Baking Fresh Every Time

This is roughly-expressed - an insight "under construction" - but it's both true and seldom observed. And it applies to many facets of life - especially anything creative:


If your toddler daughter skins her knee and wails from the fear, and you somehow manage to say just the right thing so she immediately calms and feels better, you may repeat those same words with her some other time, or with other children, and they might help, but they'll never work quite as well. The words (or, really, whatever magic is behind those words) were tailored for that unique moment.

It's less so with everyday speech. But at crucial moments, when stakes raise, or something arouses inspiration, the result is always best seen as a one-off - a bell that can't be rung twice. Reused, the words will never have that magical effect. There's no getting around it; we need to bake fresh every single time.


One reason people seem to petrify a bit as they age is that they stop baking fresh. As every chowhound well knows, canned products are never the same.


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The above connects with "Desperately Parched for Surprise ".

See also:
Baking Banality
“Baking Fresh, Japanese Style"
"The Crux-of Creativity"