THE MINDFULNESS OF COOKING OATMEAL

Moving to Northern California has helped me to slow down. I have been mindful about practicing "going slower" and the pace of life here in Mendocino County has helped a lot.

In one of Tich Nhat Hanh's books he mentions Mindfulness while doing daily chores. For me, I am not kidding, cooking oatmeal is teaching me a great lesson. I naturally move too fast. What I mean, is that I tend to do things in too much of a hurry. It is also my habit to do several things at once. Cooking oatmeal in the morning has become one of the best places for me to learn NOT to do two things at once.

I’m famous in my family for burning up tea pots—three so far—and ruining pots by frying oatmeal. Fried oatmeal sucks. It smells up the whole house for one thing—and there’s no way anyone would want to get beyond the smell to try to taste it!

While my mother was visiting over the holidays, I watched how she cooked the oatmeal. It was simple: she just poured it into the water and stood at the stove stirring it the whole time until it was done. "Oatmeal’s ready!" She called me over and there it was, perfect--with no burned taste at all.

I’ve been trying it myself and I’m happy to say I’ve succeeded twice. But today I failed. I was back to my old habit of turning the burner on high then heading off to do something else. I did this and forgot all about the oatmeal until I heard the sound of the oatmeal boiling over onto the stove top.

Oh well…I’ve never said I was perfect. And there’s always the next time.

Meanwhile thank you, Tich Nhat Hanh for planting the seed of mindfulness. And thank you Mother for showing me how.