Lifestyle can be a Piece of Cake – Page 32

Dessert First! Day Six.

Today, I’m on the road working. My routine has been compromised by the bathroom remodel. It takes me two trips to the office before I realize I’ve forgotten my make-up. Now I’m faced with a choice. I can ramp up and push myself so that I feel more efficient, competent, and on top of things, or I can laugh off the mistake and take 10 minutes to go home and fix my face as they say.

An unplanned trip home will still put me on the road in time to be prompt for my meeting. I choose this option. I’m not quite on track for savoring the beauty of the moment, but I did not give into the temptation to move into fast forward setting a frenetic tone for the day.

Once I leave my house, every moment is accounted for. I manage a long glance at the stained glass window in a customer’s office and relax my shoulders briefly, but through much of the afternoon I feel the burden of everyday reality weighing on me.

Even so, I watch events unfold in front of me to make the day easier. Two maintenance men unexpectedly help me unload the 12 heavy boxes I’m transporting. Rather than just dropping off a sample, circumstances give me a chance to visit with a potential client. I return to my office in advance of rush hour traffic to find an exciting email in my inbox. I take a moment to absorb the news and feel happy.

If I had not been practicing Dessert First, would I have even recognized these serendipitous events? Probably not, so I am grateful that discipline and practice in one area is carrying over into other areas. For the second time this week, I recognize a cycle of positive momentum building.

So, let’s leave this on a high note for today and come back tomorrow to wrap it all up in a bow. Until then…

Dessert First! Day Five.

In the morning before I’ve had a conversation, it’s easy to remain focused on my intent to linger over the sweet moments of my day. It is now Day Five of Dessert First and my bathroom is still under construction so I must drive to my office to shower. During the drive this morning there was a moment in which smoky, thick, tall, blue columns of clouds surrounded the orange-red sun creating dramatic depth in the forefront of the sky. I lingered at a stoplight to gaze and the scene quickly changed as the sun broke free to shine its blinding bright white.

As I stared, I was struck by the contrast between the methodic, dependable, and regular movement of the sun and the constantly changing sky pictures it creates at sunrise. The swiftness and drama of the scene change didn’t feel alarming because I know I can rely on the pattern of the sun’s movement.

Perhaps the greatest reward of week’s shift in focus is that it has led me to new insight every day. After reveling in the beauty of the sunrise and recognizing that change is part of what made it so awe inspiring but not frightening, I began to think about our resistance to change and the fear it seems to trigger. Why fear? We accept that things must change. If there were no change, when it rains it would never stop. If there were no change, when we cut our finger it would never heal.

And yet, when we get a new boss at work our first response may be to tense up and assume we’ll be under scrutiny instead of feeling like we are faced with a new learning opportunity and the possibility for greater success than ever before. Or when our elderly parent marries a new spouse, we immediately examine his motives rather than embracing him with our eyes open to all the possibilities both positive and negative.

Are we feeling fear of the unknown? We don’t know how the sky is going to change at sunrise or sunset, but this does not instill fear. We are open to its shifts. What is it about the concept of change that causes us to feel a need to protect ourselves?

This is a big question requiring a big answer. I’m not going to attempt to answer it today. I realize that it is an essential concept that must be addressed in order to thrive. Even more specifically, fear of change must be addressed because it is often the greatest roadblock to the adoption of a gluten-free lifestyle. We fear change more than we fear the pain, illness, and detrimental health effects of ingesting gluten. That is a powerful emotion.

We will come back to this here on the blog, address it in the full website that will launch in January, and incorporate techniques to alleviate such fear in our Essential Utensils Social and Emotional Support Tools.

If you are struggling and want feedback now, please email support@cooking2thrive.com.

Dessert First! Day Four.

As this week progresses, I become increasingly aware that I have surrounded myself with difficult people. Is that because I exude the same sort of energy as they? Possibly. It is also possible that I exude a calm acceptance that feels safe or inviting. I’m not sure which is the most true right now. What I know is that it takes a lot of dessert to absorb, dissipate, and cushion negativity and on Day 3 by the afternoon I had resorted to actual dessert. A gluten-free espresso brownie to be exact.

Okay, truth is I had ice cream too later in the evening after a difficult phone conversation. Lots of sweet. Too much in fact. When I eat food full of sugar or carbs without supporting it with protein, I get sick. The same is true when I choose to focus only on the positive and ignore or deny the negative around me. It is only with balance that can accept myself, others, and life’s circumstances and begin to nourish my spirit. It is through nourishing my spirit that I find compassion for others.

In some cyclic way that feels beyond my ability to describe in words right now, I believe this is the beginning of a cycle of positive energy that will feed on itself, grow, and make a contribution to good in the world.

I feel a tiny bit of progress. What do you see?

Dessert First! Day Three.

Day Two’s lesson seems to be that it’s hard to break old habits. Most of us eat dinner first and dessert last and that is what I did on Day Two. The morning started well enough. One of my morning routines is to write a list of at least five things for which I am grateful. I felt good and my list was easily flowing forth and becoming lengthy.

Ben showed up to begin reconstruction on the bathroom, but first he wanted to complete a walk-through of the entire project in order to make a list of the paint we’ll need to purchase. He arrived feeling annoyed with himself for his late start and he soon became annoyed with me. He expressed his annoyance by saying I think like a girl and was making the list like a girl and I needed to stop that and approach the list making like he would. I kept the mood light and we finished the list without further conflict. What I realize now is how much that accommodation depleted the positive energy bank I had built up while savoring my gratitudes.

Once we completed the task, I sat down to regroup. What I failed to do at that moment was grab dessert on the way to the couch. Rather than reminding myself of my intention to take the time to notice, choose, and each small positive thing, I walked right by a perfectly ripe banana that would have delighted my tastebuds and grabbed a cold hot dog as a snack. I didn’t even pop it in the microwave, put it on a plate, or top it with mustard. I gulped in while Ben complained about my chewing. This was no big deal on it’s own, but it was another small chink in my plan to choose things that feed my positive feelings or add a sense of sweetness to the necessary tasks of the day.

Soon afterward, I received a couple of texts and then a phone call from a friend who is job hunting. He is feeling so financially stressed that even a job offer cannot quell his mounting fear. The fear was bleeding out as anger toward everyone he was dealing with. The anger was so palpable and so overtly undeserved, I found myself saying, “I don’t think she can help it that her first language is not English.” His anger and frustration then turned toward me.

From this point forward, I remained off track. I was chewing on the meat of the workday with no thought of anything but systematic production. I didn’t even savor the anticipation of dinner and a movie with a friend. Ultimately, the gorgeous feeling of fall when we left the theatre was enough to briefly remind me that I may have to summon more resolve for Day Three.

Can I do it? As always, the question lingers until tomorrow…