Sometimes a girl just needs to bake a cookie. Correction: sometimes this girl just needs to bake a cookie.

There is something about baking. I love that it is both a science and an art. You can play with different flavor combinations but as long as you follow the directions, you are guaranteed something delicious. No wonder there is that saying, “easy as cake.”

Whenever I feel like my life is spinning out of control, when I find myself sucked into a vacuum of self-criticism, when I feel overwhelmed and want to run under a big fuzzy blanket, that’s when it is time for me to chill out and bake something tasty. It always does the trick, or at least takes the edge off of my personal dilemmas.

The thing about “personal dilemmas” is that it easy is to go down the rabbit hole into the land of  “I.” At least in this culture, with all of the emphasis on the individual, the selfie, on personal development, it can be difficult to see the bigger picture. We become so focused on our frame of reference, on what’s right in front of us. This makes it a challenge to even accept help. We all strive so much to be self-reliant and independent. But, let’s face it, total independence is a charade anyway. In actuality, whether we recognize it or not, we are always held up by others to some degree.

And now hang with me as I extend this baking metaphor…A cookie can’t exist as a single entity. It needs something to make it rise, something to make it sweet, something to give it some substance, some fat to make it rich and a little something thrown in the dough to keep it interesting. The same is true for humans. We are not comprised of one thing, and we cannot be who we are alone. (like that tree in the woods..ain’t no sound bein heard with no one around)

When we pull the lens away from our tiny morsels of chocolate, we can see the cookie around us holding our chocolate islands in place. Now, now, I say this not as a way to devalue the self because its true that  when the cookie crumbles, and your environment falls apart, you at least still have your chocolate chip left in tact. (and we all know the chocolate chips are where it’s at anyhow..) As long as you have your chocolately delicious core, you can allow your environment to raise you up and keep you feeling stable. But when you try to do everything alone, you free-fall. You become that forgotten chocolate chip on the floor. A little piece of goodness left for the dust bunnies and your cat to play with.

So like everything in life, it all comes back to balance. But I felt the need to get these words out because I think, especially in American society, we feel the need to stamp the “I” on every activity. We may consciously understand the importance of our community, but outwardly we want to claim all the credit. If something goes well, we say, “I accomplished this.” If something goes wrong, well, then we say, “I fucked this up.” I think that once we can see how everything affects everything else, we can relish in the beauty of a broader view. We can welcome equally both criticism and help, and most importantly, we can learn not to take everything so seriously, because eventually that cookie will crumble, and when it does we don’t want to be those lonesome chocolate chips on the floor. We want to remain whole but be surrounded by some doughy warmth.

Yes, I just took chocolate chip cookies that far..

Added Bonus: Here is the recipe to a quick and easy gluten-free chocolate cookie recipe (pictured above):

[gmc_recipe 1038]

Enjoy, and share with friends. Giving=loving.