Improv Practice
Warm weather...ahhh...that feeling of melting. Just bliss. Yes, I took a break from the New England winter - hooray! My holiday reminded me, elsewhere in the world, choice is limited.
When I step into Target, Costco or Market Basket (now you know all the places I shop), the aisles are chock full of options for my personal consumption. Seeking suntan lotion? Perhaps one of these 13 brands, which produce a minimum of six products each, will meet with my approval. Yet, close to the equator, where I REALLY need the suntan lotion, the store offers me three, not three brands with different SPF's or waterproofing - just three. Okay, I'll take the middle one!
Never is this phenomenon more apparent than in the grocery store. At home, I make my list of all the ingredients necessary for whatever dish I plan to prepare, and cross off the selections as I toss them in the cart. Rarely do I need to visit another store to find all the items on my list, unless I simply prefer the cheese, nuts, or dried cranberries offered at Trader Joe's. Rather, I am faced with choice upon choice. Seeking tacos...hard shell or soft...yellow or white corn...if I go with soft, I can choose six or eight inches in diameter...and of course, there's always the brand selection. In the supermercado in Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic, I may choose only soft taco shells - one brand - two size options.
No big deal. I can deal with soft instead of crunchy, and those small ones will do just fine. But what about my brilliant plans for Moroccan chicken? I brought along a recipe containing ingredients I believed would be easy to get (and I brought the dry spices from home, because I have no idea how to say curry in Spanish). It so happens, the day I planned to make the chicken, there was no fresh cilantro to be found. Uh oh, that's what makes the dish taste so good. What to do? Turns out, fresh tarragon is equally delicious, and creates a whole new flavorful dish. Ditto, the night I needed broccoli for a pasta dish - no broccoli to be found two days in a row (though we'd had some earlier in the week)...okay, how about sauteed tomatoes and roasting some red peppers - again, a new and delicious creation.
So, why the food/travel log, you may wonder? These experiences stirred the pot for me. First, I feel appreciation for the abundance of alternatives I have available to me every day - not just the products I purchase, but what I do, and how I do what I do from the moment I get up in the morning, until I tuck myself into bed at night. This includes my work, my interactions with loved ones and strangers, and how I choose to treat myself from moment to moment...it's like living in Target!
Another, and perhaps more important, realization for me concerns my ability and willingness to improvise. Out of habit, I am a planner. Long ago I learned that planning helps me to feel safe. This pattern offers me a certain feeling of control over the life I live, and while I absolutely believe in meeting things in the moment, I practice readiness; sometimes to the point of being rote. "Rote" crowds out the new, the better, the unexpected awesomeness that might be in store when the reins are held loosely.
So, when little things, like no broccoli, throw me off my stride, I receive an opportunity to dig for inspiration. What else is available to me? How might I allow and create something greater than what I'd been planning for myself? It's in those moments of improvisation that the magic happens. I intended to have a yummy dinner, and I had a few parameters for doing so. With a willingness and flexibility to accept a different outcome from what I'd anticipated, I enjoyed two new and delicious dishes, accompanied by the feeling of satisfaction that inherently escorts new creation.
I feel excited for the improvisational opportunities presented to me, again and again, in petite and grand ways. Fertile practice ground for the retreat I will be leading in July, Costa Rica: Embracing Magic. Because, on a small scale, each of those meals was magical, and I embraced each bite!
How are you allowing improvisational moments and magic into your world?
With improvised love,
Joanne Lutz