Your Element

I recently finished the book, “Finding Your Element“ by Sir Ken Robinson. The book was interesting, and left me thinking about one particular point. 

Robinson believes,

“Being in your Element is where your natural aptitudes meet your passions.”

Aptitude is defined as an “inherent ability.” Robinson points out that there may be aptitude’s that you are unaware of because you have never actually experienced something. 

I have no idea if I am any good at snow skiing, water skiing or playing the violin because I have never attempted any of these. 

Now I can surmise that since I seem to not be athletically inclined, any kind of skiing probably wouldn’t have been my cup of tea. I’ve dabbled a little with piano and guitar, but didn’t seem to show a natural aptitude so I’m probably not an undiscovered violinist.

That being said it made me wonder what opportunities might have not popped up upon my radar that I might possibly have a natural aptitude for? Robinson is also quick to point out that aptitude and abilities are not necessarily the same. 

When I reflect on my teaching career I’m not really convinced that I was a natural born teacher. However, over many years I honed my abilities, and ended my career as a good teacher. 

Robinson encourages seeking out new opportunities to try. He also states that just because you have the aptitude for something you might not actually have any real interest or passion in doing it. 

This reminded me of one of my favorite sayings by Gretchen Rubin, “We can choose what we do, but not what we like to do.”

More so, Robinson reminds us, 

“Part of finding your Element is being open to the possibility that it might lie in a field you’ve never explored.”

I find this fascinating because over time I have narrowed my “interests” to areas where I know I can find success.

My point here is that it is never too late to check out something new. 

Wouldn’t it be exciting to discover a new found passion?

A Trip to Hico

Saturday Chuck and I made a very important trip to Hico, Texas. 

You see back at Christmas Brittany and Will gifted us some really amazing chocolate from a little chocolate shop in Hico. 

After sampling it Chuck and I knew we wanted more, and were curious to check out the store in Hico. I had visited it one time before on a road trip with some friends from high school. 

Now Hico is a small town about twenty minutes southeast of Stephenville. As it turned out we had a meeting in the Stephenville area, and Chuck suggested we high tail it to Hico when we were through. 

We had finished up the chocolate, and were craving some more of the confectionary delight. We had savored it for days by cutting it up into small pieces each night after dinner. As long as we were in the area we figured we’d stop by and check out the place. 

Who knew what other treats they might offer?

Wiseman House Chocolates is located right next to the Koffee Kup, and if you are in need of a tasty lunch followed by a piece of pie then make plans to stop by after purchasing your chocolate. 

While at Wiseman’s be sure to check out the variety of chocolates, along with several other gift items available. The atmosphere is quite charming because it is actually an old house. My friend Kathy tells me that their sipping chocolate is divine, and is much richer than hot chocolate. The next time I return I will make sure to get some. 

Chuck and I ended up buying their variety pack with three different types of chocolate , and a small bag of truffles. We sampled some last night after dinner, and they were luscious! 

According to their website:

“In 1996 artist and chocolatier Kevin Wenzel first opened the doors to the Wiseman House to begin offering fine handmade chocolates to the public. Having studied fine arts in Europe, Asia and the U.S., and chocolate making at a fifth generation chocolate school in Pennsylvania, this confectioner’s son possesses the perfect combination of talent, training, and heritage for this delicate art.“

Who knew that you could find a chocolatier in a small Texas town? 

Luckily our property in De Leon is just down the road. 

                                       

StoryWorth

 

                  For Mother’s Day this last year Brittany signed me up for StoryWorth. 

Each week I am e-mailed a question to write about my life. I also have an option to include a picture with my story. 

At the end of the year the stories will be compiled together into a hard backed bound book to be shared with my family. 

Now the task of actually writing a memoir of your life is probably overwhelming even though you may have considered doing so. StoryWorth, on the other hand, is a manageable way to record stories of your life with a nice finished product at the end. 

This is a gift you might want to buy for yourself to have a lasting legacy to leave to your children and grandchildren. Imagine even a great grandchild picking up the volume of your life and learning more about someone they may never have met. 

I’m including the link below if you are interested. 

https://www.storyworth.com

Choosing

Traditionally the new year begins with a list of resolutions that are conveniently broken before the start of February. 

Do you ever wonder why that is? 

I came across this quote a few months back, and although the author makes it sound so simple I’m not really convinced.

Ali Salah says, “You can change anytime. You just choose not to.”

Now there probably is a lot of truth to this, but is it actually so cut and dried?

Ultimately we are responsible for our actions, but do we ever get a pass for being human? As much as we may aspire to change something, our human failings come into play. 

Some people seem to have a natural aptitude for self-discipline and accomplishment, while others struggle to do so. 

Do you really think it’s this simple?

Have you had success in changing your habits?

Clinique Bonus

I’ve been using Clinique’s 3 Step Cleansing system for thirty years now. I started using it a few months after Brittany was born, and I remember the girl telling me if I used it faithfully it would make me look five years younger down the road. 

Well who knows how truthful that statement was because gravity seems to take hold, and pretty much everything heads south anyways. However, what it did do for me was finally get my acne under control. 

Sadly, I suffered with acne from about age thirteen into my early thirties. I visited a plethora of dermatologists along the way to no real avail. However, when I started religiously used Clinique’s 3 step process I had clear skin for the first time in my life. 

One thing that I’ve done over the years is try to buy my products when Clinique is having a bonus. That way I walk away with several free travel size products. I usually check online to see which store is having the bonus at the time I need a new product, and buy accordingly.

Every now and then it doesn’t work out, and I buy what I need without the bonus. This month I knew I was needing more soap and moisturizer. Unfortunately, the next bonus wasn’t until February. 

As I thought about it, I remembered that I had several of those travel size bottles of moisturizer so I should be okay until the next month. As I eyed the tiny sliver of soap that was left I figured I’d go ahead and buy the soap this month. 

It was then I realized that in the past I’d saved several of the tiny slivers of soap for travel purposes. Sure enough, after digging through my cabinet I located plenty of soap to get me through the month. 

So happily, next month I’ll purchase all my products, and walk out of the store bonus in hand. 

Funny thing, though, Chuck is actually five years younger than me, and I’m sure that girl’s sales pitch resonated with me way back then. I’ve been a faithful customer ever since. 

Change and Adapt

I mentioned the other day that I had returned to the library for the first time since February. I was not only excited to return since it had been so long, but I was also excited to see the library itself. 

It had been under renovation for almost two years, and I was curious to see how it had turned out. When I got there it didn’t disappoint. Everything looked quite lovely. 

As I began looking around I noticed that the categorizing system of the books had changed. For the first 64 years of my life the library has always revolved around the Dewey Decimal system. Now I can’t say I ever totally memorized it, but I did know which sections I liked. 

What I discovered was that my library had gone to a Book Store model where the books are categorized by subject. Now I know in many ways this probably will be easier in the long run, but I had no idea where each section was or exactly where the books I liked to read were housed. 

I found myself getting a little agitated about why in the heck they had changed a perfectly good system that had worked fine for me my WHOLE LIFE!

It was then I realized that I’m generally okay with change as long as I am initiating it. Moving from Frisco to Las Colinas, and then to Euless a year later was actually an adventure that I embraced. 

Changing the library shelving system, on the other hand, almost threw me over the edge. It brought back memories of the time my library replaced the card catalog with a computer. Horrors! 

Somehow I managed then, and I’m pretty sure I’ll adapt to this new system after another visit or two. 

I guess the reality is that everything changes in life, and adapting to change is just part of it. 

Soap Quest

Chuck and I went on a soap quest this past Saturday. If you remember my posting from a while back about our Pez quest you’ll know that Chuck and I take our quests pretty seriously. 

A couple of years ago we attended the wedding of our son-in-law’s brother, and stayed at a pretty fancy hotel. We fell in love with the specialty soap, and made the decision to start using nicer soap at home.

When we returned home I dug through my basket of “bathroom stuff” and located several bars of gift soaps I had received over the years. We reveled in the luxury of our fancy soap, and when the time came to buy some more we were faced with a slight dilemma.

A nice bar of soap can cost as much as $6.00 a bar, and if you don’t know I pride myself at being frugal by nature. Heck, who am I kidding, I’m basically cheap! There was no way I was going to spend that much for a bar of soap, no matter how much I loved it. 

That’s where Home Goods came into the picture. When checking out their soap supply, I found that I could purchase some for $3.00 to $4.00 a bar. Jackpot! This seemed like a fair price, especially since the soap lasts for at least a month. 

So Saturday morning Chuck and I got up, and had a cup of coffee and some toast for a quick breakfast. Prior to this we had attempted to locate the soap at our local Euless store, but to no avail. So we decided to check out the Grand Prarie store which I had visited before early last year. 

I suggested we make it a little more special in honor of the quest to stop by First Watch for brunch, which was just down from the Home Goods. 

Now if you’ve never eaten at First Watch then you have really been missing out. There food is divine! I had scrambled eggs which were to die for, chicken sausage, diced potatoes, and artisan bread smothered with butter and jelly. 

Chuck got a BLTE. That’s a BLT sandwich with a couple of fried eggs thrown in, and a slice of Swiss cheese to boot. It was equally delicious!

After brunch we headed to Home Goods and scored four bars of soap. Sadly, there weren’t many to choose from, and I’m wondering if they are discontinuing carrying soap? If this is the case the quest will have to continue at places like Ross, Marshall’s, and TJ Max. 

So many quests, so little time. 

Quest

“The act or an instance of seeking or pursuing something; a search.”