The Mindful Migraine

Last night I had a dream in which two teenage siblings used some high-tech-phone-tapping combined with some good old-fashioned ear-to-door snooping to uncover two secrets; their parents were spies for the government, and a gang of meanies was about to kidnap the spy-parents.  The crooks soon burst into the house wearing inexplicably large cat-masks that wrapped around their head in such a way that they made seeing and breathing difficult, and the dudes kept banging into walls… it was pretty hard to take the baddies seriously when they all looked like bumbling kittens!

Anyway – the thing that I remembered most about the dream when I woke up, was when one of the teenagers slammed her homework book shut, and there on the back cover was a (tongue-twister) quote:

“In summer saffron switches from seafood to salad” – Julius Caesar

I like it.  I don’t really know a lot about saffron, except that I’ve seen my husband use it when he makes Paella, and that it costs a bomb for a few strands in a tiny jar.  Curious, I asked my computer’s version of ChatGPT did Julius Caesar ever give cooking advice, and was told that the only weak link was a quote from another character in the Shakespeare play of Julius Caesar: “Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods” – Casca (Act 1, Scene 2).  Somehow, I don’t think that’s what my brain was drawing on for inspiration!

Putting problematic attributions aside, dream-Julius’ comment rings true.

In winter I ‘always’ eat porridge for breakfast, until the weather warms up enough that the idea of hot food becomes off-putting and I switch to ‘always’ eating muesli. Unless one or the other runs out, in which case I make toast… or on those Sundays when I make bacon and eggs with my hubby…

The point is I ‘always’ do something, until I don’t – I’m fixed AND I’m flexible.  I shift with the seasons, and the situation.

I don’t however, tend to shift too far.  My routines are fairly, well, fixed.  Even my routine-busters, if I were to record them all, would probably not be more than a handful of alternatives… so I’m flexible BUT in a fairly fixed way.

I’ve written before about how I like routines, and as such, I call my migraine-brain ‘Goldilocks’ because it seems to like the middle-way best of all; not too much caffeine, but not none… not too much sleep, but definitely not too little… not too hot and not too cold…

The reason why I’m interested in exploring the idea of fixed versus flexible thinking (routines vs choice) is that I recently heard someone say in passing that 90% of our thinking is re-thinking old thoughts as opposed to original thoughts.  By extension, I’m guessing that 90% of our actions are probably routine actions too – if not more!  Our days, from sun-up to sun-down tend to follow fairly familiar patterns, and as such, we’re not really called upon to make ‘choices’ and those that we do make, are probably from a pre-set pool of wider ‘routine choices’.  When I choose what to eat for breakfast, am I REALLY choosing?  9 times out of 10 I am always drawing on the same set of breakfast ingredients in my pantry.  Even the idea that 1 out of 10 times I’m ‘being original’ seems a little far-fetched.

If you’re struggling with chronic pain, or heartache, frustrated with your life, or generally down in the dumps, it does make you wonder whether we’re all stuck in a rut because 90% of our lives is being lived on repeat. What would change if you could do more with the 10% of your variable thoughts and actions… or if you could grow that 10% to something bigger, bolder, more you-nique.

What if tomorrow you tried something different for breakfast… experimented with your appearance… walked a new way to work… had some new thoughts… challenged some old ones…

I don’t know exactly how you go about making this happen, all I know is that I’m prepared to try.

Thank you dream-Julius for the advice!

Take care taking care, Linda x