The March Hare interrupted yawning. “I’m getting tired of this. I vote the young lady tells us a story.”
Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
If you would like to know, and you have the time, here is the transcript from a dream-inspired interview with Nada Real on “What’s Cooking?”
Nada Real: Welcome back to What’s Cooking? I’m your host Nada Real and I am excited to introduce our next guest, Nicky Pitman, Creative Director of Before Breakfast with Nicky, and author of Before Breakfast: Making the Seemingly Impossible Possible, available in bookstores in 2022. Welcome to the show, Nicky!
Nicky: Thanks so much for having me, Nada. It’s great to be here.
Nada: Our show typically features chefs, food critics, restaurant reviews and cultural food stories, but we loved the approach you take with your work, your website, and with your upcoming book and all the metaphors around food, kitchens, and restaurants. And your book and website actually contain some actual food recipes, as well. But what piqued our interest here at What’s Cooking? is that what your offerings are all about is helping us change our mindset; changing up our perspective and our actions. You ask your clients to really dig in and take a look at themselves, exploring what’s holding them back: facing their fears and obstacles, and approaching them – and, in turn, making their dreams and goals come to fruition – from a completely new place, from a new paradigm.
Nicky: Yes, that’s right. It works from the premise of Albert Einstein’s adage about how we can’t solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. Nor, can we keep doing the same thing, or thinking the same thoughts, expecting different results. When Alice steps into Wonderland, everything she thought was gets tipped upside down and inside out. Every situation she finds herself in, every character she meets challenges her long-standing beliefs and opens her up to new realms of possibility. She comes away from her adventures changed.
Nada: And you help us do that through your many different offerings in such fun and whimsical ways!
Nicky: Thank you! It has been really fun and challenging to experiment and create all my offerings and to be writing this book. Like any good recipe, I have to keep adding, taking out, substituting…It’s definitely a playful labor of love.
Nada: Let’s talk for a moment about the name of your business Before Breakfast with Nicky, and it’s tagline: “Making the seemingly impossible…possible!”
Nicky: Sure. In Lewis Carroll’s book there is a scene where Alice meets the White Queen and in their discussion Alice says, “One can’t believe impossible things.” And the White Queen retorts, “I daresay you haven’t had much practice. When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Those words resonated with me, ever since the first time I read them back in high school. But re-reading them about ten years ago, was when the real wake-up call came. I realized how I – and I think many of us, without even realizing it – think small: we limit ourselves. Whether that’s due to fear or simply not having a clue that there are a myriad of possibilities waiting to avail themselves to us, we hover in a kind of ignorance to the wealth of opportunities ready to be seized.
Like Alice, most of us require a profound experience and/or someone else’s guidance and perspective to give us the nudge we need to look at things differently, to open up to new ideas, to believe that what we may have thought was initially impossible is actually possible!
Whether we feel like we are in a stagnant place in our chosen field, profession, passion, or relationship, or want to start a new business, embark on a new career path, take up a new hobby, live a healthier more vibrant and joyful life, or anything other or in between – it all begins with the willingness to adopt a beginner’s mind, an open heart, and allowing for new possibilities to manifest themselves in our consciousness.
Nada: I’m wondering if you would share with us your breakthrough story? How did you start to make the “seemingly impossible possible?”
Nicky: I guess you could say I was my own best guinea pig. It was a lot – a lot of trial and error; a lot of setting goals and then slacking on them. In 12-Step programs, they refer to the “ism” – as in alcoholism – as the acronym I Sabotage Myself. I did a lot of that. I’ve done a good deal of soul-searching and have discovered two of my biggest obstacles: self-judgment and comparison – especially that what I have to say and share, what I want to do isn’t “good enough” or “worthy enough,” and the fear that if I actually do everything I can possibly do, I may still not be good enough or worthy enough to enjoy the benefits. So the key – for me – is authenticity: staying true to me – who I am, what floats my boat – without worrying about how good it is or how it compares to someone else, and practicing my craft, my interests, my work as a slow and steady discipline: small, sometimes atom-sized bites or steps every day, and keeping my eye on the prize. As my yoga mentor says: where you look is where you go. Author and intuitive, Sonia Choquette prescribes “giving attention to your intention.” That includes visualization – like thinking of “six impossible things before breakfast.” And, then – then – taking small steps towards making one – or all six – of those things come to fruition: taking some action – no matter how scary. It’s also finding what works best for me, which is why I encourage my clients to create their own “Recipe for Best Self.” What works for me, may or may not work for you. Or, it works but needs a little tweaking: a pinch more of this, an extra tablespoon of that. Or what works today may not work tomorrow and so then finding something new. But to get back to your question – I guess I veered off – what was my breakthrough story? I would have to say I had a series of many breakthroughs: some big, some small. Some in the form of “aha” moments that led to more permanent change and some that felt like I had to get hit over the head with a crockpot about 87 times before I thought, “Uh, okay. Yeah, I will try to do it differently,” and those episodes felt more like breakdowns when I was going through them. It took a lot, a lot of work! And compassion. And humor. I often fell – and still fall – back into old habits, thoughts, and routines. And then, I take a lot of breaks, as well. A lot of rest and rejuvenation. Recommitment. And a lot of help and guidance from many people, places, books, classes, and life moments. And this is still how it works for me today. But the gift is, I keep showing up and doing it and my life keeps evolving and I keep growing and I get to help and be of service to others by supporting them on their journeys and helping them break through their blocks, helping them work with their obstacles. It’s a huge blessing.
Nada: Wow! Amazing. Thanks so much for sharing your story – especially the humanity in it: the bumps and pitfalls, and then getting back up again and moving forward. For those of you just joining us, I am thrilled to be here with Nicky Pitman, talking about her company, Before Breakfast with Nicky. I would encourage you all to check out her website and then be on the lookout for her book, by the same name, which will make its debut in 2022. Both are joyful, pragmatic, and will definitely help all of us make what we once thought impossible, possible!