cooking and meditation

one of the nicest thing i can recommend for when you’re feeling overwhelmed or unable to focus, is to grab a bunch of an herb, and pick the leaves or fronds off until you have pruned the entire bunch so they’re ready to cook with.

i did this yesterday with my coriander from the farmer’s market. i didn’t want to be doing it, i only needed a bit of it to top my taco. but i knew if i didn’t do it then, it’s not like i would want to do it later, so i persevered with the coriander. about half way through, i realized, as always, that i was settling in to this new practice of locating the base of the stem and pulling the herb off; a meditation of sorts.

cooking side note: i rinse my herbs in different ways, but it then feels satisfying to toss them in an extra cold (add ice cubes) bowl of water and let them soak. then pull them out, set them on a towel and let them dry. then, add them to a container with a small paper towel to help control moisture levels. from here, the herb lasts quite a while (typically weeks!). and you've completed a meditation practice.

this is also how i typically approach meditation, or exercise… the not wanting to start it, but once i have, getting into it and achieving a sort of “flow” state. it’s worth noticing. because all it takes to overcome an “obstacle,” is knowing that you have something good coming if you can only get through the first minutes of it. those are the few minutes where you’re still living in another mental state, your previous mental state. once you have achieved the “flow,” you will have enjoyed and accomplished a task! or perhaps even a feat! it is really those first few minutes of entering and changing thought patterns that can be the hardest to overcome, then it’s all smooth sailing from there.

and this is exactly how cooking can be for me. also, running, strength training, and various tasks at work. once i actually start on them, it’s nice to have the knowledge that even though i’m not enjoying it in THAT moment to start with, that within a few minutes, i’ll be in a new state of mind. and that i have control over that.

hope you have a great day and thanks for reading!