Take a moment to remember the last time you cooked in an unfamiliar kitchen. Maybe it was at a friend’s house; maybe it was an Airbnb. Remember the feeling of not being sure where things are, the slightly frustrating inefficiency of working in that kitchen? Compare that to how it feels to cook in your own kitchen, where everything is exactly where you expect it to be. At home, you… Read More »Using Mise En Place for Home, Work, and Life
I’m in a crowded Trader Joe’s parking lot, trying to find a parking space. Other cars are slowly schooling around. Shoppers with bags and carts are crossing the pavement. It’s the kind of situation that could trigger impatience. But, instead, my brain generates a better interpretation: We all have to share the space. My mind expresses this thought calmly, with a positive tone, and I feel good. Peaceful. The truth… Read More »Sharing the Space
Anxiety is caused by worrying about the future. Worrying can be helpful if it encourages us to make wise preparations. But, too often, anxiety spirals out of control, and we fixate on catastrophes that probably won’t occur. This goes hand-in-hand with a desire to both know and control what’s going to happen. Both are impossible. We can’t know what’s going to happen, and we can’t control what’s going to happen.… Read More »We Need to Embrace Uncertainty
When you feel a craving for something – a cookie, a beer, Instagram – what does the craving say? It says, “You need this. Right now.” And our default response is to believe what the craving says. But it turns out that both the need and the now are lies. In fact, cravings aren’t just lies, they’re illusions. Cravings are Externally Triggered I recently did this jigsaw puzzle: Although I… Read More »Your Cravings Are Illusions