Food for Life as a Learner Buddhist

It is over six months since I first sent a letter to welfare, requesting a single appointment at which I might discuss transferal from a payment which was due to end shortly to another. Instead of such a meeting occurring, resulting in a smooth transfer, I have been thrown all over the place - from "ignore this letter" to "we will inform you shortly"…

Through this still-continuing mess, whilst my savings vanished, my home-life is still at risk, and my wallet emptied out every fortnight, I have managed to make major advances in non-financial areas - in areas that benefit my actual LIFE. These make me happier whilst my bank account gets sadder. I fill with genuine happiness, whilst my wallet remains on a strict diet.

When I was a Christian, if I had a major problem I would toss up a prayer and wait. Whether it was just words or words with feelings behind them, depended upon the stage of life I had reached. If nothing happened, I would pray again, and try to act a little better whilst waiting - maybe I would sit up straighter in the church pew, pop 20c in a charity box, or smile at the minister a bit brighter - some such useless triviality. Now that I am attempting to become a Buddhist, a major problem gets tackled in a completely different way!

Taking my financial situation - before, I would have prayed to God, expected him to fix matters and ensure I did not become homeless, and do some major league cursing if he didn't fix things. I would have worried, fretted and panicked about how to handle life without a house around me, and have become sick from the continuous stress of facing homelessness.

In the next era within my life, I was an Atheist, with a strong regard for nature and psychic love. I would have growled at society for stuffing my life up, down-mouthed welfare with every breath, and angrily poured out my woes at every location available to complain at, and then snatched anything I could find to survive, and have hollered my head off, fuming in fury at the injustices dealt me.

Recently, I have changed course again. Now, I recognize that I merely have a financial problem, but that bad finances should be of no concern to my actual LIFE.

The real estate have been fair, currently allowing us to remain in debt until welfare sort things out - though on a couple of occasions they have threatened to chuck us out. The first time I did get stressed and unsettled, worried and fearful; the second, I did not. By the second "get out" threat, I had come to peace with living in a mountain cave instead of a house, if needs be. There would be no rent or bills to pay. One would only need money for food and internet café services. I have always related better to nature than society. Once welfare eventually paid up, I would have enough cash for an overseas trip!

I had new attitudes growing inside of me. With removal of hatred and anger, I could not flare up at welfare. I retained my peace, so instead of anger and hatred, I am able to maintain the patience to wait for welfare to sort things out slowly, whilst reading much of cave-dwelling monks which puts me further at ease with the option of dwelling in nature's hands if the real estate get impatient and do make us leave. Additionally, from growing the counter emotions of love and compassion, I developed further peace, understanding and pleasantries within myself, and did not grow the desires to slit the throats of various careless government officials, as I would have done previously in a rage against such tardiness.

I can still live quite happily, whatever the figures read on my bank balance, and there is no need to panic if the wallet is empty for several days each fortnight, so long as there is food in the pantry. If it is not above a Buddhist monk to daily beg for his food on an alms round, it should not be above a mother with a hungry teenager to beg for necessities from charity every couple of weeks if my currently meager income is insufficient. I do not object to living from simple food rather than gourmet concoctions for a few months, and it brings out the creativity in me to make even basic ingredients into something exotic and unusual. My son complains about coconut rice turning up as dessert a little too often, though!

One thing I have noticed, is that the items I buy from the supermarket each week have greatly changed. I have stopped buying dried oregano, gourmet Greek olives, fancy salad lettuces, organic steaks, Mexican and Lebanese breads, Swiss chocolate blocks, etc. My grocery grab reads more like flour, cheese, coffee, sugar, rice…

Not plain and boring, but simple and real. I remember as a single-digit kid, these were the sort of items people would regularly put on their shopping list. You bought plain items and made your food from them - you did not buy endless packages of weird and wonderful gourmet treats and dine on exotic creations or ready to consume deluxe gateaux. I wonder how many people these days still buy basic ingredients rather than frozen meals, packaged gourmet items, "heat and serve."

How many people mix flour, water, salt and sodium bicarbonate to make their own oven-bread, rather than pick up a sliced loaf, or "bake at home" rolls, or use a bread making machine? How many people can still make a tasty nutritious meal from just rice, spice and garden produce? Does anybody stick flour and sugar in a bowl rather than a pack of cake mix these days? Does anybody else still eat real food? Admittedly, in the past, if you were a bad cook your family got to eat plain solid bread with a tough crust, your cakes were puddingy or heavy, and your cookies might just be a plate of burned crumbs.

I recall my Mother's scones - oh dear! One small bite took forever to chew, without liberal amounts of butter and/or cheese they were impossible to get through. I often had two of these things to "enjoy" for school lunch! Yet, I also recall my Grandmother's fruit flans! From my Grandma's successes and my Mother's attempts, I learned that straightforward ingredients can make actual food. This was an extremely valuable lesson for me. If I could not create bread, soup, etc from scratch, my son and I would have starved over these past few months.

As I have simplified my grocery list, cooking creations, and feeding habits, I also seem to have simplified my life.