Food for Thought
They say that,
“The way to the heart is through the stomach”
Meaning if you feed someone, they will fall in love with you, but it is more than that. If you feed someone something that you cook in a bad mood, they can tell. I to this day will go make myself a sandwich before I let an angry/upset/bitter person make me a steak and lobster as it will more than likely come out overcooked and tough, not to mention the negative energy I will be subjecting myself to.
The same goes the other way though. If someone is in a great mood and all we have is bread and peanut butter I know that is going to be the best sandwich I have ever had.
This is not to say that someone who loves cooking and finds it therapeutic would make terrible food if they get upset and decide to go make some food. Those who find it therapeutic will more than likely have their whole energy cleared and cleansed in the prep time. By the time the actual cooking happens their whole mood has shifted and that shift will affect the food they make.
The energy you put into your work stays with it and affects it even after you have moved away. This happens in everything we do.
That is why when we are grumpy and doing chores, we dread them a little more the next time. Sometimes we let this build up and let it negatively affect the rest of our day. It gets to the point where laundry day is a bad day where it started out as simply having a negative attitude when we didn’t want to fold the clothes.
Cooking has been a huge part of my healing journey as it has taught me so much.
I am one of those who find it therapeutic most days, but I found myself dreading dishes so much that some nights I would rather make sandwiches instead of enjoying the peace I find when cooking. It took me a while to realize how I was letting so much negativity build up on one little thing that it was affecting the rest of my day.
Now, this isn’t to say that there is something wrong if you decide you want a night off of dishes. My goodness, sometimes we all need and deserve a break. You will know when it is an issue because you won’t feel like it is a break, in fact, it will make you feel tired and sad and stressed. That is when you know you need to take a moment to cleanse the negativity away. It got to the point with me where after a single meal I felt like I was drowning in dishes.
Again, this is not to say that you must love dishes in order for them to not ruin your whole day. Simply, take the time to release the negative energy when you are done. You can absolutely take it one step further and try to find the positives in the chore at hand. This is my favorite choice. With dishes, I like to use that time to imagine what I want to cook next. I find it much easier to keep a positive attitude and some days I even find myself excited to have that little extra me time.
Now you may ask how I cleansed that energy to get to where I am now. In that particular instance, it took time.
The first step was me noticing and wanting to change it.
The second was allowing myself to feel the way I did during the dishes but this time I was aware of what I was doing and how I was feeling.
The third step was taking some time after I had completed the chore to sit and breathe. I lit an incense stick while I let myself relax into my favorite energy-cleansing meditation.
I repeated these steps until I found myself noticing I didn’t feel so negative while I worked anymore. At that point, I decided I wanted to take it another step further. I wanted to enjoy it. At least a little bit. So, I started letting my brain notice the dishes and let myself dream a little while I washed. Soon it turned into an entire plotting session for the next meal I would wash off them. Now even though dishes aren’t something I would say I completely look forward to I definitely do not dread them. That drowning feeling I had before is no longer here.
Even on holidays where I use every dish in the house twice.
This process is something I have implemented in several areas of my life and am continuing to find places to put it to work.
Honestly, I think the most important part of the process is allowing myself to feel upset. You cannot grow if you do not know where you currently are. You cannot love yourself if you cannot sit with yourself in your bad times. Finding peace is a process worth the time and energy. Be kind to yourself and patient. You deserve to be happy and relaxed.