Peaches & People - Yes, We Can!

As this years peaches await canning, I'm reminded of how last summers were married with garlic, jalapeno, lime and sugar. I thought often of President Obama's slogan, "Yes, we can" as I canned. Tomatoes became sauce, blueberries became jam and the peaches - salsa.
Canning, like changing any system be it inner or outer, government, corporate or family, is a process requiring time and patience. When done best, there's thoughtful awareness not only to the ingredients but to the containers and water temperature and lest I forget to the cook or cooks (in a business, family, community or country).

My first peaches of last summer were what cooks on my family tree would call mealy. Until I sampled the first one, I had never actually tasted what that meant. A few bites into the dense mush of several provided a clue to what lay ahead - questionable salsa and my episodic personal denseness.

I proceeded to watch myself proceed, not to a chair to consider options, but into the peeling and chopping required to dismantle an entire large box of peaches. I didn't even take 30 seconds to back away. I consciously ignored the part of me that was witness to the me that was on autopilot.

The Iroquois spoke of considering the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations. I consider myself thoughtful but I didn’t even take seven seconds to stop and notice what I was noticing. I was dense and compulsively moved on to what was next.

In retrospect I didn’t stop to evaluate my options because the auto-me didn’t want to waste money or time. I had this particular afternoon to make salsa and that's what I was going to do. I was in control and nothing was about to stop me. (It also never occurred to me that the seller would refund my money or give me new peaches.)

Aware my primary ingredient wasn't the best, I charged on filling the jars before placing them in the boiling water. After the required minutes, I placed each jar on the counter to cool, awaiting the little pops that signified a successful canning process.

The tops did not pop. Popping is a prerequisite for storage. This meant I’d be lucky to keep them in the fridge for 3-4 weeks max.

The salsa tasted okay but would not last. I quit.

I awoke the next morning and returned to the market where the seller gave me fresh peaches and I tried again. I peeled and diced, refilled my jars, mixing some old with the new and ‘bathed’ the peach creations not once more but twice. One can only imagine the heat as three pans of water filled with jars were brought to boiling not once but twice in one day before all the tops finally popped, mission accomplished.

Interestingly I never personally popped because my inner boiling point was tempered by the watchful me, amused that I could have possibly circumvented this ordeal had I gotten new peaches from the start.

As I now ponder what to do with this summer’s first peaches, I’m mindful we are all cooks in Earth’s kitchen. How many of us really take time to consider the impact of our actions seven days into the future let alone seven generations? Let’s get real. Do we even think seven seconds most times? We can say we’re in a hurry and don’t have time for this level of thoughtfulness yet time is all we have. Cooks prior not taking time but engaging compulsively in autopilot has gotten us into repeated fixes historically.

When I’m living thoughtfully, awareness is simple and takes no time. Yet all too often I show up dense as in the kitchen that day. Just as I ignored the me that witnessed my not listening, how often are our personal plans "cooked" while ignoring intuition, that still small voice suggesting something be tried in a different way? Do you like me with the peaches, insist on your way, on your time table? How many CEO’s craft business plans knowing something's mediocre like the peaches but it’s done anyway? Which cooks at BP ignored the fact that a sufficient ER plan would require more research ie. time and money? How much legislation like my first round of salsa is not the best or long lasting, but it gets passed so men and women can move on to what's next on their congressional to-do list?

We are all cooks in Earth’s kitchen in this amazing moment in time. This time is part of our process as a collective and as individuals.

Having patience and taking time to live awake and aware allows us to learn from our engagement even if it is engaging for an entire weekend unexpectedly as I did with the peaches. I learned.

Living awake and aware can engage and change our internal system, the system of the heart and head, in the blink of an eye or in the time that it took me to back away from the chopping block and ask for a moment, ‘What are my choices here?’

Living (or cooking) awake and aware inside creates a ripple effect all around, positively charging Earth's kitchen for massive awakening.

If we can in the boiling pot of these times live and love with greater personal awareness, we will wake up to engage with ourselves and others in deeper, higher ways. Individuals with varied talents and beliefs will magically mingle like the peaches, garlic and peppers birthing a new creation, a salsa of initiatives and endeavors.

If we can allow the heat of these times to awaken us to the dense beliefs that create auto-pilot and allow the heat to burn away the fear underlying our reactivity, our friendship circles will be varied as exemplified by Bill Peach (yes, that is his name) who recently wrote on Facebook "I have a strange circle of friends--9 like Sarah Palin, 10 like Fox News, 17 like Michelle Obama, 20 like the Franklin Rodeo and 40 like Arrington Vineyards."

Maybe it’s not so strange. I don't know Bill personally but in the kitchen of his life, I suspect he values the ingredients of diversity and as a cook has an openness and willingness to dialogue and understand.

Just like my jars when canning, especially last summer’s thrice boiled peach salsa, we are in hot times and things may get hotter. Let's more fully awaken and creatively use our hearts and minds to come together and not just believe we can but live "Yes, we can" not because we have to but because we love what's cooking in our lives in these times. Imagine that shift!

Dawn! The Good News Muse, 6 July 2010
dawn@imaginetheshift.com

*Click HERE for my favorite blueberry story...The Blueberry's Heroic Journey.

**Click HERE for Bill Peach's blog.

***I didn't intentionally stage the peaches above in a bag from Jean Houston's Social Artistry Leadership program. I noted this synchronicity after completing the story. Jean teaches new forms of creative leadership honoring the leader in everyone while savoring cultures rather than creating monoculture. Engage your social artist at www.jeanhouston.org