"Talk Yourself Into Success"Written by Shannon Emmanuel
You’ve tried and failed. You’ve watched others fall. You’re wiped out, burned out, and beaten. Is there any way to turn it all around?If you’re reading this, than likely you have been working very hard at realizing a goal that now seems out of reach. It does not matter whether that goal is related to diet, creating a home business, getting a promotion, finishing a difficult course, or mastering a talent. The one common factor is that our past can, and will, affect our future success. So, if nothing has worked, shouldn’t you throw in towel? Learn from your mistakes and quit while you’re ahead? Think of this: "What’s Possible?" Why say Possible? Motivational speaker, Les Brown, shares an interesting lesson with us when he points out that past perceptions influence our projected images of success or failure. Consider what changes can be made when you see that others before you have conquered same battles, and same fears, and created a successful outcome. And consider that if it was possible for them, than it IS possible. Period.
| | How a Biscuit Taught Me a Priceless Lesson in LifeWritten by C. Bailey-Lloyd/LadyCamelot
There are no two greater ironic comparisons than that of a biscuit and life. For over two decades, I'd feverishly tried to bake biscuits. Being a baking 'connoisseur,' I was quite disheartened that I could easily knead & bake home-made yeast, cinnamon rolls and croissants - but try as I did, I could never grasp technique of making southern-baked biscuits. Regardless whether I used quick mix or home-made recipe kind, somehow my biscuits either came out of oven with texture of mortar, fell apart like charcoal briquettes or tasted like salty play-doh. In any event, it was my solemn quest to bake these tasty breakfast breads some time before I die. It was almost embarrassing whenever I would makes Shoney's type breakfasts without biscuits. While my kids were small, they pined for buttery taste of home-baked biscuits...of course that never happened. I did attempt to make them countless times, but each time I retrieved them from oven, they got harder and harder. At one point, I even thought about marketing them as indestructible bricks for housing contractors. But my family was fairly nice to me. They would 'try' them from time to time, and in most cases, nearly chipped their teeth. I would excuse myself for poorly-made biscuits by stating, "...I simply don't have enough Southern blood in me..." And that was that. But, I still had this innate and sick compelling drive to create ultimate biscuit. I could do everything else, why heck couldn't I bake a silly biscuit??? It was then that I went to visit my Aunt in Tennessee who baked most wonderful, breathtaking, mouthwatering biscuits. And she did it so easily. I was silently amazed by ease of her fascinating maneuvers. My kids, hubby and I sat down to eat her fabulous biscuits and gravy - and they were better than good. Then my son piped up, "...why can't you make these biscuits, Mom?" And as usual, I told him that I just wasn't 'southern' enough. Curiosity got best of me though, as I pulled my aunt aside and asked her, "How did you get those biscuits to turn out so good?" She explained that all she used was butter-flavored Crisco, some milk, salt, baking powder and flour. "Huh?" That just could not be. These were exact same ingredients I had been using for over two decades. This was just not possible. Then she filled me in on a little secret: "It's flour sifter. I have to use a flour sifter to get flour to be lighter." Filled with new information, I was devastated. A stupid flour sifter did all that??
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