Open door

Listening to quiet fog past midnight
Where humming motors still and,
speeding past, the night shifts, change,
and hurry on the lonely highway
home.
Silently, the large, round orbs glow past
and unpadding feet trod toward open field.
Ears pricked, the hunter is the fastest vehicle, to sprint, to run, to dine contented
on
a meal of
cars
fly
by
on the distant highway.

Adventures in Curry

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/d/da/3_types_of_lentil.jpg

Fear is like a pot of curry.

At the beginning of the dish, a mass of random ingredients sits on your counter.
The lentils are hard, each one has it's own story, and it's own journey.
The spices are strong, bright, vibrant, spicy, savory, bitter, or tart.
The pot is empty, waiting to be filled.

Our experiences are like each tiny lentil. Our experiences have all come together to create our reality. Who we are is unique--like each pot of curry, no two will ever have the same unique "lentils" that make it up. Each of us is perfectly uniquely designed to be who we are through the experiences we have, the people we meet, the parents we were born to, and the circumstances we live in.

Thoughts spice the flavor of our minds.  What we believe is an accumulation of each experience, each moment, each reaction, but more importantly our interpretation of these moments creates our truth. Some of our thoughts taste better than others--the sweetness of love, or the tartness of loss, or the bitterness that comes from repeated negative experience. Ironically, like curry, we have the ability to control the flavor of our lives. If we notice we tend to a bitter ingredient--a bitter thought-- we have the choice to observe it, experience it, but not let it simmer in the pot that day.

Setting our pots to simmer is like thinking the same thought over and over. We begin to break down the defenses of our conscious mind, and create a new truth--a new reality--but just to us. When we create a stew of negative thinking and fear, it gets stuck in our minds like the blackened soot of a burned dinner residue on the bottom of the pan. That residual poisons every other dish that is ever prepared in that pot... unless you clean out the pot before you begin again.

Fear begins in the mind, in the chaos of ingredients we face on the counters of everyday life. Each of us has our own lentil experiences to work with. Each of us has the choice of what spices to think with. And each of our minds is a pot waiting to be filled.
Cook carefully.

Block and Write

"Goals" tab from my current planner

Cleaning out old boxes from school, I rediscovered this really great author from my past. This author has only been discovered by one person; this one voice encouraged the author to be what she is: a writer. And gave the author's 11th grade English papers 100% marks... unless they were late, which they were consistently.


Ironically, they're still consistently late.


But better late than never, right?


Rediscovering the truth
in old, musty cardboard boxes, challenging
to old ways and untruths
and unlearning the roads rutted in the mind
when that one voice from the past calls out
red ink
contrasts black type
from the preserved white sheet
Be what you truly are!
The world seen in block and write
slowly regains color.

Buena Park Toastmaster in World Speaking Contest

For Immediate Release Buena Park Toastmaster in World Speaking Contest (Buena Park, CA) A local resident has advanced to the semi-finals of the Toastmasters International competition for public speaking in Orlando, Florida, Aug. 15-20. Michael Masotto, of Buena Park, a member of the Anaheim Breakfast Toastmasters Club recently won the Spring district competition for his speech, “I Am A Phoenix.” He will represent Founder’s District, a network of Toastmasters speaking clubs stretching from Pasadena to San Clemente. There are 86 districts worldwide and Founder’s District is where Toastmasters began 88 years ago. “To reach the semi-finals at the International level is such a reward,” said Masotto, “but my ultimate goal is to win the International competition. I firmly believe I will do it.” Masotto, 52, will compete against 80 Toastmasters in the semi-finals in Orlando Aug. 16. If successful, he will reach the finals on Saturday, Aug. 18, where nine speakers will compete to become the coveted international champion of public speaking. This prestigious award is given annually at the Toastmasters International Convention following rigorous local competition throughout the United States and around the world. His winning speech, “I Am A Phoenix,” is the story of his struggle to read, how he was positively influenced by mentors and how he ultimately enrolled and completed his college degree as a working adult. “It is a story of struggle, but a story of help and perseverance,” he said. “People have told me they love the speech because it touches them. At graduation, a little five year old boy told me it made his mommy cry.” Masotto, a sales rep for Pacific Coast Homes Solutions, sells energy upgrades for homeowners in Southern California. He has only been in Toastmasters for 11 months, joining in September, 2011 to polish his upcoming valedictorian speech for the University of Phoenix where he was graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business management. He beat out a number of other students to deliver the valedictorian speech. Julie Schrock, a good friend and member of the Saddleback Sunrise Speakers in Laguna Hills told Masotto that he should join Toastmasters to help with his valedictorian speech. It was good advice. “Since I got a standing ovation from 10,000 people at graduation, I made some changes and used it for the Toastmasters competition. But the changes I made from my Toastmasters club was the key to victory.” To reach Orlando, Masotto had to win several speaking contests locally. “I had to win at my club, the Area, Division and finally District level. It was tough and gets very competitive as you move up.” Married to his wife Denise, a registered nurse for 26 years, they have four children, two boys, two girls and two granddaughters. In a previous life, Masotto was an air traffic controller for 20 years, directing air traffic at John Wayne, Ontario and Hawthorne Airports. He retired, owned a hotel in Lake Arrowhead, sold insurance and now wants to transition into public speaking In his Anaheim Toastmasters Club, Masotto has earned his Competent Communicator award for completing his first 10 speeches. He is now working on advanced speeches and his goal is to become a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM), the most prestigious level of achievement in the organization. Several of his Toastmasters friends are heading to Orlando to support him. “It will be great to have familiar faces in the audience. How exciting is that?” “Public speaking is now my passion and finding Toastmasters was a great discovery. Anyone who wants to improve their communication skills should join. I’m now looking for opportunities to use my presentation skills in the next chapter of my life.” For more information on Michael Masotto, contact John Barry, Assistant Public Relations Officer, Founder’s District, Toastmasters International jpbarry05@yahoo.com. Or call (714)457-2279 Toastmasters International, headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA is a world-wide nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. Founded in Santa Ana by Dr. Ralph Smedley in 1924, the organization currently has more than 270,000 members in 13,000 clubs in 116 countries. Each week, Toastmasters helps more than a quarter million people of every ethnicity, education and profession build their competence in communication so they can gain the confidence to lead others. For information about local Toastmasters clubs, visit www.toastmasters.org.

Travel

"Writing and travel broaden your ass if not your mind,
and I like to write standing up."
Ernest Hemingway



(Anybody else know where Ada, Oklahoma is?!?!?)




I traveled for three months in Europe in 2004. One of my most fun moments that I recount often--stop me if you've already heard this one--was in the coastal town of Roses, Spain. Roses is just outside of France on the coast of the Mediterranean. Pre-Franco it was Spain's version of Santa Barbara, CA... Tons of tourists, parties all the time, restaurants, chi-chi, high end, the best of the best vacationed there. Now, it's a quaint little village that's a stop-through for those crazies visiting Salvador Dali's house in Figueres.

There's also a Costco just outside of town.

Having been on the road for months, my friend and I searched out a Chinese restaurant because she was craving authentic Chinese food, which was apparently unavailable in France. We lucked out and found THE Chinese restaurant. We attempted to order in English, with no luck. My friend tried to talk with the owners and wait staff, but had no luck in her native Vietnamese. I tried again in Spanish... Success!

Oddly enough, the staff spoke Spanish... but with a Chinese accent.

I was speaking a completely different language, hearing the exact same accent as we do here at home.

Surreal like a Dali, yes. Got the lesson that day, no.

It took me a long time--and many, many retellings of this story--to realize that people are just people. No matter where you are in the world, no matter what language you are speaking, no matter how you look or what you wear, we're all just people.

Guess I'll have a California accent in Brazil! 

To my coaches

Sometimes, a little unsolicited advice is the best kind.

Whenever they're around, I up my game just a little bit more.

They sympathize with me when I lose, cheer me on when I play a hard game, and are my biggest fans.

And they give me the best insight to who I am.

They impact how I see myself and help me grow.

They care about my development and inspire me to be the best me I can be.

They are few.

They are impactful.

They are my heroes.

I wanna be them when I grow up.

To be able to give to someone like they have done for me.

And they have made all the difference.

Failure

Failure IS an option.

Failure is inevitable.

I don't like it, but I'm probably better for it.


The event I started, coordinated a team for, ran, and promoted for shut down this week. My intentions were good. Create something new and different. Get people excited and motivated. All of us work together and win together.

Yeah, not what happened.

It was a slow speed train wreck at best. You know the kind.
It's going just OK, and when you crash no one gets hurt but everyone is relieved to get off the train. Enough friction to notice there's friction. (At least the food was good).

So what did I learn?

A whole lot of practical stuff. Leadership skill. Team building. Delegating. All the John C Maxwell tricks I'd read about but never had a chance to apply. (I love his book, "Failing Forward"). How to show up in conflict and still get things done. How to come from my heart in trying to help someone improve and give constructive evaluations of a job not-so-well done.

On the emotional side, I learned how better to deal with failure. Failure is not the end of the world. It is simply releasing a negative outcome to make space for a new, positive one. It's change on a faster timeline than maybe we wanted. Sometimes, that's a good thing. Sometimes, it hurts our egos.

It is said, when you're failing, you're growing. I must be growing!