How Medium Almost Gave Me a Heart Attack This Morning

I’m still rubbing my eyes, hoping I’m not hallucinating…..

I try to cook and eat with a still and quiet mind. Allowing thoughts to flow through your noggin while eating affects not only the nutritional benefits of the food we eat but also our enjoyment of it. It’s all about vibrations. The food we eat not only provides us with sustenance but it also contains the vibrations it came into contact with. If the cook is thinking angry, hateful thoughts while stirring the eggs for your omelet then those vibrations will contaminate the omelet. Likewise, if you are thinking angry, hateful thoughts while eating, the food also picks up your vibrations and you end up eating your own anger and hate, thereby feeding and perpetuating it.

So before I eat a meal I take three deep breaths then bless the food. And then I try to eat the entire meal without thinking, focusing my attention on the joy of the flavors and textures of the food.

I try to do the same thing when cooking. I almost never eat out and, living by myself, I do all of my own cooking. I love cooking. It can be a profoundly joyous endeavor.

But I have to admit that I’m not that good at cooking with a clear and empty noggin. The mind invariably comes on line and starts running its loop patterns.

This morning, for instance, I was chopping a jalapeno for my breakfast when I began thinking about a short story that has been rattling around my noggin for weeks. It really wants to come out but I won’t let it. It’s not good enough yet. There are always scores of stories in my head screaming for my attention but I won’t let any of them come out until they prove to me that they can be unique, radical, substantive, thought-provoking, heart-warming and sprinkled with humor. Not many stories make it out.

Well, I caught myself. I stopped chopping and took a deep, cleansing breath bringing my mind back to a state of emptiness. I finished cooking and then had a delicious breakfast of fried eggs and jalapenos and toasted rye bread smothered with cream cheese sprinkled with powdered flax seed and garlic powder. Yum.

After breakfast I fired up the old laptop. I took care of some business, checked my email then came here to Medium…..

….. and that’s when I almost had a heart attack.

In the collections bar at the top of the page I saw the word, ‘fiction.’ I went numb as blood began gushing through my body. I took off my glasses, rubbed my eyes then put the glasses back on. The word was still there. I wasn’t hallucinating. I tore my stare away from the computer screen and looked around the room. No, I was definitely awake. I wasn’t dreaming.

Utterly dumbfounded, I stared for a very long time at that word on the computer screen, my mouth opened in amazement.

And then finally I closed my mouth and smiled. And then I laughed — loudly.

The blood racing through my body finally slowed down. No, I didn’t have a heart attack. Everything was fine, in fact everything was more than fine. It was suddenly a new and glorious day in the world! Hope for a better world had now been restored. I suddenly became aware of the birds singing outside my window and I was filled with joy.

Thanks, Medium.

And then, abruptly, that story came popping back into my noggin that I had been thinking about when I was chopping that jalapeno.

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