Microwaves and Slow Cookers

Ever burn popcorn in the microwave? If so, you know how quickly it can happen…

I recently heard someone make reference to their art not being microwaved. Their art is the kind that comes from a slow-cooker.

An interesting concept.

The food (or drink) that we place in a microwave is already mostly prepared. We aren’t interested in the process. We just want it to be hot, and we’ve relied on someone else to handle the actual work of preparation.

With the slow cooker, it’s up to us. We choose the ingredients. We do the preparation. Separately, the ingredients just sit there…waiting to be part of something. But, blended properly, with the right amount of time and heat (energy), those separate ingredients (hopefully) combine to create something unique and tasty.

The microwave measures its cooking time in 30-second increments. Hot dogs wrapped in a damp napkin take about a minute. Popcorn takes three to four minutes. Organic brown rice from Trader Joe’s takes four minutes.

Slow-cooking time is measured in hours. Six hours is usually too short. Eight to ten hours gets it right.

And, what about the accompaniments? With a microwave cooking cycle, there’s only time to get your plate ready, find a clean fork, and maybe pour a glass of your favorite beverage. Linear and task-focused.

Slow-cooking provides time for the cook to consider what goes best with the main dish. What shall we have for dessert? Would a loaf of fresh French bread go well with this stew? The fullness of the dining experience is in play.

Neither method is perfect.

Ever burn popcorn in the microwave? If so, you know how quickly it can happen. Something so simple becomes a lump of smoking charcoal.

Slow-cooking disasters are equally possible. Your reward for that ten-hour wait may be something that’s not even edible (at least for anyone who has taste buds).

Both methods have their place. Both carry risk.

The question is how are you deciding which parts of your life to microwave, and which parts to slow-cook?

A tougher question might be: Are you making the choice, or allowing someone else to make the choice for you?

Beware of the Edge

The edge is like the proverbial flame that draws the moth…

I recently heard about a sign at the top of Mount Vesuvius. It reads, “Beware of the edge.”

That’s the only safety precaution in the area. No guardrails. Just a sign.

I can hear it now:

“Your honor, I submit that my client had no idea he could plummet to his death by stepping over the edge of that volcano. If only there’d been a guardrail to prevent his untimely death.”

Or,

“Your honor, we acknowledge that there was a sign that said, “Beware of the edge,” but my client must have thought he was safe as long as he stayed inside the guardrails. Since there were no guardrails on the mountain, he was clearly misled into a false sense of safety and security…just before his fall.”

How many of us really need a sign, or a guardrail, to tell us to stay away from the edge? Can’t we see the danger on our own, without the sign?

The truth is, probably not.

Why not?

Simple. The edge is where the action is. We know it’s dangerous. We know our mind will play an imaginary leap that only our subconscious sees when we look over the edge. We secretly like the butterflies we get in our stomach.

The edge brings sharp focus. It’s where our imagination is most alive!

Sometimes, the edge represents the end of a long journey. A challenging climb. Our view over the edge reminds us of the distance we’ve traveled. The work we’ve put in to get there.

The edge is like the proverbial flame that draws the moth. The edge reminds us of how fragile our life is. One step away from real danger.

How do we approach the edge, and take in its energy, while avoiding the danger that lurks just one step beyond?

It’s a question we each have to answer for ourselves.

But, here’s hoping we don’t discover the answer as we tumble over the edge.

Relax, You’re Doing Fine

Enjoy your time. Let someone else worry about all that other…

I saw this on a license plate frame. When I first saw it, I didn’t give it much attention. Then, as I sat at the red light, staring at those four simple words, I realized how freeing they are.

Relax, you’re doing fine.

You aren’t as far behind as you thought in the “race” of life. In fact, life isn’t a race at all. There’s no prize at the end for getting to the finish line faster than the other people.

You’re living in a great time. Why is it so great? Because it’s your time. It doesn’t matter what else is happening. The fact that things are actually happening, and you are here to see, participate, and have an impact is all that matters. What impact? That’s up to you.

What you do, how you do it, and the pace you choose are up to you. I recommend you take advantage of your limited time on the planet. Start moving, stay moving, always learn, and never stop teaching. But, that’s just me. It’s up to you and no one else.

Not as happy as you’d like to be? Not as fulfilled as you’d like to be? Worried that life is passing you by? Worried that you aren’t as rich, pretty, strong, tall, smart, stylish, successful, or any other measure society places on us, as you’d like to be?

We all have the same seconds, minutes, and hours every day. Our ability to define our time by the people we help, and the smiles we coax into the world are the only things we control. The rest is going to happen with or without our involvement.

Enjoy your time. Let someone else worry about all that other comparison stuff.

And, never forget: Relax, you’re doing fine.

Failures have excuses…Successes have stories

The unfortunate truth is that some of us start making excuses long before the failure is complete…

The excuse: “We were in trouble right from the start. We started in the dark and two of our headlamps wouldn’t work. It started raining as we approached the halfway mark. The mud really slowed us down. Then, Jeremy slipped and fell and muddied up all his gear. We knew we couldn’t make it to the summit and back before sunset, so we decided to turn back.”

The story: “That hike was epic! We started in the dark. We had to share John’s headlamp because ours stopped working for some reason. When the sun finally came up, it started raining. Hard. The mud made for slow going. When Jeremy fell in that massive mud puddle, we just cracked up, wondering what else this hike would throw at us. It took about ten minutes to get him cleaned up. Once the storm passed, we had to double-time it to make it to the summit before dark. We got there with plenty of time to spare. It was awesome!”

The excuse: “There was no way we could have made the goal. The economy turned sour on us in the second quarter. Some bozo from IT botched the server install, and it took nearly two months to get everything configured properly. That didn’t leave enough time for the developers to deliver on schedule. All in all, it’s amazing we’re still in business.”

The story: “Can you believe it? We were pulling all-nighters for weeks because some bozo from IT botched our server install. But, we made the release date. Customers loved it, and we hit our sales target. Nobody thought that could happen in this economy.”

Have you ever noticed that failures have excuses, and successes have stories?

The unfortunate truth is that some of us start making excuses long before the failure is complete. We run into a hurdle, lose our belief in the goal, or simply lose hope that we can achieve success.

So, we get busy preparing excuses.

Our failure must be justified. First to ourselves, and then to everyone else. It’s even better if we can find allies to help us create better excuses. Excuse making often replaces the work that just might deliver success.

Are successes perfect? Far from it.

Success rarely comes without adversity. Success usually requires new tactics, mid-course corrections, and tons of hard work. Overcoming the odds, leaping over the hurdles, finding creative solutions…these give power to the stories we tell about our success.

Imagine a world where adversity strengthens our success stories, rather than bolstering the excuses we make for our failures.

“If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse.” -Author Unknown

p/c: Unsplash.com, Samuel Clara

Are You Willing?

All that matters is learning what you believe in…

“I know this now. Every man gives his life for what he believes. Every woman gives her life for what she believes. Sometimes people believe in little or nothing, and yet they give their lives to that little or nothing. One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it and then it’s gone. But to surrender what you are and to live without belief is more terrible than dying—even more terrible than dying young.” –Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc lived less than twenty years. Yet she fought for her beliefs and made a huge impact on history. She died for her beliefs at an age when many are just beginning their life’s journey.

She knew what she believed in. She knew what it meant to sacrifice for her beliefs. Ask anyone who serves or served in the military, a first responder who runs into a burning building to save others, or a newly formed priest who has answered God’s call. These are just a few examples. Each of them know what it means to sacrifice for their beliefs.

Sometimes our beliefs emerge quietly without our knowledge. We go through life, making seemingly inconsequential decisions about what we will and won’t do. We decide who our friends are, and how much we will let them into our lives. We decide when to listen. We decide how honest we will be with the world around us.

We establish habits for living our life, and we go on our merry way.

Do you know what you believe in? Really? Do you know what you believe to be true? Do you know what is important in your life?

Have you made the quiet time in your life that’s necessary to consider these questions?

What if it turns out that the things you believe in aren’t manifested in the way you live? Are you willing to change your habits? Are you willing to eliminate the things that don’t support your beliefs? Will you support your beliefs in the way you live, and the way you work with others? Are you willing to make your beliefs the centerpiece of your actions in everything you do?

Joan of Arc was right. One life is all we have, and then it’s gone.

Where are you in that one life? Is it too late to examine your beliefs and change the way you live?

The answer is clear But, it won’t become obvious until we make quiet time in our lives to reflect. When we do, we find it’s never too late to examine our beliefs and change our life.

Every day is a new beginning if we choose to make it so. It doesn’t matter what happened in the past. It doesn’t matter who wronged you. It doesn’t matter if you had a terrible childhood. It doesn’t matter if you’ve missed opportunities in the past. It certainly doesn’t matter if you failed in the past.

All that matters is learning what you believe in. Then, deciding what to do with that new knowledge, starting today.

The only question is: Are you willing to find out?

h/t: Matthew Kelly

There are no self-driving…

Auto-pilot and self-driving systems have one thing in common: they know where they’re going…

Airplanes have auto-pilot. Cars are getting closer to self-driving. In fact, I just saw a headline about a police officer pulling over a self-driving Google car (not sure who gets the ticket in that situation).

As Aldous Huxley said in his 1931 book, it’s a brave new world.

Auto-pilot and self-driving systems have one thing in common: they know where they’re going. Actually, the systems don’t know. The operator who is (ostensibly) in control knows the starting point, and the destination.

Real life doesn’t work that way.

There are no self-driving:

Friendships. We don’t know when a new friendship will start, we surely don’t know where it’s going, and we hope it never ends. The journey is what makes it so good. Have you put any of your friendships in self-drive mode? It’s a conscious decision, even when you act like you didn’t notice. Here’s the good news. In most friendships, you can switch out of self-drive mode and restart the journey. Your only decision is when to flip that switch.

Projects. We usually know when a project starts, and when it’s supposed to end. We have plans, resources, and our schedules. We (should) know what defines success in a project, and what the end result needs to be. That’s all the ingredients a project needs to switch to auto-pilot. Right? Not so fast! Show me a project that’s out of control, off schedule, costing more than expected, and I’ll show you a project that went on auto-pilot while nobody was looking.

Parenting. We know when parenting starts, and that’s about it. Parents understand that every day with their kids is an adventure. It’s an adventure they hope never ends. There are days when they’d like to go on auto-pilot, but those are the days when they should be most engaged.

Companies. It doesn’t matter what size they are, or how long they’ve been around. If people inside a company start to “mail it in,” stop caring, assume someone else is asking the tough questions, assume someone else is making the hard choices; that’s the beginning of the end. It may take some time, but the end is baked-in the moment self-drive mode is engaged. It’s just a question of when, and it’s never pretty when the end arrives.

Marriages. We certainly know when marriages begin. Sadly, some marriages have ended, yet the people involved don’t even realize it. Why? Self-drive. One or both have engaged the self-drive button and decided that they’re just along for the ride. Only together can a married couple steer, accelerate, hit the brakes, seek out new routes, find shortcuts, or just enjoy the scenery. It takes constant work, endless attention, and unending love to share this most important steering wheel. There’s no room for self-drive in the front seat of a marriage.

Self-drive may seem easier, but its sole focus is the start and the end. These are only two points on the journey.

The part in the middle is the real reward. Engage self-drive and you will miss it.

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life for Me!

What makes this ride so popular? Definitely not the speed. Is it the “escape” into another world? Maybe. But, is it really an escape?

If you’re like me, you know the only way to turn at the end of Main Street USA is left. Left, toward Adventureland, and New Orleans Square. Sure, you could go for one of the “speed” rides like Space Mountain over in Tomorrowland. Buzz Lightyear (Astro Blasters) is a good one. Or, maybe Thunder Mountain. The Matterhorn is re-opened, if you like to have your spine compressed (not sure why they didn’t fix that problem during the most recent refresh).

But, the best rides are definitely in Adventureland. The Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion. Don’t even get me started on how awesome Tom Sawyer’s Island is.

The Jungle Cruise is all about the puns. Indiana Jones is (mild) sensory overload and a neat cave walk to and from the ride. The Haunted Mansion is a cross between Tim Burton’s vision of the world, and old school special effects that are still cool.

The best of all is Pirates!

First you’re in a New Orleans bayou. Crickets are chirping, a few frogs are croaking quietly, and fireflies dart about. It’s dark, quiet, and lazy. The swamp guy sits on his porch, smoking a corn cob pipe. The sound of slow banjo picking comes from his house. Do swamp guys have CD’s? Electricity? Does he have a banjo-playing friend in the house? Then, total darkness, a quick drop, and we enter a pirate’s lair. It’s clearly seen better days. Tons of treasure gather dust and cob webs.

I’ve never known what a New Orleans bayou has to do with being in a pirate’s lair, but over the years, I’ve learned it doesn’t matter. “Dead men tell no tales!” Just as you figure out that all the riches and treasures in the world didn’t do these dead pirates any favors, a foggy curtain projects an apparition of Davy Jones, warning us about the cursed lives of pirates. Our boat ignores the warning and carries us into this cursed world.

We enter a pitched battle between a pirate ship with cannons blazing, and the shore defenses firing back. It’s a desperate battle with explosions and lots of yelling. Somehow the shots never hit anything vital, or do they? The battle rages on, but we pass safely under the line of fire.

The harbor comes into view. Not just any harbor, but a “Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a pirate’s life for me,” harbor from long ago. Pirates are drinking and singing. Some of the less fortunate are dunked endlessly in a well. A vain search for Captain Jack Sparrow. Others are sold as brides. We see drunk pirates singing to themselves and no one in particular, scheming ways to find more treasure.

The scene shifts again to a prison where the only hope of escape lies in convincing a dog to give up the keys. The dog never budges, but always looks like he might. Hopefulness mixed with despair. If only the prisoners would realize that their only salvation is to find a new strategy, a new direction. Of course, they never make this connection. We slowly pass under a collapsing ceiling, and back into the harbor.

The town is ablaze, but nobody cares. We know the flames spell disaster, but that’s lost on everyone in the scene. They continue to drink, sing, and chase each other in a search for the next moment. Some fire randomly across the water at their friends. “Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a pirate’s life for me!”

The dichotomy of the celebratory singing and the evil that humans do to one another isn’t the point…or, maybe it is. All the while, our boat floats lazily through the scene.

We begin our slow climb out of this cursed world as Jack Sparrow tell us to, “Drink up you laddies! Yo Ho!”

What makes this ride so popular? Definitely not the speed. Is it the “escape” into another world? Maybe. But, is it really an escape?

Each of us can relate to being the pirate. We’ve been dunked in the proverbial well…sometimes we do the dunking. We’ve fired aimlessly at our enemies (and our friends) at one time or another. Oblivious to the pain we may cause. We’ve focused solely on the now. Ignored the future. We’ve looked for treasure. Maybe we’ve found it…and yet, our search continues.

Are we nothing more than passengers on the boat, passing lazily through the scenes of life, yet never connecting to any of it? Hopefully not.

A pirate’s life, indeed. Time to get in line for the next ride!

Speed bumps and walls…

…have a few things in common. Both force us to pay attention, slow down, and (sometimes) change course…

…have a few things in common. Both force us to pay attention, slow down, and (sometimes) change course. In many ways, speed bumps are merely walls that are short enough to get over with minimal effort.

Unlike speed bumps, walls are there to stop us, contain us, to protect something we’re not supposed to see, or maybe provide protection to something we don’t want others to see.

Is that nasty cold you have a speed bump or a wall?

How about the job you had until last week? Is losing that job a speed bump or a wall?

Is the macro-economic forecast for 2% or less in U.S. Gross Domestic Product growth a speed bump or a wall?

Is bad weather (however you define the term bad) a speed bump or wall?

The death of a loved one? Speed bump or wall?

The diagnosis you received from your doctor that has you wondering how long you have to live this life you love. Speed bump? Wall?

Meeting the person of your dreams and falling in love. Speed bump or wall? Surprise! Good news introduces speed bumps and walls, just like bad news. Of course, good news can also knock down walls.

When the news first hits, it almost always looks like a wall. Only after further reflection, maybe some quiet meditation, a hard workout(s), discussions with our friends and family, enjoying a bowl of our favorite ice cream, watching some sunrises and sunsets, or all of these, do the walls start to look shorter.

As the walls lose their height, they may disappear from sight, or take the shape of speed bumps that we can handle.

Some walls are high and stay that way. If we can’t climb over, we learn to change direction and find a way around.

What if we can’t climb over, can’t change direction, and the high walls continue to surround us? Should we give up?

No way!

We build our expansive life inside the new walls and never drop our quest to escape…even if we have to dismantle the walls one brick (or chisel strike) at a time.

Do you remember that guy who gave up? Neither can anyone else. –Author Forgotten

The Rear-View Mirror

Rear-view mirrors are nice, but the real action is in the opposite direction…

For years, I seemed to pick cars that were too short. The rear-view mirrors were always right at my eye level. At first, that sounds about right. But, the mirrors actually blocked my view out the front windshield.

I had two choices:

Duck down and look under the mirror to see the road ahead,

or,

Remove the mirror.

Not wanting to scrunch down, or have to remember that what I could see was actually the view out the back window, I decided to remove the mirror from my view.

A bit drastic, but I was okay with it. I could always use the side mirrors to see behind me. Besides, I mostly used the rear-view mirror to scan for cops (it’s easier to spot their profile, or their lights, using the rear-view mirror). Since I wasn’t in the habit of breaking laws, it wasn’t a big sacrifice to lose that wide-angle backward view.

Most of what I was interested in was in front of me anyway. Removing the mirror let me stay focused on what was coming, rather than where I’d been. Occasionally, I’d glance to the empty spot where the mirror used to be, mostly out of habit.

A habit born of the desire to glean value from where I’d been, but mostly to know if something was about to catch me. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t doing anything worthy of being caught. But, still, it was there. The unknown pursuer. The quick glance to the rear-view would help me see when it was coming. It never was.

Fast-forward twenty years or so, and my car (actually a truck) is bigger. The rear-view mirror doesn’t block my view out the front. It provides a nice panorama out the back. I don’t use it much (the side mirrors are still my go-to). When I do use it, I’m not interested in seeing my pursuer. I’m not as concerned about who may be back there (unless it’s a knucklehead weaving through traffic, ignoring everyone’s safety).

My rear-view mirror lets me quickly see where I’ve been, and that’s enough. The real action is still in front of me, so I’m glad my mirror doesn’t block that view.

Otherwise, it would have to go.

There’s a crack in the gutter where a flower grows…

They’re not supposed to be there. It should be impossible for them to grow…

Pandora is awesome. I was listening to my Happy Radio channel the other day when this song called Hey, Hey, Hey came on. It had a catchy tune, and some of the words seemed nice when I chose to listen closely. It was my first time hearing it, but I knew it had been around a while.

Somewhere in the middle of the song I hear:

There’s a crack in the gutter where a flower grows

Reminding me that everything is possible
Yeah, reminding me that nothing is impossible
You gotta live for the one that you love you know
You gotta love for the life that you live you know

Singing hey, hey, hey
No matter how life is today
There’s just one thing that I got to say
I won’t let another moment slip away

That got my attention.

How many times have you seen a plant (sometimes a weed, but that’s really in the eye of the beholder) growing out of a crack in the sidewalk, or the gutter? How about the tree that figures out how to grow from within a cracked boulder?

They’re not supposed to be there. It should be impossible for them to grow. Yet, there they are. Thriving in the most inhospitable of environments.

Each of us have the same ability to overcome adversity. To be the flower growing in the crack in the gutter. To grow and thrive in our little corner of the world, making a small but important difference to those around us.

Life is a journey, and it can be a struggle. But, it’s also a triumph, and an opportunity to make our mark in places nobody (including ourselves) would ever expect.

Here’s the whole song…and, yeah, it’s been around since 2010. Only took me five years to notice it (not good for my hipster cred): Hey, Hey, Hey

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Do you remember that guy who gave up? Neither can anyone else. –Author Forgotten

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