Slow Oats

From start to finish, my oats take roughly 20 minutes to make.  

I love every second of this morning ritual.  

I have come to realize that unlike practically every other action in my life, where I can be doing a handful [often times more] things simultaneously, when making my oats, I am just...making oats.   I pour water into the pot and wait patiently for it to boil.  How often do we wait patiently for anything anymore?  I wait patiently because I have too.  The oats will not cook faster if I watch them [in fact they cook much slower, as my Grandma Jul would say- a watch pot never boils Maeve] and they certainly do not when I am late for work. They cook on their own time & I must adjust.  

Once the oats go in, it is another 8-10 minutes before they are ready to eat.  Now this would be the perfect time to attend to the numerous tasks on my list: call a friend, switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer, pick up the clothes off my floor, make my bed, or check my email.  Our lists are endless.  I mean I have 10 whole minutes, I should be doing something else..right? But I choose to do nothing than what I am doing right then.  I silence the voice in my head rambling things to do and rather I wait, giving my oats my full attention.  Sure the directions on the package instruct 8-10 minutes, but my oats cannot be timed.

These oats are my discipline, allowing that other voice to be heard: stay still & wait, some things in life you cannot, will not rush.  

So, I wait.  While I wait I strategize what to put in the oats to make them even better than the day before.  More milk this time?  Less time on the stove?  Heavier on the cinnamon?  I pull the essentials out of my cupboard: honey, cinnamon, & flax seeds but always remain open to new ingredients.  Today welcomed walnuts & milk from the farmers' market.  So good.  

I am thankful for those moments where I do one task, just one at a time, from start to finish and do it well.  It may sound rather simple but I find it especially important for our peace of mind in a world where we are constantly stimulated and often times, distracted.  Find something to do, just one thing & embrace the present:)