I remember when I first laid eyes on her.

It was years ago, a sunny morning in a wooded area north of the city on the last day of theOM Festival. She wore a short torn dress, giant sunglasses, and leg warmers. Her hair was in dread locks, her feet were bare and dirty. Somehow I always imagine her with animal ears, though I can’t be sure if that was just my imagination. She danced in slow sensual sweeps to the wildly fast music, every 16th beat she would raise a shoulder, arch her back or stir her hips.

There were hundreds of people dancing in the sun, as I sat watching on the hill. But I couldn’t take my eyes off the dancer with the hula hoop.

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Do you ever find yourself wandering the aisles at a craft store, looking at all those different shaped boxes and mini shelves made of wood and cardboard and wondering, what on earth would I do with that when I finished it? Here is one idea, which makes a personal and useful gift for a loved one.

A Birthday Box

It’s like a recipe box, but instead of dividers for salads, mains and desserts, you have tabs for each of the 12 months. There are index cards in the box, filed under the appropriate month and ordered by date (I put mine in the top right hand corner). For example, my birthday is December 7th, and so if you wanted to remember my birthday you would write up a card for me with a number seven on it and file it under December. You can also include gift ideas for me that I might mention during the year, or even keep track of what you have done for me in the past. You can jot down anything you’d like, because you can always start another index card for me once this one gets old or full.

How a Birthday Box Makes Life Easier

Just before December comes along, you can look it up in your birthday box and count how many people you know are having birthdays that month. That means only one trip to the card shop, which saves you time. Or, perhaps you’d like to set aside a craft night for yourself and make a bunch of cards for the month. No more birthdays sneaking up on you, which is nice.

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When we think of health, our body comes to mind – fitness, mind-body connection, taking your vitamins, avoiding a heat attack and so forth.

But what about the environment by which you are surrounded? It’s true, a healthy you is important, but to achieve complete well-being you must also consider the way you are living – literally. Yes, that’s right: Your home sweet home must also get a routine physical.

In her book, Super Cleanse: Detox Your Body for Long-Lasting Health and Beauty, author Adina Niemerow discusses a number of cleansing options to fine-tune your body. But she also shares with readers a plan for total home rejuvenation with a “detox” called “There’s No Place Like Home.”

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“Why?” is the province of toddlers. They are learning at such a fast pace, their curiosity is off the charts. Do you think children need answers to their why questions? I wonder. Answers can often be full stops and the end of conversation. It’s more likely that children are in fact simply using “why” as a form of exploration rather than searching for a one-word answer.

And how about for us adults? Skim through Style Statement or peruse the panoply of Daily Q & A’s. You will be hard-pressed to find questions that begin with “Why?” Why is that you may ask? Ah, gotcha! If you really want to know, we can probably ask Carrie and Danielle. Here are some thoughts on the way of the ‘why’:

Why questions take you to your head. You immediately try to figure something out. Not a problem if the question is, “Why does red and blue make purple?” When we are trying to find meaning in our lives and make a difference in the world, I say, let’s go straight to our hearts!

Why questions deceive you into believing that there are simple explanations for complex questions. Like, “Why can‘t you settle down and make a commitment?”- There’s an easy one!

Why questions can sink you deeper into a problem rather than guide you toward meaningful action. Okay, so maybe you keep sabotaging your diets because your father told you how much he loved his plump baby. And maybe your father did this because you have a genetic predisposition towards eating disorders. Wow, that sucks. Better go eat some ice cream to cheer up!

The value of questions is their capacity to connect us to our truer, deeper selves. They let us linger in the questions, and explore. They awaken our curiosity about ourselves and our world. Abraham Joshua Heschel said it best on the first page of his book, God In Search of Man.

In the process of thinking, an answer without a question is devoid of life. It may enter the mind; it will not penetrate the soul. It may become part of one’s knowledge; it will not come forth as a creative force.

Recommended and Related

God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Photo by pulihora.