What can you learn from dropping a Mud Cake?

It was getting late and I was tired.

The next day I was facilitating a full day session with a client, with a very early start and late finish.

The next day was also my husband's birthday.

'No problems' I said to myself - 'just need to be a bit organised.'

And I was. With all the food purchased, after dinner the night before 'B'-Day, I prepared all the ingredients for the slow cooker. All I needed to do in the morning was toss it in the cooker, turn it on to low, and look forward to arriving home to the wonderful smell of a beautiful meal ready to go.

And oh, yes, that's right - we needed a birthday cake.

Mud cake is a favourite in our home, and I have a recipe for a really great one.

So I mixed it up, got it in the oven (it smelled beautiful!) ... then 'ding' ... the timer told me it was time to take it out.

You've probably guessed what happened then - mud cake all over the door of the oven, rather than in the pan. Heavens knows how I managed to drop it, but I did.

Now my usual response to this (already feeling tired, worried about my early start the next day and, up to that point, feeling very chuffed with myself for being so organised!) would have been to throw it all in the bin and start over.

Instead, I scooped it all into the pan and decided to just go to bed.

The next day when I got home from work, I made the icing and just smeared it all over ... and voila! What our family has now lovingly dubbed the "deconstructed mud cake that mom makes".

So what can dropping a mud cake teach you?

It can teach us to reframe experiences. This incident could have easily led me down a negative, pessimistic path of thinking (and feeling!). Instead, I reframed my thinking about it to a perspective of 'well, that certainly is annoying, but it's done now. So what can I do - if anything - to rescue the situation?' As my husband and son told me, it still tasted amazing - it just looked funny!

It can also remind us of what's really important in life. A beautiful 'perfect' birthday cake? Or fun, enjoyable and special time with loved ones.

And dropping the mud cake has also taught me (or rather reminded me!) that some of the best, most memorable and fun(ny) times in our lives are those where everything doesn't go exactly according to plan.

So what experiences might you be able to reframe in the coming month?

It's good to remember ... don't sweat the small stuff!

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