Thursday, April 22, 2010

The Big Bang



Yesterday, while enjoying my peaceful morning routine, I was startled by a big bang. I suppose I could actually call it an explosion. At any rate, it woke me up, and I realized how I sometimes sleep, even when my eyes are open.

The explosion involved an egg and my microwave. A favorite breakfast of mine is a poached egg, which typically takes 45 seconds to cook and then served on a multi-grain English muffin. Simple, quick and delicious.

Somehow, my peaceful and predictable routine went off course. I don't know if I miss-timed the microwave, or if my egg was smaller than usual, but something did not go as planned. The loud bang of the egg blowing apart and sticking to all sides of the microwave made me wonder what warnings I missed. When I am awake and present, I typically hear a subtle sound that indicates the egg is done and to stop the cooking. I missed it and am not sure where my mind was when I was missing it.

In my typical fashion, I looked at the Big Bang incident as a sign for living my life in a better way. These are the lessons I have made up from the experience:

  • I am always better off if I stay present...tuned in and noticing what is going on around me. This lesson, of course, does not apply when meditating. At that time, I go inside and tune out all that surrounds me. (I never cook eggs while meditating).
  • Sometimes I need a "shake up". I can fall into routines of what I do and how I think. My kitchen explosion reminded me to mix up my experiences and to do so with intention and a certain level of wakefulness and presence.
  • Clean up all messes that occur in your life as soon as possible (these messes include relationships). When left unattended, most messes (like egg) will harden requiring more time, sweat and tears (literally) to get things looking and feeling good again.
I'm grateful for my learning and vow to be more present more of the time. I also intend to have a smoothie for breakfast occasionally....no risk of explosions.