I spilled cooking oil this morning. The container fell sideways on the floor. Stupid mistake. In the morning I had seen my phone with list of messages from The Studio, things to fix, things to attend to. Sudden uncertainty flooded my mind and I panicked.  What if I will not make it? The world will fall to pieces!

Cleaning all the spilled oil from the floor will take forever, but I am so busy! World needs me but I have to clean up kitchen, throw the garbage. On top of all that, my son had sore throat in the morning and he was absent from school. He was looking at me with a kind of look “gosh dad, what next?”.

The expired kitchen oil that was previously useful tool for cooking kara-age was now spread on the floor and with it went my peace of mind. I got upset, wanting to blame the person who had placed the container in such unstable location, dammit.

But that time I remembered advice from a friend. “Take a deep breath” she said. So I sat on my sofa and I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, thinking nothing.

I am always surprised how this works. After a few deep breaths, the whole landscape changed. I was no longer upset. And the person who had placed the container like that must not have done it on purpose. No harm done.

So I made a list that needs to be done.
A. put some newspaper on it, and wipe off what I can and throw it
B. go to the drug store nearby to buy some alcohol wipes.
C. put the solidifying agent to the used oil, so it never spill again.

And step by step I executed this plan. I was done with all this in about an hour. And I still was not exhausted or angry. I had been angry before, but now my mind was completely calm like a still summer lake. And I was ready to answer the work business from The Studio.

I am no expert, but it seems to me that often when we feel we are busy, it is only our mind that is busy. The problem is not that we have a lot to do. We can do a lot of things actually.

The problem is that when we are adults we start to think we need to be in control all the time. We grab too much at once. Children do not have this illusion, and they only grab as much as they can handle at once. They simply ignore what they can’t handle.

Simply taking a deep breath can change the whole landscape. If you want to change the world, change your feeling.

With calm mind you can solve the problems smoothly.