (as shared by Feisty Feliz)

12]

Most attention-grabbing piece: If Trayvon were Pakistani by Micah Zenko (Foreign Policy Editor’s Pick)

“For a president invested in showing leadership by setting the tone for discussions of race at home, he should answer that question directly. He should then announce an end to signature strikes, since nobody should ever be killed based on how they look or for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Micah Zenko, If Trayvon were Pakistani

13]

“Love is a gamble. Bet on someone or get out of the race.” Harry, Marry Me (Lifetime movie)

14] Cali y El Dandee: Te Necesito

Oh, that feeling.

/Porque como la luna y el mar

Te necesito como el aire para respirar/

15] El Barco-Antena3 Espana.

Me encanta:

Más Mujer

http://www.canalrgz.com

“Siento que me estoy haciendo mayor, un poco más mujer.” Blanca Suarez

What we were taught today

…in criminal procedure, essentially.

Essentially, if the law doesn’t back you or exist, make the law.

Thanks professor….?