Natural Peanut Butter

"Oil separation is natural. Please stir before using."

Peanut butter is one of my favorite foods.

I grew up on Skippy and still love it. More recently, I’ve started to buy natural peanut butter. You know the kind I’m talking about? It’s the kind you have to stir for a while to blend the oil and finely ground peanuts.

On Friday night, I made some peanut butter toast for a late night snack. While the slice of bread was working on its golden crunch in the toaster, I slowly stirred the peanut butter, being careful not to push the oil over the edge. As I stirred, I thought about the outdoor yoga I was scheduled to lead the next morning on Saturday. I felt nervous and excited. The uncomfortable nerves were soothed with the gratitude that I get to do this.

As I stirred the peanut butter into a smooth, creamy consistency, I admired how the separation became unity. Maybe I recognized that in the peanut butter because it’s happening in myself.

“Separation is natural,” I read on the peanut butter container.

Maybe separation is natural in us too.

We can become disjointed, pulled in many different directions, or maybe stagnant, losing the active connection of what holds us together.

I surprised myself and brought up the peanut butter thoughts during the yoga flow on Saturday morning. Everyone was holding a longer posture toward the end of the sequence. I related the effects of stirring peanut butter in a jar to the effects of yoga in the body. In the practice, we move, breathe, build heat, and stretch. We come back to our ideal state by the final resting pose, śavāsana. We come back to ourselves. We come back to enjoyment, even if it took some work to get there.

Photo by Tetiana Bykovets on Unsplash

What stirs you?

What brings the elements of yourself back together?

What unifies the separated ingredients of your life?