Beyond cooking and baking for pleasure, I also realized that I might be a stress baker. (No, I don’t consume all of what I make; I take the items into the office and keep a few pieces for myself. If I didn’t, I’d weight 200 pounds). Let me explain…When I’m working through a issue at work, sometimes I take a walk, or run in the morning, or, if I’m working from home, I go into the kitchen and flesh out the problem. While doing so though, I have come to realize I’m not even thinking about the issue, but rather immersed in the task itself, which frees up my brain-space (yes, that is a real word in my lexicon). For me, baking is akin to running…it’s another form of Zen. When I run, I don’t think about anything and am totally in the moment (random thoughts are, ‘ooh, look at those flowers,’ ‘wow, look at the sunrise and moon setting’, etc). I come home refreshed and clear headed, able to better go about my day. Same thing goes for baking. I read the recipe (or make one up), follow steps and then produce the end result, clean up and get back to the computer. It seriously helps and I feel much better afterward.