Many people are wondering what all this talk of potatoes is all about. There is even discourse in the movie Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers concerning potatoes. Certainly the faithful hobbit Sam is on the right track.
The book Put Your Potatoes on the Desktop explains it all. No, it is not a cookbook. But it is on the desktop (or countertop if you prefer) that one is able to “boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew.” You see, in our lingo a potato represents a problem, a challenge, or an injustice that one comes across in the course of the day. Our negative emotions are sensory organs that detect problems; in essence they are potato detectors.
It is very common to confuse our negative emotions as potato detectors with potatoes themselves. It would be similar to blaming a smoke alarm for going off, finding a way to turn off the smoke detector, and ignore the fact that there is a fire. Yes, we need to trust that our negative emotions are there to alert us. Let us not confuse emotions, and the people with emotions, with the potatoes of our lives.
When we experience negative emotions, it is forming the destructive mindset that makes life more difficult. The destructive mindset confuses people with potatoes. Forming the constructive mindset, on the other hand, is what enables us to know the difference between people and potatoes. It is then that we have the ability to work through our problems creatively and with perseverance, accepting that emotions are part of the package of the journey. We are able to put those potatoes on the desktop and discern the best way to deal with them, for example: “boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew.”
Please enjoy the rendition of Sam explaining potatoes, which I found on You Tube. You can link to it from our Facebook page.