Old Gal, New Tricks: How to Hoodwink Your Own Brain for the Better
Project 365, Day 23
Perception is a powerful thing. When you play with it in your mind, you can completely flip something around, turn a switch and make it mean something else to you. I went through the mental exercise of a perception pivot the other day and it was almost like I was revealing a magic trick to myself. Abracadabra! You just convinced yourself that that thing you didn’t want to do is actually a gift.
I was standing at the garbage can, foot pressed against the little foot pedal, aimlessly peeling what felt like the 27th potato of the week (probably wondering why there is a photo of potatoes up top but wonder no more!). I was tired, hungry, achy. I did not want to be peeling that potato. That potato that day was pota-no. For someone who claims to love cooking as much as I do, I sure do complain about it a lot. Just ask Charles. He’ll tell you. You see, me and him, we have an arrangement. I cook. He cleans. That doesn’t stop me from belittling his contribution of cleaning to my cooking on a nearly weekly basis. He helps me where he cans. Chop this, shred that, grab the thing over there. But I’m the artist. The skillet, my canvas. The tongs my paintbrush. He’d just be an intruder if he attempted to leave his mark.
Just as I call myself a tortured writer, I call myself a tortured cook. The burden of cooking three meals a day weighs me down like a backpack full of textbooks. “But you’re so good at it,” he’ll tell me when I complain. Not saying it to Jedi mind trick me into the kitchen, but because he really means it. But back to the potato…pota-no.
Having gotten through three weeks of Whole 30, which limits my ability to order take out when I can’t bring myself to crank the knob on the ol’ gas range, I was over it. Angry at the potato for being a potato, angry at Charles for not being a more confident cook, angry at myself just because that’s what happens sometimes when you can’t force the blame of your grump on anyone else. Then, a thought crossed my mind. “I don’t have to cook. I get to cook. I get to nourish myself and Charles. I get to feed us.” There was something about that that made me feel powerful. Necessary. And look, we all want to feel like we’re a necessity around here, don’t we? It felt like a gift. Not a burden. The gift of cooking, not the burden of cooking. Perception.
This is not the first time I’ve tricked my brain into turning misery into delight. But I forget it’s a hand I can play any dang time I want. What else could I use it for? How else can I flip the script on myself for the better? Yes, it’s about gratitude. Of course. But it’s also a potent tool in our mental toolbox that can be quite convenient if only we remembered it. Perception. Like those Magic Eye drawings. You see nothing until you turn in your eye just so and then BAM…it’s a whale (it was always a whale)!
I didn’t get to write this morning (PT appointment), so I sit here at nearly 10 pm on a Friday night tapping away at my laptop while I could be watching that new episode of Search Party. I admit, I had to drag myself from the sofa to sit here right now. “Maybe no one will notice if I just do this tomorrow, instead.” I remembered the potato, how it went from ground nugget to gold nugget, and gave myself a perception check. I don’t have to write. I get to write. For you. On the other side reading this. What a pleasure that is for me. All of a sudden, the ideas were floating around the noggin, but I knew I wanted to write about this instead.
Our minds are our greatest assets and our greatest enemies. We create whole worlds in there that we either have working for us or against us. Sometimes both at the very same time. Amazing, isn’t it? It’s like my mantra—the time will pass anyway. For things you have to do or choose to do, you can either struggle or savor. We literally get to decide. Just a little food for that that I cooked up for you today. Gift or burden…perception!
So…before I bid you a 24-hour farewell, I would love to know: any recent “potato” moments? If not, I dare you to try it. Report back on your own personal mental magic!
See you tomorrow, friends.