Comfort Food

Interesting fact: One of the only stocks to rise in value on September 29th was Campbell's Soup. Whether people were snapping up canned goods as a hedge against a possible depression, or whether they just thought about taking refuge in a giant bowl of tomato bisque, soup was a hot item.

The question from yesterday might better be, "Who didn't think of comfort food at some point during the day? Macaroni and cheese…double fudge ice cream…vanilla custard…chocolate pudding…peanut butter…oatmeal cookies…spaghetti and meatballs…

When you feel helpless or frightened, comfort foods can be the first line of defense to come to mind. They bring back the days of being taken care of by adults who seemed to know what they were doing. Comfort food can re-create a sense of safety.

But comfort food is, of course, a "shadow" comfort, as are alcohol and drugs. They block out reality for a short period of time, but then we always come back to the moment. And in the moment there's fear and uncertainty.

Unless there's not.

How much control do you believe you have over your thoughts? Have you considered that it may not be necessary to bounce off of every news report like a shot in a pinball game, hurtling from one bumper to another? Our "monkey minds" don't have to determine how we react in difficult times. We can say yes to their directives, or we can say no.

I observed myself watching the financial news yesterday as I turned from channel to channel, listening for any information that would help me understand what was going on. When I realized that the experts couldn't explain or predict anything with certainty, I told myself to shut off the TV. I felt frustrated and confused and then immediately thought of macaroni and cheese.

But, no. I realized then that I was allowing my emotions to be determined by the shouting voices in my head, the ones warning of imminent disaster and worse. Why should I permit that to happen? If there wasn't something specific that I needed to do, why activate the fight or flight response?

I knew that pasta wasn't the answer, either.

I remembered the column I had written a few years ago about using trust as a life preserver. I wrote:

"Crises test our beliefs, and I believe that they occur when they do as a way of showing us what we're made of; they make us walk our talk and demonstrate how far we've come since the last time our foundation was shaken. We'd much rather do without them, of course, but handled correctly, they can lift us to the next level of our growth… Sometimes the message is that we should be doing things differently. Maybe we need to appreciate certain things more. Or certain people. Maybe we're being told that our timing isn't right. Maybe we have to learn the value of patience, or honesty, or kindness, or self-love. Maybe we just have to weather adversity with dignity and faith."

This still rings true for me. There are events I can control, and events I can't, and the direction of the U.S. economy is certainly one of the latter. But I can continue to make decisions about my expenditures that are sensible and in the best interests of my family and the environment. I can continue to remember that I'm on the earth for reasons that transcend this crisis, that have to do with bringing people together and helping them to see the value of their own lives.

We do need to take comfort in what we can, and I hope that as a result of this situation there will be more bipartisan political effort in the future and a better application of the truism, "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten."

And in the meantime, there is always soup.