Chopping Onions

After decades of cooking are there still lesson to learn in the kitchen?

Can there be gifts in chopping onions? 

I am basking in the after glow of completing a BIG project.  Two weeks of planning and 6 days of cooking, vegan and gluten free, meals for 20 yoga teachers.  

It was challenging: 

·      Preparing and serving 3 meals and a snack each day.   Chai Tea aromas of ginger, cinnamon and cardamom filling the kitchen by 6:30 a.m. 

·      Constantly busy measuring, chopping and mixing…. thinking, what is next, while multi-tasking to have all the food on the buffet table for their meal or snack break.  

·      Remembering to take out frozen homemade quick bread and soup for the next day at 7p.m.

It was rewarding:  

·      Connecting with amazing yoga teachers from Idaho, Boston, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico….   Beautiful intelligent women in their 20’s, older women in the mist of raising children or choosing not to have children, wise mature women who are creating what is next after retirement or divorce.  And 2 very interesting men.

·      All sharing the common language of yoga, connected at a heart level. 

I continue to learn: 

·      To trust that everything will come together, for each meal and for my life as a whole. 

·      That something as simple as chopping onions can be done with a sense of integrity and service.

·      To open my heart and really receive the appreciation others have for the effort and love I put into each meal and my life.

I am grateful

·      That I have the knowledge, skills and energy as well as the opportunity to do this. 

Roller Coaster Ride

At a gathering of women someone asked:  How has the beginning of 2014 been for you? I realized the last month as been a ride of ups and downs with laughter and tears.  One day I sang out loud to Karen Drucker's song "Thank You For This Day" as tears of joy flowed down my cheek.  Later the same day,  tears of frustration and sadness filled my eyes as I stomped out of the house for a get myself together walk around the block.  I remember words a very special friend shared about a year after her daughter's death:  "I am grateful for the laughter and the tears".

Each of my 5 senses has the ability to bring me present, the smell of sage before a desert rain,  the vibrant pink reflected in the winter sky at sunset, a 3 a.m. coyote's chorus, the touch of clean sheets against my bare skin, a sip of hot passion tea with a hint of agave syrup.

Learning emotions can bring me present, with a whisper and sometimes a shout.
Learning to listen to myself with compassion - non judgement.
Learning to accept the ups and the downs...grateful for the laughter and the tears.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWBdcQd59WM&list=PL66C0A6D0609A8DE7