Saturday, February 24, 2007

Nourishment

In times of great chaos, turmoil, and trauma, cooking can be a tremendous source of comfort and peace.

Many of you already know this -- I'm a little late coming to it. Chalk this up to my abusive love/hate relationship with food over the majority of my lifetime. It is a great accomplishment to now view food as a way of taking care of myself instead of a way to control, shape, contort, and escape from my body and mind. Healing = viewing food as nourishment and coming together, instead of as punishment and coming apart.

I'm not talking about eating a quart of ice cream when feeling down. I'm talking about feeling a suffocating swell of anxiety and panic and realizing; What can I count on? Well, dinner. At least dinner needs to happen. And you find solace and air in chopping potatoes for potato leek soup with garbanzo beans and frozen mixed vegetables, or fresh garlic and ginger for stir fry with tofu, or portabello mushrooms, spinach, and garlic with olive oil and a bit of feta cheese over rice.

Because, even when you are doubting where you are going and what you are doing, you deserve to be nourished. And sometimes with good, healthy, organic food. And yes, that includes chocolate.

You were born with potential.
You were born with goodness and trust.
You were born with ideals and dreams.
You were born with greatness.
You were born with wings.
You are not meant for crawling, so don't.
You have wings.
Learn to use them and fly. -- Rumi

And cook.