Gentle Me Soup

Vegetable broth--store bought (this is not about making your own)

A stressful day at work

One meditative evening activity (or, texting a person you don't know that well yet?)

Turmeric, and never be shy 

A big hunk of fresh ginger

Fresh-cut Leafy Greens (I cannot emphasize keeping a garden enough)

Liquid Amino or Soy Sauce

One egg. (The color of that yolk better pop!)

A lemon (if you have it)

If your nose is stuffy, or throat hurts, I guess a pinch of cayenne will do, but this is not about that. We are cultivating something much more mild.

Throw all but the greens in the pot at once. Let it arrive to a nice rumble. This step should take several breaths, but there is no wisdom in telling you how many. You decide how many you need. When you are complete with this step, add the greens. You soon will enjoy the sight of a most vivid shade of green come alive in your pot. Turn off the stove because the color starts to become a more realistic shade of green rather quickly. They wilt. Now add the egg, scrambled and seasoned, and stir.

Pour the soup into your favorite bowl or mug. Use one of those big Asian cuppy spoons in the back of your drawer. Have some patience to tend to its neglect, washing the dust off with soap and water before you use it. Serve. Put a little more soy sauce on top. If you have any fancy salt that you once were gifted and always forget to use, get that instead. Pour a cool glass of water. The cooler the better. 

Now a moderate squeeze of lemon into your soup if you have it. 

a) If you don't have lemon

Practice not worrying about it if you don't. There is no substitute for having an opportunity to practice not worrying about something. Make a confident move in life, and gain the resolve to keep lemons on hand more regularly. Then you can try this exercise again in the near future. But if you must know a splash of cloudy apple cider vinegar works I guess.

b) If you do have lemon

You'll notice that the egg, broth, and lemon flavor is divine. But be careful not to do too much. If you squeezed in too much lemon, you will probably have to try again next time to experience the balance of flavor in its proper form.

Now for everyone, take a nice deep smell if by chance that sensation fires a memory. Give yourself a chance to be transported to another time and place that comes with the sensation of the soup's steam, or the aroma of the egg or lemon. Open yourself up. Now go outside. 

Hopefully it's cool outside, and I'm assuming it's night. Hopefully the sky is clear of clouds. Don’t look at your phone too much or anything. Drink all the soup you need. Swallow the greens whole. You might be able to hear bugs singing their song, or maybe a wind kicks the trees and yard ornaments around. The chimes and whooshes and clacks playing a comforting and hardly noticeable background music to eat your soup to.  

You don’t have to eat it all if you don’t want. Or, like me, you could get seconds. But listen to how you feel. When finished, if your spirit still needs some unthawing, you can go ahead and pop that hunk of ginger.