Me: So Tom, the word on the street is that Turkeys are stupid.
Turkey: Nice, real nice. Treat all your dinner guests this way?
Me: I’m not trying to be rude, I’m just interested. OK?
Turkey: So if you really want to know, I’ll give you straight scoop. Ask away.
Me: So is it true that Turkeys can drown by looking up into the sky and having their beaks fill up with rain?
Turkey: Totally false. However one of us jumped into a bucket and a bunch more thought it was fun. Kind of like pig pile except with Turkeys. Everyone but the top turkey drowned. Tragic.
Me: Interesting. So how about Turkeys no longer having the ability to reproduce without artificial insemination?
Turkey: Define “artificial.” We like to think of it as making you humans mess around with our privates. Funny!
Me: Eeww!
Turkey: C’mon… any other things you want to know?
Me: I heard that if one Turkey dies, a whole flock will die in sympathy.
Turkey: Negative, no, nada. Turkeys mostly die at Thanksgiving. Capice?
Me: Sorry, O.K. one more. Does the Tryptophan in Turkeys make people sleepy after they eat it?
Turkey: You’re talking about “The Turkey’s Revenge?” I wish. Sadly, this is yet one more goofy way that you humans make us out to be monsters.
Me: So, I’m starting to feel a little hungry. Any ideas?
Lunch had a new twist for me today. I actually enjoyed creating it blindfolded…yes, you read it correctly… blindfolded.
You may be asking your computer screen, “why would Lauren do that?” I am taking a class with one of my instructors from Quattro University, Sensei Ron Tomas, and this was our homework assignment for one of our meals today. Still curious?
I’d like to share with you my experience…
My kitchen is small and I know it well, so the space was very easy for me to maneuver. I decided on a salad, I wasn’t very hungry. The makings for the most part are in the bottom drawer, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, feta cheese (a few drawers up), hardboiled egg, toasted pine nuts and croutons. Okay I’ve done this a million times before, it can’t be too hard, right?
The first thing I noticed after getting it all out of the frig was that I was completely present. I was aware of everything, noises, smell, temperature and the way things felt in my hands. I reached out for the lettuce, cold and crisp and tore it into the bowl. Next came the tomatoes…these I had to cut…”Danger Will Robinson!”… okay I’ve just dated myself. Actually it was really cool to pick the knife out of the knife caddy and feel it’s weight in my hand. I never really noticed that before!
I had just sharpened my knives 2 days ago so I knew they’d be very sharp, I just had to be accurate. I moved much slower than I normally would and proceeded to hear, feel and guide my way to success. After everything else was processed…again much slower that I would normally be on auto pilot I noticed something else. I was actually seeing myself do these things, I was visualizing the whole experience…way cool!
Time to eat. The part that didn’t turn out well was the amount of dressing that was poured vs. the amount I visualized pouring…I realized I had lost focus, my mind went elsewhere. My first bite was none the less amazing. The flavors were so WOW in my mouth, much more intense than I remember. I chewed slowly and was aware that I don’t take the time when I eat to really savor the meal, especially lunch when it’s in front of my computer…which is most of the time.
I was experiencing heightened sensory awareness, I was in the moment and focused. I realized it doesn’t require me to actually go through life blindfolded, but that I can choose to change up just one aspect of my routine. Do it slowly when I usually do it fast, do it left handed when I usually do it with my right, do the steps in reverse…you get the idea. Be aware.
Whenever I reach into my purse, the one thing that jumps into my hand is my keyring…it is huge! I have too many keys. Where did they all come from, do I still need them? I decided to stop and figure it out.
My strategy was to remove them all from the ring and to lay them out side by side. Big ones, fat ones, little itty bitty ones…lots and lots of keys. Some are colored, some are wierdly shaped. I even had a couple keys that were duplicates! The original and the spare for emergencies were in the same place. Duh!
I wondered if I should be more concious about what I allowed on my keyring, I wondered if the quality of life is better or worse with more or or less keys. More keys generally means you have more possessions or responsibilities…a mark of success? Perhaps not. If I could have homes all around the world, would I want to carry the keys with me, or would I put them in a keybox and just carry the key for the house I was in? Decisions, decisions.
Some keys have wonderful memories attached to them… a friend’s cabin, a cherished car. Another, suggest a more painful memory, the door to my old home and defunct relationship, Do the keys with good memories belong on my keyring as well-worn reminders? Should I keep a big box of retired keys labelled so that I can paw through them from time to time, feeling the energy of my past? Too much clutter.
Let’s start from scratch…an empty key ring. What possibilities! One by one, I added back the keys that were required, the front door, the car, the mailbox. Just three keys, it seems so simple, so enticing. But what about the back door key, what about the key to my girlfriend’s house. I decide to make a second key ring for all of the keys infrequently used. Brilliant. Unless of course I forget to bring them with me when I need them. I’ll take that chance. The mystique of a small key ring is just so compelling.
Give it a try, pull out that key ring of yours and get ready for some surgery. Pick your keys, pick your life. How do you feel now?
BTW- You might be asking why the Greek in my blog title? …Just a shameless ploy to get you to read my blog !
Don’t over eat, get 8 hours of sleep, exercise regularly, eat an apple a day, brush your teeth…blah, blah, blah.
Wanna have some fun? It’s time for some “unguilty” pleasures. How will you know the merit of coloring inside the lines if every now and then you don’t scribble where you shouldn’t? It’s exhilarating, vicarious, fulfilling and down right FUN (to break the rules)! So why do we work so hard to be good all the time? Who made up those rules anyway?
Tomorrow I’m playing hooky. I have a huge project I’m working on and I’m heading to the beach for the day instead. It’s unreasonable, irresponsible and totally about me. I’ll catch all kinds of heat for this, but that’s okay, THAT’S THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW!
I wonder if those I’m working for are reading these words right now? If you’re life is all about behaving, perhaps it’s time to break your own rules. If you get right down to it, we are the ones who hold ourselves accountable…yes? We deserve at the very minimum to know why. Is two bowls of ice cream really excessive? Is taking the afternoon off to go to the movies life changing?
We owe it to ourselves to examine all the rules from time to time to see if they still apply. Are they really working for us or are they keeping us stuck in a boring rut? This is not a dress rehearsal, this is our command performance.
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