Cookie and Laundry Meditation

The famous double slit experiment, done by scientist Thomas Young, showed firsthand the interconnected relationship between the particle and wave natures of light. What does this have to do with cookies, you ask? I find that, in my own experience, when I bring awareness to an emotion that I’m struggling with or an experience that I’m having, it’s like the entire thing opens up to me. I feel a sudden shift in the way I’m doing what I’m doing or feeling what I’m feeling. And this change doesn’t have to be miraculous or life-changing; it’s enough just to be completely immersed in how it feels (or how it doesn’t feel) to live my life right now.

Cookie meditation is a term coined by yours truly- it means taking the time to sit down and enjoy something your senses are perceiving to the fullest, but I “came up” with it while I was eating a chocolate-chunk brown butter cookie. I started to think about how my relationship to things had changed over the years, especially food. Mindless eating was a common occurrence when I did not know how or why I should deal with my emotions, and I resorted to many, many creature comforts to hold me over. Food is something directly intertwined with existence itself because we need it to survive. It’s necessary, and everyone experiences it one way or another. I think that the only changing or defining variable is the difference in people’s relationships to food.

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I know that eating and family dynamics at the dinner table are something that can be passed down or cherished for generations. Cultural differences in cuisine are some of the most enjoyable things to go through and to experience for either the first time or the eighty-first time. The problem only arises when the relationship to food becomes destructive and a self-soothing mechanism to consume the “void” or pain away.

Gabor Mate, a retired family physician and humane medical addictions worker, proposes the concept of this “void” or underlying pain behind compulsive behavior. This directly contradicts other theories stating that pleasure-seeking is simply that: acting on an urge for a quick boost in enjoyment. Both these thoughts have value, but in my eyes, I think our relationship to something both essential and non-essential (sugary snacks) stems from unresolved emotional wounds and an emotional attachment to the thing we drift towards when no one else is in the kitchen. It becomes, as Mate says, a sort of self-soothing mechanism instead of a relatively unimportant afternoon treat. Cookie meditation is when- instead of seeking a quick boost in pleasure- we fully step into whatever we’re eating.

What I mean by that is not only eating our food but experiencing it for the complex creation it is. When I was eating my chocolate-chunk cookie, suddenly I thought about the fields of golden wheat that lead to the flour used to bake it. I thought about how the farmer who tended those crops probably has no idea who his product went to, but it still wound up in my hands, and it showed me that we are all connected in more ways than we think.

There’s a short clip on YouTube of a Buddhist monk talking about the how of meditating, and what he said really resonated with me; “Many people think meditation is something very difficult, empty your mind, do not think of anything… Actually, to meditate, you do not have to do anything.” The whole concept of having a cookie and fully experiencing it is just another form of awareness. It’s just another experience that we can step outside of, bring our attention to, and enjoy.

Eliminating things like mindless eating and compulsive activities serve only one (but very important) purpose, and that is to bring more and more consciousness into our daily lives. It’s what happens when we start to look inside ourselves instead of waiting for the next self-help tip or guru- including myself- to tell you what to do. It’s not always going to be comfortable. Oftentimes it’s going to feel like uncharted waters, complete with racing

thoughts and doubt that we try to stuff down with man made forces. But it will always be worth it, because we all have an inner pile of laundry we need to do at some point.

I think meditation is a little bit like folding laundry, undoing all our reservoirs of clothes. Some old, some new, but we can always bring awareness into the experience, regardless if it’s a cookie or a chore.