It is a tradition for my family and friends to invite people to their house for dinner on the weekend, after church. Most of the time, the food is so amazingly good that it tastes better than the dishes prepared at some well-known restaurants I have been to. Everyone enjoying the homecooked meal, express their appreciation for how flavorful and delicious it is. But when it tastes like barf cakes, out of respect, no one mentions the meal, they just thank the cook for hosting. Occasionally, one of the cooks says they made a mistake and hopes everything tastes good. In my experience, if the cook is the bomb, they have the culinary chops to make the most out of any meal that has gone sideways. So when I hear the words, “I made a mistake” from a dope cook, it is a signal for me to smash every morsel before the apocalypse!
Just like cooking, your life has a flavor. Depending on how you use your ingredients, you will either grow by leveraging the seasoning of your experiences and opportunities or stay stagnant like a cold bowl of soup. I have three cues to help you add that flavor and keep growing.
Make it better even though you failed
Life is a series of failures that lead to a legacy of success if you don’t quit. Nobody knows everything when they first do something new. There is this big gap between expectation and outcome regardless of how competent you are. Sometimes things just don’t go the way you planned. When that happens, make it better instead of quitting. I know plenty of people who live a miserable life because they don’t want to attempt anything new or they simply give up because they failed at something. You don’t want to be like these folks. Besides, not every mistake is bad if you learn how to close the gap of your inexperience and use those lemons to make lemonade.
Everybody can change their mental flavor
I understand that life can be unfair and bad things happen to good people. My first child was stillborn. The sight of my wife hemorrhaging in the hospital while I was holding our dead daughter caused me deep pain. I had a bad taste in my mouth for a long time, but not forever because I changed my thoughts. You can say that your thoughts are the herbs and spices of your life. When painful experiences influence your thinking, you have to lock your mind onto something positive to change your mental flavor. If you don’t have anything, then create something. I said to myself when I was in the hospital holding my deceased child, I still have my queen bae, together we can produce more honey. All the pain we experience as a result of the challenges we face can be overcome by reframing our mindset. I realize this is a hard task, but it is not impossible. When you hit a rough patch, don’t just sit there and eat from the plate of pain! You can learn, grow, and shift your mindset. The way I see it, both pain and disappointments are feelings that you don’t have to let ruin your life’s flavor. As a great-tasting meal is well seasoned with herbs and spices, your good and bad experiences can serve a purpose. Eventually, my wife and I had a child, and I appreciate being a dad even more after having that bad experience.
Share your mindset recipe to help others live
The world needs you right now…. invite them over for dinner. You may not like some of the things that happened to you, but you succeeded. Now, keep in mind people just like you who are stuck in their failure. Share your recipe for positivity. When I get together with my friends, one of the things we do is encourage each other to keep doing great things. We don’t let anyone stay stuck. We lift each other up because it can happen to anyone of us and we need each other. There is always someone going through something someone else has been through. This is why we must share our recipes and help each other flavor our life with a healthy mindset. When we do, we are preparing ourselves to sit at the table of our best life.
Take your cues from me and live a great life!
