You Gotta Break a Lot of Eggs

I finally did it! I made a perfect omelette! After years of trying and a year and a half making breakfasts (usually more like brunch since I don’t get up early anymore) in retirement it finally happened and I was as excited as Tom Hanks was in Cast Away when he made fire. I even did some of his “fire dance” in my kitchen before texting a picture of said omelette to my wife – yes, I actually did that.

It took a lot of broken eggs to get to this point. A metaphor for continuous learning and personal growth (you knew this wasn’t going to be a cooking lesson, right?). I practiced and practiced, eating a lot of scrambled eggs in the process as I slowly figured out how to do it right. I sought advice from my wife as she makes a mean omelette, and I watched others as they cooked at breakfast buffets (remember those in the before-time?) or on the odd cooking show that caught my attention while flipping through channels. Mostly I noticed how various chefs did it when we went out for breakfast.

Really noticing is key to continual learning and growth. Paying attention to your surroundings, registering what is going on, and making connections are the seeds of ideas that produce that growth. It was precisely that which inspired this post – that and the desire to share my little culinary success with a larger audience. For “noticing” to work, you must be in the moment so your brain can register what you are experiencing. Being in the moment can be difficult when we have so much on our minds most of the time. I know it is for me, but on those occasions when I hit the zone, the reward is significant. Yeah, in this case it was an omelette, but those of you who have tried and tried to get something right know the joy of finally getting it, no matter what it is.

Take a moment to think about times when you were in that zone and experienced something significant because of it. For those who were single and looking for a mate, how many of you ran into that special person when you weren’t actively looking? That’s just one example of how good things come to us when we allow ourselves to relax and be in the moment. It’s at those times that we project positive energy, which attracts more positive energy.

In my case, I decided to take it easy this particular morning and just do what I felt like doing when I felt like it after several busy days in a row. Yeah, I’m retired, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have stuff to do. I got my errands done while the coffee brewed and came back relaxed and ready for breakfast – and got in the house 30 seconds before it started raining; bonus. The eggs must have sensed my relaxed mental state and allowed me to finally succeed in my quest.

It’s funny how even though being in the moment always produces such rewards, getting to that state is so hard for so many of us. If you are like me and your brain is usually in overdrive, take the time to consciously register those times when you hit the zone. That will help you to train your brain to back off a bit so you can enjoy the reward of being in the moment more and more. For me, that will never be the norm, but with practice I am finding myself in that zone more often. So go ahead and break some eggs. You’ll be glad you did.