People come to your life for a purpose. To help you.

You were born for a purpose too. To help other people.

We were born to help each other.

Hello beautiful people! We arrived at the last week of February! Wow! Isn’t it so fast? We are still in the retrograde phase, and I got a problem already with my laptop keyboard. It can’t work properly, so I used on-screen keyboard for typing the description of my latest youtube video, haha. For this blog post I borrowed a portable keyboard, so this blog post can come out. Just chill. And let it be.

Everything happens for a purpose. It might be a sign for me to buy  a new laptop and to let go of this old one. It’s the year of letting go and ending, especially this Pisces season where I feel like I’m being led to somewhere new while I’m required to completely let go of my past attachments.

Well, recently some memories from my past came out of nowhere when I did my daily work or just chilled in my room. When I see those memories, I feel that I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t meet those people in my past. Some memories are beautiful, some others are not. I remember how painful they were in the past, but now I see it from a neutral place. Those people came for me to teach me some life lessons.

In the past I used to beat myself up when I broke up with someone. I used to put all the mistakes on myself that it’s me that make them leave. I experienced hard time during my early ages because I simply didn’t want to hurt other people. I did care too much to other people, then I realized that I had been living in illusion. 

This realization brought me into a conclusion that all those people coming into my life for a purpose.

I like this one quote from my favorite series during junior high school : the world belongs to you as much as you belong to the world.

You were not born for nothing. You have a purpose. So does everyone else.

People come and go at the right time. They come for a purpose to help you heal yourself, to accept yourself, and to work within yourself to finish the unfinished. It’s true that your current frequency is affecting which people to come. Even though you are feeling happy most of the day, as long as you still have those unfinished stuff inside you, some people whom you see as “scary” or “makes you uncomfortable” will come for you to help you finish your inner work. 

As I mentioned in the previous weekly message, we are reflections for each other. When you find something you don’t like about other people, it might be them trying to show your shadow aspect. That shadow only needs to be recognized and to be accepted, so that you can work with it.

When those people have served their purpose, they will go. When that time comes, let them go and be thankful for them. They have come FOR you. 

From my past relationships whether it’s friendship, mentorship, romantic, or other relationship, once I’m aware of some aspects of myself and work with it, it will end by itself, whether it’s by graduation, moving, losing contacts or breaking up. Not every “ending” is painful, it can come as a natural thing that we let them go easily. 

As I said in January Monthly Highlight, what’s meant to come will come, what’s meant to go will go. When they have served their purpose, they will go or they will stop doing something for you. When you ask why you face some break-ups with people you like, it might be because you need to learn something from them and you have finished those classes. Another reason is that you’ve missed a lesson. When you avoid or skip or are not aware of it, then the same pattern will be repeated over and over and over and over again.

So, during this Mercury Retrograde phase, let’s take a deeper look at our pattern and people around us. You might find some painful patterns or some people who constantly appear to be “annoying” or “scary”. It  might be caused by unfinished lessons in the past. 

When you can recognize that, then you are able to help yourself, at the same time you are also helping other people. You heal yourself, at the same time you heal other people. Because we are connected.

Your existence has a meaning. You are meant to help and receive help. So, if you feel like you want to stop here because you are useless or worthless, because someone has left you or you feel like not being supported, it’s just your current ego telling lies to you. We all do experience different lessons in this lifetime, you are not the only one student in this world. The world belongs to you as much as you belong to the world. Never give up on yourself. Don’t stop. You are part of the world. Yes. We are the world.

Listen to Audioblog version :

Weekly Message : Help | Audioblog #7

Hi, beautiful people! How’s February going so far? How is your first 2 weeks of February going? As continuation of January, I’m still running the #MyKindFebruary challenge I made myself, and tried some new things. One of the new things I decided to make is audioblog. 

I just googled that audioblog is a blog which includes audio clips with brief description of the contents. Actually I made this lailiving audioblog without checking what audioblog means, I’m just inspired by audiobook. I like listening to audiobook sometimes, so then this came up : how about turning my blog contents into audio version too? I don’t have specific goals to create this audioblog, other than practicing English speaking. Beside that, I have one Youtube channel which had been empty since it’s created. When I browsed for ‘lailiving’, this channel would appear in the search result, I wanted to do something for this empty channel. This audioblog idea then came up. 

I will add more stuff to this channel later, but for now I will focus on this audioblog. For me, recording audioblog is more difficult than writing a blog post, since I live with my parents and siblings and we live in a city area with many vehicles and other noises. Sometimes I need to re-record the whole audio when mom or anyone suddenly calls me or someone coming into my room. Like for the weekly message episode, I made the schedule for it to be uploaded on Monday but my sister couldn’t be quiet and the religious-related event near my house made so much noise. Sometimes I want to move to a quiet place alone so I can record many audioblog episodes as I want to without being cut off. I want to live peacefully somewhere quiet in Switzerland.

Look how quiet and peaceful this place.

Haha.

I’m currently working as designer in the same place I’ve been working for around 3 years, that you know I can’t record anytime I want to. It’s interesting, because it makes me more creative and using my free time more wisely. I can’t blame my surroundings, or people around me, because they are already doing the best at their levels. If then it doesn’t match with mine, nobody is wrong, nobody is to be blamed. If I get mad at them, it won’t change the situation. So, instead of thinking the bad thing, I would do what I could do at the moment. 

There are times when I’m excited to record and do many things but the outer situation doesn’t allow me to do that. Even though it’s still sometimes hard for me to accept that my plans don’t run as I want to, I realized that it’s only the ego which loves to grab the control to make everything safe and predictable. Ego loves certainty, ego loves the familiar. It’s not a bad thing too, since ego wants us to be safe and to survive, it wants to protect us anyway it can. But it can’t be the reason for me to hurt others and myself because I follow that ego’s way to reach the controlled state. I can’t force my schedule or control the outer circumstances. It will only create chaos and stress. Even if it makes me upset sometimes, I accept that feeling, not judge myself to be bad when I feel negative feelings or when I can’t do the things I have planned. 

This audioblog teaches me something that I have to find more peace from the inside. No matter how the outer goes, when you feel the peace inside, it won’t affect you anymore. So, I will record anytime I can with the best quality. I believe that as I find the key, everything will make sense, everything will follow. Everything will be better and better as I don’t stop learning.

Monthly Message :Destiny

Weekly Message : Choose

Today’s Message : Love Yourself

Weekly Message : Feel

Weekly Message : Connect

Monthly Highlight : January 2020

Note : I don't know why I used different format for Monthly Highlight title, and it's supposed to be entry #6 but I wrote #5 instead lol. And suddenly some of my keyboard tuts can't be used, so I used on-screen keyboard. And my laptop couldn't connect to our wi-fi at first. Ah, it's retrograde, haha. 

So, what do you think about doing whatever you love to do without hurting yourself and other people? Or have you listened to one of lailiving audioblog episodes? Let me know your thoughts in the comment box below.

We are all connected.

We came from the same place. We are pure souls that were sent to this Earth to learn and help. 

Sometimes we feel separated from other people that we need to compete, compare and prove ourselves. We feel less than other people, we are scared that we would get hurt, we are scared of being lonely. 

But, energetically, we are all connected. We came from the same place, we were created by the same Source.

I first got this concept that we are all connected during college, but I didn’t pay much attention to it until last year. I realized that certain people come and go in our lives because of that connection. Subconsciously we attract and/or are attracted to people who have something similar to us. When first I knew this, I was like wow so that’s why these people come, so that’s why I dislike that person, so that’s why I was attracted to them.

We are different but we are reflections for each other. 

As I said in the previous post, we are all having wounds inside us that need to be healed, or shadows that need you to work with, or patterns that need to be ended. Some people appear in our lives showing us those parts. Mostly we feel the resistance to acknowledge it, then we end up hating that person. 

I used to hate someone just because of his personality. But later I realized that he showed me my shadow. I subconsciously accepted something that has been labeled to me as my personality but actually I disliked that label. I used to live like never having that kind of personality. I forced myself to be the opposite and repressed that label so much without observing it, and pretended to not having it anymore. I wasn’t honest with myself. Then this someone appeared, actually he is a celebrity whom many people know, I used to dislike him because he has that repressed side of me in him. Even though people couldn’t see it, I saw it because I had it. 

I’m no longer disliking him because I’m now aware of that shadow part of me. I’ve worked with it, accepted it, then let it go. I accept myself, then I can accept him as he is. When you feel like hating other people because of certain reasons, they might have your shadows in them. It’s not about asking other people to change, but yourself. As I learn more about people, I get that when I change, other people will gradually change too. When you heal yourself, you also heal other people. When you are able to love yourself, you will be able to love other people. It’s all started by you, the nearest one you are connected to. As you understand more about yourself, you understand more about other people, because we are connected.

We all have a unique connection, because we are human. Connection is not about romance only, it's a universal thing that all people have, because we came from One Source and will come back to that same place. Something that I'm still working on is this one from The Science of Enlightenment by Shinzen Young : "When you realize your Source, you have no choice but to see everyone as a close relative."

People come for your growth. You, too, were born for other people's growth. We teach each other for growing better in this lifetime.

We don’t need to prove ourselves to be the rightest one. We don’t need to prove that other people are less than us. We are no longer hating each other, because we are reflecting each other’s traits. We have been wounded for so long, we have denied ourselves, we have been dishonest to ourselves. So, it’s time to take some time alone, to just sit down and have a deep talk with yourself. Listen to what you really need, what you are currently feeling, and observe it from a neutral place. 

Even though it’s hard sometimes, be grateful for the people coming into your life, especially those who show your repressed parts. Be grateful for them so that you now can work with that part and heal yourself. 

We can live by not hurting each other. We can live in a peaceful and friendly world. Be the best friend for yourself, then the world will be best friend for you.

Listen to Audioblog version :

Weekly Message : Connect | Audioblog #5

Hello, my loves!

Last night I went to bed with the intention of feeling so much love the next day when I woke up. I went to bed at midnight because I needed to make one drawing to post on instagram, haha. It’s actually another challenge for myself to make one drawing a day. I woke up at 4:30 AM in a fresh state and I didn’t feel sleepy at all. Then I did my morning prayer, morning yoga and meditate for 10 minutes. What a pleasant morning. The best Friday so far.

I feel so much love and peace today. 

Yeah, as the title says, I want to say to you all who read this blog post, to love yourself. Love yourself first before loving other people. As The Script said in their song If You Don’t Love Yourself *), if you don’t love yourself you can love no one else. 

Last year I already made a similar post titled A Friendly Reminder To Love Yourself (in Bahasa Indonesia), but today I intended to make another post with the ideas I have today. In English. So everyone can read when they find this post on search engine.

If you accidentally find this post, this post is meant for you. It’s not an accident. Universe brings you here to get some messages or even share your ideas about love here.

Why do you have to love yourself?

No, you don’t have to.

You need to.

As an old song said, living without love is like a park without flowers. 

Love is not something you find in the external world but inside you. You are love. You are the source of love. You were born as a lovely pure human until you absorb society values. You forget who you are, you forget what you have, you become someone you don’t know.

Because you become a person you are not familiar with, you can not love yourself. You watch TV and other medias that presenting certain definition about love that love is something you get from your external world, you can’t live without the ‘love’ that other people have, you will feel lonely if you don’t have a partner, you feel pitiful when you don’t have friends or your parents don’t give you gifts for your hard work. Social media and advertisement have a strong impact on us, they show what is considered as love, to love and being loved. Then we all live based on those definitions.

You chase people, you chase friends, you crave your parents’ attention, you want other people to praise you and to say good things about you, you want to have certain things to make you similar as certain people from the admirable social status, you want to appear like someone who is considered as international beauty. Then what happens? You find yourself in the circumstances that’s pretty different, you have different nose shape than those models, you don’t have one million followers on instagram, you are single, you are not 182 cm height, you don’t have branded shoes and bags, you don’t have parents who send you lots of gifts, you don’t have expensive car, you find your friends talking bad about you. Then you start to hate yourself. You hate yourself because you don’t meet those standards. You feel like you are a failure, you don’t want to live in this world. You want to be reborn as a Hollywood star. 

I ever felt and thought those kinds of things too. 

I used to think that I’m pitiful because I felt that I'm ugly and poor. I felt lonely and not meant to live in this lifetime. I want to be reborn as a beautiful princess who lives in a beautiful palace. But, later I realized that I’m way more than those standards, those rules, those labels. You are way more than the definitions you accepted as your identity. 

It reminds me of one Netflix serial titled Switched ***), where the girl who feels that she is ugly finally gets to switch body with the girl who has a considered beautiful face. But, she can’t be happy. She still feels hate, anger and resentment, she is scared, she feels lonely. No matter which body you were born in, no matter which family and circumstance you are in, if you are not aware that you are the love you've been looking for, you will feel the same.

You are love. You are made of love. You came from the Place of Love and Kindness. You came here to love. 

Love is not something you get from your surroundings. Love is not something you chase. Love is not something that limits you. Love is not something that creates suffering. Love is love. Love is beautiful. Love is energy. As one quote from Rhonda Byrne said “Everything is energy. You are an energy magnet, so you electrically energize everything to you and electrically energize yourself to everything you want”

When you love, you are being loved at the same time. 

You love yourself, you are loved by yourself. You give love, you receive love. What you send out will come back to you.

When you love yourself, you feel loved. You emit energy of love then you energize everything on that level to you. When you chase someone for their love, you show that you don’t have love. You emit the energy of lack of love then you energize everything on that level to you.

You can be single and feeling that you are loved. You also can be in any kind of relationships with any kind of human and you feel sad. You can be single and you are sad. You can also feel loved at the same time as you are in a relationship. It’s not the status, the thing, the people, the circumstances that bring love, but you. It depends on you. 

It’s not partnership that brings love. It’s not an expensive wedding dress that makes you feel loved. It’s not from your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends, but yourself. When you love yourself, you feel loved. When you feel loved, you can love other people.

You can not give what you don’t think you have. If you can not love yourself-the closest person you have, you can not love other people who are not that close to you.

My current favorite song is Love Yourself by Little Glee Monster **) that the lyrics resonate with me. One part of the lyrics is : 君を誰より愛せる人は君だ (The person who can love you more than anyone else is you)

You can not control how much other people love you. You can not control what way your parents, your friends, your spouse show their love to you. You can not expect they have the exact same love you have given them. You know what you need. You know how much love you want. You know what way you choose to show love. You know everything about you. So treat yourself the way you want to be treated. Love yourself the way you want to be loved.

Yes, it’s you. Your body, your organs, your tissues, your cells, your bacteria, everything that makes you today. They are love. If they are not love, there is no you who reads this blog post. You have great love within you. You just need to know, embrace and let yourself be that love. Be that love. Give love to yourself, to your friends, to your siblings, to other people, to your pets, to the trees, to your house, to everything around you. 

You are love. 

You just need to allow yourself to be love to love and feel loved.

Sending you so much love, my loves. 

Keep loving, keep living, and peace.

Listen to the audioblog version :

Today's Message : Love Yourself | Audioblog #3

Songs Information :

*) The Script - If You Don't Love Yourself  ( Spotify )

     The Script - If You Don't Love Yourself ( YouTube )

**) Little Glee Monster - Love Yourself ( Spotify )

Serial Information :

***) Switched / 宇宙を駆けるよだか ( Netflix )

Feelings are here to be felt.

Recently I came into a realization that I used to avoid my feelings much in the past, especially the negative ones like anger and shame. I felt like those feelings are not meant to appear. In the past, I was taught that I shouldn’t cry. Crying is useless when everything has happened. I was called crybaby too, that label was considered bad that time. That I repressed that sad feeling too much. Then I avoided that sadness and turned it into anger. I was easily getting angry but I couldn’t express it since I also was taught that anger is sin. You shouldn’t be angry if you want to be a good person. That was what people around me taught me.

I was living in mostly negative feelings during my early age to avoid the other negative feelings. I realized that that situation turned me growing up into an indecisive and fearful person. I got the labels of being fearful, shy, a girl who can’t speak loudly, a crybaby, and weird. That made me confused about what was happening. I didn't even know why people were so mad at me or laughing at me that time. But subconsciously I picked what was labeled at me as my identity and I believed it for years. During those years I hated fearful, shy, crybaby, weird or anyone with the repressed aspects of me. I didn’t want to accept those feelings, but subconsciously I accepted the labels of those negative feelings.

I revealed this story not because I got mad at people in my past, I only acknowledge what happened to me. Some old stories appeared during writing this blog post that I got more understanding why I was who, why I did what, or why I got which. Everyone did their best at their levels that time. I also did my best too. I’ve been learning so much these past years. Even though I ever hated myself for having such negative feelings, now I can’t do it anymore.

Feelings are not meant to be judged nor avoided. Feelings are here to be felt.

Around 2012, I realized that stress could really affect our health because it happened to me. I got diarrhea during the semester project for about 2 weeks. I got switched to other medicine too, but it couldn’t stop the diarrhea. Then a friend said to me that I was at a bad stress level. I didn’t believe him at first but later my class leader announced to us that our lecturer was absent that day, so the project testing was delayed until next week. That announcement marked the end of my diarrhea. The pain in my stomach stopped, I stopped going to the toilet, I felt better. Then I believe that I was in a severe stress level that my body couldn’t heal itself. I remember that during that time during my night sleeps I often got dreams where all the programming stuff I was currently working on became alive. Like, I saw some dialogue boxes walking around me, I talked in C++ language with other people, and some other unique dreams. I didn’t realize I was stressed but I didn’t listen to myself. I was scared and worried about the project but I denied those feelings, I repressed them, I didn’t want to know them anymore. 

Honestly, 2019 was the year I became a friend for myself. Even though during 2013-2014 I started to learn self-love and to understand myself more, before 2019 I wasn’t fully honest with myself. I was in a pattern that made me avoid some negative feelings.

I realized that I can’t be in the same pattern where I often get sick, get continuous acne, meet random weird people, and follow society standard of what’s called perfect life. One of the books that opens my eyes is You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. I recommend you to read this book to understand how your emotions affect your body. At the end of the book, there is a list of many diseases with the emotions as their roots.

Getting sick doesn’t mean that you are a bad person. It’s a reminder to pay attention to your body. You can heal your life. I wrote this post to let you know that there is still hope. Healing is possible. You are a perfect being, you have the universe inside you, your body is magical, you just have to let it heal by itself. 

Let yourself feel your feelings, positive or negative. Feel it fully and observe it then let it go when it’s meant to. Don’t try to judge yourself, don’t repress or avoid your feelings. 

As I mentioned in January highlight, everyone is allowed to cry, everyone is allowed to feel their feelings. Feelings don’t make someone less or more than the other. Everyone has their own wounds, everyone has bad experiences too. 

The more I spend time with myself the more I get that I came here to learn and help. I was born as a pure soul, until I picked society values, I got hurt, but I denied that by being busy as a human. When you deny your wounds, it would accumulate by time because we aren’t aware of their existence. So, stop repressing your emotions, stop avoiding your feelings, acknowledge, observe, feel and appreciate them, so that you can heal. Be the best friend for yourself by feeling your feelings.

Listen to the Audioblog version :

Weekly Message : Feel | Audioblog #4

Halo! Setelah sekian lama, akhirnya saya menulis artikel blog ini dalam bahasa Indonesia. Yeay. Menulis artikel dalam bahasa Inggris adalah challenge yang saya buat untuk diri saya sendiri tahun ini agar saya bisa mengasah kemampuan saya. Selain itu, saya juga ingin membuat semua orang bisa mendapat pesan yang saya sampaikan. Tidak menutup kemungkinan, nantinya artikel ini juga akan saya buat versi bahasa Inggrisnya agar lebih banyak orang memahami pentingnya menjaga hutan sepenting menjaga kesehatan tubuh.

Salah satu quote favorit saya berbunyi seperti ini :

“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.” ― Chris Maser

Yang kita lakukan pada hutan adalah cerminan dari apa yang kita lakukan pada diri kita dan orang lain. Karena kita semua terhubung satu sama lain. Seperti yang dilakukan oleh WALHI (Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia) yang merupakan organisasi terbesar di Indonesia yang berupaya dalam pemulihan dan penyelamatan lingkungan hidup sejak tahun 1980. Wah saya belum lahir, WALHI sudah berjuang ya. Saya tertarik pada nilai-nilai dasar organisasi ini seperti menghormati HAM, keadilan gender, keadilan antar generasi, demokratis, anti kekerasan, keberagaman dan keadilan ekologis. WALHI sendiri beranggotakan 487 organisasi pecinta alam dan non pemerintah dan 203 individu yang berasal dari seluruh wilayah Indonesia. Salah satu upaya yang dilakukan WALHI adalah pemulihan dan perlindungan ekosistem hutan. 

Hutan merupakan satu wilayah yang luas yang menciptakan satu ekosistem sendiri yang disebut ekosistem hutan terdiri dari tumbuhan, hewan, dan komponen abiotik yang berhubungan satu sama lain untuk menciptakan keseimbangan. Jika keseimbangan hutan tidak tercapai, maka ekosistem lainnya pun akan terganggu keseimbangannya. Tidak hanya menyebabkan hewan-hewan penghuni hutan memasuki wilayah pemukiman manusia, namun kebakaran hutan yang terjadi menyumbang peningkatan emisi gas rumah kaca yang berkaitan langsung dengan pemanasan global. Hutan tidak hanya menyumbangkan hasil berupa kayu dan ilmu pengetahuan (seperti hutan yang digunakan khusus untuk penelitian), namun hutan juga menyediakan berbagai bahan pangan yang bisa dikonsumsi manusia diantaranya durian, salak, pakis, murbei, kesemek, pisang, madu hutan, buah rotan dan jamur tiram hutan. Seperti contohnya hutan di wilayah Desa Sendi, Mojokerto yang dikelola masyarakat sekitar bersama FPR Sendi dan WALHI. Mereka tidak menanam tumbuhan yang dimanfaatkan kayunya untuk mengurangi penebangan hutan, namun menanam buah-buahan yang bisa dimanfaatkan tanpa melakukan penebangan. 

Meski saya lahir dan tumbuh besar di daerah pegunungan, namun saya tidak pernah langsung mengambil bahan makanan dari hutan, karena memang saya tidak tinggal di sekitar area hutan. Namun, saya selama ini sudah mengkonsumsi bahan pangan dari hutan sebagai bagian dari lifestyle reset yang saya lakukan secara tidak langsung, seperti contohnya pisang, salak, madu hutan, gula aren dan gula jawa.

Menginjak masa remaja, saya mengalami masalah yang umum dialami para remaja yaitu jerawat. Katanya, setelah masa remaja lewat, jerawat tidak akan pernah datang lagi. Namun, saya masih mengalami masalah jerawat ini hingga saya lulus kuliah. Meskipun tidak tergolong jerawat yang parah, namun jerawat membuat saya tidak percaya diri dan tidak nyaman karena memang beberapa jerawat terasa nyeri sampai beberapa hari. Saya sempat menutup jerawat dengan produk make-up dan juga menggunakan produk-produk skincare khusus jerawat yang ujung-ujungnya membuat kulit saya jadi kering. Akhirnya saya memutuskan untuk mengganti produk skincare dan mereset gaya hidup saya, terutama dari makanan yang saya konsumsi.

Seperti yang sudah pernah saya jelaskan pada blog post saya mengenai jerawat yaitu Acne Basic : Intro, Penyebab dan Jenis, bahwa salah satu penyebab jerawat adalah produksi sebum berlebihan. Produksi sebum berlebihan bisa terjadi karena pola makan yang berpengaruh pada produksi insulin yang berujung pada naiknya hormon androgen. Saat terjadi produksi sebum berlebihan inilah, bisa terjadi peroksidasi lipid dan menarik bakteri penyebab jerawat. 

Untuk itu, langkah termudah yang pertama kali saya lakukan adalah mengubah pola makan.

Saya mulai mengurangi bahkan menghentikan konsumsi cemilan tinggi gula, cake, roti, es krim, fast food, dan juga minuman manis seperti jus dalam kemasan, sirup, dan susu. Lalu, bagaimana saya bertahan hidup tanpa “makanan enak” yang sudah jadi bagian dari hidup saya selama belasan bahkan 20 tahun hidup saya? Tenang, kalian tidak akan mati kelaparan kalau tidak makan makanan yang saya sebutkan diatas. Kita hanya perlu beralih pada makanan enak lainnya yang ternyata kandungan gizi dan manfaatnya jauh lebih tinggi.

Nah, lifestyle reset yang saya lakukan dari 2014 salah satunya dalam hal pola makan membawa dampak positif tidak hanya untuk kulit namun untuk kesehatan tubuh saya secara keseluruhan. Dampak positif ini tidak datang langsung esok harinya, namun dalam jangka panjang. Kita tidak bisa makan sehat sekali saja, kemudian kembali makan fast food setelahnya dan berharap terjadi perubahan pada jerawat kita. Selama tahun 2015 hingga 2017 saya masih mengalami jerawat yang datang silih berganti tiada henti. Baru sekitar 2018-2019 saya menyadari bahwa saya sudah tidak mengalami jerawat separah dulu. Selama tahun 2019, saya mendapat 1 jerawat saat mengerjakan satu proyek besar di akhir tahun, haha. Karena stress. Jadi, perubahan gaya hidup terutama pola makan yang saya lakukan selama ini memberikan dampak positif pada kulit wajah saya. Horeee!

1. Mengurangi dan bahkan menghentikan konsumsi makanan tinggi gula, bahan pewarna, pengawet dan penyedap buatan seperti contohnya cake, susu, fast food, makanan instan, dan minuman bersoda.

2. Mengkonsumsi buah dan sayuran setiap hari

3. Memakan masakan yang dimasak sendiri di rumah, dan sebisa mungkin tidak menggunakan metode memasak yang terlalu panjang / lama untuk menjaga kandungan nutrisi dalam bahan makanan

4. Mengurangi konsumsi daging merah seperti daging sapi, kambing dan ayam

5. Mengganti gula pasir dengan madu hutan, gula aren atau gula jawa

Buah-buahan dan bahan makanan lain yang saya pilih tersebut berdasarkan glycemic index (GI) atau indek glikemik yang merupakan angka yang menunjukkan potensi satu bahan makanan untuk meningkatkan gula darah yang nantinya terkait dengan produksi insulin. Gula pasir misalnya memiliki GI sebesar 65, sedangkan madu hutan sebesar 55 dan gula jawa hanya 35 saja. Untuk buah-buahan, apel, melon, salak dan jeruk memiliki indeks glikemik yang termasuk rendah, disusul dengan pisang masak dan anggur yang termasuk indeks glikemik sedang. Sebenarnya indeks glikemik bukan satu-satunya patokan untuk memilih makanan mana yang harus kita makan, namun buat saya pribadi ini termasuk penting, haha. 

Salah satu buah yang selalu ada di rumah dan menjadi favorit saya adalah salak. Buah ini selalu ada di semua musim, meski harganya juga berubah-ubah. Buah yang dikenal dengan nama snake fruit karena kulitnya yang mirip kulit ular ini dikenal sebagai buah yang memiliki angka glikemik rendah, mudah ditemukan, dan bahkan kulit buahnya bisa dimanfaatkan untuk pengobatan diabetes. Saya sendiri belum pernah mencoba memanfaatkan kulit buah salak, bagi yang sudah pernah, bisa membagikan pengalamannya di kolom komentar di bawah ya.

Menurut Balai Penelitian Tanaman Buah Tropika, terdapat 19 spesies salak yang tumbuh di wilayah hutan basah tropika Indonesia. Salak yang biasa dikonsumsi biasanya merupakan spesies Salacca salaca seperti salak pondoh, salak condet, salak ambarawa dan salak hutan madura. Selain itu, ada spesies lain seperti Salacca wallichiana  yang menurut FAO berasal dari hutan perbatasan Kalimantan dan Malaysia, Salacca zalacca var.amboniensis atau Salak Kelapa/Salak Bali/Salak Putih yang berasal dari Bali, serta Salacca affinnis yang tumbuh di wilayah hutan basah dan rawa-rawa wilayah Kalimantan dan Sumatra. 

Kalau soal salak, satu kresek bisa saya habiskan sendirian, haha. Selain karena manisnya tidak berlebihan (sehingga tidak membuat bosan), juga rasa salak menurut saya membuat ketagihan. Menurut orang-orang di sekitar saya, kalau kebanyakan makan salak konon bisa membuat sulit buang air besar, jadi teman-teman yang jarang atau tidak pernah makan salak, jangan sampai kalap makan salak ya, hihi. 

Salak pun menjadi pengganti seluruh jenis cemilan yang biasa saya makan di masa lalu, yang bisa saya konsumsi tanpa membuat khawatir. Selain kadar gulanya rendah, salak juga mengandung beberapa kandungan yang bermanfaat bagi tubuh seperti serat, besi, protein, potasium, kalsium, fosfor, vitamin C dan beta karoten, dengan kandungan 82 kalori saja per 100 gram salak. Beta karoten dalam salak disebut 5 kali lebih tinggi dibandingkan semangka dan mangga, dan 3 kali lebih tinggi daripada jambu biji merah. Beta karoten sendiri sudah terkenal sebagai zat pencegah penyakit kardiovaskular, stroke hingga kanker lho. Sedangkan kandungan flavonoid dalam salak pun berpotensi dalam meningkatkan kekebalan tubuh. Beberapa manfaat salak menurut organic facts diantaranya untuk kesehatan mata, memori, jantung dan pencernaan, meningkatkan energi, membantu menurunkan berat badan, dan menyeimbangkan kadar gula darah bagi penderita diabetes. 

Nah, apakah kalian suka makan salak? Kalian termasuk tim dikupas kulit dalamnya atau tim langsung makan semuanya? Kalau saya, tak perlu kupas kulit dalamnya, langsung makan saja, hihi. 

Oh ya, baru saja saya baca artikel dari health benefits times, kalau makan salak beserta kulit dalamnya bisa mencegah konstipasi lho, silakan teman-teman mencobanya juga ya.

Sumber :

1. Snakefruit Potential to Increase Immunity, Universitas Gajah Mada

2. Salak Fruit Facts and Health Benefits, HealthBenefits Times

3. Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits of Salak (Snake Fruit), OrganicFacts

4. Keragaman Salak Liar di Indonesia, BALITBU TROPIKA

5. Keterlibatan Masyarakat Adat dalam Pengelolaan Hutan, WALHIJATIM

Hello! I’ve been posting for 3 days straight, haha, it happens every the first 3 days of the month which is part of the challenge I have given to myself. January, as I said in the Monthly Message of February was our first 31 days of the new decade which brought the intense energy, mostly to let go. We could see some endings and separations which might scare us. But, please believe that it’s for the better. I’m not going to talk about the recent news, but as usual this monthly message will be about the highlights of my life during the past month. I’m still keeping this format since the first post of this section because it’s already fun.

Okay, January is a month that’s been blessed by rain. We got sunny days too, but once we got rain in a day, it wouldn’t stop, haha. I always feel like the sky wants to clean us from the pollution and to slow down from our routine. When you get stuck in a place because of rain, it might mean that the universe wants you to take a break, not to rush, to slow down from your should-be-submitted-within-an-hour-task. 

Thank you for blessing us with the rain and sun, thank you for the beautiful and exciting first 31 days of 2020. I believe that February is going to be an amazing month. 

Okay, let’s take a look what I have done and gotten during January.

Starting this year of 2020 I received and sent some new year cards. It’s actually a sudden idea that popped into my mind in December, so I decided to make it. As I posted in the New Year Card 2020 entry, I sent it to my friends who wanted to receive it since most of them live faraway that I have to ask their address first before sending the cards. I’m glad that all the cards I sent have been received in less than a week. You can read the blog post about it here : New Year Card 2020.

If you read this post during February, you can join me and others in this project. You can do this project anytime you like too. Basically it’s a 29 day project to do kindness act daily. I realized that 2020 is started by some purging and shocking news which might shift the mass focus into negative ones. By doing simple kindness act everyday, we change our focus to the good ones. Even though it won’t affect us instantly but every move we take will change something. For project details, check this post : Let’s Join #MyKindFebruary

My January theme is freedom. I just got this word get stuck in my head when I set up my journal for 2020. Then I got reminded of a random quote that saying “Your will and power only will be enough. Walking alone is freedom”. I can’t remember who said that, but it one of things that drive me to execute #MyKindFebruary plan. It’s a freedom to do anything alone without relying on other people or situation. Doing what you love to do alone is not lessen your skill anymore. I believe that the help will come at the right time when I ask for it. Freedom is also one of keywords which represents Aquarius, my sun sign. In the previous years I couldn’t get to freely do what I love to do or express myself, I didn’t have as much as freedom I have now. So, I want to make something through this freedom as a gratitude.

Starting 2020, I joined some challenges as a warming up, I found some other challenges for January but I decided to join only 2 which is 10 days new year challenge by lavendaire and 30 days yoga challenge by Yoga with Adriene. I’ve completed the lavendaire challenge, and I missed some days of yoga challenge because I got sick in the middle of January that I change some of my routines to let my body heal itself. I like joining this kind of challenge, so that for February I made my own challenge.

I got the chance to try trial kit from Etude Soon Jung which came as free gift. I have been interested in this Soon Jung series but I have committed to be a responsible consumer by emptying all beauty products I’ve purchased. This free gift arrived when my favorite Hada Labo hydrating toner almost reached around last 3 or 4 applications. This trial kit came in a white-blue box that consists of toner, emulsion, moisturizer and spot treatment. All products from this series have Madecassoside (a component found in Centella Asiatica which is one of my favorite ingredients that has been popular around 2017-2018 that we can find almost every Korean brand has centella product in its line). My favorite ones are the moisturizer and cica balm (spot treatment). I don’t really use the emulsion, since it has moisturizer consistency but it’s packaged in a toner bottle. The toner has the strongest scent among 4 products in this kit (but it’s not that chemically strong). It’s hydrating but rather slower to be absorbed than my Hada Labo toners. Cica balm works very well to calm down the new born acne, and the moisturizer in more fluid than my usual moisturizer but it’s not greasy anymore. 

E-girls released the winter version of Cinderella Fit which I like more than the original one that sounds more summery. The winter version is sweeter and warmer. Some lyrics are changed to match with the winter theme. Also the solo line of Reina which is “crystal symphony” is my most favorite part, since the Japanese pronunciation for it sounds very cute. 
E-girls - Cinderella Fit (Winter Version)  (Spotify)

A new song from my favorite soloist milet is titled Prover. Based on the description, it’s ending song for Fate/Grand Order anime. The song hasn’t been released yet on Spotify Global, but the music video has reached more than 1 million views. It has English translation as subtitles so I find it easier to understand the song (beside the great English of milet herself). My favorite part is “If you slip into the darkness and lose belief, I’ll never leave you behind. If you can’t find your way, everything is not lost”. It reminds me of a song by Kobushi Factory titled Naseba Naru (Where there is a will, there is a way) which implies that when you can’t see it, it doesn’t mean that something doesn’t exist there. Prover by milet shows me that even though you experience it or get stuck at somewhere else, it’s not the end, nothing is lost, you don’t lose anything.
milet - Prover (YouTube)

Find The Way is an old song of soloist Mika Nakashima, which is Gundam SEED series ending song - my favorite series during junior high school. I re-listen to this song during January and every time I feel like being sent to the space and get to see the whole Earth. When I see that vision, I feel like everything which bothers me or the problems I currently face is nothing comparing to the whole universe. We are only small part or the cell part of the Earth. I wonder why we don’t stop arguing, why we get mad of differences, why we want to prove that we are the right one to be heard. When you can see the whole picture, you will feel more peace. 

Other than that vision, this song also has beautiful lyrics. It’s said that “it’s okay to cry, I’ll be by your side always”. It’s not that I need someone when I cry but it shows that everyone may cry because everyone has feelings. Feelings are here to be felt, not to be judged nor avoided. Then the last part of the song is calming everyone by “You’ll find the way”. This line matches with my January theme which is freedom. Even though you feel like getting lost in this long journey, you’ll find the way.
Mika Nakashima - Find The Way (Spotify) 

As I mentioned, I got sick in the middle of January and felt like the this months run too quickly. It might be due to my excitement to do all of my plans that I forgot my body a little bit. My body sent me a reminder to slow down through my digestive system. I realized that I have the habit of eating too quickly, it should be ended this year as I become aware of anything I consume. I’m no longer having to run by the schedule, even though I’m still working in the same place, but I have the power to set my own dream life. One quote that I like from January is : What’s meant to go will go, what’s meant to come will come. 

Okay, I hope you enjoy this monthly highlight, how about your January? Do you think that your January is the longest January ever? Let me know in the comment box below. See you in the next monthly highlight. 

Title picture by lailiving

Photo by Todd Trapani