My husband sent me a link to a psychology website a while back. I confess I was confused. The title was “A Creativity Lesson from Betty Crocker”. Ummmm… OK. Was this some sort of hint that I needed to get back into the kitchen more? Was he finally making the switch from being ‘salty’ to ‘sweet’ (foodwise not mood-wise)?
[A Creativity Lesson From Betty Crocker | Psychology Today Australia]
Out of love for my husband (and a healthy dose of (WTF) curiosity) I read the link and… am still a bit confused… but not as much.
The article recounted a story from the 1950s when the Betty Crocker brand released a cake mix that was completely ready to go – you literally just added water. Everything from flour, flavoring, milk and eggs had been powdered into the mix. It ensured the cake was fool-proof, fail-proof and super-fast to prepare. They waited for the mix to be a hit.
It was not.
When the psychologists were bought in to help figure out what was going on, the brand was told – people won’t buy it because of GUILT. With essentially NO input from the homemakers and housewives; people felt bad for whipping up a desert without really whipping up anything… who wants credit for non-participation… they felt they were being deceitful.
[Not gonna lie – I don’t know that the ‘housewives’ of today would feel the same way… I’d buy an effort-free cake mix AND happily take credit for it!!]
So, what did the cake mix brand do? Advertise? Try to convince people not to feel guilty? Nope. They made the mixture more inconvenient to use. They removed the egg powder. And guess what – yep – women started to buy the easy-to-use, time-saving, I got to crack an egg into the bowl, reengineered product.
I’m still not 100% sure why my husband sent me the link… and when I asked him about it, too much time had passed (my fault, not his) and he wasn’t sure either.
Regardless – it raises a good point.
When we are INVOVLED in our own healing – we become INVESTED in our healing.
When I put a program up on my fridge to say which mindfulness activities I was going to try to do each day – my get well soon strategy moved from pill popping to get your hands dirty heal thyself happenings.
There IS something in the psychology of putting the effort in that allows us to take ownership, take pride, pat ourself on the back… and remember – healing is about progress over perfection, baby steps not finding a cure…
Next time you’re helping yourself heal – congratulate yourself – YOU are getting sh!t done.
Take care taking care, eggily, Linda x
PS – Happy Valentines Day hubby – here’s hoping we make it to our dinner date tonight – if not, it’s the thought that counts… right?!?
PPS – Here’s hoping all of you stay well enough to make it to any special events you have planned for this weekend! Love ya.
The Mindful Migraine 
Leave a reply to majellalaws Cancel reply