I have always been intrigued in cleanses for the body. Whether it be gall bladder cleanses or toxin cleanses, I wanted to see what all the talk about cleanses were about. For the past 3 days, I participated in a juice cleanse. My reason for juice cleansing was purely to flush out any toxins in my body and to feed my curiosity as I am someone who is obsessed with holistic health. This is the first time I have done it and overall it was positive! During the cleanse, I was energetic, had more capacity to focus, and felt lighter (spiritually and physically). The thing I struggled most with was thinking about food ALL THE TIME. I definitely was very close to sneaking in a banana or munching on some nuts, but I withheld my urges! I was also constantly cold. Perhaps the weather shifted my body homeostasis as well. However, I was able to counteract the coldness by drinking A LOT of ginger tea.

Overall, I would do this cleanse again, perhaps limiting it to twice a year. If you feel the urge to juice cleanse more, please do so but do not forget to listen to your body! It is important that you do so in a safe manner and have the correct intentions when juice cleansing.

I did my juice cleanse with “Pressed Juicery” and bought their “Cleanse 2: Most Popular” pack (linked below). This pack contains 6 juices for each day. The juices are:

• Greens 2: apple, cucumber, celery, lemon, spinach, kale, parsley
• Citrus 2: apple, pineapple, lemon mint
• Greens 3: apple, cucumber, celery, lemon, spinach, ginger, kale, parsley
• Roots 3: apple, lemon, ginger, beet
• Citrus 1: cucumber, pineapple, coconut water, lemon, aloe vera
• Vanilla almond: almonds, dates, vanilla, sea salt

Pressed Juicery offers many other juice cleanse packs from half day to full day, from beginner, to advanced. There are limitless brands that offer juice cleanse packs; however it is important to do research and to ensure that their juices are pure, and that they are pasteurized (you don’t want unnecessary bacteria entering your system when you aren’t supporting your body with solid foods).

I limited myself to 3 days juicing every 2 hours. As a rudimentary “juice cleanser”, I didn’t want to exceed 3 days because:

1. I’m a highly active person and didn’t want to limit my movement
2. I LOVE eating and always have CRAVINGS
3. I didn’t want any potential mental fatigue to affect my studies (TCM school)

I wanted to outline some pros and cons of juice cleansing for you all, in case you are interested in trying it in the future!

Pros:

1. Juices are high in vitamins, rich in anti-inflammatory compounds, and have the ability to flush out toxins
2. The vitamins in juices can boost your immune system and help you feel energetic
3. Juicing can help improve digestion by introducing enzymes into your gut
4. Some people feel improved mental clarity and increased spiritual grounding

Cons:

1. Juicing is very low in calories and can lead to fatigue, headaches, hunger, dehydration, and irritability
2. Juicing is in no means a weight loss solution and should NOT be used to lose weight as it is unsustainable. Juicing can slow down your metabolism and will result in weight gain post juice cleanse.
3. Juices can contain natural laxatives that can disturb your bowls
4. From my traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) knowledge- juicing introduces a lot of cold into your body and your spleen and stomach cannot function properly with only cold raw foods. Your spleen and stomach are essential for digesting and spreading the foods “qi” or “vital substance” to the rest of your body, essentially nourishing your entire body and giving you the nutrients and energy you need. Juicing can create an imbalance with your digestion and contribute to overall fatigue. Your body loves to be warm and to throw its temperature off balance results in other imbalances in your body.

If you have any questions, don’t be shy to shoot me an email or comment on this post! Or you can DM me on IG felsbels.

Lots of love always,

Feli

Mother nature has nourished me, protected me, and inspired me throughout my life. This earth has given me a safe haven, a colony, to grow and to learn within. She has granted me the gift to feel all emotions, face impossible obstacles, overcome those obstacles, and most importantly love. She has taught me to love all. She has taught me to love a bee (although I am deathly allergic) and also to love a rock. She has taught me to love anger, fright, and seemingly all other harsh emotions. She has taught me that to love these harsh emotions is to see them in a different light and that fearing them is just a modified perspective. She has taught me to use these “hard” emotions as lessons, merely to laugh about in the future.

Mother nature has showed me infinite beauty. She is the epitome to the sublime. For earth week, it only seems fitting to celebrate her!

The earth is finally able to breathe again. She has been crying out for help and during this pandemic (a silver lining), she has been able to find some balance again. Let us continue to sustain her balance and slowly heal her.

In the meantime, let’s celebrate her divinity and let her heal us. Be outside, feel the energy of the sun. Hear the rhythm of the rain. Bask in the solitude of the woods. And BE ALIVE. Ground yourself to the earth and thank our queen bee for the life she has given you.

I wanted to share my highlights of mother nature this past year. I hope you enjoy my collection! xx

Leaving my full time job in early June allowed me to fulfill my inkling to further explore the world, my independence, and my spiritually. As soon as I left my job, I packed my bags to return to Asia. I took a quick pitstop in Hong Kong to see my beloved parents while anxiously awaiting my 3 week 200 hour yoga teacher training (YTT) in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

My excitement encompassed my yearning to improve my yoga practice and to share my love for all aspects of yoga with others. I assure you that every hesitation I had about my ability to teach and understand yoga was diminished after an enduring and awe-inspiring learning experience.

As soon as I knew I wanted to teach yoga, I began thoroughly searching for yoga teacher trainings all over the world. I hoped for an immersive and traditional experience. I ended up picking the teacher training held at the Tavoos Garden in Siem Reap, after debating between several other courses in South East Asia and India. I was captivated by Tavoos because of their dedication to give back to the Khmer (Cambodian) community. The money I paid for the course not only benefited my fervor for yoga but also helped build local water wells in remote Cambodian villages and provided school supplies for Cambodian students. Tavoos’ mission lured me in. I knew that Tavoos was special.

My experience included about 50 hours of Hatha yoga, daily yoga philosophy lectures, daily sequence and alignment lectures, breathing exercises, a vegan diet, and a supportive group of 10 other kind souls. My experience was magical…destined. Every student in the course was equally as curious, as genuine, and as eager as I was. The teacher was patient, knowledgable, and traditional in the sense that he was born and bred in India and embodied yoga. The food that was provided was cooked to perfection and included all the fresh nutrients that paired thoroughly with the cleanse we needed. Each and every aspect of my teacher training intertwined to create the perfect spell. I am forever spellbound by this experience, and forever grateful to have learned the basics of yoga. My time in Cambodia was only the beginning of my educational journey in the yoga realm. I am grateful that this experience granted me access to becoming a lifetime student, forever inquisitive and exploring.

During the teacher training, we had two days off to explore Cambodia. Notably, most of us visited the historic Angkor Wat and its surrounding temples. Immersing ourselves in such a grand ancient spectacle added to our fascination of tradition, timelessness, and devotion that harmonized perfectly with our study of the ancient practice of yoga. Siem Reap, a young city, was delightful, innovative, and enchanting. The locals were all friendly, helpful, and curious. I will forever remember the charm of Siem Reap that infused through every practice each and every day.

Reflecting on my experience gives me endless elation. Predominantly because of the sacred and pure essence of what I learned yoga to be. After the course, yoga meant health, balance, harmony, peace, kindness, and basically every quality that human beings aspire to have. Yoga epitomizes love, respect, and devotion. Most importantly, I learned that yoga is omnipresent, that it exists in every facet of life and that it can be practiced by anyone.

This post is a summary of our trip (Eli and I) to Belize. I hope you find this post inspiring or use it as a guide when you do visit Belize!

When planning our trip, our goal was to explore all that Belize could offer. We wanted to immerse ourselves in the genuine culture, endless beauty, and adventure of such a special country. We decided that we would spend half the time in the jungle and half the time by the water.

SLEEPING GIANT RAINFOREST LODGE:

We spent the first half of our trip staying at the Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge in Belmopan, Belize. The resort was a 1.5 hour drive inland from the International airport in Belize City and there were many options offered for traveling back and forth (see travel tip below for suggestions).

Everything about our stay was perfect. We were lucky to have 4 days at the resort where most rooms were not booked (travel tip below about best time to visit Belize). The resort offers an immense list of activities, including their sustainable agriculture and animal farming on site.

On site, the resort has a family of peacocks, bunnies, ducks, chickens, and bountiful amounts of fresh herbs, plants, and fruits including acres of citrus trees. Guests are allowed to play with the animals and explore the agriculture in and around the resort. On top of the wonderful activities within the resort including kayaking and paddle boarding on the river, the resort offered lists of jungle explorations.

Sleeping Giant staff made it easy to book the day of if you wanted to explore the below (during the busy season January to early May, perhaps book a few weeks in advance):

Mayan Ruins
Cave tubing
Cave repelling
Zip lining
River tubing
Mayan culture
Chocolate making
Horse back riding
…and the list continues! Most activities are half day or a full day. For more activities, check out https://www.sleepinggiantbelize.com/adventures/

We chose to go zip lining at Angel Falls and explore one of the Mayan Ruins called Xunantunich. Ziplining was thrilling, exciting, and unforgettable. The course is the longest (8 total lines) in Central America and the staff at the course were helpful and fun. If you love heights and looking down upon tree tops, I highly recommend zip lining! The price is reasonable and the course is safe! Exploring Xunantinuch was surreal as well. It was a 1.5 hour drive from the resort to get to the site. There were about 10 separate excavated sites at Xunantunich but X-rays show there are 40+ sites pending excavation. We climbed the ruins and our tour guide thoroughly explained the culture and advanced society the Mayans once were living in Xunantunich thousands of years ago. This tour was all inclusive, and included immersion in Mayan culture. We explored a traditional Mayan village and market, and had lunch at a wonderful Mayan women’s co-op where they cooked for us, taught us how to make corn tortillas, and showed us their traditional pottery.

There was one restaurant at the resort and the food was delicious! The Grove House Restaurant is rated one of the best in Belize and has a surprising twist behind the kitchen. Before the resort was built (about 5 years ago), the restaurant was the main attraction and actually started as a kitchen made for British soldiers camping in and around the jungle.

PLACENCIA

We spent the second half of our trip in Placencia. We chose to spend half the trip by the ocean because we are big divers and yearned for easy access to dive sites. Placencia is a small peninsula on the southern tip of Belize. Placencia culture is abundant with fruit stands, local restaurants, shops, and easily accessible beaches all along the coast. We didn’t have a car to explore the area but we stayed in a wonderful air bnb (Dolce Cabana Waterfront Suites) in the heart of the Placencia village so walking around was no more than 20 minutes.

If you are inclined to explore more of the peninsula, there are golf carts you can easily rent during the day that we actually used for one of the days we were not diving. The resorts on the peninsula have an open door policy and love for you to explore their resort, use their pool, and eat their food.

For foodies, I would suggest the below restaurants. Everything was delicious, reasonably priced, and authentic! I would describe the food as a mix of Caribbean and Central American with a twist of Belize.

Rum Fish Y Vino
Maya Beach Bistro
Dawns Grill
Omars Creole Grub
Barefoot Beach Bar

In addition to the delicious food recommended above, there are numerous family owned taco stands along the main road you can stop by for a quick bite. Along the elbow of the Peninsula was an authentic taco and burrito stand that we loved. We ate 5 delicious tacos and had fresh fruit juices for just $1.50 USD!

TRAVEL TIPS:

*Transportation: If you visit Belize, I would recommend renting a car (can easily rent between $39-79 USD a day) if you plan to drive around to explore places yourself. If not, shuttle services, shared or private are also easy to book. Private shuttles are a little pricy, and sometimes more expensive than flying if you are flying from Belize City to Placencia (the beach peninsula). Flights can go for as cheap as $30 from Placencia to Belize City and it is a quick 30 minutes flight overseeing the vast blue ocean. We found out that flights were cheaper and quicker than a 3 hours $200+ shuttle from Placencia to Belize City!

*Best time to visit Belize: Traveling at the end of May is the end of the dry season and the start to the rainy season. I would recommend traveling during this off peak time to explore Belize without crowds and high volume of tourists. Although the forecast said it would thunderstorm and rain daily, we experienced no rain the entire trip! Because of the dry season, bugs were not abundant even in the dense jungle!

*Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge: If you choose to stay here, I suggest staying at least a few days to attend a few tours and also to explore the resort. At the resort, there was a 20-30 minutes gazebo hike that led to the top of a look out point allowing you to see the sleeping giant mountain range across the resort. I can promise you this view was worth the uphill hike!

*Another popular destination to visit is Hopkins. Hopkins is another small touristy town with many beach resorts. This is a very family oriented area in Belize and is absolutely stunning!

*Throughout the dry season (typically from December to April) you have the option to reside on surrounding islands in Belize (you can also stay there during the rainy season but some resorts and activities are limited). One place in particular, Glover’s Island, offers an incredible experience that includes camping out in small huts along the beach for 5 days. During these 5 days they offer unlimited water and nature activities. If you’re inclined, check it out here: https://www.islandexpeditions.com/our-belize-trips/belize-vacations/glovers-getaway-5-day We initially wanted to stay on Glovers however our trip dates didn’t align with the Glover’s Getaway dates. Island Expeditions also offers lodging and adventures at other islands such as the wildlife sanctuary.

*Diving: There are a ton of dive shops in Placencia including, Splash Dive Center, Sea Horse Dive Shop, Belize Underwater, and Belize Dive Haven. All shops offer dives in different locations in around Placencia including diving in the great barrier reef, the blue hole, and whale shark diving in the big blue ocean! If you are traveling in the next few weeks to Belize and would love a budget dive, Belize Dive Haven is a relatively new dive shop and is giving 50% off all their dives. PS. All of the dive shops also include snorkeling trips if you do not have a diving license!

I am no expert on Belize travel and only explored a little bit of what Belize offers. This guide was my trip and what I experienced and loved. If you have any questions about my trip or about any recommendations, message below! Thank you for reading this!

Love always,

Felice

It is ironic to think that when I first started this blog, I was desperate for growth, excitement, and most importantly security. Security of passion for the most part. Back then, I was confident that in about a years time, I would be the person I was meant to be, with that, my career, passions, and hobbies would be set in stone.

I am here now, seven months after my first blog post and I have not tapped into my most secure self. In fact, in the next several months, I will be living out of my suitcase up until I settle down in LA for the next four years attending school. I will not have a home base, or any materialistic token that indicates security up until LA. Likely, these next few months will be full of adventure and the unknown. I could be engulfed by emotions that ride high and low or maybe it may just ride high (I sure do hope for this)- but life is unpredictable. My mere future is a plan, a facade of what might create my most secure self. But what is life without movement and malleability? Now seven months into public reflection and being vulnerable with my thoughts, I realized I don’t need a future set in stone. What I need is daily curiosity and that will absolutely be aroused with what I will be doing in the next few months, next four years, and for my entire life.

The first post grad chapter of my life is coming to a close. I am about to end my 2 year clinical research position at Boston Children’s Hospital and embark on a journey that will be full of unchartered territory. After I leave Boston, I will not be working under an employer full time, ever again. Writing that out just now was frightening yet tantalizing. My plan is to open up a private practice after acupuncture and oriental medicine school, and heck, what do I know about entrepreneurship. I have only studied the sciences my entire life, but I am confident things will turn out the way they are supposed to be.

The point of my frenzied ramble is to show you that I am a human being, just like you. I am human because I encompass the drastic and subtle. I am human because of my desire to fixate toward societal norms but also my fervor to break free from them. I am human because I crave the natural instinct of attachments. I am human because I am constantly searching for my purpose in life and my purpose just to be.

My next few blog posts will be more tangible, and less haphazard like this one. I would love to share with you guys my travels to:

✧Belize
✧Cambodia
✧Hong Kong
✧Bali
✧Vermont
✧DC
✧Virginia
✧Alabama
✧New Orleans
✧Texas
✧New Mexico
✧Colorado
✧Nevada
✧Utah
✧California

I apologize for this ramble and hope you look out for my soon to be uploaded travel posts.

Love always,

Feli

It has now been two years since I have been immersed in the safe, enclosed, gratifying, and limitless neighborhood of Brunswick Maine. There, I went to college, a place that pushed my capabilities in every way, yet also suppressed my openness to what the world could offer. At college, I was protected by the Bowdoin bubble, a realization of bliss and negligence towards adulthood. I am thankful for the meals, knowledge, and close proximity to friends, that were so easily given to me while at school. Perhaps such a paradise is necessary to then realize the lack of structure that is thrust towards you once you exit the college grounds.

The flexibility of the future is daunting but breathtaking. It can also be dangerous but secure. I hope that my life at this point and moving forward is all but perfect. I wish for the roller coaster of emotions, opportunities and dreams. This immense feeling of uncertainty is a gift to mold a life of endless opportunities. Throughout my wild goose chase to figure out my career or perhaps a career-less future, I have had one main factor ground me. My friends from college have helped me stabilize the ebb and flow of uncertainty. It is reassuring knowing that each and everyone of them are having similar experiences that embody the discouraging and exciting flow of adulthood. We are all progressing towards experiences, not necessarily careers, but opportunities that allow us to love and dislike what we learn. Not one of us is alone through this insane journey.

Recently I was able to reconnect with my friends over St. Patrick’s weekend. The weekend was a reminder of support and a reminder of our adolescent excitement. With them, I was able to embrace reality and get the extra push toward my future. The weekend also emphasized the importance of regular reunions with college friends. We reminisced, laughed, and joked around. We also shared new life updates, updates that we took for granted in college with the incessant flow of support. Most importantly, this weekend indicated the unconditional and unique friendship that we have. Undoubtedly a valuable one.

To those of you who are engulfed by the intimidating flow of post college work life, take a breather and reunite with friends. Don’t be afraid to take a you day, to take a sick day, or to take several days off of work to meet with old friends- to be reminded of what else life can offer.

Thank you for reading this post:)

Peace and love always,

Feli

I recently watched a documentary on Netflix called “World’s Busiest Cities” and I was pleasantly surprised that the first episode was about Hong Kong, my home. One segment of the documentary that resonated with me was about domestic helpers. Growing up, my family, and many families in Hong Kong had a domestic helper. Most of them are from the Phillipines, Indonesia, or more or less poverty ridden countries that allow their citizens to come to Hong Kong to work domestically. Domestic helpers live with the family they work for to do house work, take care of children, among other things.

Having a domestic helper is not for the privileged in Hong Kong, It is common and sadly, to have a domestic helper is inexpensive. Many come to Hong Kong to make a living for their family back home, leaving their own children behind. Only about once a year do they have the chance to return home to see their family. Being a professor lets say, in a well educated neighborhood in the Phillipines, would bring home less income then moving to Hong Kong to work as a domestic helper indefinitely. Growing up, I was negligent and naive about this trend that was not apparent in most of the world. Only when I came to the USA to visit family and to attend summer camps did I realize that many people are not accustomed to the culture of domestic helpers. With that, I knew I was fortunate. Not fortunate in the sense that we had the opportunity to have someone working for us, but fortunate because I had someone else besides my biological family to love unconditionally. I had the urge to add in the “biological” aspect of family, because she is now my family too.

Some may not know it, but domestic helpers are the backbone of Hong Kong’s economy, absolutely making them important in every way. Domestic helpers are not only vital for the economy but they are also meaningful for the care, security, and love they bring to the families they work with. “Yaya” (translated to baby sitter in tagalog), was my families’ domestic helper and she started working for my family when I was under a year old. Without her, I would not be the person I am today. She loved me and my sisters, and would do anything to make sure we were safe. My family trusted her with everything. She was there to change my diapers, she was there when my sisters and I had petty bickers, She was there when I was awkwardly going through puberty, she was there when I brought home my first boyfriend, and she was there to lecture me about not sneaking out of the house to go to some irrelevant party. She had authority and we respected her. As a young girl, I remember sulking on Sundays when she was away on her holiday. Sunday is the selected day that most domestic helpers have off. There were times that I watched her walk back into the house on Sunday night and felt my heart become full once again.

I cannot thank her enough for being my second mom, and for being someone to lean on. I was lucky to have her as my life’s backbone, and the most heartbreaking part about having her in my life is that her child back home did not have her physically there. This sad truth makes my heart sink as her child missed out on the constant physical care that she brought me- although it is certain she does more than humanly possible to love her child (from a distance), the same way she loved my family. Her capacity to love was boundless. Her compassion exuded with every meticulous thing she did for me. From braiding my hair before ballet to helping me pack my lunch for school, every action, every word, every hug, there was genuinity. Thank you, Yaya, for finding my family and loving us with all your soul.

There are thousands of women in the same position as Yaya and that brings light to the inequality of this world. This alleged destined path for the thousands of domestic helpers is calamitious. But in this world, is it plausible to help such situations? Am I selfish to not want to break this cycle so others could be loved the same way that Yaya loved my family? There could be pages written about this ethical dilemma but for the sake of blog space, I wanted to nicely align this reflection with #internationalwomen’sday, thanking Yaya, and all domestic helpers, for their affection and for being the brave international women they are.

Peace and love always,

Feli <3

Recently, I was able to visit my twin sister in Denver, a unique city that allowed her to thrive and find her niche. This was the first time I was an outsider in her community and it was alluring. For 21 years, Heather and I have been each others rocks, each others mirrors, and each others dependencies. For 21 years, we shared a bedroom, knew each others deepest secrets, and understood each others inner passions and torments. I was able to see our relationship grow as kids at home in Hong Kong, and then further evolve as adults in college. Growing up, we were very much alike, we had similar hobbies, similar tastes in fashion and music, and similar tastes in friends. However, our temperaments were far from analogous and our academic and personal interests diverged just so slightly. On the contrary, these past two years, I haven’t been able to witness the transient and immediate growth of our relationship as we were not physically together. For the first time, I was like everybody else witnessing a snap shot of her life.

For the past two years, we have been living apart and thriving independently, perhaps because of the curiosity we had about how different we could possibly be. No doubt, our career choices prompted us to polarize geographically, but we both had the inkling to find out what life could be without the other, without our destined best friend, sister, and soulmate.

When I was in Denver with Heather, I was elated, calm, content, and curious about her individualistic life. Her countless colleagues and friends knew her as Heather, and not as the “Chan twin”- and for the first time, this was fascinating to see. I admire her courage to settle in a foreign place, and her dauntlessness to explore with no limitations. Her compassionate, warm, and daring personality naturally helped her find a community with many friends and opportunities to a myriad of new hobbies that would not have been found if she were “tethered” to me. Because of this, I am thankful, that our slight difference in academic interests and therefore career choice, separated us, and allowed us to understand the limitless capacity of independent life.

These past two years have undoubtedly made us more different than ever. I am humbled to have witnessed her flourish without me, yet heartbreaking that we no longer are “tethered” to each other. Conceivably, this transformation is what being an adult means. I am perpetually curious about how things will keep changing, or perhaps converge one day. I am humbled to have had 21 years of unconditional physical and emotional support and thrilled to see how the next few years will deepen our relationship.

Although we are now “untethered”, we are still as close as ever, are still each others support system, best friend, and family. The pictures below show that although we live our separate lives, we are still sisters who love, bicker, and make up.

I have been telling myself lately that I have been too busy to write a post. The more I dwell on sitting down to commit a couple hours to conjure up something relatable to you readers, the easier it is to come up with excuses. So, I sincerely apologize for the delay. In all honestly, after the holidays, the truth of sheer reality hit me like a truck with my energy subsequently sucked elsewhere.  Whether it be work at the hospital, or planning my future, I have severely lacked in focusing on the preset.

The polarity of holiday time and coming back to work is sometimes hard to adjust to, especially with the exciting, blissful, and carefree attitude of the holidays that further polarizes the spectrum. Throughout my mere 23 years of life, I have tried to be mindful of succumbing to post-holiday blues. I absolutely fell victim to post holiday blues this time around and I am finally brave enough to reflect on why, this year, I couldn’t avoid it! Instead of listing those reasons here, I would love to shift the focus to what I can change, and thankfully that beautifully aligns with new year resolutions!

I am hoping these new year resolutions will help me stay centered and transfer my energy to complete happiness, pleasure, self-love, and kindness.

• I am sensitive to the impact of words. Words have the power to drive intention and mood, so throughout each and every day, I will switch thoughts around in my head, making negative thoughts neutral or positive. Dreading a busy day or complaining of what might be has been something that has recently drained my energy starting from the minute I wake up. For example, instead of reality hitting me like a truck, I will let reality be the core of epiphanies, new beginnings, and new discoveries. I will let reality drive my openness and curiosity.

• Keep blogging! It is funny to think that when I first started to blog, I told myself I would post twice a week about ANYTHING I wanted. To do that, I genuinely had to banish all fears of judgement. Two posts a week was not attainable because of work and stark laziness. What seems more attainable is to blog when I want to but to keep doing it. I want to be tantalized by the excitement of what I can be writing, not to dread blogging twice a week every week. I usually am great with schedules, but to limit myself to rigidity for something so free flowing is a joke. Blogging is my self fulfillment, my authenticity, my journal- and because of the raw essence of blogging, it is my method to reflect when I want and to just be.

• Be a yogi. Besides the numerous yoga sessions weekly, I want to make sure every movement and breath has intention. In order to maximize the benefit of yoga, I have decided to get my teacher yoga certification, which will allow me to grow, teach, and understand the philosophy of yoga. Unfortunately, I have struggled to find programs that are not commercialized or westernized by the pretty yoga outfits and picture perfect poses. However, to get to where I want to be, I have to do a teacher training that will get my foot in the door to make my practice as authentic as it can be. I will one day be able to tailor my practice to embody me.

• Make compassion the mantra of my life. I don’t think this needs a long explanation other than to live with compassion, help others embrace compassion, and never forget about compassion!

• Strive for complete mental and physical bliss- to stay healthy by loving my thoughts and my body; to be confident about next steps and not to doubt myself!

• Call my family more often, inform them with what I have fallen in love with and not be afraid to be vulnerable.

The above resolutions are ones I thought were worth sharing, so thank you for reading about what my 2019 may bring!

To contrast the cacophony of thoughts after reading EVERYTHING above, below is a little album of my holiday (Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand)- and hopefully you will understand why I gave into the post holiday blues.

Peace and love always,

Feli.

Growing up, Christmas holiday was a time to travel and explore the world. My parents, both curious and passionate, believed that opening my sisters and I to the limitless wonders of the world was paramount to helping us grow into the inquisitive people we are today. Everyday, I am thankful that I was able to learn the intricacies and elegance of various cultures and will continually be thankful for what travel has taught me. My family found travel valuable to help my family detach from the stresses of daily life. Holiday time was truly a time to disconnect from our busy world, appreciate the fortunate life that we live, and love each other for who we are. Like many cross cultural international families, Christmas  was also the time of the year where family members flew  home to Hong Kong to enjoy feasts, hugs, and kisses that merely lasted minutes to only be experienced again one year later.

For the past 6 years, I have lived away from home- the cacophonous yet serene urban jungle of Hong Kong. Being away for so long, I crave the chatter, crowds and lights. I also miss the smell of the ocean on my clothes after going for a run, the tropical humidity after being outside just for a second, and the incessant bug bites after immersing myself in the jungle. Most of all, I miss home for the tranquility and exhilaration it brings me.

Now, Christmas holiday is a time to go home and to possibly squeeze in a short holiday with the family to fill our souls with the wonders of new destinations. Christmas is also a time to re-live the city rush that I once did. Every year, I get euphoric over the packed schedule of family activities that are planned weeks in advance- this packed schedule full of hikes, explorations, family gatherings, food, and more food. When I am away from home, I also covet the Christmas spirit of Hong Kong that is blatantly painted all over the city, whether it be light animations on city sky scrappers or Christmas exhibits in Hong Kong’s malls. If you are curious about the upper limit of Christmas spirit decoration and extravaganza,  you will not find it in Hong Kong. I promise you, it surpasses any limit you have seen and is absolutely spectacular. I am currently sitting at the airport about to hop onto the 16 hour flight back home. I have never been more excited to sit in a claustrophobic, stuffy, dry, people filled plane just to be home one more time.

I hope you all have a wonderful, lovely, silly, heartwarming Christmas holiday.

I will be back soon with more stories about the holidays.

Peace and love, Feli xo