Posted on Cooking, Eckhart Tolle, Now, Posts, The Power of Now

Cooking Helps!

This might seem to be a strange post for a blog entitled Bipolar1Blog, but really it is not. Cooking is a great way to stay in the now, thereby avoiding the drama which leads to high emotions. Staying calm is one of my primary goals in managing my bipolar 1 disorder. Not only do emotions run rampantly out of control when I am manicky or depressed, I think maybe not managing my emotions properly also leads to mood episodes. So anything that keeps me calm and out of the drama in my head or the astronomical amounts of anxiety I sometimes experience, is GOOD! I think that is also why Art therapy works when people are not feeling well. Their mind is occupied with the task at hand and isn’t flying around in clouds of drama, anger, depression, mania or in the past or future. It really is well tethered to the present and at peace. As such, cooking helps me stay in the Now! My mind is silent, I am concentrating on the task at hand in the now, the egoic mind is not trying to brew up some high drama or dragging me along to voyages in the past or future. When I am cooking, there is no next moment or past moment. I am chopping in the Now, sautéing in the now, boiling in the now. And then I have a wonderful meal that I eat in the Now 🙂

(I am reading the rest of The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. When I am done with it and done with deciphering it, I will post about it. It is an absolutely revolutionary, incredibly instructive book on how to live a life in the Now! A quote: To stay present in everyday life, it helps to be deeply rooted within yourself; otherwise, the mind, which has incredible momentum, will drag you along like a wild river. Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now)

We had breakfast for dinner tonight.

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An omelet with organic eggs,

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hot green peppers, and oodles of fresh, chopped cilantro,IMG_5089

tomatoes, onions, (sorry forgot to take an onion picture…)

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all cooked in olive oil.

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I also made some potatoes with cumin seeds, onions, and dried red hot chili peppers.

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And served it with a Blue Dog baguette,

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and some Sauvignon Blanc.

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A lovely, simple dinner. Here’s to the Now! Cheers.

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9 thoughts on “Cooking Helps!”

  1. Oooooo, that meal looks so yum! I live alone, and it’s really hard to actually cook a meal. I mean, I COULD cook a meal, but I’m just not motivated. I get paralyzed and can’t even think about food. I often just drink a bottle of Glucerna instead of going to the trouble of preparing a meal, then cleaning up. I drink coffee in the morning (late morning, because it takes the drugs such a long time to wear off), oatmeal at noon, and sometimes a rice noodle soup for dinner. Now I’m having to add a tablespoon of nut butter to the evening “meal” in order to absorb the new medicine I’m on for nerve pain. Wheeee! Can I come over to your house and eat????

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I had to wait to read this post last night as I was STARVING and exhausted..I wanted to wait until I wasn’t feeling that way to enjoy your blog to the hilt.

    The pictures looked incredible and I knew it would be a great read as always, and I was right! And it makes total sense to me! :))) My Dad had bipolar one as you know. He was a gourmet cook who used fresh herbs he grew in his cooking That helped him relax from his high-pressure job in the first violin section of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He truly loved to cook.

    It’s breakfast time and I sure wish I had your yummy omelette with all my favorite things right this moment, ha ha!

    Great post!

    XOXO

    Hungry Dy

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you, so much, for your always positive comments! Wow, your dad was an extraordinary person! You are so fortunate to have had him as your dad xxxooo Come visit me and i’ll make you an omelette 🙂 Haha you are too funny! Love and hugs.

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