I vividly remember being hungry as a child, but not knowing exactly what I had a taste for. I'd tell my grandmama that I was hungry and she'd answer, "go eat." Irritated, I would stomp to the refrigerator (often followed by warnings of a whooping if I didn't "walk like I had some damn sense"), open the door, stare inside, close the door and stomp back to the living room (of course stopping the stomping before my grandmama could hear it). My grandmama would give me that "I dare you to complain look" and I'd repeat this scene over and over until I wore my fool self out. After allowing me to look foolish for a while, my grandmama would say, "you must not be hungry." Hmph...I think about that today, and I have to say, YOU must not be hungry.
Saying what we need to do and want to do, looking at options, and even making plans for how to get it done, but then not following through indicates that we must not be hungry. Do we really want the things we say we want if we are not willing to work for them?
My grandmama taught me a long time ago that when we are hungry, we eat. Not only do we eat, but eat what we have. Beyond that, we do it without complaining or holding out for something else. Look in your fridge and take inventory. What do you have available to you that can help you get to where you say you want to be? Are you utilizing it to its full potential? If not, then you must not be hungry. You see, a hungry person doesn't have time to overanalyze, criticize, or complain about what he or she does not have. A hungry person sees what is in the fridge and begins to consider all the possibilities of what could be. Don't tell me you've never created a new dish using the last little bit of whatever you could find. I know I have-hence the birth of the fried bologna with mustard and sugar on lightly toasted end pieces of bread (and if I ever feel I am getting too big for my britches, I make one just to remind myself of where I come from). When it comes down to it, a hungry person does what has to be done with what he or she already has.
Perhaps we have become comfortable with ourselves such that we are not as hungry as we used to be. I challenge you, though, to dig deep and think about those things that you know you want to do and what is keeping them from doing them. Are you hungry? If so, you will stop making trips to the fridge, looking inside, yet pulling nothing out to eat. If you are hungry, you will take what's in your fridge and do with it the very best you can. If you are hungry, you'll eat and eat now. If you are hungry, you will create your own recipe, using the ingredients you have available to you right now and move yourself one step closer to where you really want to be.
Friends, I thank you for sharing this Candid Conversation.
