Understanding Causes and Effects

Understanding the Causes and Effects
Chef Michael “Cheffy” Hayes

This instigation is about the causes and effects of
“Who We Are and What We Do!!!”
“Hi…I’m Chef Mike…who are ya’ and how in hell ya’ doin’?”

Joyously
 (And sometimes regrettably),
 I am glad that food has become my love, medium and passion.
No Passion-No Love!!!

It is not a hidden science, thought or process…
Never has been, never will be…
You bring about the things in your life and livelihood. Period.
You aid in the design and development of all things in your life.

As Chef’s, we permit learning mistakes along the way;
Analyze the good, the bad and the ugly
  Hopefully we become capable of taking that information and grasping that next level of “Who We Are and What We Do…”

Thanks to our profession, our life is just a test.
If this were an actual life we wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves.
We thrive on the energy, the math, the chemistry.
Psychology, sociology and goony-freaking-goo goo’s,
 The Art, Fervor and Insanity of the events we perform and participate in.

This is our life.
After all we are just a bunch of magicians that dress funny…

In response to one of Wu Wei’s famous sayings,

“A situation only becomes favorable when one adapts to it”,

Mr. Wei made an excellent point about understanding events.
I believe everything that I perform,
Whether for one or one thousand, is an event…
Really don’t care what color you paint it

Even if only in my mind, the event exists…
No Passion, No Love…
Why Waltz When You Can Rock and Roll?


Wu Wei’s statement was:

“…The event itself is simply an event;
The way we respond to the event
Determines its final outcome on our lives.

Once an event has taken place,
Since we cannot alter the past,
All that is left to us is our response…”

(I Ching Life by Wu Wei, Power Press, 1996)

Man it doesn’t get better than that…

In activating all of our senses when we cook, whether as chefs in the throes of insanity or if we’re smoking pork with Tennessee Tom; only then can we fully appreciate the big picture.  Is this our cause or effect? Inquiring minds want to know…

Personally, I must see, feel, smell and taste all there is to experience. I must constantly activate and participate in all of my senses… I pour a sauce on a plate to evaluate its viscosity, taste it to determine its worth, thump every loaf of bread, and envy wedding cakes wishing I was that good. I watch, smell, touch, taste and listen to everything when I am in my element. I passionately thrive on my desire and need to observe the actions and reactions of all that I can possibly perceive.
In Cheffy’s book this is quality stuff.

In our world as culinarians things occasionally go wrong.
Every so often they go very, very wrong.
 Dealing with things going wrong should be built into our resume under

“Who we are and what we do...”

Sometimes I prevent the fires, other times I am the extinguisher.
In gratitude for the development of the culinarian I am today,
I have, at times, been the accelerator…
(the guy that screwed it up, fixed it, screwed it up again
and then that fucking light bulb went off and I said

(“ohhhhhhhhh…now I get it….boy, am I stupid…”)


Our senses and our perceptions of our reality are to praise or condemn;
It depends on how hungry we are for our next lesson.

Is our cause and effect due to the fact that
 “This is who I am, this is what I do” or is it because
“This is who I am because this is where I have been and this is what I have done”?

No passion, no love….

Understanding one portion of “who we are and what we do or this is who we are and what we have done” is not nearly the same as understanding the entire portion. Sometimes, due to comfort, we become spoiled and our former “ration of sanity” now becomes our present “understanding of our insanity”

Thus our Cause and Effect…

I am a passionate culinarian that understands the realms of his realities, although currently not in the reality of his dreams, or passions, it is the reality of my own world.

The only downfall or up rise pertains to understanding, expressing, and teaching our ethics and desires, or sacrificing them for the sake of another purpose.

Our cause and effect comes from within ourselves, both passion and love exist in our hearts anyway don’t they? How different is my passion and love from my cause and effect?

When we sacrifice ethics,
When we do not learn nor teach,
When we are not expressing our craft as our art,
Are we complete with who we are and what we do?

 I’m not…by no means…I am in a world I don’t belong in…
It all goes back to what Wu Wei said about analyzing events,

“…all that is left to us is our response”.

When we take that information to make ourselves a better man/woman, husband/wife, mother/father chef, culinarian, manager, mentor, friend, person, WE WIN!!!

When you refuse or deny claiming responsibilities for these events; whether we claiming our triumph or really ticked because of the insanity of a near failure; if we fail to analyze the situation in its entirety, then we lose. This is not who I am or what I do….You?

So what is your cause?
And most importantly are you proud of your effect?