In one of my conversations with a close friend, while discussing how to live life, he came up with this phrase:
“A spoonful of everything.”
He then explained where this phrase came from. It was something his grandfather used to say when asked what dessert he wanted to eat.
In other words, although he didn't want to eat one of each dessert, he always liked to try a little bit of each.
And my friend, following our conversation about life, said that he thought that should be the way to look at life. We can't have just one thing, and we should try as much as we can, because if the opportunity arises, we shouldn't waste it. It might not come around again later.
And in fact, I started to think about that idea. In Portugal, we say that when someone makes this choice, they are making a dessert assortment. And can we do the same in life?
When something different comes along, are we able to stop choosing what we already know, what we already know how it tastes and whether we like it, in order to try something that is unfamiliar to us?
In the last six months, and after the retreat, a lot has changed in my daily life. There are many things that, at first glance, I would immediately say I wasn't available for, or that I couldn't go because I had an unavoidable commitment (even if that commitment didn't really exist, and was just an excuse to stay in my comfort zone).
But as that has changed, it is now much easier for me to say no to other things. As my “yes” has become much more assertive and confident, my “no” has taken the place it had not had until then. And it is something that is quite liberating. Not constantly looking for words to excuse ourselves, but being true to ourselves, without needing to be rude, obviously.
Today, we live too much for social media “likes,” for acceptance, and for the image and personality we would like to have, or that we want others to believe we have. Truthfulness and sincerity fall by the wayside when we act this way.
And honestly, if we all tried a little bit of everything, we would know and be sure of what we liked best, and we wouldn't be stuck with some ideas we've built up about things we've never “tried.”
Free image from Pixabay.com
Text original written by me in Portuguese and translated with DeepL.com (free version)
