Field Notes #1: Tomato Egg Drop Soup, Kurt Vonnegut on loneliness, podcast interview with the author of "The Body Keeps the Score"

Welcome to the first edition of Odyssey of the Body

Hello! Welcome to the first Odyssey of the Body newsletter and Field Notes #1 — collections of glimpses of life wisdom, nourishing recipes, movement, art and exercises, favorite books and podcast episodes, and tools and tips. If you have a Field Note to share, please send to brianne@daybreaknotes.com. Field Notes come out on Wednesdays, and longer Odyssey of the Body emails come out on Sunday. Thanks for joining me here.

Today’s Field Note includes a nourishing and easy soup, a fascinating podcast episode, and a journal prompt.

1} EAT: Tomato Egg Drop Soup from I Heart Umami

Soup is one of those transformative winter experiences: from cold and hungry to warm and happy, in a few spoonfuls. My newest favorite soup is from the I Heart Umami blog, which focuses on Asian-inspired recipes that are paleo, Whole30, or keto friendly. I follow none of those diets, but I do try to eat with simple foods and skip preservatives and additives that make my GI system unhappy. This egg drop soup is fast and delicious; it’s a marvel.

Here’s the basic Tomato Egg Drop Soup recipe: Sauté chopped green onion and tomato in oil for a few minutes. Then add 2 cups of broth and simmer for 8-10 minutes. (I like using bone broth, which is packed with good things for your GI system. Kettle and Fire is delicious.) Add a slurry of starch to thicken it, if you like. I didn’t notice much difference. (I should note, the recipes on this blog lean on specific ingredients, but you can swap them out with whatever you have on hand. For example, this recipe called for avocado oil, which I didn’t have. I used safflower oil, but any vegetable oil should work.)

In another bowl, whisk up 2 eggs. THEN, the magic happens: While stirring the soup slowly, drizzle the eggs in a narrow line into the gently boiling soup. Enlist a kitchen companion to do the stirring, if you have one handy. The thin stream of egg is key. You can use a cup with a pouring spout, like a liquid measuring cup. I’ve also poured the egg through fork tines or between two chopsticks, or just carefully. The stirring whirls the egg around as it hits the heat and cooks instantly, creating wisps of egg, airy and soft and delicious. I was nervous it would be tricky, but by going slow and steady, it was easy, like watching kitchen alchemy in action.

Take the soup off the heat, drizzle sesame oil and top with cilantro (if you like it; I do) and serve. I also liked adding a bit of soy sauce or fish sauce.

So satisfying, so simple, and good for your belly, too.

Thanks to Erika for pointing me to this blog.

» Take me to the Tomato Egg Drop Soup recipe. {I Heart Umami}

2} Interview with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score

“Trauma is really a wound that happens to your psyche, to your mind, to your brain. Suddenly you’re confronted with something that you are faced with horror and helplessness. That nothing prepares you for this and you go like, oh, my God. And so something switches off at that point in your mind and your brain. And the nature of trauma is that you get stuck there. So instead of remembering something unpleasant, you keep reliving something very unpleasant.” — Dr. Bessel van der Kolk on The Ezra Klein Show

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, has become a bestseller, with the surge of interest around the impact of trauma. Dr. van der Kolk, an expert in trauma, points out that we tend to think of trauma as the result of things that are rare and catastrophic, but trauma is much more common than we realize, including rape, child abuse, sexual assault, and domestic abuse. The majority of people have experienced trauma, he notes.

Dr. van der Kolk explains how the body and mind (the mind is in the body, but in this case, he means our automatic bodily responses vs. our thinking brain) react to trauma in powerful, long-term ways. For example, someone might feel strong, unpleasant, physical reaction to a new person and practically bolt out of a meeting. They have no idea why they would feel this sudden visceral reaction, which seems totally irrational. But their body is reliving something. Perhaps the voice of this person has echoes of the voice of a person who hit them in the past. The body remembers. It automatically sends physical signals to escape danger. Further, the mind is confused. What is happening?

A body’s responses can seem illogical — but, in fact, they make a lot of sense in the context of survival. It’s not just that body keeps the score, as NYT journalist Ezra Klein notes, “it’s that the mind hides the score from us. The mind — it hides and warps these traumatic events and our narratives about them in an effort to protect us.”

In this illuminating Ezra Klein Show podcast episode, Dr. van der Kolk explains how and why trauma affects us the way it does, and what therapies show promise. For example, a therapy called E.M.D.R. may help rewire neural circuits to place the past trauma back in the past. The puzzle and impact of trauma feels as important to understand as any piece around modern life.

Thanks to Tom G. for recommending this episode.

» Listen to the podcast episode or read the transcript. {New York Times}

3} EXPLORE: The most daring thing

“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.” — Kurt Vonnegut

This is quote from 1981. More than 40 years ago. And loneliness seems worse today.

Here’s a prompt to ponder and perhaps journal on ….

When are you lonely?

What does it feel like?

What can you do today to connect with someone you love or like?

Who do you know who might be lonely? What could you do today to connect with them?

We can’t create a stable community in a single day, but we can reach out to someone today and start building connections.

To our journey and healthy days ahead,

Brianne

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