Baking Cakes

MAP

We’re drawing to a close of this first book.  Are we going to continue?

Yes.  You know I’ve already purchased another notebook.

What have you learned so far?

I enjoy this time together in addition to our other discussions.

We haven’t had too many of those lately.

True.  I haven’t been pondering as much.

Yes.  I’ve been more in my head trying to figure out what this big change coming up is going to be rather than letting it happen, paying attention.

How’s that working for you? 

It feels like having presents under the tree and trying to guess what’s inside.  But I know better than to look because I ruined a whole Christmas by peeking through the wrapping paper.  There were no surprises.

And doesn’t the same hold true here?

Yes.  I’m not putting a whole lot of effort into guessing though.  But I certainly could put a lot less effort in and pay attention to what is going on now.

You’re thinking of opening the oven door every five minutes to see how the cake is coming along while it bakes.  Futile, isn’t it.  The cake is going to bake on its own time – you can’t make it bake faster.

But I can turn up the temperature.

You know as well as I do that turning up the temperature does not always work.  In fact, most times it doesn’t work because too much heat has undesirable effects.

Getting in the way causes exactly what you didn’t want to happen.

What about right at the end – if you don’t watch then the cake can burn and it’s ruined, it’s burnt.

Only parts are burnt. Some of the cake is salvageable and you can turn it into something else if you want.  Make lemon aide out of lemons.  Or zest.  Or lemon water.  Just see outside the box.

Does your life depend on having a cake in that moment?

No.

Then don’t get so hung up.

You pay attention when the time is drawing near because you know the time is drawing near.  That’s all you have to do – pay attention to what is here right now and let the cake bake.  Fill your time with cleaning dirty dishes in the meantime.

Besides – once you get to know your oven you don’t have to pay attention anymore – you’ll know how long your cake will take to bake.  The same happens with you.

The more you pay attention to your intuition the more you start to recognize your signals.

Yes – that is true.  The other stuff is just creating energy to get in the way.

So start baking cakes – lots of them.  Start listening to your intuition and playing with it.  Get to know the temperature of your own internal oven to continue the metaphor.

Go ahead and bake.