Pancake Realization

Lately, I can't think of what to make for lunch and dinner. This didn't happen for an entire first-year of marriage (as I was warned it might), but it's definitely a problem for me this week. It doesn't help that I am overdue to go grocery shopping- the less you have in your house, the less options come to your mind.


So today, I decided to make pancakes. 

Pancakes were a great idea because a) I usually make them for Rosh Chodesh and this month I didn't, so I made up for it by making them a few days later, b) they don't require any special ingredients, just flour, salt, sugar, water, and oil, c) I used up a couple of near-brown bananas, d) my husband loves them. He actually never tried them before we were married (it's the European thing- when I described pancakes to him, he kept asking if I meant crepes). But they turned out to be right up his alley.

When I have made pancakes in the last year, they have come out sort of black (even when they aren't exactly burned), or the oil has become black, or they are overdone on the outside and a little gooey in the middle. This doesn't happen in a vaccuum, rather, through some sort of cause-and-effect. So today, I asked myself (before starting)- 
what has been off in my approach that has contributed to an undesirable outcome?


And I realized the following:


 My pancakes weren't turning out well because I had the heat too high. This was sometimes inattentiveness, sometimes impatience. Today I accepted that each individual pancake would take it's own significant amount of time in the frying pan (they are 'cakes', after all, not eggs...), and I even made each one larger and individually, to minimize conflict amongst the pancakes as they cooked. I left the heat on LOW (I almost never do this). And they turned out golden, dare-I-say picturesque. 


Everything we approach in life comes down to our character traits. And very, very frequently, the outcome of our efforts is a direct result of those character traits.


When I examine and shift my routine approach to a task, even slightly, it makes a huge impact on my overall awareness. I love the lessons that G-d tucks into the physical world and how it functions. You can't be an impatient person and make good pancakes at the same time!