A man goes out to dinner for a special occasion. It is a celebration meal fit for a king. He is at the table with friends and family enjoying a leisurely meal. There are many courses to the meal. There are drinks and appetizers, soup, salad, entrees with meats, sides, and condiments. It is a rich and full meal. Like in life, there are parts of the meal he didn’t really enjoy and sort of had to choke them down to move on the next course. Other parts were so delicious that he savored every bite and tried to make them last as long as he was able.
Sipping coffee at the end of the meal while enjoying light conversation and gentle connections, the waiters came out with the dessert. A clean white plate. In the center a warm and gooey chocolate brownie with peanut butter and chocolate chips oozing out of the sides. On top of that, a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting into the warmth of the brownie. As if that were not decadent enough, it was dripping with steaming, hot fudge sauce. This was the man’s favorite dessert of all time. All of his favorite things all there together on one crisp, clean plate. His mouth watered and he licked his lips and picked up his his spoon to begin. Just then, another waiter arrived.
The man looked up and saw that the waiter was standing there with a bowl in his hand. The man looked at him as if to ask him what he wanted. The waiter cleared his throat and said, “Um, we forgot to add the whipped cream to your dessert before we brought it out.” He seemed embarrassed for the mistake. He showed the man the contents of the bowl. In the bowl was the whitest, creamiest, richest looking whipped cream the man had ever seen. It was so delicious looking the man licked his lips.
He looked at his plate with the dessert piled high on it. It looked perfect. He hadn’t noticed or thought about adding whipped cream. He certainly didn’t need the whipped cream to make the dessert extraordinary. It was going to be delicious and satisfying without the whipped cream. He looked back at the waiter who was expectantly waiting with a spoon to add the cream to his dessert. The man hesitated.
What if the whipped cream was too rich? What if it ruined the dessert? What if it wasn’t enough, and he ended up not being satisfied with how much he got? He already had a full, rich, satisfying dessert. What if adding something to it somehow made it less so? What if, it made it so much better that he was overwhelmed? Was there such a thing as dying from a dessert that was so delicious that it caused you to just explode with satisfaction? What if it was the most amazing thing he ever ate and then he would never enjoy dessert again? What if, it was so amazing that he realized he didn’t actually deserve anything so wonderful? He couldn’t decide. All of the implications and possibilities. He was paralyzed with indecision.
The waiter stared at him. He stared back. He looked from the whipped cream to the dessert and back again. Finally, the waiter said, “Sir, it’s just whipped cream. Do you want some or not?” The man smiled, relaxed and said, “Yes, just a little, please. Thank you.” Then he enjoyed the dessert as immensely as he thought he would and vowed that he would always put whipped cream on his dessert if it was ever offered again.
In your life, when it comes to dessert, do you allow yourself to add the whipped cream? Try it sometimes. You might find that your already amazing life is just that much richer and sweeter when you take the chance on it.
-Namaste