Wow. Tough crowd. LOL!
But seriously folks. What do you think of when you think of mushrooms? I think slimy, disgusting, chewy, funny looking and dirty! Ever since I was a kid I hated mushrooms. I would pick them out of everything. There was just something about mushrooms that kind of gave me the heebeegeebees and made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. I am not comfortable talking about mushrooms let alone thinking about eating them.
My kids don't like mushrooms, my wife doesn’t like mushrooms and my dog won’t even eat mushrooms. There was nothing in the world that could change my dislike for mushrooms. I had my mind made up. Or so I thought.
On a beautiful Tuesday morning in October
My oldest son and I packed into my parents Chevy pick up truck and started our day trip to the Poconos. The purpose of the trip for me was pretty straight forward. Get my motorcycle to our cabin in the poconos to enjoy a quick and relaxing ride in nature. My father and I painstakingly removed the 200 pound bed hood from the pickup and secured the bike with a bunch of bubblegum, duct tape, random pieces of wood and a few ratchets here and there. We were now ready to go. My mother however had a very different and very “my mother” reason for going on this trip.
And not just any mushrooms. Wild Maitake mushrooms. Apparently these mushrooms are said to be great on pizza and have an earthy and peppery taste. Nick translation..it's a mushroom and it's probably disgusting.
That being said my mom was super excited about looking for these in the woods. My cousin has a pizza business and he makes a pizza with these mushrooms that always sells out. So the plan was to go to the poconos, get my motorcycle set up there…and go mushroom hunting.
Two hours later we arrived at our amazing little cabin in the woods. My son helps me unload the motorcycle from the truck and we discuss our mushroom hunting plan of attack. The plan was interesting. We walk along the road and search for oak trees. The wild maitake grows under oak trees and can easily be mistaken for fallen leaves. We(my mom mainly) would identify an oak tree from the road, then walk to it through the woods. Once there, we would examine the base of the tree for the Maitake mushroom also known as Hen of the woods. This seems pretty straight forward. The first issue I had was that I was absolutely not a mushroom fan. I wasn't really excited about navigation through the woods and getting poked in the face by branches and tripping over roots and rocks. The other concern was that I have watched a bunch of movies that seem to be based on what we are doing. You know the ones. Group goes hiking in the woods and has a good idea to take a shortcut off the path. What could go wrong? Or the other movie based off of the prior movie plot. Group goes hiking in the Poconos woods off trail and stumbles onto the mating ground of a genetically altered mutant rattlesnake. Lol
But just then my mom says “Oh wow. Hey there's a big Oak!” And she darts off into the woods and disappears leaving my son and I standing on the edge of the road holding the paper bags for collecting the mushrooms. Normally we would be surprised in this situation but it's my Mom so nothing surprises us. We both turn our heads and look at one another as if to say. “Did she just gleefully dart into the woods and disappear?” Yes she did.
We slowly turned our heads back to the direction where we had last seen her.
Nothing. Then we hear a scream. Well that's just great I thought. Just lost mom in the woods to a genetically altered mutant rattlesnake. How am I gonna explain this to my dad? But just then the scream is followed by a very satisfying and triumphant “Yessssss!!!”.
She had found one. “Guys come here” was the next thing we heard so we reluctantly followed the barely made path into the woods and found my mom. She was standing there with the biggest grin on her face. In front of her was a very large, very strange looking Maitake mushroom. I was amazed. This wasn’t your typical mushroom. It wasn’t slimy, it wasn’t that typical toadstool shape and it definitely didn’t resemble the only mushroom i ever liked, the mushroom from Super Mario Bros. This mushroom was pretty cool looking in fact.
My mom, still with a grin on her face, cut the Maitake at the base and we put it in one of the two paper grocery bags we had. It had some weight to it. SO we found a mushroom. Mission accomplished right? Wrong. One was just the beginning. We continued our hike but it was different this time. My son and I were intrigued. We eagerly looked to identify oak trees and I would brave the mating grounds of the genetically altered mutant rattlesnake to search for these cool looking mushrooms. We were having a blast. Now my mom being my mom would still, sometimes without a word, disappear into the woods but we would be so preoccupied searching for Oaks that we would barely notice. Our hike lasted about 90 minutes and we were able to hit the motherload. After the 90 minutes of mushroom hunting we amassed nearly 12 pounds of mushrooms! I was able to find one tree that had 9 large mushrooms all around it. One mushroom was bigger than my head..and if you ask my wife that's quite an accomplishment.
At the end of the day
this experience in the woods spending time with my mother and son was absolutely amazing. I didn’t get a chance to ride my motorcycle but it's still up there. And what could be cooler than motorcycle mushroom hunting?
I hated mushrooms. They were slimy, chewy, funny looking and dirty! I was not comfortable talking about mushrooms let alone thinking about eating them.
My mindset was based on an idea. An idea that all mushrooms would be like what I experienced with one or two. This negative mindset made it impossible for me to imagine a scenario where I would ever try a mushroom again. Going on this hunt changed the way I looked at mushrooms. At least the Maitake mushroom. Exposing myself to the experience of hunting for and learning more about this mushroom opened my eyes to how awesome it really is. The Maitake has been found to help regulate the immune system. It has anti-cancerous properties and has been found to be an anti diebetic. This is really an amazing fungus and I have committed to giving it a try.
At the end of the day mindset is everything. Whether it's mushrooms or life, where focus goes energy flows. If I see mushrooms as being horrible and disgusting that's what they will be. Regardless of if it's true or not. Life is the same way. If we focus on negativity we will create a negative mindset.
But if we are able to poke holes in our current limiting B.S. (belief system) then we can start to change it. Nothing in this world has any meaning except what we choose to give it.
“Whatever you hold in your mind on a consistent basis is exactly what you will experience in your life.” -Tony Robbins
to take a fresh look at some things in your life. Take a look at some of your B.S. Look at some of your negative self talk and see if, like me, you can poke some holes in it. Don’t live your life with limiting belief systems. Life is about the moments. Don’t wait for them, Create them.
If you're ready to learn more about how to change your mindset and poke holes in your limiting beliefs, set up a complementary call and start to Flip your Reality!
Click here to set up your free complimentary call.