Set a Timer!

Summer often creates a space where it seems time slows down.  The days are long, the responsibilities seem less and the sun sets on days stretched out to last.  We squeeze out the moments of catching up with friends, sleeping in or maybe traveling to the lake and beyond.  Back to school season sneaks up on us.  If summer is the season of no sense of time, back to school season is the loud, annoying reminder that the timer was set months ago.  It startles us into motion.  Suddenly, we are panicked with our final checks of summer work, school supplies and getting back on schedule.  

 
Timers are essential in the kitchen.  They are set to help us not lose focus on what we created but allow us the space to walk away for a bit of time while the change takes place.  Most creations take time to develop.  Cake batter must heat to just the right elements to transform into fluffy layers.  Circles of raw dough cut into perfect shapes bake in due time to become delicious sugar cookies; blank canvases ready to be decorated.    
 
There is nothing more annoying to me than the persistent beeping of a timer, but I’m also aware it is a grateful reminder we are a work in progress.  We are far more capable than we give ourselves credit.  We hold within in us this capacity to spark our creativity – the whipping and stirring of our imagination, the making of something good – while also harnessing the need for rest and time on our side.  It is the happy balance we need to handle the seasons we approach.  As we get back to the long school days and sports schedules, I hope you occasionally set a timer to stop and check in with yourself. See what is taking place within, what is bubbling to the surface and take note.  Something good is happening, a new creation in the making. 
 
 

-Lauren Young, Founder of Sweet LaLa’s