I will not get too deep into the weeds on the election or my feelings regarding the outcome of said election because that is not the protagonist in the movie this week. But what I will say is that the outcome put a massive mirror up to the American people… to our values… to our priorities… to our supposed wants and desires for the future and challenged us to look at ourselves in the ‘mirror’ and really decide if this is who we are. As with many other topics that I have discussed… I once again am not throwing rocks toward my glass skylight but we have just elected a twice impeached… 34 times over convicted felon… 80 year old man to be the leader of the free world. To be the man standing at the top of the hill… forging the trails for our lives… for our children’s lives… for our country’s “life”. The person that exemplifies the dream that young children have when they say… “I want to be the President of the United States when I grow up”. If we are being honest with ourselves… does he hold the values… the moral compass… the discipline… the maturity… to hold the weight of this lofty dream that our future generations strive toward? This past week… the American people voted an overwhelming ‘Yes’ to this question… I hope you are correct.
Now… Wednesday morning… waking up to the outcome of this election… I went into work and found myself face to face with a surprising… revelatory… alternative to all of the emotions that were flooding my brain… and this… this is the protagonist to the movie…
Cinnamon Rolls.
The basic joy of baking and subsequently smelling fresh Cinnamon Rolls. I know… I know… stick with me. The same thing goes for freshly baked Chocolate Chip cookies but since we made Cinnamon Rolls this past week… I will focus on those. They smell truly incredible. I had this strange epiphany as I was standing in the bakery with my number two that this experience… this simplistic moment… this sensation is such a reward. We are being rewarded for being present. We are being rewarded by having the ability to smell this delicious creation. And this reward is not on behalf of some future state. It is fantastic in the moment… by itself… on behalf of nothing. I started thinking about the fact that this pleasure was similar to experiencing good art… or music… it is for it’s own sake… nothing more… nothing less. Part of the beauty is the fact that it is “purposeless” in a sense. But our ability to delight in this unique way in a seemingly “meaningless” moment creates such a meaningful experience. I found myself feeling that one way to truly live is to block out all of the noise and allow ourselves to feel and appreciate the prize of these small moments.
I remembered a Zen mantra that I read in a book that my Aunt gifted me about Mindfulness… it says… “Sit. Sit. Walk. Walk. Don’t Wobble”. It means that when you are with a person… or in a moment… that person and that moment is total priority. Everything else is multitasking. And in our current world of incredible distraction… being able to ‘single task’ is an absolute super power.
So… I will not fluff up this beautiful simplicity by going any further. Find someone you enjoy and go bake Cinnamon Rolls or Chocolate Chip cookies together. Turn off the TV… quiet the chatter between your ears and just enjoy the reward of the delicious gifts that are awaiting you in the oven.
Stay Healthy. Stay Active. Don’t Wobble.