Category Archives: Inspirational

Learned From the Best

Inspirational, Personal stories, , , , , , ,

One of the greatest gifts my mom gave me is my love of cooking. When I was six years old, she would have me pick a vegetable that we would eat for dinner, and show me how to prepare it. From simple things like adding butter to the broccoli to helping her peel potatoes.

When I got older, she taught me how to make biscuits from scratch and making cakes by following recipes and not using a cake mix, Cooking for a family of 12 was a great way for me to learn simple math and fraction skill. Many recipes had to be doubled or even tripled. I got good at making the conversions.

Later when I was in my teens, my mom would leave me instructions on how to prepare full meals from scratch, because she would not be home in time to prepare dinner. When I was 14 years old my mom taught me how to make pie crusts for Thanksgiving. She told me she would make the pie filling for every crust I made. The challenge was on. I made over 20 pie crusts that year, and she made the filling for all of them. We had so many pies we decided to invite family and friends the day before Thanksgiving to eat soup and pie. This tradition continues to this day.

I decided to make the fillings for pies after our first successful pie supper. My mom said she would be laying down if I needed her help. Everything was fine until the filling started overflowing over the pan, I couldn’t understand why this was happening. My mom quizzed me about the different ingredients I used for the filling. I goofed, I used baking soda instead of cornstarch for making the pudding thick. We both had a good laugh. It was a great learning moment for me.

When I was a senior in high school I got tired of eating oatmeal, and other hot cereals for breakfast. I decided to get my younger brothers and sisters to help me make breakfast. For the entire school year, we made gingerbread with applesauce, muffins, waffles, pancakes, and round biscuits. Until this time our family never ate round biscuits. My mom would roll out the dough on the pan, and cut them into squares. She is also great at cooking quickly, It was three cuts horizontally, then four cuts vertically, and they were in the oven cooking.

Mom thanks for the memories, and lots of patience teaching me how to cook. Your legendary homemade bread, and soups have inspired me on my cooking journey.

A Cup of Tea

Better Living, Inspirational, , , , , ,

Once, a long time ago, there was a wise Zen master. People from far and near would seek his counsel and ask for his wisdom. Many would come and ask him to teach them, enlighten them in the way of Zen. He seldom turned any away.One day an important man, a man used to command and obedience came to visit the master. “I have come today to ask you to teach me about Zen. Open my mind to enlightenment.” The tone of the important man’s voice was one used to getting his own way.

The Zen master smiled and said that they should discuss the matter over a cup of tea. When the tea was served the master poured his visitor a cup. He poured and he poured and the tea rose to the rim and began to spill over the table and finally onto the robes of the wealthy man. Finally the visitor shouted, “Enough. You are spilling the tea all over. Can’t you see the cup is full?”

The master stopped pouring and smiled at his guest. “You are like this tea cup, so full that nothing more can be added. Come back to me when the cup is empty. Come back to me with an empty mind.”

Can’t Judge a Book by it’s Cover

Better Living, Inspirational, , , , ,
Man with tattoo


He was covered with tattoos
Skin art galore
How trashy, I thought
I could look at him no more
I disliked him immensely
For his arty obsession
And right then and there
I formed a hasty impression
Circumstances brought us together
Closer than I would have dared
And I was forced to get to know him
When his soul to me he bared
He is only human, I came to realize
With love in his heart and pain in his eyes
How wrong I was about him,
I felt so much shame
To hate him, distrust him,
to ridicule and blame
Can’t judge a book by its cover
It has often been said
I truly believe that
Now I look deeper instead.
Patty E. Padgett.

Thank you Patty for being inspired.

Programming For Success

Better Living, Inspirational, The moral of the story, , , , , ,

One day, as a small child, Thomas Edison came home from school and gave a paper to his mother. He said to her, “Mom, my teacher gave this paper to me and told me only you are to read it. What does it say?” Her eyes welled with tears as she read the letter out loud to her child… “your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn’t have good enough teachers to train him. Please teach him yourself.”

Many years after Edison’s mother had died, he became one of the greatest inventors of the century. One day he was going through a closet and he found the letter that his old teacher wrote his mother that day. He opened it… The message written on the letter was, “your son is mentally deficient.We won’t let him come to school any more.” Edison became emotional upon reading it and then wrote in this diary… “Thomas A. Edison was a mentally deficient child whose mother turned him into the genius of the century.”

A positive word of encouragement can help change anyone’s destiny.

The Contest Winner

Better Living, Inspirational, , , , ,
Pile of money

I read a book a few years ago about a family with ten children from Defiance, Ohio. The father was a drunk and the mother helped supplement the family income by entering contests. Many of the contests were, “In 25 words or less tell us why…. “You like our peanut butter.” Whatever the contest was that week, she would enter. The entire family would get involved by finding entrance forms for every contest possible and finding labels that needed to be attached to the entrance forms. Mom would fill out multiple contest forms with all the kids names on the forms to increase her families chances of winning. Over the years the family won dozens of prizes. Two prizes were cars and the last prize was valued at more than $10,000 dollars. The thing that I find so interesting is the families last contest won, saved their home from getting foreclosed with just hours to spare. I believe this family knew their mom could win this contest. With the power of the entire family believing this miracle would happen, it became a reality. With God nothing is impossible. Their inner belief system created what seemed an impossibility. Nothing is a coincidence in the eyes of God. Albert Einstein said, “Your imagination is a preview of what is to come.”

Write Down Your Affirmations

Better Living, Inspirational, , , , , , , ,
Running on the beach celebration

A great way to keep your affirmation at the forefront of your mind is to write them down. Leave notes or cards around so that you notice them throughout the day. Another idea is to write your affirmation down many times. This helps imprint it on your mind. I like to write my affirmations on 3X5 cards so I can read them, or say them in my mind several times a day.
Say Affirmations with Passion
Say your affirmations with passion; the higher your emotional state as you say them, the more effective they are. When I was trying to sell my home I got my family together in the living room and we all jumped up and down saying how excited we were to be moving. We moved four days later.

Here are a few examples of affirmations you can use. Make some of your own. The possibilities are endless.
Affirmations of health
• Every cell in my body vibrates with energy and health.
• My body heals quickly and easily.
Affirmations for Abundance
• I prosper wherever I turn and I know that I deserve prosperity of all kinds.
• I pay my bills with love as I know abundance flows generously through me.
Affirmations for Love
• I know that I deserve Love and accept it now.
• I give out Love and it is returned to me daily.
Affirmations for Weight Loss
• I am the perfect weight for me.
• I choose to exercise and eat healthy regularly.
Affirmations for Self Esteem
• When I believe in myself, so do others.
• I express my needs and feelings effectively.
Affirmations for Joy and Happiness
• Life is a joy filled with delightful surprises.
• I choose to be happy and share my joy with others daily.
My Favorite affirmation covers many areas.
• Thank you, I am sorry, please forgive me, I love you, I am receiving now.

The reason I love this last affirmation is it covers many areas of my life. First when you say, “Thank you” this opens up the universe to many possibilities. Next when you say, “ I am sorry” and “Please forgive me,” it helps release any negatives from the past. When you say, “I love you,” this is one of the most powerful emotions you can say. When you finish with “I am receiving now,” you are telling yourself and the universe you are ready to receive everything positive into your life. Any word or emotion connected with I AM is magnified many times, so watch how you use this statement. You can also be very creative in writing your own affirmations. Go do you and have an amazing life.

The Wise Man

Humor with a moral, Inspirational, Uncategorized, , , , ,

   

People have been coming to the wise man, complaining about the same problems every time. One day he told them a joke, and everyone roared in laughter.

After a couple of minutes, he told them the same joke and only a few of them smiled. When he told the same joke for a third time no one laughed anymore.

The wise man smiled and said:
“You can’t laugh at the same joke over and over. So why are you always crying about the same problem?

Moral of the story:
Worrying won’t solve your problems, it’ll just waste your time and energy.