You Only Get Out What You Put In

A few weeks ago I wrote about ‘Worry’ and how it can eat into our very being and prevent us moving forward, achieving our goals, enjoying ourselves and communicating with others. This week I want to talk about the importance of relaxing, taking time out from some of those everyday toils and tasks that are essential but nevertheless both daunting and depressing.I have a few interests outside my work and one of the things I do to help me relax and unwind is baking, yes baking, it’s something I have a passion for and find it a very relaxing and satisfying passtime.

Now I can hear you saying "That's all well and good but I don't have time for Hobbies or Pastimes", well if it's you saying that let me remind you of a very old saying "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" and believe me that's so true.I make sure I set aside at least 2 hours per day to something totally unconnected with my work or daily chores. One of the things I do in this free time is to bake my own bread, I do this probably every two ot three days depending how much I've eaten!Baking is little like life, you only get out what you put in and how we do this can be either easy or complicated. You don't have to try to save the world single handed, most of the time it's small simple things that do the most good.Take my bread ingredients as an example:

Flour

Water

Yeast

Salt

These are four simple uncomplicated ingredients that produce the most excellent results.

Now take a look at the ingredients for a McDonald’s hamburger bun:

“Enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, enzymes), water, high fructose glucose syrup, sugar, yeast, soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated soybean oil, contains 2% or less of the following: salt, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, wheat gluten, ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate, datem, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, mono- and diglycerides, ethoxylated monoglycerides, monocalcium phosphate, enzymes, guar gum, calcium peroxide, soy flour), calcium propionate and sodium propionate (preservatives), soy lecithin.

”These are very, very complicated ingredients that  in my opinion produce far less than excellent results.

So, if you want a simple uncomplicated life, remember, you only get out what you put in.

Until next time ............