Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road. …

As another year is coming to a close; it is a time of reflection. It is a time that the yearly accomplishments become logged for family and friends in the annual holiday letter. After over 10 years of writing holiday letters, a few years ago I chose not to write them any more.

When I was younger, I had the internal list of things to do - get a good job, get married, have kids, create a home, etc. As I have gotten older the accomplishment list of “things” has not become as important to me. I care more now about the types of relationship and the experiences that I have and share in life – truly the everyday little things matter.

I recently read a study in Scientific American which looked at holiday letters and of the 1,200 letters reviewed only 5% really talked about how they felt about the events in their life. The study went on to say that how we feel and learn from important events in our life’s help us live life to the fullest. Green Day, Good Riddance, has been playing in my head lately – it is a song about life’s changes and lessons it brings and creating a wonderful life experience. The lyrics go like this:

“Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road. Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you were to go. So make the best of this test and don't ask why. It is not a question, but a lesson learned in time. It something unpredictable, but in the end its right. I hope you had the time of your life.”

To create the best life; I wanted to share some of my “lessons learned in time”.

1. Start today. Whatever it is start today. Don’t wait for the right day, the beginning of the year, start now. There never is the perfect time; “… so make the best of this test…” Have faith in yourself and commit to what is important to you. Use your internal voice to say good things to yourself and don’t be bothered so much by what others think.

2. Value yourself. Each of us are special in our own way and when you put everyone first and your needs second or way last, you telling yourself and everyone that you do not value yourself. This can be followed with them not valuing you as well. “Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” (M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled)

3. Let go of the past. As the Green Day song goes, “… It something unpredictable, but in the end its right...” Those experiences were the one’s you probably were meant to have in your life. Take those lessons learned with you; anything else that is not helpful to moving forward in your life; throw out and say “good riddance”.

4. Be the master of your own life. Go beyond just floating through life; bouncing off of obstacle after obstacle. Dr. Robert Anthony states that “When you blame others, you give up your power to change. ” Take accountability for your actions, choices and even mistakes.

5. Ask for what you need. Deepak Chopra teaches that, “emotional wellbeing flows from the ability to clearly communicate what you want in life.” This sounds easy but it can be hard especially if your do not value yourself. To assume that people know what you want or to hint around or worse yet – set an expectation that they will “know if they really care about you” is not fair to them. You must start with becoming clear on what you need - truly need - first.

6. Put time into good/healthy relationships. Spending time with people who love life, who value your uniqueness and who actively want to spend time with you add value to your life. These are family or friends who you can share life’s struggles and find support. Try to avoid or limit people or events that as Tom Robbins would say, “tear holes in your aura." An important note here is to be responsible for your own happiness and to not look to others to provide you with happiness. It is equally important to give support to the people you care about in your life; tell them often how much you appreciate/love them.

7. Enjoy the small moments. Look for joy or humor in everything. Those little things all connected together create the fabric of our lives – it is the little things that make the whole. Everyday is made up of them.

So what are your “lessons learned in time”?

I WISH YOU BANANAS!

I grew up with the blue stickered bananas on the kitchen counter. One of the first recipes from my mom (still have the original copy) was for her banana bread. Bananas are iconic. Besides part of our diet they have been part of our culture. Slipping on a banana peel has been a comedy standard after first being seen in the 1917 movie The Flirt. The banana was painted by Andy Warhol and used by the Velvet Undergrounds for their 1967 album cover. Banana was used to describe a funky chopper style bicycle known for its banana seat. Bananas are featured in kids’ books and games as Curious George and Donkey Kong eternally seek to gather as many bananas as possible. And of course it is the key ingredient in an ice cream dish. Bananas have been around a long time.

Bananas a believed to originated in Malaysia and are cited in Buddhist texts in 600 BC. Alexander the Great was credited for bringing the banana from India to the western nations. In 1876 bananas were introduced to American families as an exotic dessert. Even though there are few cultivated for commercial purpose, there are about 1,200 banana varieties – blue, black, maroon, yellow. Though bananas are often shown as growing on trees, the banana “tree” is actually an herb. The banana is the fruit the world’s largest herb. Bananas are high in fiber and potassium. Because of their impressive potassium content, bananas are have been recommended by doctors to help boast potassium. One large banana, about 9 inches in length, packs 602 mg of potassium and only carries 140 calories. On average a person eats about 33 pounds of bananas a year – however the mango is the most common fruit worldwide (eaten three times more than bananas and ten times more than the apple).

Cooking with Banana

There are so many different ways to cook banana’s besides banana bread. This website provides 100 different banana recipes. They include recipes for such things as:

• Grilled Banana Boats (in the banana skin);
• Chuoi Chien Vietnamese Fried Banana;
• Vazhakka Theran( Raw Banana Sautéed in Coconut);
• Beef Pochero with Eggplant Sauce and Cavendish Bananas; and
• Banana Nut Martini.

Banana Protection Equipment

There also are things that you can buy to help you keep your bananas safe or to cut them evenly for your salads. There is the hanging banana holder which keeps them from being bruised on the counter. To provide for safe travels there also is the Bananas Saver or the Banana Bunker. This helps prevent your banana from being bruised in a backpack or lunch bag. It is a hard yellow, banana shaped hard case to hold one banana. There also is the Banana Slicer which helps to ensure that your bananas are sliced at the same size making for beautiful salads. Yes, I do actually own one.

That’s Bananas!

• Carved bananas sculptures
• Tattooed banana skins
• Banana Car
• International Banana Club Museum – You can become a member too.

I will leave you with this great video clip from Despicable Me. My mom sent this to me with a note saying, “I wish you bananas”. I too, wish you bananas.

On July 27^th it is National Banana Lover’s Day - Hold you banana high!