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Disconnect to Connect (Finding Your #BestFriend at #Brainfood)
For today’s youth, establishing connections and engaging in meaningful friendships can be somewhat of a struggle due to the presence of things like cell phones and tablets. Gone are the days when people just sit down and talk instead of posting everything that is happening to their social media platforms. Although it is a primary need of human beings to connect, many of us tend to forget how to focus on what truly matters. Instead of talking to people around us, we sneak onto social media platforms to get glimpses of someone else’s life. Sometimes it is necessary to disconnect with your gadgets in order to connect with people who are actually around you.
At Brainfood, one instructor has a creative solution to this concundrum: a cell phone soup pot. Participants are asked to drop their phones into a large stockpot (empty, of course) if they are caught using it during the cooking classes. That way, youth learn a sense of focus in accomplishing things in the kitchen without the distraction that phones can provide. Not only does this help them prioritize tasks in the kitchen, it also provides an environment more conducive to real connection. Because of this, they are happy with what they’ve done when the day ends.
Even when we disconnect from technology, forming new connections can be challenging! So how do you effectively connect with people you just met?
You need to break the ICE (Initiate, Connect & Engage)!
Initiate
Imagine you are a Brainfood Kitchen all Stars participant. At the beginning of class, you will be asked to first gather in a circle and share your desired Group Expectation for the day. The instructor then provides some information about the theme or topic for the day, facilitates a discussion, and gives an overview of the recipes. Then, you are handed a recipe: merely a piece of paper with list of ingredients and measurements, plus a guide to the process of how to prepare the dish. The interesting aspect of this approach is that the instructor will not tell you what to do every step of the way; you need to discover things on your own. Thus, you need to INITIATE. You need to ask other people questions, work together to get materials, and take on the recipe as a group. In less than five minutes, you’ll realize that you have taken the first step to making a friend: to initiate.
Connect
Asking about the cooking process or a certain materials will then lead you to asking personal questions in order to get to know more about your newfound friend. You’ll be curious to learn more about this friend’s personalities and hobbies. In another five minutes you may discover that both of you have the same interest or you live in the same neighborhood. That conversation will give you a certain sense of connection.
Engage
While the muffins or cake are in the oven, or while some others are mixing the salad, both of you might be putting things away in the pantry or beginning to set up the plates. You get to engage in meaningful tasks, working together to achieve a shared goal that brought you closer in less than an hour. That’s the kind of connection that you don’t have every day, especially when you are too occupied maximizing the use of your gadgets.
Technology is really useful. But nothing can replace a meaningful conversation with friends. At Brainfood, you can learn that life is all about interaction, discoveries and finding yourself. It will give you the opportunity to break away from the monotony of life by exploring the wonders of the kitchen. When you initiate, connect and engage, you get to fulfill the human need to be self–actualized and be part of a working group. You might even find your best friend at Brainfood! You just need to disconnect in order to connect.
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