Beyond: Thinking

Yesterday, I smelled somebody’s cooking, and as I often do, became very irritated. I thought of closing all the windows, as I usually do, but decided instead to try to find out what had provoked this reaction. I concentrated on the smell, and this huge story emerged, though at first I did not see it as such.

Then I thought, ‘what is happening?’ And I focused on it. ‘I am smelling this cooking, I am salivating, I am craving, and I am telling a story.’

I could see from this how it’s important to know that I am telling a story when I am telling a story. For then I can decide how to respond, rather than simply reacting. I also noticed that once I knew about the story, the cooking smell did not bother me.

Then it occurred to me how what I had noticed about what had been happening was such a small part of everything else that had been going on at the moment when I had smelled that food cooking.