A Little Nugget of Poetic Wisdom

Posted on by Thomas
Photo by Nick Grappone on Unsplash

Hello my dear happiness nerds, welcome back!

You probably didn’t expect to hear from me again so soon, but I just heard something amazing that I wanted to share. It’s from a podcast, where Pete Holmes interviews Heidi Gardner. If you don’t know Pete Holmes you should definitely check him out! He’s a comedian with a really big mouth and an even bigger heart. And on top: He’s really quite wise and cute as a muffin. Without further ado, here’s the amazing thing he said:

“Chopping mushrooms is just an excuse to get in touch with the feeling of being alive.”

– Pete Holmes

I won’t discuss why I relate to this sentence so much—you go first! Also, if you don’t get it: Let’s chat in the comments!  I’ve been wanting to write about the world behind a sentence like this for a while. I even have a draft that I never finished waiting on my harddrive. But in the meantime, you’ll have to make do with this little nugget of poetic wisdom.

As always, sending much love your way

Thomas

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28 thoughts on “A Little Nugget of Poetic Wisdom”

        1. Haha, that’s a good call – mushy mushrooms 😁 The sentence struck me, because I had the experience that anything works to make me feel alive if I really just pay attention and connect with the moment. Cooking works very well for me, because vegetables are a miracle of nature and appreciating that fills me with gratitude, wonderment, and joy. So that’s my take on it 😊

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  3. Love this! I have an obsession with mushrooms and this very Thought.
    The Mushroom IS Life.
    Giving life to every life form in the earth, foraging for mushrooms in the forest it help create, digging them from soils, trees… more life. Holding, adoring the textures, smells, and flavors of each mushroom makes one feel alive!
    My most favorite writing on mushrooms… give it a read…
    https://crclr.org/article/2017-05-01-6-ways-mushrooms-can-help-save-the-planet

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    1. Wow, that’s a connection I didn’t even consider, but it’s so true! Thanks also for the link, it was a fascinating read! Have you seen the documentary “Fantastic Fungi”? It’s supposed to be really good.

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  4. Fungi created the soil that we have on Earth as they digest rocks. It’s a weird life of doing impossible things that matter, while nobody takes much notice. I have noticed that cooking and eating are bridges to connecting to my soul, but it’s a strange topic to discuss publicly, because I’m a horrible cook, right now. Without kids, I for lunch would just eat a plain block of tofu, but with kids, you feel pushed to make a stew or spaghetti or something. When I make a large pot of food it always seems like more work than it has ever been before (even though it must be the same amount) not cutting, but standing by the stove, washing, putting away dishes, only a few minutes before serving and more washing, and standing by the baby eating, then putting away dishes. Every part of life is reflected in cooking like a lake surface. I give my kids a better life than I had in the way we do outdoor homeschool (Charlotte Mason inspired) instead of dropping them off at are pro factory worker thinking public schools here in the US. I give my kids a better meal than I grew up with, or even ate before them, every time I can. I always ate oatmeal for breakfast without them, with them we all eat oatmeal with blueberries. There is nothing I do for them that isn’t an attempted improvement on life, I find it the path I want, yet also so challenging and both those are reflected in the relationship with cooking. I want it to be much faster and easier than it is (though it’s faster and easier than previous generations, I have an air fryer that is very cool – no oil needed for fries ext). I’m frustrated, largely incompetent, poorly skilled, want to be already much better than I am, yet I show up very consistently to try and learn, that’s my relationship with cooking, which is mildly embarrassing as it is also my relationship with life in general. 🍲

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    1. Wow, beautiful comment, thank you! Could be a post in its own right 🙂 You really captured what I felt expressed in that little nugget I quote in my post: Life is reflected in cooking and in cooking we can connect with life. I love your sentence “It’s a weird life of doing impossible things that matter, while nobody takes much notice” – so poetic and pointed. We should aspire to be more like mushrooms then! And it sounds like you take great care of your children – including culinary care – so please be proud of yourself instead of wishing to be better 🙂

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      1. I actually served a bit of broken glass in our lunch a few days ago, so it becomes the interesting “you are perfect as you are,” but also “you have room for improvement” zen duality of human kind (my son threw a ball, a jelly jar shattered, the pieces landed further than expected). Thank you though, it’s always nice to have support in a beginning phase of a new skill. Taking my 1-year-old’s plate of waffles and glass away, was hopefully the low point of my cooking journey. 🧗

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  6. Pingback: And That’s Supposed to Help?! – The Happiness Nerd

  9. Thanks for liking my post today. Chopping mushrooms … my first thought was the Zen adage, “chop wood, carry water,” followed closely by Brother Lawrence of the Resurrections’s 17th century mystical-devotional encouragement to practice the presence of God in our ordinary activities.

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    1. You’re welcome 🙂 Thanks for visiting mine and especially for leaving a thoughtful comment! I can totally see both apply here. For me personally, there’s the added dimension of wondering amazement of how mushrooms even exist and how they can nourish us. It’s really incredible if one thinks about it.

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