Tag: Taste

30 DAYS OF GRATITUDE DAY 10 – TASTE

Can you believe that we are one-third of the way through our 30 days? Hard to believe. I hope you are beginning to see just how many things you have to be grateful for in your life. We are just warming up. This has been just as enlightening to me. There are so many things that I had not stopped to think about in a long time. Areas of our life that we take for granted. Today is no different. What taste are you grateful for? We did do one on food so I will not dwell too much on that.

When people think of taste, almost always it goes to food. That makes sense, because after the age of about 2 or so, we mostly put food in our mouth. Taking this into account, there are more tastes to be grateful for. This is what makes these month so exciting. We are asked to think about different things. When was the last time you thought about your sense of taste and what you had to be grateful for? I am going to share a few of mine, but I would love to hear yours as well.

The post does ask us what taste we are grateful for today. That will help keep things a little simpler. I will start from my morning. Perhaps one of the things I am most grateful for, not only in taste but in life, is the taste of my lady’s lips on mine as I am leaving for work. Why? It not only is a reminder of the love we share, but what I have to look forward to come home to. On the way to work, there is the taste of my coffee I brewed that morning. So much to be grateful for there. The amazing machine that does all the work for me. The energy that it will help give me at 4am. Even the fun variety of the different coffees I have. One thing that is overlooked by the majority of people is the taste of clean water. A large portion of the planet does not have access to clean water. It is something we take for granted but without it, a lot could go wrong.

There are more abstract tastes as well. The taste of success when you get a little win in the day. As an author, these can often be what keeps you going. The taste of compassion when you seek to understand instead of respond. Yes, I realize they might not fit the specific definition of ‘taste’ but they are certainly something to be grateful for. How about you? What tastes bring gratitude to mind for you? Please let us know in the comments below.

BITTER OR BETTER?

Writing
Writing (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“If you continuously compete with others you become bitter but if you continuously compete with yourself you become better”

A good quote that reminds us the only person we should try to be better than is the person we were yesterday. As the new year approaches it may be a good time to take stock of who we were this last year and who we would like to be in the coming year. Establishing a point A and a point B is a great starting point! The more honest we are with ourselves the easier it will be to decide what we need to do to become that kind of person we wish to be. My good is to make the major share of my income by the end of 2014 from writing. Obviously some of the things I have to do is search out new writing opportunities, practice my writing and marketing and work on improving both of them. I have also learned something else. What happens if I reached the end of 2014 and only 50% of my income is from writing? Have I failed? No. It is more than my current state. Earl Nightingale defined success as “The progressive realization of a worthy ideal” That means whenever we have decided on a worthy ideal or goal for our lives and are working toward it, we are a success. We are farther than 95% of everyone else. If you ask your neighbor what they want most answers are vague at best. “I want more money” or “I want a better job” So the better we clearly define the person we wish to become and begin to take determined action towards that end, the more likely we are to become a success. so take the time to do this very important step. Tonight get clear as to who you wish to become, then be honest with yourself as to where you are. It may be a touch painful, but you should be excited because the steps you must take to close the distance between Point A and Point B should be abundantly clear and a map of what you must do will be set before you.

DON’T BE BITTER, BE BETTER

“If you continuously compete with others you become bitter but if you continuously compete with yourself you become better”

This is a quote I came across somewhere online but it really struck me. So many of us want to be the best this, or the best that. This is good. Wanting to be better and improving is what keeps us growing and evolving. I personally always take pride in wanting to be the best bartender I can be. I am lucky enough to know several other amazing bartenders in my life. My friends Lisa, Matt, Shelly, Shilla and Alysa are downright amazing. I never look at them and compare myself though. One, they have their own styles and skill sets that differ than mine. That is not to say I will not ask them for advice or watch them and pick up a few things I could do to make my shift a little better. Still comparing myself to them, or even competing against them does not good at all. One it makes competition and enemies out of allies and friends. Plus, it is unfair and unproductive to ourselves. As I mentioned before they are different people and have different life stories and experiences. They also have different natural talents to build on and weaknesses to address. I must focus on what I do well and how I can use what I have experienced in life to learn and grow from. What does all of this have to do with you and your life situation? Plenty. Remember to harness true power in life you must not try to master others, or even master other situations. The greatest skill in life one can have is to master over your own thoughts and emotions. To conquer your doubts and face your fears head on. Sure you can learn from a friend and even ask them for help. In fact a true friend can be one of your greatest allies in bettering yourself. Just remember the struggle really does not exist without, but within. When you master yourself nobody else can control your emotions. Nobody else can stop you. So todays challenge is to begin to take a good hard look inside and see what you can do to improve yourself. Trust me, if your honest with yourself this can be a life-long pursuit and give you very little time to even worry about trying to improve others, which is not our job anyway. So let us begin on this daring and noble struggle. Let us all work on improving ourselves and becoming the best people we can be!