Tuesday, June 12, 2018

essence of fulfillment?

Soo ...I'm watching a cheffy show "Chef's Table" on Netflix and this particular episode.... it's the story of  Christina Tosi, the creator of "Crack Pie".

She was speaking about how she started her little Milk bar bakery beside Momfuku ( as David Chang's colleague) and the satisfaction she had finally found after more than a decade in the basements of restaurants in New York City.

She grinned as she said " I finally had something that was mine that I had figured out ".

What a magical sentence.

Let me say it again ....and again.


I finally had something that was mine that I had figured out ".


I finally had something that was mine that I had figured out ".


I finally had something that was mine that I had figured out ".



Isn't that the essence of fulfillment? Of knowing you've achieved something on your own terms.... in your own version of what it means to be creative?

Not every idea is a winner...not every effort is rewarded...but
those who don't give up on those hunches, those creative nudges lead the way.. They find "quoi"...they find the  juice of life, that we creatives live for....to make something fresh and unknown. 

Then and only then, once we have firmly planted our feet in that unknown space and let others in to spy on us....that is when they begin to take the time to applaud and appreciate that new "thing" or "idea" or "cause" we have created from the dust....that ever present earth we find in our hands. At last, we feel at peace. we feel joy.


I am a fan of the late Wangari Maathai....whose passion for the mysterious circle of life between trees and water created a movement. One can not boil it down to simple facts.
When someone is passionate about what they need. Wangari needed trees. Wangari needed to protect what she loved . In her passion to protect what she loved, she took us along....to kneel by a stream and understand why it was the trees that brought the water, and the frogs and the well being. She helped us take a brief glimpse of that mysterious circle. She made us pause to dig a hole and plant something....anything.


what is it that you can help us understand? What is it that you understand better than your family and neighbors. Maybe it bears repeating. Maybe we need to hear you too.

Peace,
C.,


Monday, June 11, 2018

Stock Market Shows

I was watching Consuelo Mack's Wealth Track and it was an older episode from March which featured fund manager David Giroux.

David Giroux shared some of his strategies for maintaining a prospering fund.
One of his tips was this:

Writing covered calls on low volatility dividend stocks.
He also name dropped some of his fave stocks such as
 Becton Dickinson and Co (NYSE: BDX)

as well as Fiserv Inc  (Nasdaq: FISV)

.

I am curious as to how other humans watch shows like this.
Do individual investors have any business at all listening to advice from someone who manages millions/billions of mutual fund money, supported by 200 global analysts?

Or is it simply a matter of trying to stay current with the lingo and refreshing our minds with the issues that confront all investors, penny pinchers, and big wigs combined?

Do you feel that institutional investors have anything at all in common with small time retail investors? Or is there an uncrossable chasm that separates the two?

Looking forward to reading your opinions in the comments below.
Peace,
C.

By the way, if you want to sample some of Consuelo Mack's Wealth Track shows, you can visit their
website : https://wealthtrack.com/how-david-giroux-delivers-stock-market-performance-with-much-less-risk/





Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Seth Godin



I was listening yet again...yes, I replay this podcast over and over again.. to Tim Ferriss' interview of the thoughtful Mr. Seth Godin. I  noted again his comment about what he does
when he starts to blog in his fave blogging host/template called "Typepad". He even describes the monthly fee he pays to keep his typepad blog running.
Seth went into a few deets of his secret to keeping his writing flowing saying when he opens up that blogging site he said

"I know what my brain needs to feel like" and then he gets his writing on.

He may write several blog posts and keep them as drafts but does not publish everything he writes. He writes until he feels that he has completed his task and then chooses the best of the bunch to publish to his blog.

Have you ever read Seth Godin's blog? check it out here: Seth Godin  .....it won't be a waste of your valuable time.


Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Late is ALWAYS better than never.

Tweet

So, this is me, living the dream, maybe not a big deal for you....but for a mom of four with a million responsibilities, it is literally heaven on earth.
So, what is this dream I am walking in today...my tan feet barely touching the ground?

Just doin what Tim Ferriss and a million other entrepreneurs do almost every day...sitting in a coffee shop with free wifi, sipping on a dark roast with steamed soy typing on a wee lap top.
Such a very big deal? Should I just get over it already? Well, in my sheepish defense, it IS a really big beal....because on this today, this very rare occasion, I am 100% alone, elle est solo....ALL by myself. Capish? No kids or hubby in tow. Secondly, this is my very own lap top. Not the fastest or the latest model, but it works and I'm bloggin at mock speed.

When you're a mom, other people's computers seem to take priority. So...it is with a rather fiendish delight that I walked into this shop with my lap top under my arm. This is a first for me. Hmmm, maybe next I'll have to shop for a little dog that fits in my purse.. A bit too Hilton-esque?

Maybe your dreams do not include creative writing at Starbucks, but hey, for today I am the dark roast blogging queen. Gonna relish it, bad grammar an' all.

Whoop...props to me... having a good hair day, and my fave shirt was with the clean laundry. I got the window seat and have an exquisite view of a crab apple tree in full blossom....voila the attached pic. My muscled fingers even figured out how to attach said pic to this blog.

Perhaps a decade late, but Late is ALWAYS better than never.
Turns out I've been ahead of the curve on the gluten free band wagon. Who knew?
You win some......and those days are the best.

May your dreams never die until you are ready to dismiss them by choice.
..completely satisfied and fulfilled.

Peace,
Carla.

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Press Zero

To divest oneself of humanity may be more efficient...clean even.

Slick and sleek.

But what are we trying to prove? That we never need to hear a human voice? Never need another human being to help or serve us?

i am tired of self serve...gas stations and self scans at the grocery stores and department stores.
I am tired of choosing all my own options. I want to hear a friendly suggestion from a helpful polite
salesperson. I don't want to bag my own groceries. I don't want to count my own change.

I don't want to access the "automated" telephone system I can by pressing 5.

Sometimes I want to deal with someone like myself.... a messy imperfect human with imperfect scores. That's who I want to sell me something and punch in my sale into some kind of cash register. That is who I want to pump my gas or do my taxes. I was not born entirely by my own effort. My Mom had a lot to do with it, as well as some deft doctor and probably more than one nurse. We can not deliver ourselves into this world. We need each other. We always have and always will.
Needing other humans is not a character flaw.

So sometimes, I will not choose the automated efficient and speedy slick route. I will choose the slow and friendly route without robots and machines, and let another messy human serve me kindly. And yes, I will still press Zero.

Peace,
C.


Monday, May 14, 2018

Do not blog to be heard

Do not blog to be heard...but to hear.

Do not blog to show this to all...but rather to be able to see things differently.

Blog to give yourself an ear to hear yourself and your Maker, swinging gently on the swing of life.

This is a great Tree.

Knowledge is a gift of God. Knowledge is not locked within any book, but sometimes hidden in one.

 The appreciation of it comes deep from within the heart of a humble man.

Kindness and gentleness are the apt caretakers of those who love wisdom...who seek to uncover knowledge yet unknown.

Walk gently yes, but always with accuracy and deft of purpose, a waiting heart receives them.

peace,
C.




the Poetry of Money

It is often in the throws of poverty, that one begs of God for money.

But God is sometimes silent, when he wants us to stand alone, to think things through in quietness

and humility within the hunger for wisdom and accurate knowledge.

God did not make money. Money is a man made item.

Therefore mastery over money, while inspired and empowered by God's Holy Spirit, is not done by

shedding oneself of one's humanity, but rather by embracing it.


=-====
To embrace the simple faculties that allow one to align with abundance .

To permit oneself to be made useful, to be paid for one's usefulness.

To remember what works and shed what doesn't.


To lather...rinse and repeat once one has grasped something that functions in the material world.

Stop trying to escape the grit, the sandy shell in which is hid billions.

It is through the humility of dust and dirt and grime that grand fortunes are made.

A gold treasure from a shipwreck from long ago, is unearthed from deep chilly depths, covered with

hundreds of years of crumbled sea shells tossed to and fro in the currents. So much sand... and

intimidation. Such patience is required.

It is simply the one who digs who finds the treasure....

the one who digs.

Peace,
C.