Stay with the Churn

Have you ever seen butter being made the old fashioned way? In traditional Indian homes, butter was (and perhaps still is) made with fermented cream which is whisked in a pot using a wooden churn. When I was little. I remember watching my mother make butter the traditional way. A small piece of rope was tied around the handle of the wooden churn and my mother would pull either end of the rope to spin it in the pot of fermented cream.

The process was fascinating. At the beginning, I would excitedly watch the liquid whir and swish around. Few minutes later, I would wait with bated breath as the liquid continued to swirl and twirl in the pot. The wooden churn spun round and round and back and forth, while the cream swiveled from side to side. But there was no sign of any butter. At this point, I would start to doubt if the churning would ever yield anything. But my mother would keep at it for a couple more minutes. In a while, the butter started to form little by little. And soon, lo and behold, I could see a delightful, soft, yellowish-white mass of goodness floating on the buttermilk!

To a six-year old this was magical! Today, when I look back, I see it analogous to the process of change. Whether it's new habits you are forming like waking up early in the morning, eating healthy or upskilling yourself to take on a new role or choosing to respond differently in challenging situations, in the beginning it may seem like nothing is happening. There's no noticeable shift in the way you do things or feel about yourself. Your efforts feel futile. There's only the churning, no visible results. But what's important is to keep in mind that if your goal is important to you and it's worth pursuing, then keep at it. Like the churning of cream, nothing seems to happen at first, it can feel disappointing and frustrating but being persistent will bear fruit. Like the process of churning, you don't see it immediately, there's no tangible result. But something inside the liquid is solidifying and eventually you have your butter. There might just be a magical element to this after all! And interestingly, the magic lies in the churn- the effort, the perseverance, the ability to deal with disappointments and tolerate tension to attain your goal. Stay with the churn, and you'll find yourself making progress.