My dearest uncle was a general in the Indian Armed Forces; so my cousins and I spent our childhood summers in varied and gorgeous military cantonments across India, following our uncle to wherever he was posted as the commanding officer. One of his postings was to Shillong, a small town in Northeastern India, replete with the most luscious greenery I’ve ever seen. This included a seemingly endless bounty of pineapples, which all the other kids feasted on for several summers and I religiously avoided. I’ve never been particularly fond of pineapples. Maybe it was the overly sweet taste or the texture…I’m not sure.
Propel my life a few decades and somehow a bit of frozen pineapple made its way into my morning smoothie with raw cacao, banana and chia seeds. The taste combination was divine and it was the pineapple that gave the blend an extra dose of oomph! Since then, I randomly toss in frozen pineapple in my smoothies as a treat. And last weekend…I bought the first ever real pineapple of my life. It just looked gorgeous sitting there in the grocery store and I couldn’t keep my hands off. The next day when I walked by my Pacific Northwestern kitchen and saw this majestic fruit sitting unexpectedly on the counter, looking all sorts of tropical, beautiful and inviting, I had to pause and reflect on the pretty sudden U-turn. What changed?
I found the right on-ramp for the pineapple. That is, the right context and dose for my taste buds. But my taste buds have also evolved to allow for that on-ramp in the first place. Perhaps you have a “pineapple” in your life? Something you avoided in the past and now are intrigued by? What changed? Allow yourself the space to embrace your pineapple. Mine is making my life sweeter.
“To grow, you must be willing to let your present and future be totally unlike your past. Your history is not your destiny.”― Alan Cohen
