Time is precious. We want to hang out with the kids; connect with our partners; do our jobs well; get enough sleep, and maybe—when we’re lucky—squeeze in some leisure time here and there. In the whirl of a busy, modern life, there can seem to be very little time for cooking, or even eating!
But no matter how you slice up your time pie, there must be some room made for food; procuring it, preparing it, and eating it. For without food, life stops. But where’s the time?
Perhaps you love cooking and devote a chunk of time to it daily. That’s great. Hopefully, this tip will just help you to enjoy that time in the kitchen even more. But for many modern women, time spent in the kitchen can start to feel like drudgery… and our minds begin to resist it… “Isn’t this what our mothers and grandmother fought to escape?” “Isn’t there a way of doing this even faster, so I can get the kids to bed and put my feet up?” Mentally and emotionally, many of us try to squeeze cooking into an ever smaller box, while we dream of eliminating it entirely.
So here’s my suggestion: Set a timer.
“What?”
No matter what you’re cooking for your brood, figure out a rough estimate of the time it will take and then set a timer for that amount of time, plus 10 minutes. For example, if you guesstimate that dinner will take 30 minutes, set the timer for 40, etc.
And I don’t mean check the clock every 5 minutes for forty minutes… you MUST set a timer. One that will make a noise to alert you. If you own an iPhone, you have a timer. Ditto an oven, or an alarm clock.
By setting the timer, you will relax. Your whole being, which has spent much of the day under pressure, and resisting this cooking time… resenting it, wanting it to be shorter… will settle down and simply drop into the moment. You will know, on the deepest level of your being, that this cooking session has a beginning, middle, and a blessed end. So your mind can just turn down the volume. And you can just be.
You see, as a mom, you bring a special “vibe” to your family; it is soft, profound and healing. Although this feminine energy radiates from your very being, it can get jammed up when you’re stressed and pressured. By setting the timer, the pressure dissipates and your love come back to the kitchen. No need to think fancy thoughts, or do Wiccan incantations over the food. Your love for your family will just pour through you—into the food–no matter your mood. Trust that.
And when the timer beeps, you’re done. If you need a few more minutes, take them and adjust the timer accordingly the next time. If you finish early, take a minute to relax and enjoy your accomplishment. Brava!
