The Blueberry Bagel Epiphany

The Blueberry Bagel Epiphany

Written by Zainab

One of my favorite quotes to share in classes is by French novelist, Marcel Proust:  "The voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new horizons, but in seeing with new eyes."

Sometimes huge discoveries come in the smallest ways.  Like at breakfast.  I couldn't help but share this story to the Wednesday noon Power Hour class last week, because it was fresh in my mind and belly.  Earlier that morning I was ordering a bagel sandwich at Collegetown Bagels on Aurora (one of my fav places to grab a bite).  I've been going to CTB since I moved here four years ago, so I had my list of usual suspects when it came to breakfast choices.  This time I looked up at the menu to order the Brooklyn, which I liked b/c it reminded me of my NYC days, but when it came time to ask for the bagel choice, instead of my usual multi-grain, I paused, and asked if they carried blueberry bagels.  I'd only had blueberry bagels while I was in college on the West coast (home of fruit forward meals like the Hawaiian pizza) and at Wegman's (where you can get everything it seems).  Even when I lived in NYC, the bagel choices seemed a little puritanical; it was considered almost blasphemy if you ordered anything but a savory bagel at H&H bagels, forget about getting it toasted!  So I half expected the lady taking my order to snicker and shake her head "no".  But she smiled and said yes.  I was rocked!  "Really?" I asked with a high-pitched voice (a.k.a squeal).  "Wow, I didn't know restaurants here sold blueberry bagels!"  The lady smiled and said, "Welcome to CTB."  She had made my day!

Now, you may wonder what kind of lesson one gets from this bagel story.  For me, it's a lot like the wondrous voyage of discovery Proust talks about, and how we can be totally rocked by discovering something new that really isn't new at all.  Instead it's been there the whole time, and is revealed or uncovered at a particular time just when we're ready to receive it.  In my case, it was the knowledge that I could order a blueberry bagel at one of my fav spots in town.  And I like to think I appreciate that gift more now because it took me 4 years to realize it was available.  Otherwise, I might just take blueberry bagels for granted and think they grow on trees.  

In yoga, there is a lot of talk about finding peace and balance in our lives so we can become enlightened, our highest, noblest version of ourselves.  Yet, this is not necessarily a search that entails signing up for yoga retreats, quitting your job to hole up in a cave in India to meditate, or seeking out a guru to tell you how to be enlightened.  We actually can discover enlightenment right in our own back yard, so to speak.  I like to think the practice of yoga is a practice in uncovering or delayering, if you will.  Throughout our lives we've acquired several shells to operate (i.e. your professional persona, your familial persona, your persona in relationships, even your persona(s) among friends).  We all do it to function/survive/get attention/hide/support/humor/etc, which is common and not unexpected in this world.  Yet, after we've donned these cloaks for years at a time, sometimes we can lose sight of our most authentic version of ourselves.  We get so mired in the routine of wearing these layers that we don't always see the living, unmasked truth underneath.  The irony is that we can often take on these personas because we think it's a way to finding that peaceful, best version of ourselves (see the whole "fake it 'til you make it" psychology).  But the truth is that when we strip away those blinding, distracting layers, we are indeed pretty awesome as is, or Divine as some yoga philosophers put it.  Think of a newborn baby.  No one would chastise him or her for not writing that Pulitzer Prize-winning book or for not building that Fortune 500 company.  And the baby could give a dirty diaper about any of that stuff as he or she gurgles away.  They could literally just drool there, and we'd all think he or she is absolutely amazing because he or she is! The practice of yoga can bring us back to that realization within ourselves:  that our naked Gerber babyselves aren't too shabby after all.  Sometimes we just need something to remind of us of this truth.

I often hear parents speak to this opportunity for self-discovery when they mention how much they've learned about themselves through raising their children, when they had to shift their perception from individual to parent.  And I know this also happens personal relationships as I learn more about myself through my own relationship with my partner.  When Proust reminded us that all we truly need is a change in perception to see what is already present and amazing in our lives, he wasn't talking about bagels, I know.  But when I decided to go out on a limb and ask the CTBer for blueberry instead of multi-grain, I had taken a step back from my automatic order to see the menu with new eyes.  And I discovered that I could have a blueberry bagel and eat it, too!  Which invited me to approach the rest of my day feeling as though my world had indeed been changed for the better, one bagel at a time.

And may you enjoy your next bagel in peace!