Let's not forget that cookies are only one path the global/ local/ intergalactic kindness. (Cake is also an acceptable option.)
HOW TO BE NICE TO...
Your older sibling at college: decide to send her a care package. If you start ticking away at it in advance, you can accumulate a lot of little gifts without feeling like you've taken a big chunk out of your wallet. Wrap it up in some plain paper and write a little note on the outside-- words are always nice.
Your older sibling at home: this is slightly more difficult... invite him to engage in a mutual pasttime you held as children. Even if the activity itself isn't very entertaining anymore, the memories/ nostalgia/ reconnection will be.
Your teacher: just be quiet. It's difficult, but lord knows they're people too.
Your angsty friend: listen to her. Does she need a shoulder to cry on? A partner in venting? A sink into which she can pour her angst angst angst? Whatever she needs: be it as best you can.
Your stressed parents: sometimes it's just best to make yourself invisible. Try to resolve your own issues. Make yourself dinner. Get a ride from a friend. Don't antagonize.
Yourself: if it's ten twenty-four and you have a one act play the next evening... GET TO BED!
And that is where I bid you good night! I hope everyone is doing well. Happy baking!
L. Greene
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
BE THE COOKIE: Redux
Here's the long spoken-of video PSA in all of its twenty-second glory. Please note Pa Greene's prominent debut!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
EAT THE COOKIE
So by now you understand the concept and its basic applications. You know what kindness produces in other people (good vibes) and what kind of things conform to [my idea of] how you ought to be kind. You can effect it yourself. However, you are more than a medium. What does any of this cookie nonsense have to do with you?
Answer: quite a bit.
Being nice perpetuates itself, both in the nicers and the nicees. The nicer feels like a good doobie; the nicee has increased self-esteem. Both have had a positive experience and both are more likely to go out and create positive experiences for other people. By being nice, you are contributing to a movement.
This is, in some ways, an impersonal way to think about it. If for no other reason, be kind because it makes YOU feel good.
That brings me to another important point-- perhaps the most important of all. Being a nice cookie isn't worth doodly-squat if you aren't kind to yourself. We, as individuals, are our own first concerns. We spend every moment of our lives with ourselves. Our lives are paramount as far as personal importance is concerned. It's all well and good to bake cookies for your office, smile at people on the street, listen to your friend bawl her eyes out, but none of that is worth anything if you can't feel all those good feelings to yourself. Nor is the kindness of others. Being happy is mostly dependent on the person in question; it's a closed system.
So. EAT THE COOKIE. Contribute to your own movement. Recognize your priorities and act on them. Don't forget about the rest of the world, but don't look through their eyes: look through yours. Indulge if you want to: have two. Make the kind with coconut that your parents don't like every now and then (but clean up after yourself). You are vital!
Answer: quite a bit.
Being nice perpetuates itself, both in the nicers and the nicees. The nicer feels like a good doobie; the nicee has increased self-esteem. Both have had a positive experience and both are more likely to go out and create positive experiences for other people. By being nice, you are contributing to a movement.
This is, in some ways, an impersonal way to think about it. If for no other reason, be kind because it makes YOU feel good.
That brings me to another important point-- perhaps the most important of all. Being a nice cookie isn't worth doodly-squat if you aren't kind to yourself. We, as individuals, are our own first concerns. We spend every moment of our lives with ourselves. Our lives are paramount as far as personal importance is concerned. It's all well and good to bake cookies for your office, smile at people on the street, listen to your friend bawl her eyes out, but none of that is worth anything if you can't feel all those good feelings to yourself. Nor is the kindness of others. Being happy is mostly dependent on the person in question; it's a closed system.
So. EAT THE COOKIE. Contribute to your own movement. Recognize your priorities and act on them. Don't forget about the rest of the world, but don't look through their eyes: look through yours. Indulge if you want to: have two. Make the kind with coconut that your parents don't like every now and then (but clean up after yourself). You are vital!
~~~
Here ends the tri-part clarification of the Cookies for Kindness campaign. Further contributions will be, though helpful (I hope?!), supplementary. What have we learned?
1) BE THE COOKIE: the same way a cookie becomes perfect by baking, we become better versions of ourselves through kindness.
2) MAKE THE COOKIE: kindness is meant to be simple, easy, and unaffiliated.
3) EAT THE COOKIE: before experiencing the helpful effects of kindness, we must first be kind to ourselves.
I hope you have gotten something good out of this. If you want to know anything, discuss any part, or object to something or nothing, feel free. All I've left to say is what I've always said, and maybe always will: happy baking!
L. Greene
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
GIVE THE COOKIE: Application
Ok, I'll admit it: I stole this one from Alton Brown. I hope he won't mind, and I'm sure you won't : ). Enjoy the fruits of your labors and one less ethical ramble on my part!
L. Greene
Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Hardware:
Ice cream scooper (#20 disher, to be exact)
Parchment paper
Baking sheets
Mixer
Directions:
-Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
-Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
-Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
-Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning.
-Cool completely and store in an airtight container.
L. Greene
Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Hardware:
Ice cream scooper (#20 disher, to be exact)
Parchment paper
Baking sheets
Mixer
Directions:
-Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
-Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
-Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
-Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning.
-Cool completely and store in an airtight container.
GIVE THE COOKIE: Theory
After consider the metaphorical aspect of the cookie, it is time to put its theory to work.
What we want to do is be kind. What we want to know is HOW?
There are clearly a lot of ways to go about aiding our fellow man. It's easy to get a little lost and even easier to get very abstract and very impersonal. When you donate fifty dollars to a relief fund, you know that you are improving the well-being of someone, somewhere, somehow. The experience is absolute, but vague. Who are you helping? What do they look like? Where do they live? What exactly is your donation going towards? The big picture is, of course, important, but it doesn't foster the same kind of positive self-feeling that smaller, more personal acts of kindness do (see tomorrow's lesson: EAT THE COOKIE).
What little thing can we do?
WE CAN BAKE COOKIES.
Share them with your friends, your wife, your brother, the kids in your english class, your co-workers. Share them with the people you see around you. Spread your cookies about the land. While you're at it, tell your mother you love her. Wear your favorite earrings. Smile at someone. Set the table. Resist your cruel impulses. Enable your best. And if you can't do everything, don't beat yourself up. Bake the cookies. We, as humans, need simple kindnesses like these. They won't fix the biggest problems, but a happier world is the best environment in which to take care of them.
If you ask yourself why: because there is no reason not to. Kindness at its simplest, smallest level is kindness absent of ideological impulse. You're not nice to someone in this way because you agree with them, or because you want something from them, or because you want to impress someone. Though those reasons may be helpful effects, we give the cookies because they are meant to give.
I hope this is all making sense. Next (formal) lesson: EAT THE COOKIE. Stay tuned for something easy : ). In the meantime: happy baking.
L. Greene
What we want to do is be kind. What we want to know is HOW?
There are clearly a lot of ways to go about aiding our fellow man. It's easy to get a little lost and even easier to get very abstract and very impersonal. When you donate fifty dollars to a relief fund, you know that you are improving the well-being of someone, somewhere, somehow. The experience is absolute, but vague. Who are you helping? What do they look like? Where do they live? What exactly is your donation going towards? The big picture is, of course, important, but it doesn't foster the same kind of positive self-feeling that smaller, more personal acts of kindness do (see tomorrow's lesson: EAT THE COOKIE).
What little thing can we do?
WE CAN BAKE COOKIES.
Share them with your friends, your wife, your brother, the kids in your english class, your co-workers. Share them with the people you see around you. Spread your cookies about the land. While you're at it, tell your mother you love her. Wear your favorite earrings. Smile at someone. Set the table. Resist your cruel impulses. Enable your best. And if you can't do everything, don't beat yourself up. Bake the cookies. We, as humans, need simple kindnesses like these. They won't fix the biggest problems, but a happier world is the best environment in which to take care of them.
If you ask yourself why: because there is no reason not to. Kindness at its simplest, smallest level is kindness absent of ideological impulse. You're not nice to someone in this way because you agree with them, or because you want something from them, or because you want to impress someone. Though those reasons may be helpful effects, we give the cookies because they are meant to give.
I hope this is all making sense. Next (formal) lesson: EAT THE COOKIE. Stay tuned for something easy : ). In the meantime: happy baking.
L. Greene
Sunday, February 7, 2010
BE THE COOKIE
(At this point I haven't filmed the video PSA yet, but it's intended to be a "this is your brain" spin-off. Consider this a preparatory text.)
So I was thinking the other day: how about using physical metaphors in a video PSA? How about physical metaphors concerning your brain and an influential substance? How cool would that be? It's weird, though, I've started getting a lot of hate mail from Partnership for a Drug-Free America...
I digress.
Let's say your brain is a lump of raw cookie dough. Let's not, for the moment, consider the prepackaged rolls or sheets of break-apart squares. Let's imagine the lump. It's cold, it's sticky, it's formless, and it could give you salmonella. This isn't to say that your brain isn't delicious without anything added to it. It just isn't necessarily in its ideal state.
Ok. Braindough is clear? Onward.
The next object is kindness. Kindness is warm. I wouldn't recommend going out without a coat on at night just because you've had a nice day, but it has a lot of cozy context associated with it. Let's assert, then, that kindness is the heat in an oven.
So. Cookie-dough is to oven is to finished cookie as your brain is to kindness is to... happy brain! Imagine a cookie that has been left to sit for a minute or two after being removed from the oven. It is so buttery and full of chocolate chips and warmth. Be the cookie. Imagine the way kindness makes you feel: a compliment to your favorite socks, a lunch split with a friend, a call to see if you are feeling up to snuff. Being nice produces happiness akin to the fresh-baked cookie.
That having been said, an ovenful of kindness does seem excessive if it only produces one cookie. Remember, though: an ovenful of kindness produces MANY cookies, and even after they are baked, the cookies radiate their own heat. This, however, is a lesson for another day. Tomorrow's topic: GIVE THE COOKIE.
Until then: happy baking.
L. Greene
So I was thinking the other day: how about using physical metaphors in a video PSA? How about physical metaphors concerning your brain and an influential substance? How cool would that be? It's weird, though, I've started getting a lot of hate mail from Partnership for a Drug-Free America...
I digress.
Let's say your brain is a lump of raw cookie dough. Let's not, for the moment, consider the prepackaged rolls or sheets of break-apart squares. Let's imagine the lump. It's cold, it's sticky, it's formless, and it could give you salmonella. This isn't to say that your brain isn't delicious without anything added to it. It just isn't necessarily in its ideal state.
Ok. Braindough is clear? Onward.
The next object is kindness. Kindness is warm. I wouldn't recommend going out without a coat on at night just because you've had a nice day, but it has a lot of cozy context associated with it. Let's assert, then, that kindness is the heat in an oven.
So. Cookie-dough is to oven is to finished cookie as your brain is to kindness is to... happy brain! Imagine a cookie that has been left to sit for a minute or two after being removed from the oven. It is so buttery and full of chocolate chips and warmth. Be the cookie. Imagine the way kindness makes you feel: a compliment to your favorite socks, a lunch split with a friend, a call to see if you are feeling up to snuff. Being nice produces happiness akin to the fresh-baked cookie.
That having been said, an ovenful of kindness does seem excessive if it only produces one cookie. Remember, though: an ovenful of kindness produces MANY cookies, and even after they are baked, the cookies radiate their own heat. This, however, is a lesson for another day. Tomorrow's topic: GIVE THE COOKIE.
Until then: happy baking.
L. Greene
Saturday, February 6, 2010
This blog has been successfully removed from the oven.
And I didn't even burn my hand!Welcome to Cookies for Kindness on blogger. This page is intended to clarify and elaborate on the somewhat cryptic call to arms of CfK's print and video public service announcements. Though obscured, its purpose is by no means difficult to understand or, I suppose, guess:
BE NICE.
Kindness is simple. Kindness is easy. Kindness concerned only with itself. Cookies, too, exemplify these qualities. [They are also delicious.] Kindness, like a cookie, can only make you happier.
Just call it food for thought. Tomorrows topic: Be the Cookie. Happy baking, comrades.
L. Greene
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