The Gift of Shopping Cart Lessons

 

Photo Credit: My husband

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of Shopping Cart Lessons

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

Lao Tzu

Courtesy, kindness, looking around.

Mindfulness, gentleness, see what’s around.

Stop for a moment.

Ease the hurry.

We are all in this together. 

Ease your worry.

Why must we rush and run until we can’t go anymore?

Why is life at such a rapid pace as we rush forward?

Take time to smell the roses and gaze at the trees.

Have a conversation with someone who is in need. 

Stop to say a prayer and meditate.

Slow your mind and set a more moderate pace.

Life already moves by quickly as you can see.

Make the most of these moments, by stopping for just a bit. 

I promise you dear readers you will have very little regret.

How many of us go to the store with a list.. Written down, noted, etc.. We get to the store and well, we still forget things that we wrote on our list? Is that only me? Some of this I attribute to the fact that I am always in a rush. Yesterday, I forgot some pretty fundamental things to go in a Pot luck dinner dish. I got home and sigh… I forgot the onions and cheese. I went back to the store to get the two items that make or break the dish. The store was actually bedlam USA. I think that everyone in my little town decided to go to the store at that time on that day. As I was navigating the aisles, I was struck at just how much no one was looking out for the other. The shopping carts were running into each other, in front of each other, behind each other, etc.. I was expecting there to be a WWE of shopping carts at any moment. To add to that, those that were not looking gave each other not quite nice looks. I got to thinking as I continued to shop about slowing down. I wondered if the hurried pace caused this confusion and lack of manners in the store. We all go to the store from time to time. This is a place you can kind of gauge the spiritual zeitgeist at the moment. Yesterday it was HURRY! It was almost like that old game show where the contestants ran through the store getting as much stuff before the buzzer went off. I thought, “Why the rush?” Sure, some folks may have had a time crunch and shopping to me is a tedious yet necessary exercise but really? Why must we always hurry? Did you know that there is an actual term called, “Hurry Sickness?” Well, it is not an actual sickness but the term was coined in the 80s. Basically folks that always hurry can develop heart issues because it is considered “Type A” behavior. Also, you focus on productivity and very little else. It makes you irritable, tired and worried. No wonder in our society of instant fast gratification we are a bit harried much of the time. When you stay in that state it is very hard to look outside of yourself. One behavior that I struggle with is hurry. Bar none. My husband constantly reminds me to slow down. Do you know why? Because I miss things. Sometimes those things are of little consequence while other times they are meaningful. What to do? Well, practice mindfulness. Slow yourself down from time to time. Breathe. Close your eyes for a few minutes and listen to your favorite piece of music. In the words of one of my elderly clients named Patrick: “Slow down sugar, you youngins’ if ya don’t slow down your gonna blink and be my age looking at the twilight of life.” Today my husband and I did something that I don’t believe we have done in years, we slowed down and took a Sunday drive. We had no destination, nothing in mind. We just drove and took in the waning color of fall. It was a nice change from hurrying much of the time. I have shared this quote before but it still rings true. “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, even you.” Anne Lamott. Slow down the shopping cart in your mind that is racing down the aisles like a supermarket sweep. Take a mental and physical Sunday drive to calm and cool days that are refreshing.  Happy Thanksgiving week friends!

Source: Masterclass.com

My books are on Amazon!

The Quacktastic Adventures of Ellie and Lord Barks a Lot

The Case of the Missing Moo-Cow Bell

The Case of the Missing Bumbly Wumbly Bee

The Case of the Missing Wellies

The Case of the Missing Honk Honk

The Case of the Missing Ornaments

Clean it Up! Wash it Up!

Coming Soon!

Appalachian Allegory : A Southern Novel

The Gift of Grits

Being from the South... we eat a lot of grits..

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of Grits

“Over time, grit is what separates fruitful lives from aimlessness.”

John Ortberg

Determination, pluck, firmness, a stiff upper lip

All of these words are some form of grit.  

Persistence, boldness, bravery, and might. 

A willingness to never give up the fight. 

To have grit has certitude and firm-ness.

Even when the chips are down, grit can help you snap back and resound with a booming voice of certainty, “I have grit!  I can do this watch and see!”

So have some grit and tenacity and be the person you were meant to be!

Grits are a pretty great staple of southern cuisine.  There are many ways to prepare them.  You can mix them with cheese, garlic, and butter (yummy).  Some folks just prepare it with butter.  Others put sugar on it (why?!!).  My grandmother called it “dressing up your grits”.  Grits are typically stone ground. The process breaks down the kernel of corn and makes the corn into a very sumptuous southern treat.  The type of stone that is used is a millstone.  The millstine dates back to time immemorial.  Millstones have been found all over the world, they were used by many civilizations to grind wheat and other grains. Stone ground grits are made between not one, but two millstones.  It’s a brutal process.  But what comes out in the end is a delectable treat. Why are grits a gift?  The traditional process of making grits has multiple steps.  First, the corn is grown, then harvested.  Then corn is then dried in a hot greenhouse for about a week, the moisture content in the corn has to be next to nothing.  The corn then goes through the sheller or the millstone.  The sheller has quite sharp teeth, the millstone has tremendous weight. The corn is taken off the cob, and the cob is discarded.  After the corn is ground, it is placed in the freezer to make sure that there are no bugs living in the kernels. After freezing the kernels are put through the grinder.  After that, they are put through a sieve not once, but twice.  The first shaking is to make the corn meal.  The second shaking makes the grits.  Does this not sound like some of the struggles of life?  We have been ground, sieved, frozen, and shucked whether it is with words, illness, relationships, or family.  When we feel crushed to a pulp can we summon the true grit within us?  Life is a beautiful, messy, and audacious activity.  Let us summon the grit to make it through not just for us but also for others.  When we show grit, we can inspire someone else (even if it is in a small way) to live a motivated and purposeful life.  

My books are on Amazon!

The Quacktastic Adventures of Ellie and Lord Barks a Lot

The Gift of Goulash

The Army boys devoured about 20 servings of Goulash!

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of Goulash

“Cooking is all about people. Food is maybe the only universal thing that really has the power to bring everyone together. No matter what culture, everywhere around the world, people get together to eat.”

Guy Fieri

Goulash is a dish that can feed a crowd.

A dish that has many varieties that can please any hungry crowd. 

The crowd can be large, small, or just a few.

Goulash is a quite filling stew.  

Goulash is hearty, warm, and comforting to eat.

Goulash can bring back the comfort of home for those longing for consolation.

When life is fraught with aggravation.

Goulash can provide fellowship, kinship, and a friendly meal.

Nourishment, sustenance, subsistence and fare.

Goulash is a gift that was crafted with great care.

If we can learn anything from goulash, the lesson would be: to be soothing, to be filling, and full of great life.  To have many ingredients, interactions, and recipes for life. To offer a humble meal, an ancient meal, as we navigate through our life. 

Goulash.  This is a dish that dates back to the 9th century in Hungary.  This dish was prepared by shepherds who would spend several months on the plains herding sheep.  They would prepare the goulash in a large cauldron that was hung from a large post over an open fire.  There are at least 7 varieties of Goulash in Hungary alone.  The dish spread to many countries all over the world.  There are American varieties, Canadian varieties, Austrian, Ethiopian, Italian varieties just to name a few.  Goulash has stood the test of time.  What can we learn from goulash?  Well, I would argue many things.  First, common ancestry.  Timeless dishes were created with the idea of kinship, feeding a crowd, fostering a friendly meal.  Second, simplicity.  In this age of digital everything, sometimes uncomplicated, is ideal.  Third, it is interchangeable.  Goulash now has many diverse ways to be prepared yet the name has stayed the same.  Goulash is still a stew of some sort.  Recently, my husband and I literally fed about nine Army boys.  At first we entertained ordering pizza because of the sheer size of our crowd.  After talking with my husband, we decided that a nice home cooked meal would be a gift for our boys.  This got me thinking about the longevity of this dish.  How many folks have gathered around a big pot of goulash and embraced the simplicity, the heartiness, the succor that Goulash provides? Let us hope that as time soldiers on we can both encounter folks who embrace the blessing of goulash and we can be a blessing of goulash to those around us.  

*Source Wikipedia, Rachel Laudan, Smithsonian Magazine