Positive Sayings & CookiesHere is a story of how I used positive sayings and cookies to express my love. Like many children, I always want to give my parents something meaningful on special occasions. A few weeks ago, it was Mother's Day, followed two days later by my father's birthday. A double whammy. My parents live far away, so I have to mail them presents. This year, I decided to send them a homemade present. I was going for the personal touch over the cost. We are attending a family wedding in California soon, where I plan to take them out for a nice dinner. I decided to bake them cookies, which was a true test of my ability to use positive sayings and motivational thoughts in order to get myself into the kitchen! I went to the store for the flour, sugar, chocolate chips, and sprinkles. I also bought pretty ribbon and colorful tissue paper to mail them in. I wanted them to be very special, pretty cookies. I set about to make sugar cookies, my Mom's favorite, and chocolate chip cookies, my Dad's favorite. I followed the recipes, step-by-step, and I even used a small mellon scoop to make even, perfectly round cookies. As I placed each round of dough onto the cookie sheets, I had great positive sayings in my head, such as "I am so happy to be doing this for my parents and I am so proud of myself for giving this a try!" I felt so happy and proud. I was really taking the time to make the cookies perfect and I used positive sayings to keep myself from getting frustrated and overwhelmed with all the baking. With some excitement, I could imagine the amazed looks on my parents faces when they would open the perfectly wrapped bundles of cookies. When the timer buzzed and I slowly opened the oven door, my heart felt as though someone squashed it to the floor. The sugar cookies were burned an ugly black around the edges and the chocolate chip ones had all spread together! Some were actually rectangular instead of circular. What happened? How could I mess up both recipes?! It was late at night, the kitchen was sweltering from the hot oven, and there was no more time to fetch new ingredients and start again. I looked at the pictures of pink and green perfectly iced, round cookies in my cookbook and back at my dismal cookies. Should I go out and buy some pre-made cookies? They would certainly look better than mine. But, would pre-made cookies indicate to my parents that I didn't want to devote the necessary time and effort to make them cookies? Would store bought ones send the wrong message? Using positive sayings, I refocused on what was truly important: showing my parents that I loved them. I decided that the expression of love was more important than appearances. My cookies were something that I created and they were my versions of the best I could do. They were original and they were mine. It is true that the cookies were not as professional and uniform as the cookbook ones and my cookies were definitely rough around the edges. Some people might even say that they were not cookies, but square bars instead. I had to hope that they would be special to my parents because I had made them and they were an expression of my creativity and love for them. The cookies were the result of my conscious creation, while store bought ones were all the same. Their odd shapes would actually make them more memorable, while mass produced, "cookie cutter" (pun intended) ones would soon be forgotten. Focus on creating your own original work. To be just like all the other cookies in the box isn't a bad thing, but it also isn't an expression of your work and efforts. Be true to yourself and be genuine. That is what we are all here to do and it is the most memorable gift you can give to others.
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