Monday, April 30, 2012

Roller Coaster Waiting


A lot of talk on relationships lately. I mentioned a couple things to a group yesterday on said topic so I thought I might expand and repeat them here as my weekly pondering moment. Here we go, wooooweeeeeeeee…

Waiting for a relationship.
If you go to an amusement park you most likely have to wait to go on any ride and the one ride there that usually has the biggest line? The biggest roller coaster. (Even if you don’t, let’s pretend that we all love roller coasters. Perfect.) So while you are waiting in line to go on the rollercoaster you pretty much know two things.

The two things you know:
      1) There IS a roller coaster at the end of the line.
     2) If you get out of the line to go on any other ride when you come back you have to start back at the end of the line.

Let that simmer and I’ll add the following spices: This rollercoaster analogy can work for many things, but it especially works well for relationships, IMO. (That means “in my opinion,” I think, I’m not good at computer talk but I think I got that one figured out. Lol. Hags. Jk. idk.) So if you are single and you are constantly asking yourself why don’t I have a boyfriend/girlfriend, why aren’t I getting married, why why why? I like this approach to thinking about it… when you get to an amusement park, most likely you can’t just walk in, see the best roller coaster there and expect to be on it within seconds simply because you want to be on the ride. There are lines that you must wait through. Lines with a purpose because you know what is waiting for you at the end and that the wait makes the adventure even better. If you get tired of waiting and get out of the roller coaster ride to go on the twirl-a-whirl… guess what? You start back at the END of the line for the roller coaster. There is no budging, no tradesies, no holdsy-spotsies.

When you’re waiting for that great relationship you have to kind of do the same two things:
*Firstly, know what you are waiting for by figuring out what the best roller coaster is (traits you want in a relationship: beliefs, companionship, adventure, etc.). If you don’t know what kind of roller coaster you are waiting for or wonder if a roller coaster even exists at the end of your line, then you are not waiting… you are simply standing somewhere.
*Secondly, if you get tired of waiting for that sought after relationship and simply settle for a cheaper version until the right relationship comes about… you are actually delaying the process. Much the same as if you are waiting in the line for a roller coaster and leave the line for the twirl-a-whirl. Going on all the other distracting rides will never get you closer to the main attraction roller coaster unless you set your sights on it and wait in that line.

Am I being too blunt? I hope not. Am I making any sense? I hope so, and as I don’t mean to be discouraging to anyone and/or insinuating that you may be waiting for forever I will go one step further. When waiting in any line you can have a great time or you can have a miserable time. Next time you find yourself in a line (literally) keep an eye on how different people deal with it aka people watch. I suggest grocery stores. How are the people in front of you and behind you reacting? Are they staring blankly? Laughing with a  friend? On the phone? Swearing and complaining under their breath at the delay? Talking happily to those around them? Organizing their purse/bag? Basically, are they being productive or unproductive? What are their attitudes like? What friends and attitudes of your own do you have that make lines easier and more fun to be in?

P.s. Those are my ponderings for the day, would love to hear your guys’ thoughts as well. Have a great day friends!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Cake Talk


 


Last week we talked about the stove… so today I suppose I’ll continue with that and kind of talk about the oven… more specifically something you would put in the oven. Like cake. Yes, that is it. Today I will talk about cake. We need to be on the same page here with this cake though so think of one of those delicious looking double layer cakes that has icing between the top and bottom cake layer and then icing all around. And there’s probably sprinkles on top… or strawberries… Feel free to use your imaginations on what flavour of cake and icing… actually I may find a picture of a piece of cake like this and post it. For a visual. Basically I’m picturing that slice of cake on the front of the cake mix box… which is NEVER how my cakes turnout…even though I clearly use a mix and pre-made icing…


Cakes. They make me off topic.

Ok ok for real now, Cakes. Here we go. My thought on cake today is that if our emotions were cake, what would that mean? What would that look like? Not sure if I will make any sense or even have a point but this is a thought I am pondering:

Are our emotions a happy cake with peaceful icing? OR Are our emotions a sad cake with angry frosting?

First, Let’s take a look at the happy cake. Would you consider the cake part of your emotions to be made up of ingredients such as God’s love, joy, and forgiveness with a delicious layer of patience and understanding icing on top? To me this seems like the best cake idea out there, the one I would want to pick from the cake recipe book. But this cake can be one of the trickiest cakes to make as obtaining the ingredients of such cake may take some sacrifices and trading. For instance if you only have bitter flour… you’re going to have to trade that in for forgiveness flour. Any ingredient that is old (from your past) that could taint the cake must be surrendered so that the cake will be light and fluffy and durable. It’s a tough cake to make sometimes but sooo worth it.

Now let’s take a look at that sad cake. Many times I see angry people (sometimes myself included) and one of my first thoughts is that they are barely angry, they are mainly sad/disappointed/upset/let down/hurting/etc. Cake-wise, most people know that there is cake underneath the icing. Moreover, emotion-wise your outward emotions can largely just be a distraction from the core emotion that’s upset you. You can’t focus on the icing to figure out what kind of cake is underneath. You can however begin to dissect the cake and figure out what ingredients went into the cake to make it upset: Betrayal, rejection, abandonment, cheating, lies, shame, abuse, loss?

Now there are MANY different ways to look at the many different emotional cakes out there but overall, if you want to learn how to have a better emotional cake you have to figure out what the best recipe is, and that means figuring out what produces a good outcome and what doesn’t. 
Baking questions to ask yourself:
1) What temperature is the cake to be baked at? 
  (Who do you surround yourself with for long periods of time?)
2) What ingredients go into the cake? 
  (Do you throw bitterness, frustration and hopelessness into every cake and hope it comes out different?)
3) Does the flour have to be sifted? 
  (Do you have to sift out any elements of your life to make yourself lighter/more at peace?)
4) What type of measurements are required? 
  (Do you spend more time in a bar by yourself than with people that care about you?)

It’s always easier to have cake that you like, and if you have a say in the matter wouldn’t you want to have a cake that is sweet instead of sour?

Give me a blank stare if anything I’m saying makes any sense.

Or don’t… I can’t actually see you.

This post got out of control. Guess how many times I said cake? NEW RECORRRRD.