Wildflower Writes

Photo by  Lesly Juarez  on  Unsplash I love working with ideas. I enjoy working with people. Words are my favorite tools. I don’t enjoy working with my hands much. As I tried to create something for a Christmas ornament exchange last month, I kept muttering, “I hate crafts.” So it is something of an accomplishment this afternoon when I put together a bookshelf all by myself. I followed all the directions, used real tools, and it looked like the picture when I was finished. Jay Shetty suggests trying one new project or hobby a month to discover one’s purpose. He calls it sampling. It’s similar to the way your mother may have insisted you try new foods. You don’t know what you might like unless you explore something new. Very few of us can say we took on the career we wished for as a child. We grow and change. We can’t know what it is we enjoy doing, what brings meaning and fulfillment unless we try out different things. Many of us still don’t know what we want to be ...

  Photo by  Jay Wennington  on  Unsplash My sister believes that when it comes to chips and salsa, there is a gold standard. Other restaurants may have a more authentic Mexican menu or faster service, but when she has her heart set on perfectly crispy, salty tortilla chips, there is only one right choice. If you’ve ever had a fine dining experience, where there is more silverware than you know what to do with and you feel guilty for wiping your mouth on napkins someone has to launder… you’ve encountered food prepared in a way that not only satisfies hunger but engages the senses. Plates are presented as works of art, creations composed of the finest ingredients. Once you’ve had a dining experience like that, it’s harder to be satisfied with fast food cheeseburgers. Our senses and sensibilities have been elevated- we want something beyond the everyday and mundane. We have deep longings for lofty things- real relationship, passionate purpose, deep understanding, person...

My fortune at the Chinese restaurant was “Sell your ideas they are totally acceptable.” Oh, and my lucky numbers are 10, 11, 25, 29, 32, and 47. Which is sad because my birthday is next week and none of those numbers is my birthdate or my age. I was just thinking today that I need to be less attached to my ideas . I become my ideas, to the point that if you don’t like my idea, I take it personally. I know that’s not logical, it’s just the way I’ve always been. I got a piece I’d written sent back covered in “red ink” last week, and I was devastated. There was this voice in my head that said, “Toughen up. You’re never going to make it as a writer if you can’t take a little criticism.” Of course, that’s my fear- that I’m not good enough. But Chinese fortune says differently! I have tons of ideas. So many that I’ve thought about hiring myself out as a board member to various organizations just to help them come up with new ideas. Now, I admit, I’m not the best person to see an idea t...