I don't know what your toast looks like in the morning, but mine looks like this. My toaster oven and I have an atrocious relationship - a long dysfunctional history involving more than one morning in a smoky kitchen. Some days, there may have been flames involved, perhaps including me in my pajamas tossing a few toaster ovens out the front door while my daughter fire-extinguished them on the front steps. (Also, did you know cheese can catch fire?) At least we know our smoke alarms work because my toaster ovens have often tested the system. (Please do not ask how many I have owned.)
Whose fault is it that my toast burns? The toaster oven's or mine?
Why do we repeat mistakes?
Now ... if I stand there at the locale of my toaster oven and watch the toasting process, it will not burn because I'm in control and cognizant of it. Yet when I put in the bread and walk away (on an average of 9 out of 10 times) to make coffee or throw clothes in the dryer, that dang toast decides to burn. Why? Because I am not focusing on my action, not staying in control. I am allowing my attention to become diverted. I am allowing myself to make the same mistake. I get sloppy.
One Christmas, my comical young adult kids gifted me a new toaster oven and on the box they wrote: CAUTION! FLAMMABLE! Oh those funny children.
When do we learn? How can we not make the same mistakes? What do we have to do differently so our actions do not burst into flames?
Our repeat mistakes in life can be halted, I believe, if we stay close to the situation. After all, we don't actually want to eat burnt toast, right? (Which tastes like cardboard slathered with crumbled charcoal, black chalk, and a little bit of fireplace ash).
- When we stand by and concentrate hard on not repeating a mistake ... on not setting the situation on fire ... on not getting sloppy.
- When we watch the action unfold and prevent it from burning and turning too crispy.
- When we don't wish to taste life's burnt pieces anymore, we will stop choosing that mistake and select a different method.
Here's one of my favorite quotable quotes - something I've shared before through the years of SNIPPETS. Mistakes are not worth repeating ... but this is:
CHAPTER 1
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost ... I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
CHAPTER 2
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But, it isn't my fault.
It still takes me a long time to get out.
CHAPTER 3
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in. It's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault. I get out immediately.
CHAPTER 4
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
CHAPTER 5
I walk down another street.
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~ OR ~
― Suzanna Molino Singleton's
CHAPTER 1
I walk into the kitchen.
There is a toaster oven on the counter.
I put in a slice of bread, it burns.
I am lost ... I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to scrape off the burnt parts.
CHAPTER 2
I walk into the kitchen.
There is a toaster oven on the counter.
I put in a slice of bread, it burns.
I pretend I don't see it.
I eat it anyway (and it's awful).
I can't believe I burnt the toast again.
But, it isn't my fault.
It still takes me a long time to scrape off the burnt parts.
CHAPTER 3
I walk into the kitchen.
There is a toaster oven on the counter.
I see it is there.
I still burn the toast. It's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know I won't eat it.
It is my fault. I throw it out immediately.
CHAPTER 4
I walk into the kitchen.
There is a toaster oven on the counter.
I walk over to the refrigerator instead.
CHAPTER 5
I eat yogurt for breakfast.
