Cooking As Creativity
/I came home from work last night after being out of town for the weekend. I opened the refrigerator and my heart sank; no tenable dinner supplies. No meat left from the farmers market, no hearty vegetables, no salad greens. Here's what I had:
- one bunch of radishes
- 1/3 of a cucumber
- a huge bag of carrots
- one scallion
- 1/2 jar of almond butter
- 1/2 cup leftover quinoa
- all the usual condiments
I felt like giving up and eating popcorn for dinner, or ordering Chinese food, or calling my mom and whining. Then... I thought about peanut sauce. I made a seriously modified version of this recipe (though you really should try the original sometime, cause it's so good.) I cut up some carrot sticks for dipping, and felt a little bit more like myself. Taking a flying leap out of my self-pity, I sautéed some scallions and carrots, stirred in leftover quinoa and chopped radish greens, and sprinkled everything with chopped radishes, cucumber and more sauce!
I sat down and ate dinner, and it was delicious. I felt like myself again; the creator of my own life.
Here's the amazing thing about cooking for yourself— it forces you straight out of the Victim role and back into the role of Creator. Instead of sitting at home and thinking "This stinks, there's nothing to eat," you can shift your mindset to "Man! This is a serious opportunity to get creative!"
Creativity is defined as:
"the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others."
Creativity is what it takes to succeed; to achieve success in the areas of your that light you up. It's great to work your creativity muscle in small, low-risk ways like making dinner out of nothing or looking fabulous on laundry day. When you grow your ability to create, you also grow your ability to make assertive decisions, hold loving boundaries and build something out of nothing.
Where in your life can you take back your creative power? What's possible if you give up being a bystander and become the creator of your own life?